Annual Review 2025 308[th] Manchester Scouts AGM – 6 W ~~e~~ [th] June +
Welcome to our AGM
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 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.
So big thanks go to everyone who volunteers in any capacity and if you’re thinking of helping on either a weekly basis or when you can please come and have a chat to me.
I would like to congratulate all the leaders who will be presented with awards tonight - but would like to focus on one individual - Steve Davis who received ‘The Silver Wolf’ award late last year - The Silver Wolf is the highest award made by The Scout Association "for services of the most exceptional character." Steve has over 45 years’ service as a leader and has done several roles including being the 308[th] Group Scout Leader for many years and he is now our Treasurer and go to guy when we need help – the award was truly deserved.
Also well done to Jack Ritchie who achieved his Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award – Jack was invited to Buckingham Palace as a celebration of his achievement.
Finally - Congratulations also to all the Scouts who win awards tonight, I know there were tough decisions made on who the winners would be, as so many were in contention and deserving.
Mike Dolan – Group Lead Volunteer
Agenda
1. Introduction and welcome
2. Apologies for absence
3. Governance topics
-
Approve the minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on 17[th] May 2024
-
Note the Group’s financial year.
4. Review of the previous year - GLV
- 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. Awards
7. Closing remarks
Accounts
308th Manchester Scout Group
Income & Expenditure
| Cr | Cr | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024/25 | 2023/24 | |||
| Youth Section | ||||
| Subscriptions | £ | 13,805.00 £ |
£ | 12,347.00 £ |
| Youth Section Allowance | ||||
| Balances | £ | - £ |
£ | 699.00 £ |
| Explorer Shack use | ||||
| donation | £ | 462.88 £ |
£ | 749.55 £ |
| Sunna Scout Group | £ | 514.50 £ |
£ | 153.00 £ |
| Manchester City Council | ||||
| (Polling Station) | £ | 360.00 £ |
£ | 150.00 £ |
| MCC Grant (ParkLife) | £ | 3,025.62 £ |
£ | - £ |
| Scout Association Start-Up | ||||
| Grant | £ | - £ |
£ | 3,500.00 £ |
| NMDSC (Membership | ||||
| Rebate) | £ | 58.00 £ |
£ | 54.00 £ |
| Camp Subsidy NMDSC | £ | 75.00 £ |
£ | 75.00 £ |
| Donations | £ | 385.00 £ |
£ | 199.59 £ |
| Invest, Group Tee Shirts & | ||||
| Uniforms | £ | 433.05 £ |
£ | 379.00 £ |
| Activtiy, Event & Camp | ||||
| Fees All Sections | £ | 9,035.30 £ |
£ | 7,032.13 £ |
| Group Fundraising | £ | 7,898.83 £ |
£ | 1,252.77 £ |
| Cr | Cr | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cr | Cr | Dr | Dr | ||||||
| 2024/25 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 | 2023/24 | ||||||
| Youth Section | |||||||||
| Subscriptions | £ | 13,805.00 £ |
£ | 12,347.00 £ |
Bank Charges | £ | 87.10 £ |
£ | 91.25 £ |
| Youth Section Allowance | Online Youth Manager | ||||||||
| Balances | £ | - £ |
£ | 699.00 £ |
Charges | £ | 101.50 £ |
£ | 152.47 £ |
| Explorer Shack use | |||||||||
| donation | £ | 462.88 £ |
£ | 749.55 £ |
Go-Cardless | £ | 586.36 £ |
£ | 513.03 £ |
| Sunna Scout Group | £ | 514.50 £ |
£ | 153.00 £ |
Gas Usage | £ | 969.10 £ |
£ | 773.26 £ |
| Manchester City Council | |||||||||
| (Polling Station) | £ | 360.00 £ |
£ | 150.00 £ |
Electricity Usage | £ | 888.54 £ |
£ | 845.37 £ |
| MCC Grant (ParkLife) | £ | 3,025.62 £ |
£ | - £ |
Water Usage | £ | 427.31 £ |
£ | 313.09 £ |
| Scout Association Start-Up | |||||||||
| Grant | £ | - £ |
£ | 3,500.00 £ |
MCC Ground Rent | £ | 85.00 £ |
£ | 85.00 £ |
| NMDSC (Membership | |||||||||
| Rebate) | £ | 58.00 £ |
£ | 54.00 £ |
MCC Rates | £ | 123.50 £ |
£ | 126.72 £ |
| Insurance- Shack, | |||||||||
| Camp Subsidy NMDSC | £ | 75.00 £ |
£ | 75.00 £ |
Equipment & Helpers | £ | 1,356.64 £ |
£ | 1,258.82 £ |
| Donations | £ | 385.00 £ |
£ | 199.59 £ |
Membership Fees | £ | 6,832.00 £ |
£ | 5,967.00 £ |
| Invest, Group Tee Shirts & | |||||||||
| Uniforms | £ | 433.05 £ |
£ | 379.00 £ |
Shack Maintenance | £ | 836.15 £ |
£ | 522.48 £ |
| Activtiy, Event & Camp | |||||||||
| Fees All Sections | £ | 9,035.30 £ |
£ | 7,032.13 £ |
Camping Equipment | £ | 1,184.73 £ |
£ | 2,008.19 £ |
| Resources, Badges & | |||||||||
| Group Fundraising | £ | 7,898.83 £ |
£ | 1,252.77 £ |
Neckerchiefs | £ | 1,515.28 £ |
£ | 1,745.75 £ |
| AGM Engraving & Trophies | £ | 225.00 £ |
£ | 72.00 £ |
|||||
| Fundraising Costs | £ | 5,282.70 £ |
£ | 408.30 £ |
|||||
| Section Meetings Weekly | |||||||||
| Expences | £ | 1,726.95 £ |
£ | 1,530.61 £ |
|||||
| Events & Camps All | |||||||||
| Sections | £ | 8,092.37 £ |
£ | 7,657.81 £ |
|||||
| Leader Activity Training | £ | 250.00 £ |
£ | - £ |
|||||
| Donations | £ | 50.00 £ |
£ | - £ |
|||||
| Year Total | £ | 36,053.18 £ |
£ | 26,591.04 £ |
Year Total | £ | 30,620.23 £ |
£ | 24,071.15 £ |
| Bank Balance B/F | £ | 27,099.87 £ |
£ | 23,901.57 £ |
Bank Balance C/F | £ | 33,667.72 £ |
£ | 27,099.87 £ |
| Cash Balance B/F | £ | 2,132.52 £ |
£ | 2,810.93 £ |
Cash Balance C/F | £ | 997.62 £ |
£ | 2,132.52 £ |
| £ | 65,285.57 £ |
£ | 53,303.54 £ |
£ | 65,285.57 £ |
£ | 53,303.54 £ |
– Squirrel Scouts Annual Report 2025
What an amazing year the Squirrel Scouts have had!
Our Squirrel evenings always start off with a welcome song, where we can individually say hello to everyone who joins us, this is 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.
This year we have had lots of adventures! We went on our first winter camp with the Beavers where we enjoyed having a campfire, doing Christmas crafts, having a disco & seeing Santa! Our Squirrels were so amazing on our camp we’re looking forward to doing it all again next Christmas!
We have also explored the Stars and planets around us in our “Explore Space” badge. We $%"#& learnt that Spain was a country and not a planet ! and how to use a telescope to look at the moon and stars at nighttime. We also looked closer to home, and we learned all about the points of the compass and how to navigate around our local area using a compass. These are all valuable skills that the Squirrels will continue to develop through their scouting journey.
We were also very lucky to have a sign language teacher come and visit us for “International Sign Language Week”. We learnt how to sign our welcome song in sign language, how to spell our names in sign and how to sing the rainbow song! The children were wonderful at this and really did us all proud with our guest!
As the summer months have progressed and the weather has improved, we have started to explore our local area more, looking at how we can help the environment in our area. We have made bird feeders and explored our local park to learn about the animals that live around us.
As always, we are incredibly proud of our Squirrels and the wonderful achievements they have made this year. We have seen many of our older Squirrels move up to Beavers and we are sad to see them grow.
As the year has gone on, we have had some changes to the Squirrels team, with Kimbob moving over to run Cubs – Becky has stepped up to co-lead Squirrels with Eve and she has done a fantastic job!
We also have a wonderful team of dedicated volunteers who turn up every week despite all having their own work lives and families, and they provide a great program of activities for the children. We also have several dedicated young leaders from our Youth Explorers section who give up their time once a week to come and help run the nights for the children.
Without the time these volunteers give up, Squirrels would not be possible. So, I personally want to thank, Becky, Kimbob, Leanne, Lee, Sharron, Jolanta, Sarah, Emmy, Rowan & TylaLeigh
We cannot wait for another year of Squirrel Scouting!
Eve – Squirrel Scout Leader
Monday and Thursday
This has been a very exciting year for both beaver groups. We went on a camp to Bradley Wood where we went on cresta run, did archery and lots of Halloween activities. a 4
We had our annual Halloween party with lots of amazing costumes and dancing. For the first time, we ran a Christmas camp which we invited our squirrels to join. This was a huge success, with Santa also making an appearance. We have had Police come join us for an evening, where they brought a police van and let the beaver try out the equipment, again a thoroughly enjoyable evening.
We have also had another camp at Ashworth valley, which the beavers loved, we did cave bus, climbing wall and much more.
We have had 14 Beavers achieve their chief scout bronze award, amongst these were our first squirrels to achieve their golden acorn this was a massive achievement so well done to them all.
We have covered many badges and topics this year, according to the beavers the highlight has been archery, den building, photography and space.
Our beavers of the year are amazing beavers, they encompass all the beaver values, are super helpful and kind. We will miss them when they move up to cubs. We want to say a massive thank you to our beaver leaders Jolanta, Sarah, Megan, Mattie, Kim and Lee who come each week to help.
Also, a massive thank you to our young leaders Noah, Harvey, Magda and Amelia - We couldn’t run beavers without you all.
We also want to give a special mention to Jackie who after over 20 years will be stepping back from Beavers. Jackie is a massive inspiration to all the leaders and beavers and will be immensely missed by all.
Leanne and Jackie
Monday Cubs
Haven taken over as Monday Cub Leader in December I have had so much fun!
I took over from the amazing Lee at Christmas and have around 25 Cubs per week, regularly attending and earning their badges!
From the last AGM we did our summer camp at Bradley wood where the children pitched up their own tents and even cooked their breakfasts, lunch and dinners on this camp.
We had Bradley’s girlfriend – soon to be wife Alice come teach our amazing cubs first aid. Alice is a paramedic and was able to give the children the skills they need to administer basic first aid skills and help save a life if needed until help arrives.
We have worked on my world badge and learnt about many different cultures and religions including dvalli lamps the children enjoyed this and had so much fun.
During November we all packed up to go on my very first Camp. Wow! What an experience! Having never ran a camp, I think it was something new for us all. But what a great weekend we had, with assault courses, outdoor cooking, building fires and crossing a river on a rope bridge we packed it all in. Along with a full Cub and Scout Christmas dinner to get us all in the Christmas spirit.
Over the Christmas holidays we all broke up for some well-earned rest and saved some energy to put back into to our Scouting when Christmas was over. Our badges throughout January to may have encouraged the children to
develop themselves and their skills further. A combination of the Our Skills badge and the Home help badge should now mean your little Cubs are ironing their own clothes, washing their own dishes, and changing their own lightbulbs…. Anyone…. No? Well, they are on their way to becoming more and more independent as they grow through the Scouting groups.
We covered the Communicator Activity Badge we got Eve a new Monday Leader to introduce herself to children they all took part and introduced themselves and told Eve all about themselves. The children used the leaders’ devices to show they could make calls
send emails and send text messages, but most of all we learnt about ways we could communicate especially on apps like snap chat wats app and ticktock and we taught the children how to be safe on these apps.
We have many beavers just moved up and are settling into cubs amazingly. We have set up into new sixes our teams completed a few challenges to not only earn their badges but to build their confidence and create some wonderful new friendships. As we move into summer term, we have so much fun planned even a trip to clip and climb planned.
As we moved into the spring our Cubs learn all about different parts of a meal and what makes a healthy meal, eventually, cooking a two-course meal within their groups. Not only developing their cooking skills but also their teamwork skills. And we had some delicious meals made – we have some budding Chefs amongst us!
As this is our first 6 months completed, I wanted to make a note of how proud I am of all our Cubs. They are an absolute pleasure to work with and their enthusiasm and zest for life is infectious. They have just been a huge pleasure to watch them grow and learn there scouting skills.
Of course, I have completed my first 6 months as an Akela as well, and I have loved every minute of it, but I couldn’t have done it without a wonderful team around me. Lee H, Leanne, Debbie and Lee c have put the hours in week in and week out to always be there for the Cubs but also a HUGE thanks to our Young Leader HARVEY who attends every week to help and actively helps with planning and getting the evenings set up, to plan and run amazing exciting and varied activities for all the Cubs. And of course, it being my first 6 month I have relied on the Cub Scout experience of Akela Lee to guide me through it, without whom I wouldn’t have made it through the first week!
So, thank you team! And here’s to another amazing year……
Akela Kim – Monday Cubs
Thursday Cubs
Another AGM report for 308[th] Manchester Cubs, and another year of Scouting passing quicker and quicker. At the time of writing, our Cub pack has grown to 28 Cubs. With a good mix of direct entries and Beavers moving up to Cubs.
April 2024 saw the Cubs Start the Outdoor Challenge Badge. We thought this would be a good way to build up for our outdoor camp in June. Part of this badge required the Cubs to spot the dangers of fire and staying safe whilst at Camp.
We used the month of May to stay outdoors as much as possible. The Cubs leaders hosted an evening of going over the basics of lighting and cooking over a wood fire. We made lovely bacon sandwiches and smores. The Cubs even washed up! We also had a walk around the local area so the Cubs can get used to Navigating!
June 2024 saw the Cubs prepare for going on our Summer Camp. We practiced putting the tents we would use at Camp up, on a Cub night. Lots of vital experience before the Cubs do it for real as part of the Outdoor Challenge Badge. Bradley Wood was the site chosen for
Summer Camp 2024. The Cubs completed lots of adventurous activities such as Archery, Hammock making, First Aid, Cave Bus and Rock Painting. As a new addition, using the skills they had already acquired, the cooked their own breakfast and tea using gas stoves, cleaned and washed up. The leadership team also awarded special campsite badges to those who we thought really deserved one. Congratulations if you were lucky enough! Thank you to Alice for helping with the First Aid Base.
July saw the end to the Scouting Year. But before the Leaders got a well-deserved break, the Cubs were taken for a walk around Blackley Forrest which included some investitures and
awarded all the badges they have worked so hard to achieve. 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 allowed the Cubs to redo their Code of Conduct so themselves, and the leaders know what is expected of them when they come to Cubs. This resulted in our Uniform standards seeing a big improvement. The Cubs started working towards their World Challenge Badge. This requires lots of work allowing the Cubs to achieve many activity badges along the way. One example is the Environmental Conservation Activity Badge. We learnt what is renewable energy and how we can recycle at home.
October was a busy month. The My Faith Activity Badge took president due to feeding into the Our World Challenge Badge. The Cubs made posters about the Catholic Church, and celebrated Easter by making Chocolate Corn Flake Cakes. We also learnt about what services are in the local area and made our own town in the Shack! We also learnt some sign language as part of the Disability Awareness Badge. Thank you to Rachel for leading this. The Cubs and I learnt a lot!
Our busy month continued with our new tradition our having any Cubs who are moving to Scouts, and needed to complete their Silver Award, teaching a Cub a skill. In October we had Isla, Nadia, Molly all teaching their own skill. Isla taught us some netball skills, Nadia drawing & Laura how to finger knot a bracelet. Well, done to all 3 of these, it is not hard to present yourself in front of a group and talk. October was rounded off by a friend of the group Les, coming to talk about the local area for the night. It was insightful, and the Cubs got to see and touch history by handling old coins. Thank you, Les!
With the dark nights moving in, the Cubs were able to start the Astronomy Badge. The Cubs learnt the differences between planets and stars by learning different actions for each. We also made a map of the solar system to scale using a map of the UK! We also made our own orrery’s to show how the Earth and Moon both orbit the Sun. We also celebrated the festival of Diwali to round off the World Challenge Badge. The Cubs made lanterns out of card and glow sticks.
Our biggest activity in November is undoubtably our annual Winter Camp at Ashworth Valley. This was a really challenging Camp due to the awful wet and cold weather we experienced this weekend. The leadership team had to think on their feet to provide a safe, and fun program for the Cubs. We completed Soft Axe Throwing, Christmas Crafts, Smores, Cave Bus and Archery. No rope bridge this year though as the river was too high!
December meant an annual trip to the Pantomime & the Cubs Christmas Party. And let’s not forget the 3 weeks break for the Leaders!
Heading into January and February meant a new term and new badges for the Cubs to achieve. This term we worked towards my personal favourite, the Our Skills Challenge Badge. The Cubs also completed other activity badges such as the Communicator and Chef Activity Badge. The Cubs completed activities such as talking threw walkie talkies and taking messages down in invisible ink, only shown when using a UV torch.
One night also had 4 different teams cooking 4 different meals for 2 people. Examples we had are spaghetti bolognaise and oriental salad plus katsu chicken curry and Victoria sponge cake. The Cubs also cleaned and put away all the equipment, plus the food was outstanding too!
March gave us more time to work on the Our Skills Challenge Badge, we learnt what different functions of each organ in the body were and completed lots of exercise to achieve the Athletics Activity Badge. The Cubs also used their creativity to make sculptures out of different bits of recycling. Personally, I was really impressed with what the Cubs came up with!
Our fantastic Cubs have achieved 168 badges in the last year alone with many more on the way. 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! Until next time – Bradley.
Wednesday Scouts
Having taken over the section in November these first 6 months as Team Lead for Wednesday Scouts have been a challenge however, they have been exciting, and we have covered a lot during this time.
November – December 2024
This was about getting to know the section as much as they were getting to know me and our new leadership team, fortunately our team knew most of the Scouts there as they had been through our other sections, but we did manage to cover a lot, including some cooking and some badgework covering things like our Astronomers badge!
January to March 2025
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, Fire Safety & Artist Badge and a night out at Puttstars Minigolf. We also had our January Camp and some of our Scouts served as part of a Service crew for Ashworth Valley towards the End of March.
April 2025 onwards
So far now the weather and light are better we have begun practising our practical skills we will be covering a lot including map reading, tent pitching, knife and axe work, fire lighting to name a few.
We also had a team compete in in the District Lightweight Hike, covering a total of 25km over 2 days hiking through Simister, Radcliffe and Bury!
While I am only just getting started, I feel that all our Scouts have done well over the past year and achieved a lot with still lots to do moving forward, they are a credit to you and to our Group.
Of course, none of this would be possible without our leadership team, my appreciation to Jack and Daryl for all their help and advice over the last 6 months and to Noah and Harvey who have been helping recently with our practical skills. My thanks also go to Sophie, Donna, Dan and Matthew for all the hard work they put in getting this Section up and running, it wouldn’t be where it is today without their help!
Lee - Wednesday Scouts Team Lead
Friday Scouts
We started the year with winning the district lightweight hike where the scouts had to walk 22 Km over 2 days from ) OS 5 Rowarth to Boarfold AA 2 Campsite on day one, then from Boarfold 2 “ee PSs, al to Chadkirk on the second day. They had OegD to find their own way Ae, dee ope Ge ee using a map between Rae eet ei Ch) SUB = Ae ON checkpoints and the campsite. Well done to them for completing the weekend and coming 1st.
Our annual camp was next on our calendar. In May we stayed at Forest camp in Cheshire for 2 nights. The programme for camp included back to basics, this is where we learned how to use knives and Axes safely to chop wood, we also had some fun activities doing Archery, low ropes, orienteering and rafting. We cooked on wood all weekend and did some backwoods cooking. We had a good few weeks of nights in and out of the shack when we started doing map reading and
going out on hikes in preparation for Light Weight Hiking competition, we also did some fire lighting and tent prep getting ready for camp.
As part of a badge rotation, we started the photography, gardener and artist badge. The scouts were split into 3 groups and each group did a different activity to complete the badge. Another badge we completed was the master’s at Arms. The scouts were split into 2 groups and half of
the scouts went to the 7th in Failsworth, where their leader Heather ran a shooting activity. The scouts really enjoyed this and got to use hand pistols for the first time. The other half of the group stayed at the shack and did archery. We swapped around a few Fridays later so both groups were able to do each activity.
Our group BBQ was in July; this is where we found out we had won the hiking competition, and we received the trophy. It was also good to see all the parents and catch up for a chat!
Summer Camp came around quickly, camping Saturday till Saturday, we went to Great Tower Scout Campsite in the Lake District. It was a busy week, and activities included, natural rock climbing, Ghyll scrambling, Kayaking, Crate stacking and we also got to do 2 lovely hikes exploring The Cathedral Caves and
the amazing Lake District scenery. We cooked on wood all week and the scouts had to work hard to keep their fires going. We spent some time in Ambleside and the scouts were able to go off by
themselves and spend a couple of hours looking around the town, spending their money and exploring.
After the summer break Scouts returned in September and we started us preparation for the Blackley Shield. We entered 2 teams to compete in the competition. The Blackley Shield is a scouting competition, and they compete in teams to complete bases. The bases require excellent teamwork, with lots of activities and brain teasers. We are pleased to say our Team A did very well and won the competition. Our B team enjoyed the weekend and gained a lot of experience for next year. Our programme from September till December included mini golf in the Trafford centre for a night out. We did a ready steady cook night, Assault course and Halloween > where everyone made a great effort and came dressed up i = N ueoe = and we had our usual ghoulish games and a best dressed award. The last night of scouts before Christmas break, we had a casino night where everyone came dressed + aa SOKA Shag ™~~
Also, in December we ventured into Manchester to the ice-skating rink where we nearly didn't get to skate due to
a power cut, then we were allowed to get back in line as the power was back on, only for it to go off again, finally the power stayed on, and we were allowed on the ice. We were getting a bit worried about what to do with 28 scouts in the middle of Manchester on a Friday night. When we came back after Christmas, we had our annual January camp at Ashworth valley. Activities included Crossbows, shooting, fire lighting and a river crossing. It was a very cold and wet couple of days luckily; we were inside most of the time.
Friday night’s programme was also busy with Shrove Tuesday, a night based on the TV show “The Cube”, a Night Hike and a night at Ashworth valley doing wide games. For the first time this year we decided to volunteer at Ashworth Valley Scout Camp Site doing service crew. We had 4 scouts from Friday and 4 from Wednesday to help do some work on the site. It was a very chilled out weekend where we did a variety of jobs that the site had set out for us. We are hopefully going to be doing it again in the future. This weekend helps with the challenge badges the scouts require to complete their Chief Scout Gold Award. It has been a busy year, and I look forward to giving out lots of badges in the next few weeks.
Thank you to all the parents who help with lifts and support. And to all the leaders who give up their time to help with not only troop nights but weekend camps, nights away and organisation of hikes and activities. And to you our scouts, thank you for letting us help you grow.