2023-03-31-accounts

Scouts 1st Arlesey Scout Group Annual General Meeting 2023 Reports -

1st Arlesey Scout Group Executive

Board of Trustees Chair Report

This year, my Chair Report, celebrates the exceptional journey of our Beavers, Cubs, Scouts, and

remarkable resilience, dedication, and enthusiasm, making it an exciting and eventful period for all involved.

Under Karen's outstanding leadership as GSL in 2022, our group went from strength to strength. However, unforeseen circumstances led to Karen stepping down from her post. We were immensely fortunate to have Jayden, one of our younger leaders, step up to fill the role temporarily. With his deep understanding of Scouting POR and unyielding enthusiasm, Jayden has admirably kept our group together during a challenging time. I personally extend my heartfelt gratitude, and on behalf of the entire 1st Arlesey Scouts team, we commend Jayden for his dedication, time, and technological expertise over the past 6 months. Thanks to his efforts, we are now proud to announce the upcoming opening of our second Scout Troop, led by Jayden himself, as he takes the next step on his Scouting journey with us. Thank you, Jayden - you are a legend!

Our Cub Packs have continued to flourish, and this success is undoubtedly due to the unwavering dedication of our two Akelas. Sioux and Cheyenne have consistently delivered fun and action-packed programmes, ensuring our Cubs have had an incredible time and made lasting memories.

As we bid farewell to Emily in her role as Beaver Leader (Ravens), we must recognize the significant impact she has had in establishing our second Beaver Colony. Emily's efforts have been invaluable, and we express our deepest gratitude for her contributions.

Furthermore, we extend a warm welcome to Michele and Claire, who have taken up leadership roles in our Beaver Colonies. Michele's nights away permit and Claire's passion, supported by Will, have injected new energy into Ravens and Falcons, respectively. These leaders have shown incredible tenacity in their roles and are actively recruiting new volunteers to enhance our scouting experience. Congratulations, ladies, on your exceptional efforts!

Gareth's leadership of our Scout Troop has been nothing short of outstanding. Alongside Jayden and Matt, his amazing team, they have delivered a scouting-packed programme, complete with thrilling activities such as Tomahawk throwing and wild water adventures. We're all eagerly looking forward to the exciting Norway23 camp, a true testament to their dedication and hard work. Moreover, we are excited about the opening of our new Troop in September, a testament to the growing success of 1st Arlesey Scout Group.

A special shout-out goes to the Dambuster Explorers, who have doubled in size over the past year! Under Chris's guidance, they have become a supportive and proactive unit, welcoming newcomers with open arms. Chris's commitment, not only as an Explorer leader but also in various other roles, has been exemplary. He has also been involved in fundraising for the World Scout Jamboree in Korea, showcasing his incredible dedication and passion.

I cannot stress enough the importance of our leaders and volunteers. Their unwavering dedication and commitment provide the young people of Arlesey with a nurturing environment to learn, grow, and build friendships. Without their selfless contributions, 1st Arlesey Scout Group would not be the vibrant community it is today.

Our community involvement has grown significantly, thanks to the incredible support from the Arlesey community. Events such as the Annual Christmas Raffle have played a crucial role in our fundraising efforts, ensuring we continue to offer an inclusive scouting programme for all ages.

As we look to the future, we are thrilled about our Scouts and Explorers embarking on a camp abroad in Norway in 2023. The possibility of opening a second Scout Troop and exploring ways to improve the energy efficiency of our hut are exciting prospects that align with our commitment to growth and sustainability.

At 1st Arlesey Scout Group, we believe that scouting is not just for young people; it is a community effort that thrives on collective support and involvement. With this in mind, I would like to extend a warm invitation to you, the parents and residents of Arlesey, to join our Board of Trustees. Your valuable input and contributions will help us grow and strengthen our Scout Group, ensuring that we continue to provide an exceptional scouting experience for all our young members. We greatly value your insights and ideas, and by joining the committee, you can actively participate in decision-making, support with fundraising initiatives, and assist in organising events that will benefit our scouts.

Lastly, thank you all for your ongoing support, dedication, and enthusiasm in making 1st Arlesey Scout Group a thriving community for our young people. Your belief in our mission enables us to continue empowering our youth with invaluable skills and experiences. Yours in Scouting,

Sarah Colley Board of Trustees Chair, 1st Arlesey Scout Group Email: [e-mail]

1st Arlesey Scout Group Executive

Group Scout Leader Report

It has been another action-packed year of Scouting at the 1[st] Arlesey Scout Group. For those of you who do not know me, my name is Jayden Constable and for the last three months, I have been Acting Group Scout Leader for the 1st Arlesey. Prior to this, I was appointed Deputy Group Scout Leader at last year’s AGM.

Sadly, my appointment as Acting Group Scout Leader only happened due to our previous Group Scout Leader Karen Brett stepping down from the role in March due to personal reasons. As an individual who contributed so much to the 1st Arlesey over the last few years, Karen will be sorely missed, and we all truly wish her the best for the future.

My aim is to keep this report as concise as possible to allow you more time to read the brilliant Section Updates. These updates will more than adequately inform you about all the excellent activities that each section has taken part in over the last year.

All of these fantastic opportunities would not be possible if it were not for the continued combined efforts of our entire group leadership team and board of trustees. Everything that happens within Scouting has been planned and facilitated by volunteers giving up their time to make it happen. Anyone can contribute to Scouting, we have all skills that we can teach and time that we can provide.

To all Beavers, Cubs, Scouts and Explorers who are attending the AGM. Your final instructions from me are simple, to thank as many of our volunteers as possible for everything that they do as it is all done for you.

Sadly, at the AGM on the 18[th] July, I will be stepping down from this role to allow for a new individual to take it on and give it the time, energy and enthusiasm which it fully deserves. Currently, nobody has put their name forward and as such our current District Commissioner Tracey Murrell who will be looking after the 1st Arlesey Leadership team until a new GSL can be found (Sorry Tracey! 😁😁 ).

We are also incredibly fortunate at the 1st Arlesey to still have two (soon to be three!) ex GSL’s serving in different roles within the group. So, we are still in an incredibly strong position to provide constant support to our leadership team and to all sections throughout the group.

Whilst I am sad to be leaving the role, this will not be the end of my Scouting journey with the 1[st] Arlesey but rather a new beginning. In September, we will be opening a new Friday Scout Troop which I will be running as Section Leader. I cannot describe in words how excited I am for this opportunity, and I simply hope that the planned programme and events over the next few months will speak louder than words. If you know of a young person between 10½ & 14 who would like to join this new Troop. Please feel free to contact me using the contact details listed below.

It has been a genuine pleasure and a privilege to have been both your deputy GSL and Acting GSL over the last year. I look forward to seeing from the sidelines what the future holds for this magnificent group.

Please continue to support each other, live by your promise and in the words of our founder Lord Robert Baden-Powell “Leave this world a little better than your found it”. Please take care and I look forward to seeing you all soon.

Yours in Scouting,

Jayden Constable Acting Group Scout Leader Email: [e-mail] Telephone: [phone]

1st Arlesey Scout Group

Board of Trustees Treasurer Report

Income

Subscriptions

Membership subscription fees remained unchanged in 2022/23. All subscriptions are collected online via OSM.

A total of £14,860 in subscriptions was collected this financial year. This income to the Group was off-set by the payment of our membership fees of £8,299 to the Biggleswade District Scout Association.

Fundraising

A total of £2,633 was raised through a variety of fundraising events. This amount is significantly lower than previous years due to the lack of our annual fireworks event.

Donations

We received £117 from Amazon “smile” programme, Amazon have now sadly stopped running

Rental Income

The Scout Hut is available to hire for £10/hour. This year rental income of £415 was collected.

Expenditure

Premises

Maintenance costs of £2,380 for the Scout Hut and grounds are significantly lower than the previous year as no major maintenance of buildings work was undertaken.

Activities

This year £13,498 was spent on camps and youth activities. It should be noted that during the course of the year £16,500 was collected from parents as advance payments for the 2023 Norway Camp. Final payments for this camp will appear in the 2023-24 annual accounts

Neckers/Badges

£1,517 was spent on neckers, woggles, badges and handbooks.

Admin

Admin expenses came to £913 which includes accountancy fee’s for auditing our annual accounts.

Net receipts for the year

The accounts for the Group show an operating loss for the year of £10,132 excluding Norway payments which have been ringfenced.

This is in part due to increasing operating costs and ground maintenance and in part due to a decrease in fundraising activities.

Yours in Scouting,

Chris Livermore Board of Trustees Treasurer, 1st Arlesey Scout Group

1st Arlesey Falcon Beavers Annual Report

Falcon beavers have had an amazing fun packed year.

We are extremely proud to report that Falcon beavers have grown in numbers this year, we are currently at capacity with 24 beavers. In October, our beaver colony had dwindled down to just 13 beavers. This has been a group effort and we hope to be able to provide scouting for 1st Arlesey Scout Group’s youngest section for a very long time.

Falcon Beavers are lucky to have a great leadership team that has also increased in numbers this year.

Leaders - Will (hawkeye) and myself, having recently been invested by our acting Group Scout Leader Jayden. (We will ask the beavers to choose a beaver name for me very soon). Our amazing section assistants - Tamsin, Sarah, James and Lou. Tamsin is moving over to our Raven colony. We all wish Tamsin the best and want to thank her for everything she has done for Falcon Beavers, and she will be missed by us all.

Our Beaver parent helpers have been amazing this year and have provided us with the support to keep running every week. I cannot thank them enough, without their help this year it would have been impossible to keep our section running. Parent helpers are always welcome to stay and help out at our sessions.

This year both Beaver colonies had a winter indoor sleepover and camped in tents at the Scout hut for 1 night where they went on a very long hike, played water games and helped to prepare dinner. Both beaver colonies also camped at Boyd field for The Big Weekender with the Biggleswade district.They all thoroughly enjoyed this experience. While we were there we went on a nature walk, took part in lots of activities and enjoyed singing along at the campfire. I know that the beavers were gutted to have missed out on the climbing wall and the cave bus due to the extreme temperature so this is something we are keen to arrange for next term.

This year Falcon beavers went on a night hike around the fields up towards Fairfield, took part in a litter pick hike around Arlesey rec field collecting 3 bags of rubbish, had a visit to Shefford fire station, attended a water activity day at Luton Hoo, pond dipping and had a go at throwing tomahawks at a target and so much more.

We commemorated The Late Queen Elizabeth II’s death with a gift of a coin from Hawkeye and a badge to wear on our jumpers.

We celebrated King Charles II's coronation with royal games, cupcakes and a badge for our jumpers.

In total Falcon Beavers have been awarded 213 badges including nights away, hikes, snow sports, hobbies and first aid to name a few. 3 of our Beavers earned the highest award, The Chief Scout Bronze award, and we have 1 more to award tonight. We have said goodbye to 4

beavers this year who have moved up to our Cub packs and we are saying goodbye to 1 more today. This year we have invested 14 beavers in the Falcon colony. So you will see many more blue jumpers and yellow neckers around Arlesey.

We introduced lodge points this year and the Beavers are very keen to win points for their lodge. This has had a positive effect on behaviour as well as strengthening their commitment to teamwork. At the end of the term the lodge with the most points receives a small prize.

We have a planning meeting arranged during the summer holidays to book some great and exciting sessions. We will be busy planning a Christmas treat and hope to camp at least once a term going forward. We would also like to get the Beavers involved in planning what we do at our sessions and will be holding a log chew to get their ideas on what badges they would like to cover and how this can be achieved in their Beaver journey.

James’ highlight of the year was his first-time true camping, we camped with the Beavers at the Scout hut, he really enjoyed getting to know the Beavers and leaders a little better. His favourite experience was at night when he almost froze to death, the temperature dropped after our heatwave in the day. James obviously has a lot to learn, as a scout is always prepared. He is looking forward to learning new skills with the Beavers in the future and proving himself a Scout at our next camp.

Sarah’s highlight of the year was supporting the Beavers skiing on the dry ski slope, she was left amazed at our Beavers resilience and their ability to persevere. Not one of the Beavers had ever done this activity before and although it was hard work everyone gave it their best and managed to walk up the ski slope (not that easy with skis that are ¾ the size of our little Beavers) and ski back down the slope. Sarah is looking forward to helping out next term, let’s see if we can top this amazing highlight.

Lou’s highlight of the year was our pond dipping session, hiking to the pond dipping area where after really good listening on the walk there, Beavers without hesitation bravely waded into the water to see what exciting pond life they could find and learn about. The Beavers had so much fun and didn’t want to leave. Lou looks forward to more fantastic adventures with Falcon Beavers.

Tamsin’s highlight of the year was attending Pets at Home with the beavers, she really enjoyed seeing the beavers come out of their comfort zones, bravely holding snakes. The beavers really enjoyed this session. They asked lots of questions and enjoyed handling all the animals. Tamsin is looking forward to working with our Raven beaver colony and her knowledge and skills will be so appreciated.

Hawkeye’s highlight of the year has been watching our section grow in numbers Beavers, Leaders, Section Assistants and parent helpers. He is looking forward to future activities and supporting everyone to grow their Scouting skills.

My highlight of the year was The Big Weekender, I was fascinated with just how big Scouting is in Biggleswade and I was proud to be a part of it. Beavers were amazing, they showed me just how kind and helpful each and every one of them are. They buddied up to go to the toilet, they shared and they took turns. I am looking forward to everything, Tuesday has become my favourite night of the week.

We are immensely proud of Falcon Beavers, and enjoy watching the beavers grow in confidence as well as in height. I know that hawkeye’s favourite time in our sessions is when we say “goodbye Beaver”, this is not because he is glad that they are leaving but because he asks each Beaver to shout “GOODBYE BEAVER” on their own, as loud as they can. When they first start with us their voices are small but as they grow in confidence we are deafened by their screams. When our ears are ringing, Hawkeye knows that they are growing in confidence 1 shout at a time every week.

Lastly, I would like to take this opportunity to thank a few people. Thank you to everyone at 1st Arlesey Scout Group, the Scout hut now feels like my second home, I joke about this often. Thank you to all the Falcon beavers you all make my late night admin tasks worthwhile. Thank you to our beaver parents, I am sure you are as proud of them as I am. Thank you to our acting Group Scout leader Jayden your help has been invaluable to me and I appreciate every late night message you send. Thank you to all of the 1st Arlesey Scout Group leaders you have supported me every step of the way on my journey with falcon beavers. You have given me advice, recommendations, praise, shared your knowledge and without you all I would have almost definitely left my role today as my own little beaver continues her scouting journey and moves up to cubs. So thank you all for welcoming me into your Scouting family. I look forward to our group camps and picking your brains for future ideas.

Yours in Scouting

Claire Danson, and Team Falcons

1[st] Arlesey Beavers – Ravens – Annual Report 2023

We have had an amazing Year here at Ravens Beavers ,we currently have 16 beavers after moving so many beavers up to cubs recently. We will start recruiting for new beavers before we come back to Scouting in September.

This year has seen lot’s of changes we said goodbye to our beaver leader sunshine (Emily) she moved over to Cheyene cub pack, we have welcomed a New Beaver leader Michele (HedgeHog) as well as Shelby as a Section Assistant and Vicki has joined us and is looking forward to becoming an assistant beaver leader with a shiny new uniform.

We have invested 9 Beavers over the past year and hope to welcome many more into our colony soon.

To do this we do need to grow our leadership team, from September we will introduce a parent helper rota and we hope this will lead to some new section assistant roles being taken up.

We have awarded 230 well-earned badges to our Beaver colony this year and we are delighted to have awarded 6 chief scout bronze awards.

Beavers have attended a few joint camps this year with Falcon Beaver colony. We held a winter sleepover at the Scout hut, a summer camp at the Scout hut where hedgehog got her nights away permit and the Beavers had a 2 night camp at the Big Weekender with the whole district. Beavers had a fantastic time at all of our camps and this is something we hope to do more of going forward. We want to thank everyone involved in making these camps a possibility. Thank you to both Cheyene and Sioux Arkela’s for attending and taking the Beavers on their longest hike to date.

The Beavers went skiing a few months ago and they all really enjoyed themselves and were available to learn a new skill and going forward we will try and make it an annual thing.

We at Ravens are hugely proud of all the Beavers and their achievements. It has been amazing watching them grow in confidence, preparing them for their journey on to cubs.

Over the past year Beavers have learned new skills and earned badges such as, Teamwork, World, (Challenge badges) Animal Friend, builder, Green Cross Code, Gardener, Snowsports and many more. Beavers have also learnt how to put up and take down tents, how to do a good turn in your community. To achieve this, we went on a litter pick hike from Arlesey train station back to the Scout hut, we played lots of games and had lots of fun, we completed a night hike and we had fun with some Science experiments.

We have so much we are looking forward to doing with the beavers over the next year like taking them outdoor camping more and doing a lot more activities in which we know the beavers will enjoy.

I would like to say a BIG thank you to Emily for all the years you have volunteered at Beavers and we wish you well as you have moved up to cubs.

Yours in Scouting

Ravens Beaver Leaders Michele, Vicky & Team

1st Arlesey Cheyenne Cubs

1st Arlesey Cheyenne have had another amazing 12 months, still going from strength to strength.

We kick-started September with our fantastic, ever enthusiastic, ultra eager leadership team, with myself steering the Cheyenne Ship with Assistant Cub Leaders, Badger (Tasha Davis), Ziggy (Jo Eatock-Musk) and King Louie (Andrew Hall) right alongside me.

We started off September 2022 with an awesome water activity day at Luton Hoo. Joined by our fellow Beavers and Cubs we took part in rafting, sailing, kayaking, canoeing and paddle boarding. A great experience for all.

We joined Sioux Cubs at District Cub Camp at Boyd Field in Henlow. This was a great opportunity for us all to meet our fellow Cubs within the District. It was a super busy weekend and the first-time camping for a lot of our cubs. We learnt how to build and light fires, some tried caving for the first time, campfire cooking and of course a good old campfire sing song.

Autumn 2022 and we find ourselves paying our respects to Our Queen and Patron of Scouting, Elizabeth II. We held a lovely evening of reflection which was very well attended and our cubs showed such compassion at a very sad and poignant time. With a new Monarch, comes a new Cub Scout Promise. I will openly admit to still saying Queen rather than King sometimes…however, the cubs now say the new promise perfectly every time.

As the Autumn term gets underway, we attend a fantastic District Organised event visiting RAF Hendon to cover our Air Activities badge. A fantastic day was had by all that attended.

As we moved closer to Halloween, we wanted to do something a little different and really test our cubs fear levels by trying out the climbing wall at Boyd Field in the dark. This was a great night, even though the weather tried it’s best to ruin our fun.

As the weather turned colder, we started to take on our indoor adventurous activities. We signed up for the District Rifle Shooting event and spent a whole Saturday in November with Sioux Cubs practising and choosing our 8 best shooters to go forward for the Competition. The Cubs had a great time and did themselves proud.

December 2022 and as always, it’s great to run events in our village and get out and about. With Chips as our end goal, we set off on a hike around the village to look at the festive Christmas lights. Always a winner with our cubs and something we will do as a yearly event now I think.

It was also great to be taking part in events in our community once again. Our Cubs did us proud at Arlesey’s Remembrance Parade and looked impeccably smart as always. We also had lots of fun when we entered the St Peters Church Christmas tree festival again with “Baby it’s Cold Inside”, highlighting the fact that many couldn’t afford to put the heating on this year due to the cost of energy bills.

We joined Sioux Cubs to finish off the year in true Cub style, party games, food, lots of noise and Secret Santa.

We start the new year with another District event. Ten Pin Bowling and we came away with the highest 10yr old scorer and we were only a couple of points away from an overall win. This was a well attended event and all of our cubs had a blast.

When we sat down and planned our sessions for 2023, we knew we wanted to incorporate lots of traditional scouting and Bushcraft. With this in mind we decided to organise a Bushcraft Day with the idea of running this event in March every year. There were limited spaces and those older cubs that were invited, snapped the places up straight away. The cubs built shelters, cooked their own individual one pot stews on the campfire, whittled a woggle, learnt fire lighting, safety and different ways to lay a fire and enhanced their map reading and compass skills. This was a really successful day and we look forward to running it yearly.

This term also saw our Cubs raising over £500 with our ‘Grow a Pound’ challenge. Raising much needed funds for 2 of our local charities/projects. Thank you to everyone that helped

our cubs to grow their pound and reach their targets. I think there were a few clean cars driving round during that time.

Spring 23 and we are lucky enough to welcome a new Assistant Cub Leader, Emily Pang (Chil). Emily has moved up to us from 1st Arlesey Ravens Beavers and she has taken on the role of Cheyenne money sorter and has been an absolute godsend

taking in monies and sorting receipts etc during pack nights so we can carry on smoothly with our evenings programme. Welcome Chil!

St George’s Day and we invited Potton Leopard Cubs to join us for an evening of role play, team games and making a confusing origami dragon. It was so lovely joining forces with them for the evening.

Easter, and there is only one thing for it…an Easter Hunt! To throw some of our Arlesey Cubs out of their comfort zone, we crossed the border to Stotfold. We have quite a few Cubs that live in Stotfold so it was nice for them to do an

activity on their home turf. A few of our Stotfold parents played the Easter Bunny and handed out Easter treats as the cubs worked out their location while following the OS map on the OS map phone App. Not the easiest of tasks when the screen keeps moving.

King Charles’s Coronation brings a very special Occasional badge to our uniforms. Also, we have now ‘all’ perfected our new promise.

With so many bank holidays in May, we wanted to give the Cubs a real heart racing evening a little bit out of the ordinary. “Welwyn Ski Slope…here we come”... We had an absolute blast on the Ski Slope Donuts. It really made up for missing out on a couple of sessions.

Arlesey Cubs were extremely lucky to be able to take part in another Luton Hoo Water Activity Day, it was a great turn out and our cubs got to add more levels to their ‘Time on Water’ staged badge. For some, it was their first time doing all the great activities.

June sees us attending our first camp of 2023. What a great one to start with…Bigg Weekender District Group Camp! There were so many young people from all over Biggleswade District, 1st Arlesey had 120 Young people attending, over 40 of those were Cubs. Everyone had a great time and we all left eagerly looking forward to our next camp.

Father’s Day gave us the opportunity to get the dads involved. Our Cubs invited their dads to come along and make armpit fudge with them. Not sure how many actually ate the fudge but I am confident our dads and cubs had a great evening, and that’s what matters most.

The next few weeks sees us doing Tomahawks, mini round robin challenges, meeting with Arlesey Conservation for Nature, visiting Potton Leopards to join them for an American themed evening on 4th July and a Shackleton themed camp.

Garden City Samba visit, water games and a BBQ brings us up to date and closes us for summer. Wow what another amazing 12 months it's been!

Our Cubs have a District Sixer Seconder camp in September and a fantastic indoor camp at Tolmers in October to look forward to as well as a full exciting programme to see us up to Christmas.

We have kept Cub numbers at a great level this year, running at continual full capacity of 30.

Thank you…

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved with Cheyenne Cubs this year, especially our Cheyenne Assistant Cub Leaders, Tasha, Jo, Andrew and Emily. Our pack wouldn’t run half as efficiently and funny without you.

Thank you to all our parents for your support, I know our Whatsapp chat can sometimes be a tad overwhelming but it's all a part of the running of a busy, enthusiastic, amazing group. The programme wouldn't run as smoothly without you there helping the Cubs with whatever we need them to bring in.

Thank you to all of those that have supported our fundraising this year. The Christmas raffle again was a huge success.

Thank you to our parent helpers, whether you’ve helped at any of our sessions, camps or donated equipment, your help is invaluable and hugely appreciated.

Yours in Scouting Paulette Reid

(Akela. 1st Arlesey Cheyenne Cubs)

1st Arlesey Scout Group Sioux Cubs Annual Report 2023

We started 22/23 where we left off from July 22 with a full pack of 24 and a supreme leader team with Akela plus Jo Wood, Richard Guttridge, Elizabeth Stewart and the Scouting Guru Tony Kirchin.

As a leader team we have enhanced our skill set by all completing our first aid qualification. Richard has stepped up to lead a bike ride and a hike.

Jo is still second to none as Sioux badge fairy and admin helper with Dibz taking on any task required, as always Tony is ever available for advice on all things scouting.

As always we have a pool of keen parent helpers, a couple of these have older cubs and it may be worth Scouts looking into “gently massaging” these parent helpers into roles within the new Scout Pack.

With regards to our cubs we have maintained a full pack of 24 + cubs throughout the year. We have passed numerous cubs up to Scouts all of which have achieved their Silver award before leaving cubs with another 4 silvers to award at the AGM.

Our cubs have attended 6er/2nd camp, Bigg weekend, Luton Hoo water activities, district events including RAF Hendon, bowling and air rifle and have just come back from a camp at the hut.

We have filled our year with numerous activities that have been different from the norm in an effort to keep our programme fresh and inspiring, these activities include, Obstacle Race Course, science experiment (fastest cub), proper orienteering. Nature related, making and installing bird boxes in woodland and constructing a large bug hotel on farmland, Hikes away from our normal routes, Ashwell and Baldock.

We have on several occasions worked on sleeping in shelters instead of tents to the point where most of our pack members are now comfortable sleeping in shelters instead of tents.

As always, we have completed an Archery competition alongside concurrent activities including tomahawks, shelters and fires. Over a four-week period each cub gets the opportunity to have a full night of instruction in group of 6 instead of 24 followed by a 6 arrow competition shoot, our winner scored 49 out of 60 with 4 of the cubs scoring over 40 which is awesome and shows the benefit of moving on from purely “have a go archery”

It is worth pointing out that all of our activities have been financed by parents or subs contribution and not requests for funding from the group.

We finished our year with a joint camp with Cheyenne at the hut themed on Ernest Shackleton (a permit camp for Sioux Akela) the camp yet again highlighted the amazing working relationship

between the two cub groups with all available leaders attending and 28 cubs all of which slept outside under shelters they had made themselves.

Our year will finish with a joint party but not before a further 4 Sioux cubs receive their Silver Awards at the AGM.

Yours in Scouting

Jamie Sarll Akela Sioux Cubs [e-mail]

Annual Report 2023 - 1[st] Arlesey Scouts Troop

This has been another year of growth for our Troop, and with 45 young people attending regularly we are 40% bigger than at the previous report date! As you might imagine maintaining a good experience for Scouts and leaders at this size has its challenges but we have been working to address this through:

1. Adding new leaders;

2. Strengthening our patrols to operate more autonomously. We still have some work to do in this area but strong patrols are a feature of a healthy troop and we have big plans.

Programme

We have focused on two main things: (1) having the Scouts spend as much time as possible working together as Patrols, outside; and (2) rebuilding some traditional Scouting skills. Alongside this we’ve included some new experiences. For example, over the last year we have:

• Upped our whittling skills;

• Tried SCUBA diving;

• Practiced archery (with many Scouts obtaining their “Master-at-Arms” badge) and airrifle shooting;

• Completed several short hikes exploring the local area both as Patrols (with Scout-led navigation) and as a whole Troop. A particular highlight was our first independent hikes (i.e. a Patrol hike without accompanying adults) in several years;

• Completed a night hike covering 10 miles from Pegsdon;

• Tackled several Patrol pioneering challenges including building a bridge over a “raging torrent” and making shelters;

• Had an “introduction to fencing session” and - in response to Scout requests - an evening of golf;

• Tried canoeing, kayaking, stand-up-paddle-boarding, sailing, and rafting at Luton Hoo; and

• Practiced fire-lighting and campfire cooking (that many of our Scouts are now getting rather good at).

We completed a camp in Norfolk last September, and more recently an Activity camp at Boyd and of course the Bigg Weekender just a few weeks ago. In November we entered three teams into the Green Beret competition in Hertfordshire and came 29th, 77th, and 99th out of 144 teams.

We were very proud of both Scouts who have moved up to Explorers over the year, all the more so because both have achieved their Chief Scouts Gold award (the highest award available in the Scout Section). And we were super proud when one of these was selected to represent the UK at the World Scout Jamboree in Korea this month.

Over the next few weeks of course we are taking 22 Scouts to an activity holiday on Norway, this being our first international camp in some years.

Leaders

We have had several excellent new leaders join our team this year on a regular or occasional basis, and it’s been great to see Carl, Mel, James, and Amy getting to know the Scouts. In

addition we have been particularly pleased that Carly has been able to join us again more regularly in recent weeks - she has been missed!

I am also exceedingly grateful for the consistency and reliability of Jayden and Matt who turn up week after week and have organised some truly memorable events, and without whom our programme would be a lot more difficult to maintain.

We have a great team with each person bringing different skills and we work well together.

Finally, I also want to thank our Scout parents, many of whom have given up one or more evenings (sometimes very late evenings!) to support our activities. We couldn’t carry out our programme without this.

Looking forward

Over the next year we hope to keep building on the independence that our Scouts have been developing - both as individuals and as patrols - with a view to running more activities where the Scouts are taking responsibility for parts of the programme, and also running more activities where the Patrols are operating away from direct adult supervision. We have an ambition that this year some of our Scouts will get the chance to go on a “Passport Camp”, i.e. sleeping over without adults present, but we have some work to do first.

In September 2023 we have a particularly exciting development with the opening of a second Scout Section under the 1st Arlesey banner that will be led by Jayden on Friday evenings. Unfortunately this does mean that we might see Jayden a little less often on Tuesday nights, but both our existing team and the new team running our new Section intend to work together closely so there will be plenty of joint events going forward.

Help wanted

Finally, a few requests.

• We have several activities planned where we don’t quite have enough adults to do all of the supervision needed to keep everyone safe. Please watch out for our requests for help next term and consider carefully if it is something you are able to do. If it is, please do volunteer!

• Secondly, we would be very grateful indeed if you could take a look at the list of Activity -

• badges on the Scout Association website (https://www.scouts.org.uk/scouts/activity badges/) and let us know if you have any skills that could help a small group of our Scouts meet any badge requirements. If you do please let me know and I’d love to speak with you about how we could make that happen (don’t worry, we can be pretty flexible!).

• Thirdly, as I mention above we have a great leadership team, but especially with our new troop opening in September we can always use another, whether you can attend every week or only once a month. It’s a hugely rewarding role so please consider if it’s something that you could do, in the Scout Section or any other. We’d love to have you!

Once again, my sincere thanks to our Leaders, our Scout parents, and to our Scouts for all doing their parts for a brilliant Scouting year.

Dambusters Explorer Unit Biggleswade District

The Dambusters Explorer Unit meet on Thursday Evenings 7pm to 9pm mostly at Arlesey Scout Hut.

A note on the name adjustment. Numbers have increased rapidly since December 2022 with a mix of scouts moving up from Arlesey, friends joining, a merge from Stotfold and new members from Fairfield Park. The unit is no longer Arlesey, but a mix and it feels right to make it a district unit. From Thursday 20[th] July 2023 we will use the district neckerchief, though this does not mean members cannot use the necker from their original group.

We will also retain the partnership agreement with 1[st] Arlesey Scout Group and continue to meet here.

With the increase in numbers from around 12 to 25 this year and 3 to 4 more in September, we are in need of more volunteers to increase leadership numbers. Currently there are 3 permanent leaders and some helpers from Arlesey and Stotfold. It would be really great if anyone else wants to be involved and help the team grow. Further benefit would be gained as it frees up time for district and county activity planning to support explorers in the wider area.

This year the explorers have taken the lead with planning and are starting to build in confidence and experience. We are working towards a state where they can plan organise and book their own activities, relying on adults where age restrictions mean we have to assist. This means some will be planning and running a passport event where they camp on their own. An achievement, because it requires leaders to be confident in skills, behaviour and the ability to act safely and with responsibility.

In a few days’ time, myself and two Dambuster Explorers are heading to South Korea and the World Scout Jamboree. This involves three weeks away with scouts from around the world.

There is also a trip to Norway that has been in the making for two years now. A number of explorers will be attending this having signed up as scouts. The location and activities look great.

Special thanks to James, Thom and Jayden for their help this year and more recently Claire from beavers and Jo from Stotfold with running the section.

Yours in Scouting Chris Dodds ESL Arlesey Dambusters, DESC Biggleswade District. Email: [e-mail] T: 07886558708

Registered Charity No 300458 Helping Young People Get The Most Out Of Life.

1st Arlesey Scout Group Receipts and Payments Account For thè yèar fro 0110412022 To 3110312023 Receipts and payments 3110312023 3110312022 Unrestricted funds Restrlcted nds Unrestricted funds Receipts Donations, lega¢ies and similar income Alen}be￿Ip subsGtiptsons Less."Membesship substriphons ￿ld01j (Natson&Kounty/A Less." Adembership Subscnpiiorjs RefuFK Net membership subgcripts.ons reiained DOnati￿S 14,860 12,130 4,407 5,723 733 Legaaes Youth Prugramme aNJ Aciivrb Grft ￿(j 5.TT1 16.S40 6.809 1995 Refunds for everts oracbvi other similar Ir￿ome 129 Sub total Grants maInten8fta￿ grant Other grants 19,738 Sub total Fundraising Igrossl Other fUl￿raisIng activities Sub totsl 6,293 Investment Income Bank interest Bvilding Soaety irrterpst The ScoutAssocwbon ShL¥tTerrn Irwe5thwt s￿￿￿ Property Rw)tincofr778 Less" DeposiÈ RèfiJn(ts Net Pro￿rtY R&nt Incom8 Other Investment Inco￿ 715 185 415 Sub totsl Total Gross Income 17,334 16.540 41805 Asset and Investsment sales, etc. 330 Total receipts 16.S40

Payments Charitable Payments Youth programme and actiwtss Activty Refunds Adult5UPPOrt and trainirg Rent 13,498 22,000 110 47 1,633 Vibler afKI Sewer￿e and Gas 1.17T 1,398 351 Tel•phone and Interret Insuran 1.19) 1.095 676 Bank Charges IOSMI Repairs ar¢ Renewa MateriaIs and equipment Printing and photocopyi Èb Hosting Online Ser¥i Contribution to camp costs Badges. ￿gleS and Necker3 AGM and tru51ee expenses Ch8rrtable DonatK)n$ 9.696 7.333 112 1.617 2,825 1,391 60 913 815 Subscriptrons Refuftd SutTdrie5 Sub totsl Fundraising expenses Othèr fundraising costs 26,916 48.989 2.401 Sub totsl Total Grnss Expenditure ,450 Asset and investment purchases. et¢. Totalpayments 51.450 Net of receipts/(payments) Cash funds last year end Cash funds this year end -1Q132 16.510 21.972 30.487

Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the year 3110312023 3110312022 Unrestri¢tod fund$ Restricted funds nds Cash funds Bank current a￿)uryt Bank dwsit accwnt Pre-PaKI Cash Cards (for camp51 8uilding 50crety accwnt The So)ul Assoaation Short Tem In￿strnenI Se 16.S40 20,957 129 129 1.610 CashlFIo8ts 86 Total cash funds Other mongtary a88ets Tax clai Debts due from IhB CountylArealDtstrirtlGrtwp Insurance daKn SLsb totsl Inve¥trnent assets Invgstment prDpety- detail Quoted in%sttrnts Other investftnts- detai4 Sub total Non monetary assets for charity's own use Badge stock Shep stod Oth&r stod Land and bui&#iryJ$ Motor Veh￿$ 1.740 2,190 1.319 Scouting eqUIp￿￿nt. fijrnitu￿ et¢ other Sub total 1784 Liabilities Accounts notyet paid ExpÈnses incurted but not invoi(*d Subscriptions not yet pa Loan- detail Other 5iabilthes 1,096 Sub total ontingent liabilities and luture obllgations The above receipts and payments account and statement of assets and liabilttles wore approved by the Trustees on 18th July 2023 and signed on thelr behalf by Sig alurè Print Name sPtRAkk Co LLE-/ NRIsi OPklL@ LJvgrZMJRE Chair Tfeasurer

Indapendent examiner's report to the tzustees 0£ l$t Arlasey Scout Group I report to the trustees on rny examination of the accounts of the l&.. Ar_esey Scout Grouo for the year ended 31st March 2023. Re3ponsthiliti08 and basis of report As the charity trustees OE the 15- Arle5ey Scout Group you are responsib- e for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the EequJ Eements of the Charities Act 2011 I'tELe Act. I I report in reBpect of my examination of the I,. Arlesey Scout Group accounts catrieol out under 5ect.ion 1.45 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out rny exarn-nation I have Eollowed all the app"icable Jirections given by the Charity CoTTLTni.55ion under section 145151 Ibl of the Act. Independent examiner, s statamant I have cornpleted rny examination. I confirrn that no ￿￿terIaL rnatters have cD￿e to my attention 'n connection with the exarnination giving me cause to believe that in any rnateEial Eespect= accounting records were not kept in respect of the lot AElesey Scout Group as required by section 130 of the Act: the accounts do not accord with those eco=ds. have no concern8 and have Come across no other matters in connection with the oxamination tD which attention should be drawn in this report in order to ertable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. Signed- Narne= MARK HJERTZEN FCA Re &evant prof essional quali Eication Me￿erShiP of piofe55 LonaL bodie5 1 i f any) - FCA I ICAEWI Addiess: HW Associates Lirnited, PtsrtTil l House PortTnill Lane Hitchin Herts SG5 IDJ Date: 24dh July 2023