**Annual Review 2024**
## 308[th] Manchester
## **AGM – 17[th] May**
Welcome to our AGM and Race night, we have decided to do it a little differently this year and have a night where we can still celebrate the achievements of the sections whilst at the same time have a little fun.
You will see from the reports on the following pages how much each section has done, and it goes without saying this is all down to our unpaid volunteers. The group relies on these volunteers to be able to run each section and some even help on multiple nights. Without these people we wouldn’t be able to grow the way we have and since the last AGM we started a new Scout section on a Wednesday night which has also flourished.
So big thanks go to everyone who volunteers in any capacity and if your thinking of helping on either a weekly basis or when you can please come and have a chat to me.
The Shack our HQ has not had much work done on it this year, but we have plans to put a canopy on the back so that the sections can do more outside activities. We also are now able to store all our kayaks in the old container which is an activity we can provide on camps for the older sections. Lee Hirst and Jack Ritchie have also gained their Archery permits and so the group have bought equipment to be able to run sessions in the Shack and at camps.
Finally, congratulations to all the Scouts who win awards tonight, but also to all the leaders who will be presented with awards – leaders put in a lot of work and time, so please thank them as without them there would be no meetings.
Mike Dolan – Group Lead Volunteer
308[th] Manchester Scout Group
**scouts.org.uk**
@308thMcrScouts
#SkillsForLife
## **Agenda**
## 1. Introduction and welcome
2. Apologies for absence
## 3. Governance topics
- Note the Group’s financial year.
## 4. Review of the previous year
- The Group Lead Volunteer’s review
## 5. Making appointments - Chair
- Appoint the Group Chair
- Appoint the Group Treasurer
- Appoint members of the Group Trustee Board
## 6. District Remarks
## 7. Awards
## 8. Closing remarks
308th Manchester Scout Group
Incoffle & Expendilufe
01W.20231314lar.2024
bank &e 8IF È 13.9)1.57
(ath 8alaTKE BIF £ 1810.93
Sert E I1347.*
on 1clAIn(e 8*rKes £ 699.ijl
use E 749.55
Gru ShKk E 153 fJ]
Bar* Chafp5 £
9L25
(ffAI Char8E5 £ 152.47
GrfarthÈs5 £ 513.03
Gas Usap £ 77326
Ethrty £ 81537
U5aF £ 313,(VJ
(ywnd Rent £
85.(K)
K( £ 126,72
Iwor•Kt. £ 1,258,82
M151 Fees £ 5.967,(rf)
14M Fryrkn•M l Tiopths £ 72
25th Vfjl Fmwl E 1,776,(
25ih 1ST £ ¢,(1)
MaA*¢w E 522.48
F¥51411. 141knty & EqL4rnrf E I.LU,19
Rtw(o% t5 l Ne(keichds E 1,745,75
(rflP BKI É 21&03
FW&aiSryCts E 19017
Seah)n Weetr¥ £ 1.530.61
E¥rtl Cafflp5AII Senths t 5.ts16.11
2024 Oe511 É 315m
k(wJt mo24£0Mp Oep)sit £ S0.IX)
Bank Balancè CIF £ 27.IMA7
Cxh BlarKe CIF É 2,132.52
IMÈYnl*f5h¥ P4b*l E Y IXI
C•mp NMOX E 75.lxt
TheknA sI.LI16 £ 15W.IX¢
rh)nKiyfj E IY4 59
Giw Tee Ywls & E 379
15th WL*1d koul Ffftj E l.i))2.
251h Iioj f 45158
Gr(xw Fwrftrmirq F¥erts E 1,252 77
Acb'b1ry, & Qry FeeslJlSe(IWd E 5.578 05
£ 53.303.54
£ 53.30334
## **– Squirrel Scouts Annual Report 2024**
What an amazing second year the Squirrel Scouts have had!
As one of the very first Squirrel drey’s to open in the country we are so proud and honoured to have the opportunity to provide Scouting to children aged 4-6 years old. And being one of only two drey’s in the whole Greater Manchester East area, we have certainly been very busy!!
Our Squirrel evenings always start of with a welcome song, where we can individually say hello
to everyone who joins us, this has been a great source of routine for the children as well and making them all feel welcome and comfortable from the beginning. Each time a new young person joins us it’s wonderful to see how welcoming our Squirrels are to them and how helpful they are at teaching them each of their new friends’ names.
During the course of each session, we play some games (duck, duck, goose being a firm favourite!) but we also work on badge work with our Squirrels. Using the guiding principal of Scouts, “Skills for life”, our badge program runs at an age appropriate level to ensure our youngest members are having fun and developing their skills for when they move on up to the Beaver unit.
**----- Start of picture text -----**
——
**----- End of picture text -----**
We have done lots of exciting activities this year, including our first day camp in December which was a wonderful success. This gave our Squirrels a taste of a day a camp including going around bases, learning some scouting skills, camp lunch and tea - and a wonderful campfire with songs and SNOW!
We have taken part in science night, exploring how skittles make patterns and coke and mentos explode!
Which the children absolutely loved
We have planted seeds in our community and done litter picks to look after our own area to get our Local Superhero badge. As part of this we have also done a 9° i sponsored walk and _**raised £417 to go to a local care home**_ . The Squirrels did = Vee & fantastic in raising this money, and completing the \ . Ba ee walk! The money raised will make a significant contribution to the people of the home so they can have a summer trip!
We have a wonderful team of Squirrel leaders, who give up their time week in and week out to give the children such enjoyable experience and I _(Eve)_ would like to thank them personally for this.
_**Finally, we would just like to say, we feel absolutely privileged to be able to working with these wonderful young children and they make us smile and laugh every week. They show great kindness to each other, and their behaviour is always wonderful. They are a credit to their families and wonderful part of the 308[th] Manchester.**_
_**We cannot wait for another year of Squirrel Scouting!**_
_**Eve, Kim, Sharron, Lee, Jolanta, Becky and Harvey!**_
## Monday and Thursday Beavers
This last year has seen us grow both groups amazingly; we have had 13 beavers who have achieved their Chief Scout Bronze award with many more to achieve by the end of the year.
When we returned after the summer holidays, we had an amazing camp at Ashworth Valley where the beavers did a range of activities including low ropes, river crossing and go karts. We also spent a day at Manley Mere where the beaver’s spent the day doing the adventure trail and all came home extremely muddy and tired. We had our Halloween party with lot of games and prizes. They have earned many badges including their outdoor challenge, cooking and international where they learnt all about the jamboree. We finished the term with our Christmas party.
After Christmas beavers got to learn all about the world and different countries with our World challenge badge, they also earned their book reader, disability and experiment badges. We finished this term with our camp at Dunham Park, where they got to enjoy archery, den building, t-shirt decorating and backwoods cooking. Earning their camp craft badge on camp.
This term we have some exciting badges for the beavers to work on including Adventure challenge, money, and communication badge. Our next camp has been booked at Bradley Wood.
Our beavers of the year are very hard working and exemplary examples of the scout values in everything they do each week. They will become amazing cubs and we are sorry to see them go.
Want to say a big thank you to Jolanta, Daryl, Mattie, Kim, Lee, Megan and Maria who help us each week. Also, a big thank you to our young leaders and scout helpers Harvey, Noah, Magdalena and Amelia.
Leanne and Jackie
## Monday Cubs
This is my first full year as Section Leader, we’ve seen our pack grow to incredible numbers, covered a lot of badge work, had a couple of excellent camps, and achieved a lot over the past 12 months.
## April – July 2023
During this term we covered our Adventure Challenge Badge, this Included a trip to Ashworth Valley for an Adventure Challenge Evening where Cubs did things like Archery, Low Ropes and a Scavenger Hunt. Some of our Cubs represented our Group at the District St. Georges Day event at Heaton Park, We also had our Summer Camp, held at Dunham Park where we got to try Kayaking, Archery & an Evening deer walk around Dunham Massey!
## September to December 2023
During this term we covered our Personal Challenge Badge, Cubs were set tasks to complete over several weeks that ranged from keeping their Bedroom tidy to learning how to sew a badge on their Uniform! As the Personal Challenge Badge is mainly done at home it gave us the opportunity to cover several Activity Badges which included the Home Safety Badge, Personal Safety Badge, International Badge, Air Activities & Emergency Aid Badge. We also had our Winter Camp, held at Ashworth Valley in November and our Halloween and Christmas Parties!
## January to March 2024
This is always a hard term to cover with the Shorter Nights and Weather Conditions largely restricting you to Indoors however it did give us the opportunity to cover the Teamwork Challenge Badge, Entertainer Activity Badge & Artists Activity Badge. This meant lots of Team Games and activities to keep our minds off the Cold Weather! We also competed in the North Manchester District Arrow Competition which we came Runners Up!
Looking back over the last year I feel incredibly proud of the effort the Cubs have put in, at the core of our beliefs is the idea to challenge ourselves, doing something different that maybe we haven’t done before which isn’t always easy, every challenge we have set them they have rose to it and excelled in everything which is a testament to their character.
Of course, none of this would be possible without a strong leadership team behind me, my thanks go to Kim, Lee C, Debbie, Daryl and of course who could forget our young leader, Harvey (Actually I did last year, sorry again Harvey!), the Support, advice and effort they put in every single week makes Cubs a very enjoyable experience for all Involved!
Lee – Cubs Leader
## Thursday Cubs
Another AGM report for 308[th] Manchester Cubs, and another year of Scouting passing quicker and quicker. Recently, our Cub pack has grown to 28 Cubs, after a recent influx from Beavers. Over the past year we have awarded a total of 9 Chief Scout Silver Awards with more on the way!
April and May 2023 saw the Cubs complete their Navigation Level 2 Staged Activity Badge. This given them an in site to Navigating with maps and map reading before their transition to Scouts, where they will put these skills to use in the Lightweight Hike competition. We also had Cubs teaching a skill on their last night at Cubs. These included Archie teaching Chess & Jess teaching origami. The Chef Badge was also completed with the Cubs cooking Cajun Pasta & making Strawberry Cheesecake! It was unbelievably delicious!
May took us to Ashworth Valley where we hosted an Adventure Night for the Cubs as part of the Adventure Challenge Badge. We completed
a scavenger hunt, Archery & Low Ropes. Thank you to Lee for organising this with the site and obtaining your Archery Permit!
Heading into June, we started the Gardeners Badge. Due to the lovely weather, we were aiming to spend time outside. The Cubs completed challenges including planting, using gardening tools and guessing which seeds grown into what veg. The Cubs really loved this!
The last weekend of June saw 32 Cubs in total head to Dunham Park Scout Campsite for our Annual Summer Camp. Activities included Kayaking, Shelter Building, Grass Sledging and Archery. We also had a lovely moonlit wark around the Deer Park and a BBQ for tea on the Saturday night!
July saw the end to the Scouting Year. But before the Leaders got a well-deserved break, the Cubs competed the pioneering badge where they learnt to tie three knots. We also had our traditional end of year pick nick in Heaton Park. Cubs have the chance to play in the play area and relax on our final night.
Returning to Scouting in September resulted in the Cubs aiming for their Personal Challenge Badge. This included the Cubs setting themselves a tough, but achievable challenge. And the leaders setting the young people a challenge. The challenges completed included “Cat Sitting” and “Cleaning the house.” Well-done to the 14 Cubs who achieved their Personal Challenge Badge.
October was a busy month. The Home Safety and Personal Safety Activity Badges were next on the program. The Cubs made their own Code of Conduct and we also spoke about how to stay safe online too. There was also the usual activities such as the joint Halloween Party where we had fun and laughter.
The district also ran the annual Cubs Cooking Competition. There were 6 teams completing to cook, clean, serve and tidy up a two-course meal for two. I am incredibly pleased to say that the 308[th] Manchester Thursday Cubs were the Winners! Congratulations to Molly, Laura, Isla & Rile who made a Kidney Bean Curry and Strawberry Cheesecake.
November and December allowed the Cubs to complete the Air Activities & Emergency Aid Staged Activity Badges. For these badges, the Cubs had to talk about a time they had been on an Aircraft & know what to say during a 999 call. Also, during the last full weekend in November, the Cubs stayed _ a ; overnight at Ashworth Valley for the yearly Winter Camp. Cubs completed a wide range of Activities including Climbing, Archery, Arts and Craft and Crate Stacking. We also invested the new Cubs and =i Awe 7 / had a delicious Christmas Dinner made by Andrea.
The turn of the year saw the Cubs start their Teamwork Challenge Badge. We had an excellent meeting where we had lots of teamwork & problem-solving activities like Dobble & untying themselves from two ropes.
February saw the Cubs complete the Entertainers Badge. This required the Cubs to tell a story, where we provided story boards for them to write down their story and then perform it the week after. For Shrove Tuesday we bought pancakes and allowed the Cubs to top them with a variety of toppings! It was very messy!
We also completed in the District Arrow Competition where the Cubs faced challenges such as tying knots and learning about other World Faiths. Massive congratulations to Molly, JJ, Tilly, Laura, Nadia and Filip for coming first in the district!
Finally, March saw the Artist Badge completed. Posters advertising Cubs were made and will be displayed in the Shack for all to see and made clay models. We also had Joe, JJ and Laura teaching a skill to their fellow Cubs as part of their Team Leader Challenge Badge. Skills included, learning Polish & French and teaching Rugby. It was a wonderful night topped off with them obtaining their Chief Scout Silver
Awards.
Thank you to all Leaders, Occasional Helpers, Cubs and Parents for their hard work over the last year. I am already looking forward to the next!
## **Bradley.**
## Wednesday Scouts
Following the success of both our beaver and cub sections, the opening of another scout section became a necessity. Wednesday 7[th] June 2023 was the beginning of our journey. We started with 4 new scouts and the help of some of our older scouts from Friday and threw them straight into the deep end with an evening of fire lighting and backwoods cooking. It is safe to say that our first night was a success vi AZTeS © & and by week two we had gained another 3 new scouts. We continued to work on our scouting skills throughout : . i the rest of the summer ready to come back in September to take on our first full year.
September saw us hit the ground running again by attending our first Blackley Shield competition just three weeks into the new term. The Blackley Shield is a scouting competition in which the group has had great success over the years, and we were delighted with our
second-place finish losing out to the experience of our Friday team. This was the first time that our scouts had ever camped under canvas, cooked a meal on a fire and navigated the various skill-based activities, to say we were proud of them would be an understatement.
The rest of the year saw us continue to work on our scouting skills alongside some fun activities. Some highlights being our second night hike, walking up to peel tower, and our upcycling project which took more time and effort than we initially anticipated.
The new year brought the challenge of our first camp. We had 8 scouts attend an indoor winter camp at Bramhope Camp site alongside our Friday Scouts. The weekend was successful with our scouts enjoying a range of activities from gladiators to fire lighting. The pizza wraps for lunch have become our first Wednesday Scouts tradition.
After winter camp our attention turned to preparing for our first Spring camp. We enjoyed endless nights lighting fires and making food in the shack alongside some exciting activities. Our ‘I'm a celebrity’ night allowed the scouts to ‘enjoy’ some jungle critters and compete to win stars. We completed the traditional assault course, celebrated Chinese New Year, completed various pioneering projects and enjoyed a bingo hike searching for various wildflowers in the local area.
By the end of an unseasonably cold April, we were finally ready to complete our first outdoor scout camp at Bradley Wood. Despite our extensive training in the shack, our scouts had to work hard and learn fast to complete their first scout camp. Setting up site on the Friday night went smoothly for both patrols. Saturday morning allowed our scouts to try archery for the second time (thank you to Lee) before launching into another day of training. We worked on our knife & axe skills, fire lighting and general camping knowledge to prepare both patrols to cook their own evening meals, which they managed without a hitch (the washing up however needed some work).
The camp was going smoothly, until the weather took a turn overnight: anyone can camp in the sunshine. Sunday brought the rain, which in turn brought bad moods and 9 cold and wet scouts (shoutout to Emme for being our ray of sunshine). The scouts (eventually) showed resilience and were smiling on the high ropes course a few hours later before the sunshine rounded off a brilliant first camp. A huge thank you to Steve Lannigan for volunteering a van and helping to keep our costs down.
We are now looking forward to the summer term and our first summer camp in August. Hopefully all the hard work in April will pay off and we can enjoy some more activities – including a cheese night that the scouts are so desperate for.
The success of our group would not be possible without the dedication of our leadership team. A big thanks to the Friday Scouts that have helped us across the year: Noah & Magda who helped us when the numbers were low, Lily who continues to help every week and our now young leaders Harvey and Charlie who we are very proud of. A huge thank you to all our leaders: Donna, Dan, Dilbs and especially Jack and Bee who are new leaders and have come with great energy and ideas.
Sophie – Scout Leader
## **Friday Night**
The Scouting year has been busy as always, at last year’s AGM we were celebrating winning the Light weight hike, and as I write we are in the throes of preparation for this year’s competition, we have 2 teams taking part and I am sure we will do well, part of the program this year has been about hiking and map reading, our plan is to complete the Oldham way and we have put a good few night hikes into this. The lightweight hike is challenging for all involved, a lot of work from the leaders, especially Jack and Andy and Adam preparing them to go out walking on their own and the scouts developing the skills and confidence they need.
After light weight hike, we headed to our Spring camp, we were back to Forest Camp in Cheshire. We were blessed with good weather which could make camp so much easier, and we enjoyed a great time on the water making rafts and racing them on the lake, we made hammocks to sleep in and cooked on wood and developed our scouting skills. It’s always a great camp.
The good weather continued for scout nights, and we had a great water fight ballons and water pistols along with a water obstacle course. And we worked towards our 1[st] aid badges.
July 2023 brought us to the end of scouting term, and we celebrated with everyone at the group BBQ. It is always great seeing all the sections together. Not a time for us to stop as we are working towards summer camp which this year was at Hesley Wood in Sheffield. The weather was not so kind, this was a testament to the Scouts who coped well with the mud. It’s difficult to sort wood and keep it dry. So, we had lots of practice sewing and chopping and making shavings. Still the fires were a challenge. There were lots of activities, we enjoyed pioneering, made our own washing up and drying area, enjoyed a great hike and an exciting day on the water, kayaking, giant SUP and canoeing. We had our traditional patrol choice meals and the last day out spent in with a chance for the scouts to have a wander and spend some money and buy lovely gifts for the family.
We restarted Scouts in September and launched into getting ready for the Blackley Shield, At Friday night scouts we continued to improve our skills, practicing our knife and axe and fire lighting. I often say this is my favorite competition, it has scouting skills at heart. We once again had 2 teams in the competition, and I am delighted to say that we won. Well, done everyone.
We also had a new member to the 308[th] Family, Adam and Rosie had a little boy Edward James Raftery born on the 18[th] September, won’t be long before he’s in squirrels.
October creeps up and we have our traditional Halloween party, always a good effort by everyone. Loved the outfits and the enthusiasm. Played some great games, particular favorites are bobbing apples and minstrels in icing sugar and our toilet paper mummies.
In December we went ice skating in Manchester. This is a great outing, always interesting herding 25+ scouts through Manchester city center and it’s a favorite for the scouts as well. It’s great to see how they improve year after year. Last Scout night of the year was our Christmas party, the last few years we have been doing casino night, lots of fun.
In January we had our first joint camp with Wednesday Scouts, we went to Bramhope Scout campsite in Leeds. It was a cold weekend with lots of ice making the weekend a challenge. Friday after we arrived and settled in, we set off for a night hike. The previous week the weather had been snow, frost, and ice. The conditions made our hikes interesting and great fun, for others the hike was short and sweet. Everyone was glad to get to bed.
Saturday saw us running bases, we baked cookies, did archery, took on gladiators and built a trebuchet. The bases were spread throughout the day. After a lovely tea, games and relays and some wide games we settled down to a film, popcorn all round. I am always amazed at how well scouts can stay awake even though they are very tired.
Sunday, we had a full kit inspection and packed our bags. This was followed by bases, we concentrated on fire lighting, chopping wood, learning how to grade wood stack, and finally learning how to light a fire. We looked at different ways of doing this, using flint and steel and shavings. Once the fires got going, we cooked our lunch, we made pizza wraps which taste amazing. Home time came and exhausted we travelled back over the M62 to our warm beds.
A new program for the new year, a rotation of badges which we have been doing over the last 3 months. These are The Artist Badge, Farmer, and Photography. We have taken over the plant beds at the back of the shack and have started growing a variety of veg, onions, pumpkins, and carrots to name a few. We are looking forward to using them to make some delicious food once they have fully grown.
Photography badge: the scouts are using the cameras on their mobile phones to produce images, once they are happy with the pictures, they have taken we will print and display.
Artist Badge, Scouts have been enjoying learning how to draw, we are aiming to do a self-portrait and have been practicing with shapes and shading, all of us have a had a black and white picture taken and will aim to complete a self-portrait.
And so, we have come full circle, back to May. On our hikes we have done some litter picking to help with local conservation. The hikes themselves are all good practice, next stop light weight hike ...
Thank you to everyone who has helped with scouts over the last 12 months, especially Lee Hirst and Leanne Hirst, Bradley Vickers, Michael Dolan, and Steve Davies. They are always on hand to help when we need it, at camps and group nights.
We are also well supported by past scouts who are now explorers, we are lucky to be part of such a supportive team.
We must also thank the Scouts and all the Scout parents. It has been a busy and interesting year, here’s to the next one.
## **Jack, Andrea, Andy, and Adam.**