Scouts
1st Arlesey Scout Group
Annual General Meeting 2024- 2025
Reports-
## **1[st] Arlesey Scout Group Executive Board of Trustees Chair Report**
## **Dear Members, Volunteers, and Supporters,**
As Chair of the 1st Arlesey Scout Group Board of Trustees, I am once again delighted to share this year’s reflections with you. Since our last annual report in September, the Group has continued to thrive, thanks to the unwavering commitment of our volunteer team and the enthusiastic support from our wider community. While it’s been a slightly shorter reporting year, it’s been no less full of progress, achievements, and energy.
Our Group Lead Volunteer, Stuart, continues to play an exceptional role in guiding our adult volunteers and supporting safe, responsible delivery of our programmes in line with The Scout Association’s guidance. His hands-on approach, closely involved across section WhatsApp groups and Group-wide communications, has helped ensure the consistency and quality of the experience we offer to our young people. I’d like to offer my heartfelt thanks to Stuart, who not only leads by example but also keeps a careful watch on the pulse of all we do.
I want to take this opportunity to again thank every single leader, assistant leader, and volunteer across Beavers, Cubs, Scouts, and Explorers. The effort that goes into planning, organising, and delivering a weekly programme, let alone events, camps, and competitions, is immense. And it’s paying off. Our young people benefit every week from new experiences, valuable skills, and, above all, fun. A special congratulations goes to Paulette Reid, our much-loved Akela, for being recognised as Arlesey Volunteer of the Year, an honour that reflects not just her contributions, but the spirit of dedication that runs throughout our Group.
One of the highlights of the year has been the successful launch of _Arlesey Archers_ , a brilliant initiative sparked by a handful of adult volunteers who wanted to give our young people more than just a taste of archery. With Trustee Board backing, this vision became a reality, offering full-day monthly sessions and culminating in national competition success, including trophies and awards. It’s a shining example of what happens when passionate volunteers are empowered to create something new.
We are also very fortunate to have a thriving District Explorer Scout Unit meeting in Arlesey. Many of these Explorers have chosen to become Young Leaders, volunteering in sections as part of their Duke of Edinburgh or King’s Scout awards. Their contributions are deeply appreciated, and it’s been heartening to see some of them take the next step by becoming adult volunteers, starting their leader training and working towards their Wood Badge. This natural progression is vital for the future of the Group, and I thank every one of them for their dedication.
Of course, none of this happens in isolation. Behind every programme, every meeting, and every event, there is a dedicated support system. Our Trustees continue to uphold the Group’s governance, ensuring our financial and operational responsibilities are met. Special thanks, once again, to Chris for his stewardship of our accounts and to Matt and Jason, who form our
unofficial, but incredibly effective maintenance team. Their quiet, consistent work keeps our Scout Hut and grounds looking their best and ready for action.
This year also marks a major milestone, our Scout Hut turns 25. Since its opening on Millennium night in 2000, it has served as the beating heart of Scouting in Arlesey. While the building has stood the test of time, there are pressing needs to maintain and enhance it for the years ahead. Two key projects remain front and centre: the urgent replacement of our ageing heating system, estimated at £20,000, and the long-desired addition of a 10m x 6m multipurpose building to expand our space, with a current cost projection of £25,000. While funding applications so far have been unsuccessful, we remain committed to securing the financial support needed to bring these plans to life. If you or someone you know may be able to help, we would love to hear from you.
Looking ahead, we continue to need more adult volunteers. Whether it’s helping with Beavers on Mondays or Tuesdays or lending a hand with Scouts on Tuesdays and Fridays, every offer of help, no matter how small, makes a difference. We offer full training and support, and volunteering is one of the most rewarding ways to give back to our community.
In closing, I want to thank each and every member of our leadership team, Trustees, volunteers, Young Leaders, and supporters. Scouting in Arlesey remains strong, vibrant, and full of promise because of your continued belief in what we do. Here’s to another year of growth, challenge, and opportunity for our young people.
## Yours in Scouting,
Sarah Colley
Chair of the Board of Trustees
1st Arlesey Scout Group Executive
## **1[st] Arlesey Scout Group Executive Group Lead Volunteer Report**
everything we have achieved as a group since my last report. I asked all the leaders to send me their reports for inspiration and was not let down.
As the lead volunteer it is my responsibility to make sure all the adult volunteers involved within the group are doing their role in a safe and responsible way and within the guidelines laid out by The Scout association. This sometimes is challenging but also so rewarding. I am on most of the WhatsApp groups so can closely monitor the organisation and delivery of all the activities and programmes delivered by each of the sections. To witness the team spirit they all achieve is truly amazing and I know that all the parents appreciate what goes into organising these great events for young members of each section. Each and every team member in all the sections are awesome and my heart felt thanks goes out to every single one for their hard work and determination to provide a jam-packed programme each and every week. It was nice to see our very own Akela, Paulette Reid, receive Arlesey Volunteer of the year award recently and was well deserved.
We are fortunate in Arlesey to have our own Archery equipment. This always is a great activity, last year some adults came to me asking if they could set up an Archery section. The reasoning was simple. We gave the Cubs, Scouts and Explorers a session maybe once a term on Archery. Each person would get to shoot maybe 12 arrows during the session. More of a taster to the sport than achieving anything. The group of volunteers wanted to set up a monthly meeting lasting all day to further develop the skills of individuals. We took this to our trustee committee who approved the initial costs and Arlesey Archers was set up. They have been to the national Scout Archery competition and came away with Trophies and awards. An outstanding achievement made possible again by our adult volunteers. We have a very successful District explorer scout unit that meets in Arlesey on a Thursday evening. A good proportion of these members have volunteered to become Young Leaders helping within the sections. I know that their help is invaluable to the sections and my thanks go out to all of them. Fortunately, inevitability, some have turned 18 and, due to the great team spirit in all the sections, have transitioned from Young Leaders to Team member volunteers, taking on their leader training and working towards their wood badge, an award earnt as a volunteer. This is great to see for future proofing the volunteers required in the group and again I thank every single one of them for their time and dedication to the group.
As a group we have challenges we need to achieve in maintaining our great facility and to keep raising the bar to deliver Scouting within Arlesey. The Scout Hut is 25 years old this year. We opened it on Millenium night 2000. I have been fortunate to be involved since it opened and it has seen some changes over the years. There is always something that needs doing to give us a fit for purpose Scout Hut and grounds. Two major projects have been on the radar for a couple of years, the first is our heating system. It was installed in 2002 and is now becoming very tired and in urgent need of complete replacement. This doesn’t come cheap and is in the region of £20k. A second wish list project is to add a 10 metre by 6 metre general use building onto the
back of the Scout Hut. This currently is in the region of £25k. It has been frustrating that I have applied for various grants throughout the year but unfortunately have been unsuccessful in securing the funds to proceed. It would be nice to be able to secure the funding for these projects this year.
As always, as well as our leadership team, there is a small team behind the scenes that keep the cogs oiled and rotating within the group. Our Trustees keep everything in check and my thanks go out to all of them for their commitment behind the scenes. Our unofficial maintenance team are fantastic and my thanks and appreciation go out especially to Matt and Jason for all the hours they have put in keeping the Hut and grounds looking neat and tidy.
Yours In Scouting
Stuart McGuire Group Lead Volunteer
## **1[st] Arlesey Scout Group Executive**
## **Board of Trustees Treasurer Report**
## **Income**
## **Subscriptions**
We took the difficult decision to raise membership subscriptions in Feb 2025 due to a general increase in costs. Subs rose from £10/month to £12.50/month. All subscriptions are collected online via OSM.
A total of **£19,625** was off-set by the payment of our membership fees of **£9,233** to the Scout Association.
## **Fundraising**
A total of **£11,577** was raised through a variety of fundraising events despite not organising our flagship event, Fireworks night for the second year in a row. Fundraising activities provide valuable funds to run the group and provide activities for our young people and helps us to keep subscriptions and the cost of camps and events as low as possible.
## **Donations**
We received a **£1,000** donation from Miller Homes via their Community Fund programme.
## **Rental Income**
We have a small number of long-term rentals of the Scout Hut that generated **£1,374** of rental income.
## **Expenditure**
## **Premises**
Maintenance costs for the Scout Hut and grounds totalled £3,952 this year, an increase on last year, however, I believe the facilities available have been significantly improved in the last 18 months.
## **Activities**
This year **£34,116** was spent on camps and youth activities.
## **Neckers/Badges**
**£2,700** was spent on neckers, woggles, badges and handbooks.
## **Net receipts for the year**
**£177**
Chris Livermore
Treasurer - The Board of Trustees
1st Arlesey Scout Group Executive
|**1st Arlesey Scout Group**|**1st Arlesey Scout Group**|**1st Arlesey Scout Group**|**1st Arlesey Scout Group**|**1st Arlesey Scout Group**|**1st Arlesey Scout Group**|**1st Arlesey Scout Group**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|**Receipts and Payments Account**|||||||
|||Year start date|||Year end date||
|**For the year**|**From**|**01/04/2024**||**To**|**31/03/2025**||
||||||||
|**Receipts and payments**|||||||
|||**31/03/2025**|||**31/03/2024**||
|||**Unrestricted**
**funds**|**Restricted**
**funds**|**Unrestricted**
**funds**||**Restricted**
**funds**|
|||**£**|**£**||**£**|**£**|
|**Receipts**|||||||
|**Donations, legacies and similar income**|||||||
|_Membership subscriptions_||**19,657**|||**18,810**||
|_Less:Membership subscriptions paid on (National/County/Are_||**-9,233**
|||**-10,357**||
|_Less: Membership Subscriptions Refunded_|||||**-**||
|**Net membership subscriptions retained**||**10,424**|||**8,453**||
|Donations||**1,000**|||**1,601**||
|Legacies|||||**-**||
|Youth Programme and Activities||**25,845**|||**20,211**|**2,515**|
|Group donation to Norway Expidition||||||**1,392**|
|Gift Aid||**2,018**|||**1,896**||
|Other similar income|||||||
|**Sub total**||39,286|||**32,161**|3,907|
|**Grants**|||||||
|Maintenenace grant||**-**|||**-**||
|Other grants|||||**3,800**||
|**Sub total**||**-**|||**3,800**||
|**Fundraising (gross)**||11,577|||10,939||
|Other fundraising activities|||||**-**||
|**Sub total**||**11,577**|||**10,939**||
|**Investment income**|||||||
|Bank interest||**-**|||**-**||
|Building Society interest||**-**|||**-**||
|The Scout Association Short Term Investment Service||**-**|||**-**||
|_Property Rent income_||**1,374**|||**3,055**||
|_Less: Deposit Refunds_|||||**-450**||
|**Net Property Rent Income**||**1,374**|||**2,605**||
|Other investment income||**-**|||**-**||
|**Sub total**||**1,374**|||**2,605**||
||||||||
|**_Total Gross Income_**||**52,237**|||**49,505**||
||||||||
|**Asset and investment sales, etc.**|||||||
||||||||
|**_Total receipts_**||**52,237**|||**49,505**|**3,907**|
||||||||
||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||**£**|**£**||**£**|**£**|
|**Payments**|||||||
|**Charitable Payments**|||||||
|Youth programme and activities||**34,116**|||**22,739**|**20,447**|
|Group donation to Norway Expedition||**-**|||**1,392**||
|Group donation to Explorers Section||**500**|||||
|Activity Refunds||**860**|||||
|Adult support and training||**275**|||**30**||
|Rent||**-**|||**-**||
|Water and Sewerage||**624**|||**589**||
|Waste Collection||**217**|||||
|Electricity and Gas||**1,673**|||**2,760**||
|Telephone and Internet||**-**|||**-**||
|Insurance||**1,372**|||**1,231**||
|Bank Charges (GoCardless)||**1,812**|||**1,573**||
|Repairs and Renewals||**3,952**|||**1,941**||
|Materials and equipment||**3,131**|||**1,430**||
|Printing and photocopying||**24**|||**10**||
|Web Hosting and Online Services||**241**|||**181**||
|Contribution to camp costs|||||**-**||
|Badges, Woggles and Neckers||**2,700**|||**2,889**||
|AGM and trustee expenses||**443**|||**1,013**||
|Charitable Donations||**105**|||**105**||
|Subscriptions Refund|||||**-**||
|Sundries|||||||
||||||||
|**Sub total**||52,045|-||37,883|20,447|
|**Fundraising expenses**||15|||||
|Other fundraising costs|||||3,702||
||||||||
|**Sub total**||**15**|||**3,702**||
||||||||
|**_Total Gross Expenditure_**||**52,060**|**-**||**41,585**|**20,447**|
||||||||
|**Asset and investment purchases, etc.**||**-**|||**-**||
||||||||
|**_Total payments_**||**52,060**|**-**||**41,585**|**16,540**|
||||||||
|**_Net of receipts/(payments)_**||**177**|**-**||**7,920**|**16,540**|
|**Cash funds last year end**||**19,760**|||**11,840**|**16,540**|
|**_Cash funds this year end_**||**19,937**|**-**||19,760|**-**|
||||||||
|**Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the year**|**Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the year**|**Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the year**|**Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the year**|**Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the year**|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||**31/03/2025**|||**31/03/2024**||
|||**Unrestricted**
**funds**|**Restricted**
**funds**||**Unrestricted**
**funds**|**Restricted**
**funds**|
|||**£**|||**£**||
|**Cash funds**|||||||
|Bank current account||**16,284**|||**17,730**||
|Bank deposit account||**-**|||**-**||
|Pre-Paid Cash Cards (for camps)||**3,207**|||**1,583**||
|Building society account||**-**|||**-**|**-**|
|The Scout Association Short Term Investment Service||**-**|||**-**|**-**|
|Cash/Floats||**447**|||**447**||
|**Total cash funds**||**19,938**|**-**||**19,760**||
|**Other monetary assets**|||||||
|Tax claim||**-**|||**-**||
|Debts due from the County/Area/District/Group||**-**|||**-**||
|Insurance claim||**-**|||**-**||
|**Sub total**||**-**|||**-**||
|**Investment assets**|||||||
|Investment property - detail||**-**|||**-**||
|Quoted investments||**-**|||**-**||
|Other investments - detail||**-**|||**-**||
|**Sub total**||**-**|||**-**||
|**Non monetary assets for charity's own use**|||||||
|Badge stock||**-**|||**-**||
|Shop stock||**-**|||**-**||
|Other stock||**-**|||**-**||
|Land and buildings||**-**|||**-**||
|Motor vehicles||**982**|||**1,422**||
|Scouting equipment, furniture etc||**4,754**|||**3,323**||
|Other||**-**|||**-**||
|**Sub total**||**5,736**|||**4,745**||
|**Liabilities**|||||||
|Accounts not yet paid||**-**|||**-**||
|Expenses incurred but not invoiced||**-**|||**-**||
|Subscriptions not yet paid||**-**|||**-**||
|Loan - detail||**-**|||**-**||
|Other liabilities||**-**|||**-**||
|**Sub total**||**-**|||**-**||
|**Contingent liabilities and future obligations**|||||||
||||||||
|**The above receipts and payments account and statement of assets and liabilities were**
**approved by the Trustees on 15th July 2025 and signed on their behalf by**|||||||
|Signature||Print Name|||||
|||Chair|||||
|||Treasurer|||||
## **1st Arlesey Beavers September 2024 - July 2025**
## Dear Members and Parents,
I am pleased to present the report for the 1st Arlesey Beavers for this year’s Annual General Meeting. In December 2024, I had the honour of taking over the leadership of 1st Arlesey Ravens from Noemi Noe, who sadly left our Section to move to Leighton Buzzard with her family. Shortly after that, Claire Danson, leader of 1st Arlesey Falcons, moved up to Scouts and this required merging the two Beavers sections into 1st Arlesey Beavers. Since then, our focus has been on adding to and stabilising our team and ensuring a fun and enriching experience for all our Beavers. Beavers leaders at present are myself and Will Whelpdale (aka Hawkeye), with Jason Hough and Jade Stacey working towards becoming leaders. Recently, we also welcomed Josh Winters from Cubs Leadership.
The amalgamation of the two Sections has resulted in a larger and more vibrant group than we usually have. With a total of 31 Beavers, the energy and enthusiasm our Beavers have shown to getting to know each other and their “new” leadership team have been truly inspiring. I want to extend a heartfelt thank you to Will, Jason, Jade, Josh, Stuart McGuire and Paulette Reid, Claire Danson and other Scout and Cub leaders, for their assistance and dedication to getting our Beavers group on the best footing and helping to plan sessions, give training on OSM, mentorship and taking phone calls at all hours! We are truly lucky to have such an amazing group of volunteer leaders for Arlesey, who are happy to share their knowledge, give guidance and freely share their time during our transition and settling-in period.
We also have been really lucky to have two Young Leaders join us this year - Emily and Alexandra, who have supported games, planned events and shared their experiences with our Beavers.
Lastly but not least, we are also deeply grateful to all the parents who have supported our sessions and stepped up to help out. Their patience and unwavering support is crucial to making Beavers a success, and we truly appreciate all that you do.
Looking ahead, we are excited to continue providing engaging and enriching activities for our Beavers, who can grow and learn lots of amazing skills. We look forward to another fantastic term together.
Thank you once again to everyone involved!
Sian van der Merwe
1[st] Arlesey Beaver Leader
## **1st Arlesey Sioux Cubs September 2024 - July 2025**
Another great year for Sioux cubs, we have maintained our cub numbers at 24 members, taking new cubs from both Beavers and the waiting list.
Two of our cubs leaving to move on to Scouts have achieved their Silver awards and another who is finishing his scouting journey also achieved his Silver award.
Our plan is to maintain numbers at 24.
The leadership team has changed a bit, Jamie is still Akela with Jo and Richard by his side, Dibz has committed her time to Halifax scouts as they settle in a new leadership team, she also heads up the archery section but will always be Sioux really.
We have been joined by two new leaders who will be invested by the end of the term. We are also blessed with some great young leaders, Josh who at 18 opted to become a leader and has moved over to Beavers to assist there as they are short of leaders.
Our other 2 young leaders are both regular attendees and a credit to their scout group, always willing to assist, we hope to make the most of them in next year's program.
All of which means we are in a great place with leaders, and we also have a handful of great parent helpers when needed.
instructor, Dibz and Jo both archery instructors, Richard and Jo tomahawks and all of us able to run the climbing wall at Boyd.
Our programme this past year has been full and varied as always, three museum visits, a hike each term (except this term cancelled due to the heat), plenty of shooting/archery/climbing etc.
Our cubs have also camped at Phassels, Boyd Bigg weekender and a camp at the hut. Two of our current cubs are also members of the Archery section, so they have also had an extra weekend camp.
We have also involved parents in our programme twice this past year, on both occasions this was well attended and a great chance to show of the cubs.
Looking forward to our return in September we are planning other local museum visits, practice for the shooting competition in October, hikes and more map reading, a district visit to the space centre and a residential camp early next year.
Sioux cubs have been on hand to support fundraising, assisting with the summer fete, bag packs etc. However, we have not organised a Sioux-led fundraising event this past year, which is something we will look to address before Christmas.
We will endeavour to have the next term's programme on the parent portal by the end of August.
Yours in Scouting,
## Jamie Sarll
Akela - 1st Arlesey Sioux Cubs
## **1st Arlesey Cheyenne Cubs September 2024 - July 2025**
Dear all,
1st Arlesey Cheyenne have had another awesome year, still going from strength to strength.
We kick-started September 24 with our ever enthusiastic leadership team, with myself at the helm, assisted by Assistant Cub Leaders; Badger (Tasha Davis), Ziggy (Jo Eatock-Musk), King Louie (Andrew Hall), Chil (Emily Pang) and our fantastic Section Assistant Siobhan right alongside me.
The adventures begin with a fantastic Water sports day at Luton Hoo where Cubs kayaked, sailed, rafted, paddle boarded and canoed. This was a great experience for all and saw some of our cubs conquer their fears head-on.
Just 12 days later Cubs attended a fun-packed space-themed District Camp at Boyd Field. We joined our fellow Sioux Cubs and other Cubs in our District building camp gadgets, climbing up to the planets on the climbing wall, crawling through space in the cave bus, campfire sing-along and more. **�**
Shooting Competition at Boyd Field, where it gives me immense pleasure and pride to announce that Cheyenne Cubs won 1st place. This is a great achievement and one that our cubs totally deserved. **�**
During this term, we decided to visit lots of different local venues rather than spend our evenings at the hut. Being in the hut every week during Autumn/Winter can sometimes feel a little samey for even us leaders. Any opportunity to have a trip out to complete a badge, we are all over it. Over several weeks, we visited Boyd Field Cavebus and Trim Trail, Shefford Fire Station, Hitchin Gurdwara and St Peter’s Church. Huge thank you to all of our parent helpers for accompanying us on these events.
We see 2024 out with our traditional Christmas Party with Sioux Cubs and leaders.
## **January 2025 and we are ready to Scout…**
We start the year with the added help of two Duke of Edinburgh volunteers. Bonnie, who was beginning her Bronze and Emily, who was beginning her Gold. Both have been a great asset to the group. While sadly we say farewell to Bonnie at the end of the term, we do look forward to Emily returning with us in September to complete the rest of the year with us.
With the weather very changeable during January and February, we focus on badge work inside the hut. Pancake Day as always was ‘batter’ than ever and Mother’s Day gave our Cubs an opportunity to express their artistic talents by hand painting a candle for their mums while accompanied by their dads. Great opportunity for parents to get involved and see how our evenings run.
Towards the end of March we took the Cubs on our annual indoor camp. This was held at Phasels Wood Activity Centre. There were 60 young people altogether including Sioux Cubs and Arlesey Scouts. Cubs did abseiling, Cresta run, High ropes and Crate stacking. This was very much a height based activity camp and truly showed how brave our cubs can be when faced with their fears.
enough to get some of the Arlesey residents involved, including our Reverend Jenna and Pauline, our Town Mayor.
With the lighter evenings and better weather on the horizon, we began spending more time outside. We began the summer term with a very energetic games night. Our following two weeks involved parent participation, Gardening, tidying the garden at the hut and DIY, making bottle openers for dads for Father’s Day. It seems our Cub mums have many hidden skills…
took 30 cubs/scouts to Gosling Park in Welwyn where they had a skiing lesson for an hour and also got to spend an hour whizzing down the slope in a big rubber ring doughnut. The Cubs absolutely loved this evening and gained the first level in their Snowsports badge.
## **The Bigg Weekender 2025…**
This District camp is only held every other year and can be quite daunting for some of our younger cubs as there are so many young people attending this event (approx 1000 YP). Our cubs really got stuck into the huge variety of activities on offer. They took part in Bubble football, Mad science, Archery, Tomahawks, Go Karts, Rifle shooting, Trim Trail, Laser Tag, Cavebus, Inflatables, Circus skills, Theatre drumming, Fossil hunting and more…
This was also a great chance for all of the Arlesey Scout Group volunteers to spend some time together as all section volunteers were in attendance.
Unfortunately, Bushcraft ‘Day’ couldn’t happen this year, so Cheyenne Assistant Cub Leader King Louie has organised Bushcraft ‘Camp’ for both Cub packs in order to gain his Nights Away camping permit. The Cubs will be fire lighting, Shelter building, Orienteering and Map reading, pioneering, cooking on coals, and looking at the weather forecast, having a water fight… By the time you read this report, it will have taken place this weekend just gone.
It is with much sadness and gratitude that we say farewell and a massive thank you to our lovely Assistant Cub Leader Emily (Chil) as she leaves us at the end of our Bushcraft Camp. Emily has been a huge valued part of the Cheyenne leadership team since March 2023 and it won’t be the same without her. We wish her lots of fun filled fabulous adventures and I'm sure we will cross paths as Emily will no doubt be helping other sections occasionally in the future. Water games and a bbq will bring us up to the end of term and close us for summer. Wow what another amazing 12 months it's been…
We have kept Cub numbers at a great level this year(30), running at full capacity with a waiting list. We are very fortunate to have such an amazing leadership team who are all here with the same goal in mind, to give our cubs the best experiences and opportunities.
## **Total number of badges awarded… 551**
**Total number of investitures… 17 Total number of Chief Scout Silver awards… 8**
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 and our very own Section Assistant, Siobhan. 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 so 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 Summer fayre, mulled wine, BBQs and Christmas raffle again were 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 Yellow Devils Scouts September 2024 - July 2025**
This has been another busy year for our Yellow Devils Troop and we have seen continued growth in the independence and confidence of our Scouts in completing a variety of tasks both on their own and with other Scouts. In particular we have put a lot of work into building strong 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. At the end of this term we now have a fairly large group of our older and more experienced Scouts moving on to their various next steps and they will be missed, but we are confident that we have a good group to choose our new Patrol Leaders from.
Another particularly pleasing development has been how we have been coordinating much more closely as a leadership team across both of our 1st Arlesey Scout Sections. This has led to a better experience for our volunteers and also a better range and quality of events for our Scouts, as we aim to run most of our non-troop night events as joint events. For our YellowDevils this has led directly to the Fire and Ice camp in January and our recent indoor skydiving opportunity.
## **Notable achievements:**
- Completed two longer night hikes, building on the experience of our regular independent night hikes - our Scouts are really getting a lot more confident in their independent navigation!;
- Had four Scouts complete the highest award possible in the Scout Section, The Chief Scout’s Gold Award; and
- Completed a total of 297 nights away across the troop since our last AGM, including our summer camp in Kinver!
This has all been supported by our great joint Scout Section leadership team and by a great group of Young Leaders.
## **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 great new experiences. For example, over the last year:
- We attended a week-long summer camp near Kinver last summer, including kayaking, air-pistol shooting, archery, cooking, and an overnight hike to a satellite camp next to a zoo (it’s an experience to wake up to roaring lions in the night!);
- Entered three teams into the “Green Beret” competition last November, a really tough weekend in the rain and mud competing against about 140 other teams in a range of patrol challenges, and our top team came in the top three on the assault course!;
- Attended the Fire and Ice camp in Hertfordshire this January, as well as almost the whole troop attending the Bigg Weekender camp in June.
## **Leaders**
Our troop couldn’t run without our leaders, every one a volunteer, and I am exceedingly grateful for all that they do. Every member of the team brings something new and we work together very well. It is a privilege to be able to work with our Scouts and if you have ever considered volunteering in any capacity, I’d encourage you to go for it!
This year it has been a particular pleasure to see several of our former Scouts come through the Young Leader programme and sign-up as adult volunteers (in various sections). They have been and continue to be a huge asset to our Group.
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**
This year our numbers fell quite a lot as our cubs moving up were mostly directed in to the Halifax Troop, but we are now starting to grow again. We expect to stabilise our numbers this year at a lower level than our previous peak. During this time we will continue to build our patrols and will look to run some more expedition camps to boost confidence and independence, while working on traditional Scouting skills like campfire cooking and navigation.
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.
## Yours in Scouting,
Gareth Rowlands Yellow Devils Scout Leader
## **1st Arlesey Halifax Scouts September 2024 - July 2025**
We’ve had a great second year, we have done so much with the scouts, like concentrating on core scouting skills, along with some fun activities like indoor skydiving. We have done fundraising with our jam jar challenge again and topped what we done the year before, reaching a total of £2400! The scouts achieved this without the help of their leaders. Our numbers have grown since last year. We have had one scout leave as they lost interest, but still maintain at 39 scouts. We have 4 of our older scouts that are moving up to Explorers after the summer break and have all achieved their gold awards.
Our leadership team has grown, we now have myself (Ryan) as Scout Leader, Dibz, Dan, Claire and now Elias as assistant leaders and will have Beth, Shea, Harry and Martha confirming to be leaders when they turn 18 during the summer break. Nothing has been said with the leadership to change otherwise.
shooting permit, which will be super useful for our program in the coming year.
Dibz has gained her nights away permit, so we have Claire and Dibz holding this. Me (Ryan) and Dan are planning to sort ours out soon.
Our program this year has been full of great activities, we’ve concentrated on navigation skills, some pioneering at Boyd, we’ve done a joint incident hike (organized by Claire) which was just shy of 7 miles and they all completed and enjoyed this, we have done a fair bit of cooking on the fire and done some orienteering too. We participated with Yellow Devils at Green Beret and also joined at fire and ice.
For the returning term after the summer break, we are planning to again work on navigation, orienteering, pioneering, cooking and hopefully some more fun events. We will hopefully have the new terms program on the parental OSM portal by 11[th] August.
Yours in Scouting,
Ryan Hughes Halifax Scout Leader
## **1st Arlesey Scout Group - Arlesey Archers September 2024 - July 2025**
the year with 25 young people, one more than we began with, and aim to hold trials after the summer for a new batch of kids to join the team – Jo is currently sorting possible dates for this.
Of those 25, 21 travelled as a team to the National Scouts Archery Competition this past May, where we had some great shooting, evidenced by the many PBs and 6 medals that came home with us. Not a bad way to introduce ourselves to the competition!
At the hut for our once a month sessions, our archers have progressed from great target scores at 10m to fast improving scores at 20, have had a go on a couple of Jamie’s makeshift Field courses, and have shot Clout at Astwick a few times too as we do our best to produce well rounded Archers. We also held an action-packed practice camp in April (and extra sessions) in preparation for the competition, which gained the team another Nights Away Permit holder in me (Dibz).
As a leadership team, we have grown from the initially proposed team of myself, Jamie, Jo. Ian joined our ranks more or less from the first session and we have since welcomed Claire and Richard into the ranks too. From September, young Bethany (currently an Explorer and YL) will also be joining the leader squad. Both Ian and Claire look to gain their instructors' licenses after the summer, allowing for better and better quality coaching (as more instructors = more 1 to 1 coaching) and perhaps greater opportunities for the section leaders to fundraise for the group with Archery sessions for those outside of Scouting.
With luck, our growing momentum, popularity and skills will continue into next year, where we certainly intend to go after more silverware, continue to develop our young athletes, and really build a name and reputation to be respected within the greater archery and Scouting communities.
Yours in Scouting,
## Dibz
Leader Arlesey Archers
1st Arlesey Scout Group
Receipts and Payments Account
Year Start date
0110412024
Year end date
3110312025
Forthoyear
From
To
Receipts and payments
3110312025
3110312024
Unrestrictod
funds
RtrIctsd
funds
UnroStri¢tod
funds
Rostrictèd
funds
Receipts
DonaVon$, 10gacios and Similar Incomo
Mernbershlp subscriptKn&
L&ss.Membetship subscrfpllon5P8ldon (NaNon8ltotsnEy/A
Less.. M6mb6rship Subscriplions Rtrlunded
14at mèmbprnhlp ¥uhcrfpUoM ratslnod
Don4lions
19,887
-9,233
18.810
-10,357
10,424
1,000
,463
1.601
Leae5
Youth Pr(yr4mme and Actlvlues
Group donallon lo NOaY Expl(Jillon
Gift Ald
25,840
20,211
2,01S
1,392
2.018
1,896
Other $lmllar In¢ome
Sub total
Qrants
Malnlenenace 9rant
Olher grants
3,800
Sub totsl
Fundr4181ng Igro881
Olhw fundralsing 8diviUes
Sub total
Inv•otrn•nt Incom•
B8nk interest
11,577
10,939
Seoul Assoclalion Short Term InsIan1 Servlca
RenlJn¢ome
1,374
3.OS6
450
Less.. Deposll R•lunds
Not Proporty Rènt Incom
Other Inve8tmèni Inwtne
1.374
Z,60LS
Sub total
Totsl Gmss Income
A8get and investment Sa8, etc.
Total rncelpts
Payments
Charftsble Payments
Youth programme arKJ 8Ctiwlies
Group donallon lo Norway ExpedOn
Group donallon lo Explorers Sectlon
Acliwty Refijnds
Adull $UPPOrt arnl trdirlrwj
Rent
¥116
22,739
,392
20,447
275
Water and Sewerage
Wasle Colleclion
217
Electririty and Ga5
Telephone 8nd Inierrnt
InSVTan
1,873
1760
1,372
1,812
3.952
3,131
1,231
1,073
1,941
1,430
10
8ank Charges IGoC8rdles31
R8pair5 and Renewals
Mated81$ 8nd equipment
Pdnllng and pholocopylThJ
Web Hostlng aThJ Onllne sc•s
Conirlbutlon lo mP w$18
B8dges. Woggles and Neckern
AGM and Iw$i& expen
Ch8rf18ble Donallon$
241
181
1700
443
2,889
1,013
ios
106
Sub5criplkins RefrJnO
Sundr*8
Sub total
Fundral•lng exn$e*
Other fundralslrvJ cosls
15
3,702
8ub totsl
Total Gross Expgndlturn
Assot and Invgstsngnt purcha8e•, atc.
Totalpayments
Net of r8celpts/fpayments)
Cash fund$ last year end
Cash funds this year end
19.760
11,840
16.640
Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the year
311031202S
3110312024
Unrestrlctsd
funds
Unrestrictgd
fvnd8
Rostrictgd
nds
Rèstricted
fund$
Cash funds
Bank Gutrent accwnl
16284
17,730
Bank dep0511 account
Pr&Paid Cash Card5 Ifor carnpsl
Buildlng SOCty 8ccount
The ScOthA5Bati0n Short Term In¥e8tfflenl SeNIc8
33Q7
1,583
Ca5NFloal8
447
447
Total cash funds
Otr monotary assats
Tax claim
Debis du8 from the GrAjntylAre8Irf¢vGr0Up
InsurarKe dalm
Sub totsl
Investment assets
Inveslmenl propgrty- del1
auoled Inveslmenl
Other Inve8lments- detsll
Sub total
Non mon•tary a88èts for ch•dty'8 own u¥e
Badge slock
Shop stock
Othw stock
Land and bullYSn
Motor vehldo$
982
1N22
3.323
Scouuw equipment, fvmlture ¢*¢
Other
4,704
Sub total
LlabllltS88
Accounts not yet paid
Expen$e$ inwrred bul not Involcad
Subscdpllons noty81 pald
Loan- delall
Other118blIe&
Sub totsl
Contlngont Ilabllltl8s and futur9 Obl1gonS
Th• abov• r•¢•lpts and yyments a¢¢ount and gtatoment of aB8ots and Ilabilitlos Warn
approved by tho Twstses on 15th July 2025 and signed on thoir behalf ty
natu
Print Name
%Ii£AH
QoLLE-/
Chair
klAI SfOpH6Q L4 vLfLMI)£
TTEa$uTer
st
Independent examiner's roport to tha trustaas of l Arlasay Scout
Group.
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the 1st Arlesey
Scout Gtoup for the year ended 31a: March 2025.
Respon8ibilitla8 and basis of repott
As the chaElty trustees of the 1st krlesey Scout Groupi you are responsible for
the preparation OC the accounts in accordance with the requirements of tthÈ
Chaiities Art 20LI I'the Act, I
I report in respecp of rny examlnatlon of the L¥L Arlesey Scout GLOUP accounts
carried OLLt under section 14S of the 2011 Act and iry catrying out ny
exèrnination r have foLlowed all the applicable Directions given by th* Chatity
ConThission under section 145151 Ibl of the Att.
Independent oxaJrLiner' 8 statellnt
I have compLeted ny examination.
confirm that no material mattels have corne
to My attention in connection with the exèThination qiving e cause to believe
that in any material te$pe¢t..
a¢¢ounting Eecoio15 were not kept in respect of the l*t Arlesey Scout
Group as roqulred by secti(>n 130 OE the Act,.
the accounts do not accord wlth those records.
I have no concerns and have corne across no other matters in connecti¢>n with the
examinatioi to which attention should be drawn in this repott in order to
enable a proper understanding of the aeeounts to be reached.
Signed=
Na¢..
MARK HJERTZEN FCA
Relevanr prof Qsslonal quallf lcation or [EnbershiP of prof e5sional bodies I If
any)
FCA I ICAEWI
Address:
HW Associates Limited
Portrnill y.ouse
Portmill Lane
Hitchin
erts
SG5 IDJ
Date..
August 2025