More From the DC
Many congratulations to Neil Boulter Naomi Kench,Jason Ledwich and Fran Upshon on completing their Queens Scout Award. This is a major achievement and great credit goes to them for completing the award. WELL DONE!!
- I have been busy this past month trying to get around and speak to as many of you as I can. Some people have said I wont be able to keep this up but I really enjoy getting around and fully intend to carry on it is a great way to get messages out and it enables you all to bring any concerns you may have to me and also for you to suggest ways in which we can meet our key objectives together.
- I have been to the 1st Scout Group Leaders and Executive Committee meetings.
- I have met Ian Rutherford regarding the climbing mountaineering and walking District support. They need more people to join them so if you are interested in becoming qualified and joining up with the team please contact Ian who will be very pleased to hear from you.
- I attended the regular Sports Rep meeting and as usual not every Group had a representative attend. Can you all please do your best to send your rep along to the next meeting.
- I visited the 26th Scout Troop Camp at Cricket Camp Site and they were having a great time. Thanks Chris for inviting me.
- I attended the Wilverley Camp Site working party day which again had the same people there as we had back in July. When we have our next working party it would be good to see someone new.
- The Scout Maddison Hunt was held on a beautiful day out at Wilverley and those that attended had a great time. Well done to the 29th Scout Troop who came out on top.
- I attended a meeting with the 26th to see how we can support them to grow and also to bring back a Beaver Colony and increase the size of the Cub Pack. Vanessa Swanson the County Development Officer has agreed to help us bring a change to this group.
- It was great to go to Fleet to spend some time with the County Youth Council, Steven Cook is a member and he will soon be joined by Zoe Brent on that Council. The members are so enthusiastic about Scouting and it was good to see examples of how we can include young people in all areas of our decision making.
- I got up early on a Sunday morning along with lots of Beavers and Cubs from the 11th Southampton City to see them cycling and scooting round Sainsbury’s Shirley car park for a sponsored event. They had a great time and were seen in the community and raised money for the group. Well done to everyone who took part, we need to do more events like this,
- Later in the day I went to Gilwell and stayed at the White House and the following day attended a District Commissioner Open Day. That gave me the opportunity to meet with Wayne Bulpitt UK Chief Commissioner and the staff of Gilwell and many other Dc’s from all over the country to share ideas and experiences. It was very worthwhile and thought provoking.
- I joined Graham in attending a recruitment evening with the Southampton University students to recruit some of them to groups. We have had some success so Graham will be taking them to groups soon so please make good use of them.
- I had the pleasure of awarding Mary Myers a Beaver Assistant Leader at the 9th Scout Group her wood badge. Well done Mary it proves that this training scheme can be done.
I visited SSAGO and talked to them about how they could support us in our Scouting. They are a great bunch of young people only too willing to help you. If you need any additional help why not ask them!! - I visited Nemesis Explorer Unit and spent the evening with them. They are a super group and it was very good to hear about the challenges they have taken on for their Queens Scout Award and D of E expeditions. A number of the Explorers were asking about what they need to do to be a Young Leader. Can we all remember please that if anyone shows an interest in being a Young Leader that they are asked to contact Iain Redmill who will explain to them the training scheme. He can also help them decide which group and section they will be assigned to.
- I have spent the evening visiting the 7th Scout Troop Patrol Camp at Lyons Copse. They had eight Scouts who were practicing their Scouting skills of tent pitching cooking and general care of their site facilities. With this they were also able to enjoy a wide game, raft making and a range of other on site activities. This will help them to prepare for next years District Emlyn Competition. Well done Mike and Laura for a good camp.
I have two announcements for you on changes that we have made to improve two key areas of our district support:
Leader Training
I can now announce that I have introduced a new Adult Leader Training set up. Nico Chart has agreed to take on the role of District Training manager. He will be assisted by Sam Chapman. We have held our first meeting to discuss how we will be changing the arrangements, with one key objective being that everyone will be Wood Badge trained within two years.
To help us do that we need many more Training Advisers and I will be contacting some of you soon to ask if you would help us by taking on this additional responsibility.
As for Sam he has the job of coordinating all the young Training Advisers that we will have and linking them with all our young adult Leaders to deliver their training and also encourage them all to be more active in the district and all its decision making processes. Further announcements will be made when appropriate.
District Web Site
One of the areas of concern that I identified early on is that the Southampton City District Web Site is not being used to its full capacity. You would have heard me say that we must SHOUT LOUD ABOUT WHAT WE DO!!
A good web site can help do this for us and it can also act as an easy communication tool between us in Scouting, parents, Scouts and the wider community. Many thanks go to Tony Kench and Lucas Partridge and Ian Holden who have been helping me with this.
I am pleased to tell you that we are almost ready to let the new web site go live and I will be forwarding to you all the link when that happens.
The more I look at it the more excited I become on the capabilities that this can offer us. I would recommend it to you and we would also welcome some positive feedback on how the site could be further developed.
Please don’t forget if you need to speak to me with anything your concerned about just give me a call and I am sure I can help you.
Yours in Scouting
Colin Floyd