2021-04-05-accounts

SCOUTS ', 1st St Leonards Forest Annual Report 2020- 2019

GROUP SCOUT LEADER

It has been a very unusual year, but though all the challenges that Covid has thrown at us the vast majority of Scouts, Cubs and Beavers in the group have had some great scouting opportunities, whether it’s cooking at the campsite or at home via a zoom meeting the leaders have come up with new and inventive ways of passing on the scouting knowledge safely.

I would like to thank everyone involved in the group, that’s all of you from Beavers to Explorer Scouts, Parents, Executive members and especially all our excellent and dedicated Leaders. You have all in some way, kept the group going with your support through what has been a very difficult year, however the group does now urgently need more leaders to strengthen our leader team in all sections, so please seriously consider volunteering, if we don’t have enough leaders we will have to close down sections and that will impact on your child’s scouting experience.

This brings to me to a massive thank you on behalf of the group to Mark Amarasekara who is moving to Wales, he has been Cub Scout Leader with Rudyard Pack for nearly 10 years, and one of my AGSL, in addition to developing the Group’s website and being the group IT guru, personally I honestly don’t know how I’m going to cope without his IT support, good luck with your move Mark and keep in touch you will be truly missed.

I mentioned in my report last year what a brilliant job Martin Dold had done getting the indoor cave system at the campsite funded and built, I am please to say that all his efforts on this project and for being a Scout leader for 30 years has been acknowledged by The Scout Association by awarding him a Silver Acorn, congratulations Martin it’s well deserved.

That just leaves me to thank Rob Marshall our Chairperson and the Executive committee for all the amazing work they do behind the scenes to ensure 1st St Leonard’s Forest Scout Group continues to function so brilliantly.

Graham Clayton Group Scout Leader

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CHAIRPERSON

Well, I think it’s fair to say that it’s been an extraordinary year!

It’s difficult not to dwell on the circumstances over the past 15 months or so. Our community have all been affected in some way by a change to society that has never been experienced in our lifetimes. Our children have had to cope with isolation, changes in education, separation from both friends and family and in some cases the loss of family members. As disruptive and challenging as these times have been, I have always been amazed by how resilient and positive our Scouting community have remained.

Our leadership teams along with the group assistants and parent helpers have worked tirelessly throughout the year to produce an inventive and engaging calendar of activities. I think we all understand that “Zoom” is not the perfect platform for an authentic Scouting experience, but with the multiple restrictions, varying levels of Lockdown and social distancing rules, it was almost impossible to produce a schedule of normal events. I would personally like to thank you all for the continued participation and attendance over the course of the past 12 months. Having had the pleasure of attending Murder Mystery evenings, badge work nights and Escape Rooms, I experienced first-hand how important the social interaction between the groups was during such a difficult time and how much joy was taken from the sections being together.

As restrictions to normal activity have started to ease, we have already seen the sections jump into life. Hiking, axe throwing, orienteering and trips to the campsite have been enjoyed by many of the groups and I’m assured there are plenty of exciting adventures to come.

On a final note, I would like to thank all the families who supported us during the pandemic, whether that was financially or through giving up their time to help. Without that support, it would have made the situation even harder. As an organisation we depend on the help of others and offering a few hours each week makes a huge difference in how we can plan and carry out activities. The group has a number of opportunities for you to get involved, from section leadership through to parent helpers, there really is a role for everyone even if time is precious. Please get in touch if you would like to explore how you can be part of a great team and truly create something special.

Rob Marshall Group Chairman

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BEAVERS AKERWOOD &WILLOW COLONY

The combined Akerwood / Willow section currently has 29 active attending beavers, 6 adult leaders and 4 young leaders. There is currently no Section leader for Willow. Since the Autumn term in 2020 Akerwood have been meeting jointly and since lockdown has eased we have met outdoors and much to our beavers delight have been able to cook mash-mallows round the camp fire.

During the summer and autumn terms our numbers declined however we still successfully ran 45 Zoom session from May through to the end of March 2021. Zoom sessions covered Tracking Skills, Cooking (muffins, cakes, biscuits, brownie, Apple crumble), Map reading, Planning a route, Quizzes, Scavenger hunts, Astronomy, Team games (connect 4, guess who), Memory games, Raft building, Code breaking.

We were able to present over 40 badges gained during our Zoom sessions as well as some of our beavers also completing several badges via the badges at home feature on OSM. We were also very proud to be able to present 6 Chief Scout Bronze awards which was an outstanding achievement bearing in mind the circumstances.

We plan to continue meeting jointly on a Thursday until after the summer break.

Beaver Leaders

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CUBS KIPLING PACK

Kipling has reduced slightly in numbers but have taken new cubs from the waiting list. We are currently sitting between 18-22 on a regular basis. We are currently at 22 cubs 20 boys and 2 girls

Since the cancellation of scouting in March (due to the COVID 19) we have adapted our running of cubs. This has been a huge challenge for most of us, but as usual we have stepped up and embraced it, coming out of our comfort zone. We have continued offering our Cubs a weekly evening. We have been running sessions through Facebook and Zoom. On average we have half of the cubs attending. They have completed Athletes, Games, and Cooking etc

The cubs were due to attend a camp In April with Willow and Baden but this was cancelled instead we offered a 2 night virtual camp, the cubs loved this, they was set challenges like a scavenger hunt, hike, cleaning and other chores. At the end of the camp a quiz.

On the leader front there is a change but as always we cannot run the pack without the dedicated team of volunteers. Stacey (Raksha), Ross (Rama) and Paul (Shere Khan) have remained, we said cheerio to Cara (Kaa) who decided to take some time off. We have welcomed two new section assistants Ellen (Keego) and Luke (Bagheera) and a young leader Nathan (Dizzy). A challenge we continue with is only having 2 warranted leaders and with Stacey working and Ross now in full time work. This will cause difficulties in running some evenings, but I will in advance try and source help.

As for badge work I have to commend both the cubs and their parents, carers and family who continue to support their cubs through the maze of badges. Whilst as leaders we try to develop a strong programme that supports the badges we inevitably have to send some work home to finish. Through the support of parents we have we have managed to achieve between 01/06/2019 to 01/06/2020

• 7 Chief Scout Silver awards - the highest in award in cubs

• 64 challenge badges

• 55 activity badges

• 64 Staged activity badges

• We are due to award 75 badges

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Over the next with the permission of the parents I will be offering a doorstep presentation of their completed badges.

Kipling cubs had 2 camps arranged Spring Camp and District but looking forward we will aim to offer 3 camps in the next year.

Here ’ s to the next year of cub scouts getting the most from Kipling

Kipling Cub Leaders

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CUBS RUDYARD PACK

Well that was a different year of scouting but like all the other aspects of life over the last year we managed to keep things going with a safe and distant approach. Online sessions had their benefits as well as their drawbacks. It does feel like we’ve not seen them properly in ages but we managed to have a Camp @ Home every term with the first not long after the first experience of a UK Campfire run by a Scout leader from somewhere near Manchester and kicking off everyone’s online sessions for the year.

We also cooked at home which was nice because the cubs could share their meals with their families. This has worked so well we’ve kept it in the planning as a good option. We also gave the cubs the opportunity to worked through a quite a number of badges that made the best use of the delivery channels that we had. It was a successful time for badge achievements for those taking place and we hope that we managed to bridge the period. Where we couldn’t complete a badge online entirely we are closing them off in our face to face sessions now. The cubs recently learnt to put out a frying pan fire using a fire blanket and did an excellent job of it.

Sadly, this is my last year leading for Rudyard as I am leaving for Wales at the end of term. We have built a great online community in our Facebook page and have strong relationships with many of our parents. We will need everyone to help keep the pack going whilst a new leader is secured to take the helm. We will of course do all we can to keep the programme and weekly meetings but when support doesn’t come through the appropriate decision will be made to ensure the happiness as well as the safety of the cubs is maintained.

I personally want to thank the cubs and parents past and present for helping make my time and experiences with Rudyard such a lot of fun. I will also take a moment to thank all the leaders who helped in the early years as I wasn’t a scouter as a child or prior to coming to Rudyard, so the training, skills and advice of such experienced people was vital to my personal development in this role.

Mark (Akela) Rudyard

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SCOUTS POWELL TROOP

Powell Troop are currently working with 32 scouts with a healthy mix of 10 girls & 22 boys. Our programme for each year is designed with the goal of helping all our scouts reach their full Scouting potential and this last year continues to demonstrate just how much we can all achieve, even in times of heavy restrictions. Despite all we saw 4 achieve their Gold Chief Scouts Awards, another 5 nearly there and so many more with a range of Challenge Awards and activity badges across a range of subjects!

This supports our view that the programme we plan with our Scouts around Scouting basics, what they suggest and what suits the seasons provide the outdoor and adventure skills necessary for a full and adventurous Scouting life and a range of other skills that should stay with our Scouts as they smooth their way into adulthood.

Between April 2020 and Easter 2021 we reached eScouting 35 before allowed back out to play fully, although we did squeeze in a few months of limited activities when allowed. Yes, last Summer came some freedom with small groups allowed to meet so we jumped on that and over what should have been our Summer Camp week we offered a cycling day, two hikes and three lake paddling sessions, a brilliant and very hot week. September through to end of October we were back f2f with small groups and grabbed any outdoor Scouting fun and adventure we could cram in before we returned to Zooming. We paddled at the lake, hiked the forest, practiced shooting & archery at HQ. November returned us to zooming again but we repeated past success and created more fun evenings. We have managed to cover so many activity badges and Challenge Awards owing our Scouts in Powell over 300 badges!

We started 2021 with a brilliant game of ‘Would I Lie to You?’ that worryingly evidenced what good liars our Scouts can be! We continued to Easter with some creative, fun and successful evenings all delivered and enjoyed remotely by Scouts and Leaders. We, the leader team cannot praise the determination, commitment and sense of fun our wonderful Scouts have continued to show over this testing year. 35 zooms and we did not lose a Scout!

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Back into full Scouting now we have had a proper return to Scouting with a day at the campsite, seen shooting, archery, paddling, pioneering, fire lighting, outdoor cooking and hiking. Brilliant!

To manage all this, we have a team of impressively active, adaptive and skilled leaders and helpers at Powell who as volunteers give and provide so much personally to see Scouts grow and develop so positively, this last year having to forgo that wonderful outside world of Scouting for online eScouting that has proven so successful but admittedly lots of hard but wonderfully creative and zany work.

Don Moyse SL

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SCOUTS BADEN TROOP

Remote Scouting during a Global Pandemic! Now there is a sentence that I never thought I would write again after writing last years report. Last year I wrote “ So… what a year we have had in Baden Scouts and who would have thought we would have finished the year holding the weekly meetings on Zoom, and coming live from the family home ”. Who knew then that this would last so long and change the way of scouting for nearly the whole year? As I write this in June 2021, we have done a complete 180 and whilst most of the year was via Zoom, Google Meet or Facebook, we are now back to Face to Face – albeit with social distancing and masks on occasions.

What a troop I have the pleasure of leading! They have all been absolutely amazing and have adapted to have challenge that have been thrown their way. During the majority of the year, we operated a programme that could include as much Scouting activity as we could, adapting to the live screen. I have to say I do not miss this! I am sure that whilst we had fun it would have 100 times better in person.

As for the troop we currently have 27 in the troop, 21 boys and 6 girls. We have said goodbye to a number of members some of whom have decided Scouting wasn’t for them as the world opened up, or those that have moved on to the Explorers to continue their fun.

During Summer and Winter terms we have undertaken several activities on Zoom, with Cooking being a popular favourite (I particularly enjoyed this one – especially as I had no clearing up to do whilst enjoying watching the mess being made at home !). We have looked at recycling and sustainability making a shopping bag out of an old t-sheet and knots, macrame Christmas trees, Escape room challenges, mapping, local walks (spelling their names in road names. Since returning to face-to-face scouting (A-Maze-ing!) we have undertaken axe throwing, a whole troop came of rounders, pioneering and erecting some new Baden tents that had not been out of the box. It is great to the see the Scouts re-bonding in patrols and completing the challenges to ensure they achieve!

Completing these activities has led to total of 86 badges been earned, some which have been awarded and some still to be handed out. 13 challenge badges, 27 occasion and special badges and the remaining being activity badges.

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To finish I just want to say thank you to the other fabulous and dedicated leaders we have in Baden. We are sad to have lost Fran, Nigel, and Adam who have all moved on to new challenges, and we will say goodbye to Owen again when he returns to Uni in September. Ellie will be also taking a rest from the troop, due to challenges at work. We have also been lucky to welcome Jenni, an ex-Baden Scout who is coming back to help. However, if there are any parents reading this who think I would like to help on a weekly basis or have a skill please do shout as I would also be grateful for more support – you can never have enough !

2021/22 will get better for Baden- as I know the programme has not been the best; but as we look forward to September, we will be planning to get back to basics – working our way through the Challenge badges to ensure that the Scouts can achieve the amazing CHIEF SCOUTS GOLD AWARD, taking in some nights away, new and old fun and challenging activities!

Chris Jones – Scout Leader Baden Troop Owen, Graham, Dave ‘Eric Otter’, Karen

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EXPLORER SCOUTS PEGASUS UNIT

Like all areas of scouting, Pegasus has been no different in being significantly impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. Thankfully we have adapted well and in recent weeks we have returned to face to face, outdoor meetings throughout the summer term.

In the lockdown period we continued to meet weekly on zoom with excellent support from the explorers and leaders, with around 18 explorers able to participate each week. We undertook a range of quizzes and virtual games. Despite the restrictions of virtual meetings, we were still able to run evenings on building important skills such as map reading and expedition route planning.

During the summer term we have been relieved to return to face to face meetings and have delivered a balanced programme including physical activities such as orienteering, promoting the importance of navigational skills, fire making and camp craft. We supported the local community by carrying out litter picking in the local area whilst on a walk, this taught the Explorers the importance of respecting and maintaining the environment.

One of the biggest impacts of Covid-19 has been on our trips. Our eagerly awaited mountain expedition to Saas Fee in the Swiss alps was postponed for the second year running. In addition, our annual Easter trip to the Lake District did not take place.

It goes without saying our great support network is invaluable and helps us go on the (albeit postponed!) trips that are so important, so again thank you to those unit helpers and leaders. Finally, thank you to the Explorers themselves who make every Wednesday great fun and a pleasure to lead. We have been especially delighted that the unit size has expanded to over 30 Explorers.

We look forward to continuing with face to face meetings and hope for a more ‘normal’ year come 2021/22 and hope to achieve the trips we couldn’t complete in 2021.

Matthew Lillywhite Pegasus ESL

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stStLeond5Forest Srwt Group earto 5th Aprll 2021 ECEIPT5 AND PAYMEpifs ACCOUNTS Membershlp fees Less paid to Distslrt Oonaiions GiftAid Retail Hospit4lit¥and LetsureGrant 15.924 .10.024 ioxo) Iall hire IAThber Pre￿￿j￿) Fund Rol￿n8 Other L274 1.274 7J13 Akerwood Wlllow Rudyard IA65 1597 712 3J74 3.467 164 164 baden Powell Explo￿r5- Pe805US Archery J.1 10 &195 YMENTS Leader trnlnln8•nd unllom fiadgts Équlpment Mlscellaneous. Icts4rt1ty Mlscellaneous- Other 011- se￿¢$ 345 1493 416 160 916 2m6 525 I.(IS7 916 1016 52S 3A13 H•ll- malntsnant¢ Hall- Councll tax Hall. Insurnnce Mlnlbus- In$￿ance Mlnlbus- repalrs and MOT Statlonery and posta8e Jamboree Camp ad¥an L128 917 Z937 L112 974 974 1833 Akerwood Wlllow Rudyaid KI￿En8 Baden Pow011 Explorers- Pe8•WS Archery 45 1.775 7￿37 351 1.362 351 61 3356 9596 1,445 36 Insurance Netof recelptsllpaymentsl Bank balan￿Sa5at 6th April 2020 •nk $# Sih Aprfl ZOZI 14373 n.12B 14373 ll128

st St Leonartls Forest Scout Group at 5th Aprll 2021 TATEMENT OF ASSEfs AND UABiimES AS ATTHE END OF THE PERIOO TOT FUW 7sh lunds Cu¥rent Accourtt 57330 15924 io 57,330 15324 io 787 43.672 .128 Members & Subs Acc MlniBus 5aviThgs Accouni Creditbalantts hek ¢)n 57XTrI Cash held by Sertlons Ak¢rwood Wlllow Rudyard KlpllA8 Baden Powell Explorers- Pegasus Archery Account Cash In hand Lf23 1105 L427 239 L345 L630 L725 2.105 1.427 239 1,623 2,046 1.572 590 2￿55 L630 L3r 16n 452 14319 Total C•sh fvrrfls 71128 monetary ass•tsfty ¢h¥ltys Scout bulldlng S¢out group Mlnlbu$•Nd ¢qulpment Depredatlon on Mlnlbus and equlpm• 103.619 103,619 85.119 -83.757 IN.980 103,619 85,119 -82.820 IC6.918 85.119 43,757 1,361 Total 101619 Uabllbtleg Not•stothe •c£ounts l Un￿$tr￿ted cash funds •re to be retsirJ •nd spert as the Group ExabthY deem folbyA amounts have been designated lor speofK pyrposes".- 20Zi 2 Depreda￿oTr.A5sets4re depredat•d ob4pJrs with no reshluol value T(•AI At051O4121 I￿619 DÉPAEaAftCI ch•ry•t0r￿r AtC610V2 757 757 916

Re ort to the Trustees of the I" St Leonards Forest Scout Grou On accounts for the ear ended 05 ri12021 Chari Number 274365. I report to the trustees on the examination of the accounts of the above charity for the year ended 05° April 2021. I have completed my examination. I confirn) that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the completion of the cash book. Income and expenditure report and balance sheet. I have no concern5 and have come acr055 no other matters in connertion with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understsnding ofthe accounts to be reached. Si8ned: Name; JAC ￿ i Date: JMLY 2021 Address: ltr HOPML4kLsr ÉHIO &kg.