Scouts 1st Chineham Annual Report 202312024
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Scouts Our Charity
1[st] Chineham Scouts is a registered charity in England and Wales: 1048634. The Scout Group is established under the rules common to all groups within the Scout Association. The governing documents are those of The Scout Association, which consist of a Royal Charter, which in turn gives authority to the By-Laws of the Association and the Policy, Organisation and Rules (POR) of the Scout Association. Full details on our trustees and constitution can be found on our website at https://www.bescouts.org.uk/group/1st-chineham/
1[st] Chineham Annual Report 2023/2024 Our Trustees
Chair Deputy Chair Secretary Treasurer Chris Circuit Jamie AndrewsYvette Cooper Louise Wimpress Tickle Group Lead Volunteer/ Trustee John Handford Beaver Cub Scout Explorer Representative Representative Representative Representative Mark Evans Graham Howard Gill Clarke
1[st] Chineham Annual Report 2023/2024 Our Trustees
Trustee Trustee Trustee Trustee Jess Battle Ruchira Bhave Alytnay Cooper – Mark Cooper - resigned December resigned December 2023 2023
Trustee Trustee Trustee Trustee James Langham James Stringer Paul Strickland Sandra Wilson - resigned October 2023
1[st] Chineham Annual Report 2023/2024 Our Leadership Team
| Group Lead | Squirrels Team Lead |
Beavers Team Lead |
Beavers Team Lead |
Cubs Team Lead |
Cubs Team Lead |
Scouts Team Lead |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| John Hanford – resigned January 2024 Tim Gibbons – appointed April 2024 |
Emma Gibbons |
Mark Evans | Vicky Evans | Graham Howard |
Tim Gibbons Andy Clarke – appointed April 2024 |
Toni Jones – resigned July 2023 Gill Clarke – appointed Jul y 2023 |
1[st] Chineham Annual Report 2023/2024 Our Membership Figures
Youth Membership
| Squirrels | Beavers | Cubs | Scouts | Group Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Census 2023 0 |
44 | 79 | 42 | 165 |
| Census 2024 22 |
46 | 81 | 34 | 183 |
| Total Census 2023 47 Census 2024 51 Adult Membership ~~—~~ |
Growth in young people from 2023 – 2024 is 11% Growth in adult volunteers from 2023 – 2024 is 8.5% oo |
Squirrels Report Emma Gibbons, Squirrels Team Lead
Squirrels reached their 1st birthday in April, and we celebrated by having a party. We invited parents and siblings, along with all leaders from across all sections for fun and games. This year so far, we have attended Wellington country park in March, which is now going to become a district event. Beastly in May, which is an all-section District event. We look forward to our Annual sleepover at the end of July with 11 Squirrels taking part this year. The District squirrel fun day at Ferny Crofts is in September. The group panto visit in December. Since starting the squirrel section, we have awarded 5 Chief Scout’s Acorn awards and by the end of July we will have achieved another 10 Acorns. 6 Squirrels have moved up to Beavers with a further 9 moving on in September. We now have a full drey of 24 squirrels and hope to get more full time or occasional volunteers on board to help us with the numbers. We want to be able to continue with our full programme and lots of outdoor visits. From September we will also be working to include the new Squirrels YouShape award and Earth tribe badge into our existing programme.
Beaver Report Mark and Vicky Evans, Beaver Team Leads
Squirrels
For the first time this year we have welcomed young people joining us from Squirrels. To date, we have received 8 new arrivals from 1st Chineham Squirrel with one another young person joining us from a different Squirrel drey.
Programmme
We run a wide range of activities throughout the year, some relate to the attainment of Activity badges and some count towards the different elements of the Challenge badges that take a long time to earn. Other activities are just for fun because we enjoy them. Please find below an overview of just some of the things we have been doing since June 2023.
We finished the Summer term in 2023 by making some junk model boats and sailing them at Eastrop Park, learning to play Floorball and undertaking the traditional end of term Water Games evening.
During the Autumn term we visited the Metro Bank in town in support of our Money Skills badge. We also completed our Emergency Aid badge, which involved learning some really useful skills. We had a lot of fun being creative as we made tie dyed t-shirts for the first time and at the end of term we made sock snowmen for our annual Christmas craft. We made use of the climbing wall, with many of the Beavers attempting to climb for the first time. We added a new activity to the programme this year as we took a tour of Chineham to view the wonderful Christmas lights put up by local householders. We posted notes of appreciation through the doors of the houses with the most impressive displays and hope to make this an annual event.
Spring term saw us getting creative again, this time with recycled fashion – the beavers had the task of constructing outfits made only from materials found in the recycling bin. We undertook our Experiment and Health & Fitness badges and had fun with Pancakes (both eating them and having pancake races). Soft archery turned out to be incredibly popular and the Beavers really enjoyed the Air Activities badge during which we learned how to make paper planes. Towards the end of term we took part in a nature walk to look for signs of Spring that turned out to be a tad muddier than we were expecting – next time we make sure we wear welly boots!!
As we head into the Summer, we started the term with a litter pick. We are very pleased to report that there was very little to find. Chineham has definitely been getting tidier year on year! We were very excited to welcome a representative from the Hampshire Air Ambulance Team who came and explained to us about the excellent work they do. We have completed our Disability Awareness badge, which included us looking around the hall to see how we make the building more accessible for those with disabilities. For the first time in many years we did the cyclist badge. It was great to see the beavers cycling around the car park, even those who were a little nervous initially managed the circuit and it was good to hear that some had been practicing at home to get ready for the meeting. We went on the annual hike to Old Basing in May that ended with everyone playing games in the field with the parachute. Thank you to all the parents who accompanied us on the walk, it really helps to have extra support along the route. Highlights still to come this term include our Cooks badge, shelter building, water games and a silly Olympics ahead of the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris.
Badges Awarded
Here is a summary of the Activity and Challenge badges awarded during this past year (from 30[th] June 2023 – 12[th] June 2024), with more to come before the end of the Summer Term!
Some of these badges were earned by Beavers taking on the activities at home then showing us how they have managed to meet the badge requirements.
During this period we also awarded 14 Chief Scout Bronze Awards.
| Activity Badges | Challenge Badges | Challenge Badges | Challenge Badges | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Animal Friend | 3 | Cyclist 43 |
Safety | 32 | Adventure | 23 | Skills | 25 | ||||
| Disability | Outdoors | 10 | Teamwork | 18 | ||||||||
| Book Reader | 2 | Awareness 45 |
Air Activities | 45 | Personal | 12 | World | 16 | ||||
| Builder | 33 | Experiment 43 |
Emergency Aid level 1 | 39 | ||||||||
| Collector | 2 | Health & Fitness 46 |
Hikes (levels 1 &2) | 36 | TOTAL | 104 | ||||||
| Communicator | 1 | Hobbies 2 |
Nights Away (level 1) | 12 | ||||||||
| 55 | ||||||||||||
| Creative | 9 | Money Skills 42 |
TOTAL | 3 |
District Events
In addition to the weekly programme of meetings, we always attend a number of events during the year with other Beaver Groups from Basingstoke East and beyond for a variety of activities - this year has been no exception.
The oldest beavers in the group were invited to attend the District Beaver Camp in June 2023. We took 16 Beavers to the Gordon Brown Centre to take part in a number of instructor led activities such as den building, undertaking a low ropes course and a trim trail and fire building and lighting which included cooking popcorn in large cans over the open fire. The beavers enjoyed a traditional campfire before heading off to sleep in teepee style tents. For many of the Beavers, this is their first opportunity of a night away from home or of camping and by the time this report is shared at the AGM, the Monday Beavers will have attended the 2024 District Beaver Camp with the Wednesday Beavers taking their turn towards the end of June.
Shortly after the start of the new term in September we were joined by 20 beavers for a picnic and games afternoon at the Walled Garden at Down Grange along with other Beaver colonies from the district.
October saw the annual visit to Paultons Park – always a favourite with both the Beavers and the Leaders! While we may not have time to get on every ride there, we see it as a challenge to try! We love seeing the Beavers who have never been to a theme park testing their adventurous side for the first time.
In February we took part in the first Beavers Around the World event with 42 Chineham Beavers joining over 130 other Beavers from the district to take a trip around five countries armed with a passport, learning some few facts, and completing an activity for each country. We visited Australia, France, Japan, Kenya and the USA.
April saw us attending the massively successful Beastly 2024 event with the rest of 1[st] Chineham and other Scout Groups from across Basingstoke. The 37 Beavers had the opportunity to experience more than 70 activities across 4 themed zones. We received some wonderful feedback from parents and young people about how much they enjoyed the event, and we are looking forward to attending again next year, when Beastly returns.
We have only had space within this report to include a sample of the wide range of activities and experiences we have provided to the Beavers of 1[st] Chineham during the past year. We would both like to take this opportunity to say a big thank you to all of the Leaders and Young Leaders who give up their time to create and deliver exciting weekly plans that are both fun and challenging. None of this could take place without their dedication, support and hard work.
Cubs Report Graham Howard and Tim Gibbons, Cub Team Leads
2023-24 has been another successful year for the 1st Chineham Cubs packs. We continue to be able to offer a wide range of activities to encourage the cubs to try new experiences, challenge themselves and develop.
We are fortunate enough to have an excellent team of adult leaders and a great team of young leaders that make all this possible. Both Section Leaders would like to note their thanks to these teams that, through dedication, allow the packs to thrive. There is, however, always a desire to expand the team to further develop the opportunities and enhance the delivery. If anybody reading this report would like to find out more about volunteering in Scouting, please talk to either of the Section Leaders.
During the year we have collectively awarded 98 Challenge Badges, 246 Activity Badges and 60 Staged Badges that are either celebrating new success or the next level of the stage already awarded, i.e. Nights away and Emergency Aid.
This year we have, once again, joined with Groups from around Basingstoke to take part in some exciting District events. The main ones of note were:
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Beastly – A fun day of challenging, exciting, and diverse activates for all sections of the movement to enjoy. A significant percentage of the 1[st] Chineham cub population attended this event, and most of the leadership team were also there performing one of the many roles that are needed for an event of such scale.
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The District organised a hike around the local countryside. Again, many cubs took part in this and were challenged to follow a map to find their route. Leaders from the Cub section were allocated a “team” to help guide them around and keep them on the correct path – or at least near to it
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Basingstoke East scouts descended on Chessington World of Adventure in October with 5 coach loads of excited Cubs and Scouts heading up the M3. Once again, thanks to the leadership team, Chineham were able to take a significant contingent to this event with one of the coaches being allocated to us in its entirety. This was a great day with groups of cubs choosing where to go and what to see to meet their “teams” preferences.
At the end of May we took 40 cubs, a combination of members from both packs, to our annual camp at Phasels Wood Scout activity centre. We had an excellent camp, the weather was mixed, however, the cubs enjoyed a wide range of activities – climbing, high ropes, low ropes, shooting, abseiling, archery, crate staking, tunnels, the cresta run and pedal kart racing. We managed to contain some of the costs by using 1[st] Chineham leaders to officially run the Shooting and Archery using their Scout Association permits.
Once again, we were fortunate to have help from leaders from other sections which enabled this camp to run with no issues and allowing the leaders to be able to take time to re-charge. As always, the young leaders were invaluable with their assistance and helping us to look after the cubs.
The tents from this camp were finally dry and all back in the loft 14 days after the event finished. We would like to that all of the leaders that made several trips to the hall to turn drying tents over, pitch and/or strike the tents, fold and put them back away.
We also had our annual Remembrance service help at Christ Church Chineham. We feel that it is important for the Cubs to attend some sort of Remembrance ceremony and the local church is a way of interacting with the community whilst the church leaders deliver a service that resonates with the age group.
All these special items are in addition to “normal” evenings of activity, education, creativity, and teamwork. From cooking to Junk Modelling and from being out and about tracking to home help activities.
We have also made use of the Shooting and Climbing facilities, with our own accredited instructors, to encourage the cubs to take part in some of the more adventurous activities. The climbing is particularly useful as preparation for the packs when they attend our main camp. The Scout campsites have climbing walls that are outside, and higher, than the one at our Headquarters but offering the cubs a chance to experience in a safe, indoor, environment has proven valuable.
Towards the end of the year, we also held our third “Camp at the Hall”, after previous successes, which was again very well attended. 54 Cubs spent 24hrs completing activities, cooking, washing up and enjoying the outdoors. This event has been a successful inclusion into our scouting calendar.
We will return next year with an update on new programme ideas and ways of delivering, but in the meantime, if anyone would like to join our team, please let us know.
Scouts Scouts Report GILL CLarke, Scouts Team Lead
The Scout Leaders have run a jam packed programme this year teaching the scouts new skills, instilling fascinating knowledge and awarding lots of badges including Astronomer, Scientist, Electronics, Environmental Conservation, Local Knowledge, Athletics and Dragon Boating, to name a few. We have also run shooting sessions, planted trees, made bird boxes, taught navigation skills and held a silent disco. We have awarded 3 Gold awards this year and the Scouts have earned over 480 badges.
In July 2023 the Scouts visited Phasels Wood Activity Centre in Kings Langley, Hertfordshire, for a week’s summer camp. As the scouts arrived, the heavens opened, it continued to rain for most of the week and turned our site into a quagmire. Despite the weather the scouts had a fun packed week taking part in activities including tunnelling, human hungry hippos, human table football, climbing, cresta run, pedal karts, low ropes and Archery. We also had a day out kayaking on the Grand Union Canal with the scouts helping boats navigate the locks when they weren’t on the water. We even made a full roast dinner one night where we taught the scouts how to make ‘Dustbin roast chicken’.
Our February Fun camp weekend was held at the hall, Scouts built an assault course using their pioneering skills which they then raced in their patrols. They then built a stretcher and raced the assault course with a Resusci-Annie as a casualty, it was a good job she was wearing a helmet for this!
With the help of one of our parents we organised a trip to RAF Odiham one evening in March. 103 Scouts and Cubs, 3 Young Leaders and 17 Leaders descended on a hanger in RAF Odiham to learn about survival, weapons, aircraft navigation, firefighting and aerodynamics. We also got to look around a Chinook and set off the sirens in a Fire tender. We are grateful to the RAF personnel who gave up their evening to run this informative and fun session for us.
On the first May bank holiday weekend we held another camp at the hall. This was our ‘On the Water’ camp, the parents kindly taxied the scouts to Horseshoe Lakes where we had a day of Paddleboarding, Kayaking, Sailing and Dragon Boating. The Scouts all had a great time and earned at least 4 water badges each from this camp!
We have also taken part in several District events this year including; Chessington World of Adventures, Remembrance Parade, PL/APL camp, The Big Sleep Out, District Hike, Expedition Camp and Beastly.
We have had a few older Scouts move to Explorers this year and this has left us with a relatively young troop. We have another 5 moving up at the end of Summer term, this will leave us with a big gap in our PLs and APLs which is going to be tricky to fill with such a young troop. We currently have 44 Scouts (which includes 5 transitioning Cubs), with 14 more Cubs due to move up in the next year and 11 Scouts due to move to Explorers.
Preparations are well under way for our Scout Summer camp this coming July, 21 Scouts and 11 Leaders (we have borrowed a few) are looking forward to going to Youlbury Scout Activity centre, we just hope the weather is kinder to us this year.
None of this would be possible without the leaders who volunteer not just their time at meetings, camps and days out but also countless hours in the background planning, sorting out kit, shopping, visiting sites, attending training courses etc.
Scouts Finance Report Louise Wimpress, Treasurer
1 ST CHINEHAM SCOUT GROUP- Squirrels, Beavers, Cubs & Scouts INCOME & EXPENDITURE- 2023 Scouts 2023 2022 Income Subs Covenants Activities Hall Rents Other Fund Raising T-shirts Investiture and Badges Bank Interest Total Income £18,253 £0 £22,802 £16,267 £400 £4,573 £0 £0 £594 62,889 £16,157 £0 £18,061 £16,193 £0 £2,893 £0 £0 £101 53,406
Ex enditure Furid Raising / Projects Membership Fees Hall Experhses Badges UniForms Equipment Training Insurance Activities Transport Sundry Total Expenditure £4,447 £10,447 £11,641 £1,150 £1,595 £4,007 £245 £94 £23,131 £0 £394 £57.149 £5.635 £9.871 £9.508 £1.249 £2.088 £4.881 £244 £84 £22,206 £0 £555 £56.320 Scouts Surplus / (DeFicit) £5.740 2.914 Opening Cash Add Surplus/ (DeFicit) Minus Prior Year Closing Cash £42,807 £5,740 £45,721 -£2,914 rn rn 48.546 42.807
1[st] Chineham Annual Report 2023-2024 Independent Examiners Report
Independent Examiners Report Anouska Lisle, AAT Licensed Accountant
CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGIAND AND WALES Independent examlnorfs rnport on tho accounts Scouts Section Independonl ex4mlnr's Rtport Ch•rfty no ith rts trth• •Thl*131112r13
)11 >. 145 01tr• 2011 Aci •ré nny •¥W4Wh)ft. I MIV l•La 145¢5Mbl A qwllhcaUtsirfAI or body AddM•&' IER Oc*Jb•r 2018
Scouts Thank you
1ST CHINEHAM SCOUT GROUP - Squirrels, Beavers, Cubs & Scouts INCOME & EXPENDITURE - 2023
| Income Subs Covenants Activities Hall Rents Other Fund Raising T-Shirts Investiture and Badges Bank Interest Total Income Expenditure Fund Raising / Projects Membership Fees Hall Expenses Badges Uniforms Equipment Training Insurance Activities Transport Sundry Total Expenditure Surplus / (Defcit) Opening Cash Add Surplus / (Defcit) Minus Prior Year Closing Cash |
2023 £18,253 £0 £22,802 £16,267 £400 £4,573 £0 £0 £594 £62,889 £4,447 £10,447 £11,641 £1,150 £1,595 £4,007 £245 £94 £23,131 £0 £394 £57,149 £5,740 £42,807 £5,740 £0 £48,546 |
2022 £16,157 £0 £18,061 £16,193 £0 £2,893 £0 £0 £101 £53,406 £5,635 £9,871 £9,508 £1,249 £2,088 £4,881 £244 £84 £22,206 £0 £555 £56,320 |
|---|---|---|
| -£2,914 | ||
| £45,721 -£2,914 £0 |
||
| £42,807 |
CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examinerfs report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report Report to the trusteesl members of 1 Chineham Scout Group On accounts for the year ended 31" December 2023 Charlty no (if any) 1048634 Set out on pages I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (Ihe Trusf) for the year ended 31112r23 R•sponsibilities and As the charity trustees of the Trust. you are responsible for the preparation basis of report of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (Ihe Acr). I report in respect of my examination of the Trust's accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act. I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in conneth'on with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect: accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of theAdor the accounts do not accord with the accounting records Independent axaminer's Statement I have no concems and have come auoss no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. sned. Dato: 22105124 Anouska Lisle Relevant professional qualification(s) or body (If any): AAT Licensed Accountant Address: 2 De Port Gardens. Chineham, Basingstoke, Hants, RG24 8EW Section B Disclosure Only complete rf the examiner needs to highlight matters of conrn (see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts: directions and guidance for examiners). IER October 2018
Give here brief details of any items that the examiner wishes to disclose. Nothing to disdose. IER October 2018