HILLSIDE SCOUT GROUP
ANNUAL REPORT – April 2021 March 2022
Hillside Scout Group Annual General Meeting 2021-2022
Wednesday 13[th ] July 2022
7.00pm
Venue: Hillside Scout HQ, Oak Tree Bank, Knayton.
AGENDA
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Welcome and apologies
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Approval of Minutes of the 2021 AGM.
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Approval of Group’s Annual Report, including Financial and Sectional Reports
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Appointment of Chairman of Executive Committee.
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Election of Group Officers and Executive Committee.
Secretary Treasurer Leader Representatives. Parent Members
- Presentation of Awards, followed by Entertainment from Cubs and Scouts and light refreshments.
HILLSIDE SCOUT GROUP
Annual General Meeting 2021 Tuesday 8[th] June, 8pm via Zoom
A = Point of agreement
1 Welcome and Apologies
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1.1 Nick Lane (Chairman) and Iris de Wet (Group Scout Leader) welcomed everyone to the Hillside Scout Group AGM which was being held virtually for the second year.
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1.2 Those present included Simon Cross, Iris de Wet, Emma Fryer, David Johnson, Nick Lane, John Lockwood, Steve Pett, Clare Scott, Graham Short, and Leah Wilson.
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1.3 Apologies had been received from Joss Badminton and Katie Anderson.
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2 Approval of Minutes of the 2020 AGM 2.1 Nick proposed and Leah seconded that the minutes of the 2020 AGM should be approved A as a correct record of the proceedings. The minutes of the 2020 AGM, held on 3[rd] July, were approved unanimously.
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3 Approval of Group Annual Report, including Financial and Sectional Reports 3.1 Sectional Reports A Sectional reports for Beavers and Cubs were included in the booklet that had been circulated. An update from Scouts was included in the Group report. Members thanked Graham for keeping badge work going for scouts. Iris proposed that the section reports be approved, Leah seconded. The reports were approved unanimously.
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3.2 Iris noted that some minor amendments would be made before submitting the reports –
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formally these related to technical and formatting issues in layout which were now resolved. The amended version would also be uploaded to the Charities Commission.
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3.3 Nick observed that the Group had only suffered a minimal reduction in numbers during lockdown which was a reflection of how well the section leaders had succeeded in keeping their young members engaged. He warmly thanked the leaders, assistants, helpers and committee members for their hard work and in particular Iris for her energy and dedication.
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3.4 Treasurer’s Report: A David reported that while the group had still been obliged to make payments to Scout HQ the financial situation was very strong and they had benefited from grants during this period. The accounts reflected that some funds had been returned to parents for activities that had not taken place and one slow payment for use of the hall. In general, the group –
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was in exceptionally good financial shape the building work was now pretty much complete with plenty of funds left for the remaining cladding work.
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3.5 Leah proposed that the financial statements be approved and Clare seconded. The financial statements were approved unanimously.
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3.6 Nick thanked David for his excellent stewardship of the accounts.
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4 Appointment of Chairman of Executive Committee. A 4.1 Iris was delighted to report that Nick Lane had kindly agreed to stay in post as Chairman. Iris proposed that he be re-elected and Leah seconded. This was agreed unanimously.
5 Election of Group Officers and Executive Committee Members appointed the following group officers
| 5.2 5.1 5.3 5.4 6 7 |
Secretary:Emma Fryer agreed to continue as Secretary. Iris proposed and Nick seconded her reappointment, which was agreed. A Treasurer:David Johnson agreed to continue as Treasurer. Leah proposed and Iris seconded his reappointment, which was agreed. A Leader Representatives Graham Short agreed to continue as Leader Representative. Nick proposed and Leah seconded his reappointment, which was agreed. A Other Exec Committee Members: Parent members:Steve and Clare had kindly agreed to remain on the Committee. Graham proposed that Steve Pett and Clare Scott be reappointed to the Executive Committee. Simon seconded. Their appointments were agreed. A Discussion: Resumption of face to face scouting activity Members briefly discussed options but for the moment activities would continue to take place outside, which worked well for summer activities. AOB |
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There was no AOB. Nick thanked everyone for attending and closed the meeting.
C hair’s Annual Report
2021-2022
The arrival of the Annual General Meeting means that another year of activities is drawing to a close for Hillside Scout Group. I am sure that many of you reading this report follow the activities of the Group through our Facebook page and so will have seen for yourselves how, since the return of normal activities, all of the Sections have thrown themselves back into a full programme of activities. There has been plenty of challenge (mammoth sized at times!), a hint of adventure and I know a lot of enjoyment. Please read the Section Leaders reports for further details of what our young people have been up to this year, and if you do not follow the Group on social media please take a look.
As always, the Group has only been able to offer such a fantastically varied programme because of dedication and enthusiasm of our fantastic team of Section Leaders, Assistant Leaders, helpers and parent volunteers. I would like to take this opportunity to thank each of them for their commitment to the Group and for giving up their spare time so freely. Whilst we have a strong group of Leaders and supporters, we are always on the lookout for anyone who might be able to give up some of their free time to support any of the Sections. You do not have to commit to being available every week, nor do you have to be particularly “outdoorsy” but if you think you might be able to spare some time please speak with the Group Scout Leader or any of the Section Leaders. If you would prefer something more behind the scenes then we would welcome volunteers to join the Executive Committee, again please speak to Iris or myself if you think that you can help.
The Executive Committee recently had its first face to face meeting since before the Covid pandemic, there is much catching up to do but the Group remains in a strong position in terms of both membership numbers and finances. I am incredibly grateful to each member of the Executive Committee for the support that they have given the Group Scout Leader and myself in the past few months, but can I particularly thank our Treasurer, David Johnson, who has carefully monitored our finances during the pandemic.
My final thank you must of course be to Iris, our ever-present Group Scout Leader, who continues to give her time to support our young people, be that at camps and sleepovers at the Headquarters or making hot chocolate with the Scouts beneath the White Horse on a dark March evening. It is in no small part due to her that Hillside Scout Group has been able to bounce back from the pandemic in the way that it has. There is a lot more to the role of Group Scout Leader than simply turning up at Section meetings, she is responsible, along with Graham, for ensuring that the Leaders and Committee are up to date with mandatory training, approves risk assessments and also acts as a mentor to new Leaders. On top of all of that she is also the unpaid caretaker of our Headquarters, opening up, liaising with hirers, cleaning and sorting out the endless list of odd jobs that need doing. We are incredibly lucky to have her.
I hope everyone involved with Hillside has a relaxing and enjoyable summer break, hopefully the sun will shine and you will all be able to spend time sharing some of the new skills our young people have picked up this year. I look forward to seeing all of you in September for the start of the new term.
Nick Lane Chair
BEAVER SCOUT ANNUAL REPORT 2021-2022
Well, what a joy it has been to be able to get back to face to face Beaver meetings. It been a real pleasure to share a space with some great young people, do some interesting things and make lots of noise!
Our program has covered a lot of ground in the last 12 months. We have had a go at navigation, cooked on campfires, done a bit of gardening, worked on our photography badge and even learnt a few money skills. My personal highlight was our caveman camp at which beavers made caveman costumes, built pretend stone axes, and helped create a half size model of a woolly mammoth. It was great to see the mammoth head off to Knayton School where it took centre stage in the schools’ topic for their winter term. Although this will obviously figure it next year’s report it has also been great to put the Queen ’s J ubilee celebrations at the heart of the present term ’ s activities and it was very special to see the Beaver ’ s jubilee crown placed on the alter at Osmotherley Church where it took centre stage in the village’s celebrations. Well done, Beavers!
Finally, a word of warning, the theme for our next Beaver Sleepover will be space so please expect a half size model of the international space station and space helmets all round.
Simon Cross
Beaver Scout Leader
Cub Scout Report 2021/22
It was good to get back to normal scouting this year and some of our usual activities which we had missed during the previous year.
9 cubs completed their chief scout award. Well done Elizabeth Askey, Emily Askey, Eleanor Ward, Isaac Chapman, Issy Harry and Jacob Harker, Henry Stiles, James Raper and Matilda Price who completed their award at camp at the end of the spring term. Congratulations.
Cubs ended the year with 34 members.
Summer 2021
During the summer term the cubs worked towards the environment activity badge and the Blue Peter Green Badge and Scouts Promise to the Planet. At the end of term they were all presented with their Blue Peter green badge. We had a go at tent pitching, although camping wasn’t yet on the agenda. We hiked to Boltby Reservoir, biked in Boltby Forest and built shelters in Silton Forest all towards the adventure challenge. We played some water games and did some fire lighting. We had an Easter egg hunt and a treasure hunt and completed some work towards the naturalist badge.
Autumn 2021
We started the term with a sixers meeting and a pack forum so the cubs could plan what they wanted to do this term. They planned a great variety of activities and badges including the cyclist, chef and animal carer activity badges, also the emergency aid stage 2 and navigator stage 2 badges. We completed part of the skills challenge badge and we celebrated Diwali as part of the world challenge badge. We also tried indoor caving. Unfortunately, due to a new variant of covid we had to end the term early.
Spring 2022
Once again we started the term with a sixers meeting and pack forum and the cubs came up with lots of activity badges and activities they wanted to complete. These included the new money skills badge, we were the first pack in the district to complete the badge, scientist and photographer activity badges.
We went on a night hike around Cod Beck Reservoir with a team challenge along the way. We had our annual pancake making night, making mini pancakes on tins. We went to the Billingham Forum for a night of ice skating, I think the parents enjoyed it just as much as the cubs. We made a moving model out of recycled items for the skills challenge and we went on a quest around Thirsk, prepared by the District Active Support (DAS) team. We ended the term with a camp on our field, the first camp we have had in almost 3 years. We had a go at cooking breakfast, backwoods cooking, fire lighting and pioneering. We played bingo, built missile launchers, went on a blind trail. We tried archery, learnt some knots and made our own rope. The cubs all did really well considering this was their first cub camp and it was all new to them.
I would like to thank the cubs for their contribution with the planning of the programme each term, keeping it interesting and fun. Thanks also to our leadership team of Leah and Joss and young leaders Benji, Noah, Bronwyn and Esme. I would also like to thank Iris for her continued support. I must also thank our camp team, Gayle, Jon, Andrew, Paul and Kimmy.
Graham Short Cub Scout Leader
Scouts - 2021-March 2022
This year saw us returning to Face to Face Scouting following the pandemic, with this in mind myself and Steve decided to return the focus back to the Scouting Values and why we choose to become part of the Scouting community and what that means.
Scouts kicked off on April 21 with a wonderful bike ride to High Paradise Farm for Scouts to deliver their Mini Manifesto to become elected Patrol and Assistant Patrol Leaders. This was followed by creating and making patrol shields homing in on creative skills and wood work. We made the most of the lighter nights with a walk up Roseberry Topping and Orienteering at Cote Ghyll, Campfires and Pioneering before breaking for the summer. On our return we turned our attention to more indoor based activities and took part in charity events such as the Children in Need Ramble where the Scouts raised an incredible amount of money for this wonderful charity, learnt about Cop 26 with some Scouts even taking part in local demonstrations. The Scouts participated in Wheelchair Basketball and a great night in the woods at Sutton Bank practicing our outdoor stove skills.
We have also welcomed Jon, our new assistant leader into Scouts who has been a most welcomed addition to the team not just for Scouts but Hillside as a whole.
Following the challenges of the pandemic it was wonderful to get back to face to face Scouting. We bid farewell to our older Scouts who moved onto Explorers and welcomed new scouts from Cubs and a few from outside of Scouting too.
Thank you to the Hillside Team and families for your continued support that continues to ensure Hillside is the success it is.
Katie Anderson Scout Leader
HILLSIDE SCOUT GROUP Financial Statement
| 2021-22 | 2020-1 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Income | x | Expenditure | Income | x | Expenditure | |
| Subs |
13,423.00 | 10,261.20 | 854.00 | 3,777.00 | ||
| Donations+Gift Aid |
8,395.00 | 100.00 | 10,080.00 | 20.00 | ||
| Activities |
950.50 | 1,292.92 | 320.00 | 2,443.38 | ||
| Fund Raising |
- | - | - | - | ||
| Nights Away |
742.50 | 384.06 | - | - | ||
| Uniforms Badges |
382.95 | 578.65 | 5.00 | 247.70 | ||
| Sundries |
36.75 | 294.04 | 3.50 | 401.64 | ||
| Interest Received | ||||||
| - | - | - | - | |||
| Training |
- | - | - | - | ||
| Electricity |
1,805.12 | 3,224.17 | 1,624.74 | 1,955.44 | ||
| Insurance |
- | 1,514.16 | - | 1,440.47 | ||
| Rates |
- | 51.24 | - | - | ||
| Equipment |
31.50 | 949.95 | - | 778.54 | ||
| Hall Hire |
4,896.26 | - | 5,997.00 | - | ||
| Depreciation |
- | - | - | - | ||
| Building Maintenance |
- | 398.02 | - | 258.27 | ||
| Music Licence | ||||||
| - | - | - | - | |||
| Building Enhancements |
- | 5,959.55 | - | 3,212.29 | ||
| Total |
30,663.58 | 25,007.96 | 18,884.24 | 14,534.73 | ||
| 5,655.62 | 4,349.51 | |||||
| Summary of Accounts | ||||||
| - | - | - | - | |||
| Current Accounts |
13,509.25 | 19,147.97 | 9,199.74 | 13,509.25 | ||
| Nat West Business Reserve | ||||||
| Account | ||||||
| 1.47 | 1.47 | 1.47 | 1.47 | |||
| STIS Investment Account |
42.17 | 42.17 | 42.17 | 42.17 | ||
| Totals |
13,552.89 | 19,191.61 | 9,243.38 | 13,552.89 | ||
| unpresented cheques |
10.00 | - | 30.00 | 10.00 | ||
| Petty Cash |
- | 26.90 | - | - | ||
| Totals adjusted for unpresent | ||||||
| cheques | ||||||
| 13,562.89 | 19,218.51 | 9,213.38 | 13,562.89 | |||
| Net Income |
- | 5,655.62 | - | 4,349.51 |
The Group’s accounts remain in a strong state , with a net surplus of £5655.62 in the past year. We received a Covid related grant for £8000 which more than covered our shortfall on rental income. The major expenditure on the building was to complete the wood cladding of the exterior and flooring of the extension, so that we can now say that the building is complete as per the original planning application.
David Johnson Group Treasurer
Scrutineer’s report to the Trustees of the Hillside Scout Group
I report on the accounts for the Group for the year ended 31 March 2022.
Respective responsibilities of trustees and Scrutineer
As the Group’s trustees you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts; you consider that neither the audit nor the independent examination requirements of the Charities Act 2011 apply. It is my responsibility without carrying out an audit or independent examination to scrutinise the accounts and to report to you.
Basis of Scrutineer’s Statement
In accordance with the directions given in the Group’s constitution I have scrutinised the records and the accounts.
Scrutineer’s Statement
In my opinion the accounts are in accordance with the records presented to me and comply with the constitution.
Paul Nicholson
4 St Johns Garth, Felixkirk, Thirsk, YO7 2EG 3 July 2022
HILLSIDE GROUP REPORT 2021-2022
It’s been wonderful to have been able to meet face to face for much of the year, even though we had to have a few unscheduled breaks when Covid reared its head in the community and restrictions were in place at times. It’s fair to say we survived and thank goodness our membership remained loyal, due I am sure to the efforts our Leaders put in via Zoom and outdoor meetings.
The Section Reports paint a picture of adventure, excitement and fun and I commend them to you. The young people have missed out on a lot of skill training but hopefully as the months go by that situation will improve.
Numbers in Beaver Scouts and Cub Scouts have risen to pre Covid levels and the Scouts, although they lost their older members, are finding that membership is gradually increasing. Census figures in February 2022 were Beavers 26, Cubs 36 and Scouts 22, making a total of 84. As we often say though, quantity isn’t everything, but quality is so important. Very sincere thanks to those Leaders who went above and beyond to ensure that young people obtained their Chief Scout Top Awards, in spite of all the problems we faced in delivering programmes.
Leader-wise, we are so grateful to all the Leaders who have committed to stay and do such sterling work. Unfortunately, our situation is somewhat fragile and we urgently need to recruit new Leaders. We are looking forward to a more welcoming approach from Scout HQ to both recruitment and training.
We were very fortunate to be the recipient of a £2000 Making a Difference Grant from Hambleton District Council which enabled us to carpet the floor of the new annexe and have some utility floor covering in the toilet area. Thank you to Cllr. Andy Robinson for backing our application.
Special thanks are extended to many other people, as well as the Leaders and Executive Committee. Thanks in abundance to Graham and David who have got the finance situation up to speed. Welcome to Andy Price who will fill the vacancy left by Steve Pett’s departure. Thank you Steve for all your help and advice. Our Chairman who is a multi-hat wearer who makes those difficult telephone calls and thinks nothing of helping out with the young people. The Grandad who regularly checks our alarms; the Cub Scout who tightens the screws on the door handle and the Badminton players who put time into additional toilet cleaning. We are so grateful, as every little bit helps. Please consider helping us; Ww e’ll find a job for you. Remember that in the end the young people benefit, but the volunteers actually enjoy belonging too.
Finally, Ricky a founder member of the Hillside Group, had GONE HOME in Scouting parlance, in February. It is only right to acknowledge that without his desire to be a Beaver there would probably not be a Hillside Scout Group for you all and hundreds of others to have enjoyed membership of. What we do for our children? Imagine the pride I felt the other day when my daughter in law announced that my eldest grandson will be joining a super Scout Group in the Lake District as a Beaver. Sadly, I won’t see Ricky helping out as I’d always hoped he would , but how great that his children will be able to continue his love of all things Scouting.
Iris de Wet Group Scout Leader
NVSB
And already in 2022 we've been busy........ '**