OpenCharities

This text was generated using OCR and may contain errors. Check the original PDF to see the document submitted to the regulator.

2024-03-31-accounts

1st Crowthorne

Annual General Meeting

Sunday 29th September 2024 4pm – 630pm

(Followed by activities and barbecue)

The Hut, Edgbarrow Secondary school

AGENDA

1. Introduction and welcome Phil Hart
2. Apologies for absence Phil Hart
3. To approve the minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on 17th
September 2023		 Phil Hart
4. Chairman’s report Phil Hart
5. To receive and consider annual report from the group trustee board including
annual statement of accounts.		 Phil Hart
6. The Group Scout Leader’s review Ariel Merzer /
Nicky Higgins
7. To approve nomination of group chair Ariel Merzer
8. Election of offices on the trustee board Phil Hart
9. To appoint the independent examiner tbc
10. Presentations Nicky Higgins /
Ariel Merzer
11. Comments from district commissioner or their representatives Pam Pearce
12. Close Phil Hart

1

Scouts Previous minutes AGM 2023 - 2024

Previous AGM minutes 17th September 2023 1:30pm

at the Hut

Unfortunately, we have no precise record of the previous AGM.

However, from memory the meeting began roughly on time with an introduction and welcome from Phil Hart.

The previous AGM minutes were approved, and the chairman gave his report.

In the absence of Marc Brunel-Walker, Ariel Merzer gave a summary of the group's activities.

This was followed by the treasurer's report presented by Alex Farrell and Graham Elliott.

Officers were elected to the trustee board.

This was followed by comments from Phill Wood and others representing the District team.

The chairman thanked everyone for coming.

The meeting then closed.

3

Scouts Chairman's report Phil Hart

1st Crowthorne Scout Group chairman's report

September 2024

Items of note this year:

Lease renewal

This time last year we thought we were almost there with the lease, I'm sorry to say that we didn't manage it but hopefully we will have a new lease very soon. The Scout Association have made their amendments, and it is now back with the Bracknell Forest Council Solicitor.

Drainage problem

We were fortunate to get a grant from the Shanly Foundation, we managed this by putting together an application which included a video made by Daniel and James Furzer (well done boys!) This was then entered into a competition, and I'm pleased to say that with the video we managed to get the funding to put the French drain in on the car park side of the building.

Leadership

Following the departure of Marc Brunel-Walker last year, I'm pleased to say that Nicky, Ariel and Louise have formed a strong leadership team and managed to maintain running the group in a very positive way.

Family Camp

Elaine and I were pleased to spend a day at the family camp at PACCAR this year. This is a tremendous site with very good facilities, and I would thoroughly recommend you try it next year if you haven't been before. A fun filled weekend for all the family.

As you may know because of other commitments I have decided to stand down as chairman this year. I have been connected with the group since my eldest son was in the cubs - he turned 53 this year!

In those days meetings were held on the Wellington College site in a wooden hut somewhere on what is now Wellington Chase, probably where Fielding Gardens or Chaucer Road are now. Following a fire at the hut the Group was able to raise enough money to construct the present building on the Edgbarrow site and we moved in 1984.

I have very much enjoyed my time with 1[st] Crowthorne and I’m sure I will miss being involved.

I would like to thank all the leaders, helpers and parents for their efforts in keeping the Group in such good shape but for it to continue we do need new blood, particularly on the support side. We need more Trustees to look after our finances and we also need more help looking after the fabric of the building and equipment. If you can help in any way, please let us know.

Phil Hart 20/09/24

5

Treasurers Report

Alex Farrell Graham Elliott

6

Scouts c c vy uuCJOr£z

Scouts

Group Scout Leaders Report

Louise Furzer Nicky Higgins Ariel Merzer

9

Group Scout Leaders report

Dear Members, Leaders, and Parents,

This year, a team consisting of Louise Furzer, Nicky Higgins and Ariel Merzer have been running 1[st] Crowthorne Scout Group.

We have worked extremely hard to ensure that all the basics of running a safe Scout Group have been put in place.

The following have taken place in the last year:

We have to say a huge thank you to our Leaders, who regularly give up an inordinate amount of their personal time to ensure that your children have opportunities to build their life skills which set them in good stead as they grow up.

Membership

During the year, our group has seen a consistent number of members across all our sections; with enough leaders we have space for 48 members in each troop, i.e., 48 Beavers etc.,

Achievements

Our programmes have been incredibly successful, evidenced by the record number of top awards that we have awarded to our members this year. The hard work and commitment of our Scouts and Leaders and parents supporting with completing tasks at home has certainly paid off

Chief Scout Bronze – 2

Chief Scout Silver – 3

Chief Scout Gold 2

10

You know the saying – it takes a village?

Well, it takes our village, Crowthorne, to run this Scout Group, the Group has been running since 1909, we currently have 118 young people enrolled with room for more, but we desperately need adults to help support the Group to ensure it continues to run. The more the merrier and it means that if everyone does a little then roles can be shared, as we have demonstrated with the Group Scout Leaders role being shared between 3 people.

You don’t have to come every week. Maybe it’s not a child facing activity that interests you (it’s not for everyone) are you good at admin, maybe facebook, accounts?

The Scout Association is moving towards a team based approach Team based roles which is great for people who don’t have lots of time to give but still want to help. 1[st] Crowthorne are one of the early adopters of this exciting new approach.

Future Plans

We would really like to give our hut a facelift, this helps to lift everyone’s spirits when they enter, we intend to apply for funding for discrete projects such as refreshing the meeting room and the main hall.

You will see from the family tree on the next page there are a number of vacancies for leaders, but we also need someone who is confident with figures and another representative on our Trustee Board, if you are even slightly interested, please do email gsl@1stcrowthorne.co.uk to have a chat about opportunities

Special Thanks

As always, we want to extend our gratitude to Aly for her invaluable assistance in managing our badge inventory and facilitating the awards

Thanks also go to Pauline for managing the waiting list to get new young people involved in Scouting.

Moreover, a big thank you to all of our Leaders for their tireless commitment and dedication over the past year. Your efforts are what make our programmes so successful.

I'd also like to acknowledge the contributions of the parents, who support their children’s sessions on a regular basis and generously offer their time and support - be it through participating in camps or social activities.

Farewell Message

This year we say goodbye to our Chair of the Trustee Board, Phil Hart, he has steered the group through 37 years and has seen many changes in that time. His experience, local knowledge and relationships will be hard to replace.

As we move ahead, let's continue to support each other and strive for even greater heights.

Warm regards,

Louise Furzer, Nicky Higgins and Ariel Merzer

11

Scouts aaJiJa Ja JJ 12

Section Reports

Beavers:

Thursday - Orcas Friday - Dolphins

Cubs:

Wednesday - Wolves Thursday - Eagles

Scouts:

Monday – Leopards

Tuesday - Hawks

13

– Beavers Dolphins & Orcas

2023 – 2024 was a brilliant year for Orca beavers, with lots of new starters and lots of movement of beavers to cubs.

We continue to run our 2-year programme making sure that we can get as many of our Beavers Scouts through their bronze award before they move up to cubs, whilst still trying to bring as much variety to the activities as possible.

This year we’ve been quite ambitious in our trips away from the hut with exciting adventures; we’ve also continued to invite external community members to demonstrate to the beaver scouts. We were very fortunate to have Richard Packer join us from St John’s Ambulance to run our emergency

aid evening; who brought with him all the correct equipment to demonstrate how to perform CPR and how to use a defibrillator machine. It was an excellent evening that had the beaver scouts thoroughly engaged. (Note to parents: Richard is a colleague from work, so if you have any colleagues at work who volunteer with any other organisation, then please do reach out to them if they would like to run a scouting session.)

We were also visited by the Platforms for Change team who run educational sessions on Rail Safety, and also facilitate rail trips for youth groups.

We also made some really exciting trips out and about this year:

Louise F and I have also taken on LTA ambassadors training which supplied the group with Tennis equipment and session plans.

We’ve tried to take part in as many District activities and events in the last year; Remembrance Sunday, St Georges Day, District Sleepover. We aim to take part in more in the next year, including JOTI/JOTA for the beavers.

Camps and Nights away have remained a staple for the beavers, with at least 3 opportunities provided for overnight stays, (District sleepover, Beavers sleepover and Group Family Camp).

14

Many campfires have been struck, many songs sung and many Smore’s eaten.

During the year we were able to award 9 Chief Scouts Bronze Awards to our beavers.

We still aim to have a cohort of 24 beavers in the Orca Colony, but the numbers have fluctuated quite a bit over the year; dropping to 15 at one point.

Beaver Colony Team

We are supported by the following team of assistance leaders and Young Leaders and give our thanks to all those adults and Young leaders who give up their time to work with our children.

We had another busy year in the Dolphin section, earning different badges and developing a range of skills. Our themes for the year were kindness and teamwork and these ran through all our activities.

Highlights included night hikes to see bats leaving their roosts, doing CPR with a real paramedic, silly sports sessions on the school field and campfire cooking.

We sang loudly and squirted the crowds with other Crowthorne sections for the carnival and enjoyed jumping in the lake after dragon boating to celebrate the end of another successful year.

We also held another happy and magic- themed Sleepover with our Orca friends.

Our oldest Beavers moved up to cubs and we said sad goodbyes to Abbie Dinesen and Adam Pocock as Leaders, Maaiya as helper and our amazing young leaders Izzy and Isaac who are much missed.

As a new group of wanna-beavers join our ranks we look forward to a packed programme of crafting, camp firing and managed chaos- with both noise and fun levels remaining high

Finally if there are any parents who have a specialist skill or access to a place to visit, then we would be very interested in what you have to offer – please let us know.

15

– Cubs Eagles & Wolves

Autumn 2023 started with den building and fire building.

During the autumn we also enjoyed a night hike and indoor laser tag.

In December we prepared Christmas shoe boxes for children in Ukraine and we finished the year with a Christmas disco run by our very own DJ Darren!

Spring 2024

In the Spring term we had a guest speaker in the form of Alyson Tracey who came to run an evening of games about money management. If any other parents have a skill they’d be willing to share then please let us know and we’ll plan it into the programme.

In February, our Cub sixers were invited to a Leadership weekend with other District Scouts. They learnt how to be a good team leader, gain ideas and skills that went towards their Team Leader Challenge badge.

In March we ran a split event across the Wednesday and Thursday groups with some of the cubs choosing archery at the hut and others going climbing in Camberley. Thanks to Louise Furzer for running the archery for us!

Summer 2024

At the end of the Spring term Robin needed to step back from leading both packs for personal reasons. This leadership reshuffle saw Tom moving from Beavers to taking over Eagles, supported by Kyle Rhodes and Ian Allen. Ariel kindly offered to help out while things were getting settled. Meanwhile Robin continued with Wolves, assisted by Darren and Richard.

We ran a joint outdoor laser tag session and a joint hike with 3rd Sandhurst cub pack. The cubs planned their own routes for the hike, with Green Six adding a victory lap of the lake at the end.

We were well represented at Family Group Camp and the Crowthorne Carnival, and got totally soaked while paddleboarding and kayaking at Horseshoe Lake for the end of year celebration.

Coming up in Autumn 2024

This term we are attending the District Activity Day and are running a cubs-only camp. The camp will be led by leaders from across 1st Crowthorne and we’re looking forward to visiting Earlywood for our Mission to Mars!

Thank you to Robin Jarvis, Richard Joyce, Tom Page, Ian Allen and Kyle Rhodes for their continued support of our two cub packs.

16

Scouts 17

- Scouts Hawks & Leopards

2023-2024 has been a busy year with a varied programme of activities in addition to our weekly meetings.

Scouts from Hawks and Leopards have participated in the JOTI/JOTA event in October 2023, along with the Fire and Ice Camp in January 2024, Scout Camp in May 2024 and the Family Camp in June 2024. The Scouts also took part in the Crowthorne Carnival procession and we had three teams compete in the Gun Run competition organised as part of the Carnival celebrations with one of our teams winning the event to add a long overdue new trophy to the trophy cabinet.

Scouts have also taken part in district events including the District Night Hike in March 2024 and the District Hill Walking weekends in October 2023 and July 2024.

During our weekly meetings we have had a varied programme and are trying to find new ways to create cooking challenges which are always popular. We have invested in additional Dutch ovens to increase the options for cooking on fires outside the hut and had some successful fire baked banana bread prepared.

We had a very cold orienteering session at Dinton Pastures Country Park (not aided by compasses that pointed south rather than north!).

First aid sessions using innovative CPR techniques involving sponge balls and ‘Staying alive’ will live long in the memory.

We ran a talent night evening and it was good to see scouts getting out of their comfort zone and performing in front of other Scouts and incredible to see some of the skills and talents on display.

Other sessions have included cycling, archery, night hikes, a treasure hunt, wide games and air rifle shooting.

18

Over the course of the past year we have awarded a total of 335 badges. Over the next year we are looking to organise further camps and a narrow-boating weekend will have been completed by the time of the AGM.

We are also looking to run an expedition challenge weekend for scouts who are looking to progress towards completion of their Chief Scout’s Gold Award.

Finally if there are any parents who have a specialist skills or hobbies that they would like to share with our Scouts at a Scout session please let us know.

We are always looking for new and engaging activities to include in the programme.

With thanks, Chris Colloff, Claire McLennan, Marie-Anne, Andy and Sophie Allen, Phil Trivett, Eran Amir, Andy Fletcher for all their support with Scouts.

19