2022-09-01-accounts

1[st] ROYAL FOREST SCOUT GROUP

Annual Report

And

Accounts

– 1 Sept 2021 31 August 2022

Charity Number: 302126

Chairman’s Report

After two years of various restrictions the Group and Scouting are now pretty much back to normal. We are still being vigilant with COVID on the increase, but it is very much business as usual currently.

The leaders throughout this year have again been excellent, and my thanks to all of them for their time and efforts. They have delivered a wide program of activities across all age groups which have benefited our members. We have a number of our group that have taken part in trips overseas, and indeed on the seas as part of the Tall Ships Expedition. Next year current and former members are also overseas at the world and Haarlem jamborees as well as a number of camps in the UK.

The work the executive does in the background to support the group should also be recognised. This year Brian will be stepping back from the exec after a health scare, Alison will hopefully be filling his shoes after the AGM. He has volunteered with Scouting for most of his life, the knowledge he has is near impossible to replace, I’d like to thank Brian for his guidance and efforts and I’m thankful he will still be there in the background offering advice as we need it.

Many thanks also to Diane for her great work as treasurer, it’s not an easy task managing the accounts, cards for the group and the various sections. However, Diane seems to make it easy for the rest of us, so many thanks.

Work has continued around the lodge this year, basic maintenance and some improvements. The camp fire area now has some bench seating installed to improve the experience. I’d like to thank one of the parents, Craig, for helping with that work, also for digging out at the rear of the garage to improve drainage. The flaky container is now not so flaky having been given a first coat of paint, this time the work was done by a couple that hired the grounds for an event and volunteered to do some work for us, so thanks to them for their time and effort.

The garage is now fully powered up, and hopefully by the time this is published we’ll have invested in new patrol tent-age to store in there. Just need to get rid of some of the old canvas to make room (when is Gareth next away?)

All in all we are in good shape, hiring of the site is on the increase, which the improvements can only help with. We hire to other scout groups and youth groups such as DofE participants, we have also hired out to film crews that have used the lodge as a production base. This all brings in extra funding for the group which helps reduce the costs we would otherwise need to pass on.

However, there is always more to do, and we could always do with more funding so we can continue with improvements and replacement of damaged equipment. Volunteers are always needed, if you can help either on the exec or just for an occasional few hours at odd times, please let us know. Lots of smaller jobs or bits of decorating that could be done at times that suit you 😊

Many thanks to you all for your support and help this year and we look forward to the next year

Steve McAuliffe

Chair 1[st] Royal Forest Scout Group

Email – [e-mail]

What’s going on? - htps://1stroyalforest.org.uk/

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GSL report September 2021 to August 2022

So another year has passed where we have had to still deal with the pandemic, and I would like to take the opportunity of thanking all of the adults involved in the Group whether they are leaders in the sections or as part of our Group Executive for all the work they have done in keeping us going.

As we started our new financial year we started to come away from many of the restrictions that we had had in the previous financial year. We were starting to come back with Face to Face Scouting but in most cases this was still meeting outside as we have some vulnerable adults and they decided that outside was less risk.

During the year our sections have started to become more adventurous and started getting back to the Scouting we have always known, we have young people attending a European trip to Belgium, taking part in a tall ships adventure, preparing for a trip to Haarlem in 2023 and 2 of our ex Scouts have been selected to attend the next World Scout Jamboree in S Korea in 2023, In terms of local Scouting we have attended a camp for Scouts held in Cirencester where they met over 2,000 Scouts and Explorers and for the first time the organisers had opened up the event to Cubs and we had a number of our Cubs attend

My hope for the coming year is that we will continue to get back to Scouting inside, camps will be held in tents and not under beds at home like they have been, We must still be on our guard as Covid has not gone away and keeps rearing its ugly head, however, I cannot say how proud I am of all our adults who volunteer for us either within a section or on our executive, that we have continued to offer Scouting to all of our young people who wanted to take part, thank you to you the parents for keeping with us and as we move out of the pandemic it seems that events in Europe have arrived which are causing major ripples in the financial markets meaning all of us will need to be aware of our financial outgoings. The executive are very mindful of this and are looking at how we can support all of our adults and young people whilst still making sure that we can offer Scouting at its very best for all.

I would like to end with a very big thank you to Steve our Chairman for all the work he has done in the last year to continue to sort out our new store building and all the other building works he has done, we could not have done this without Steve and funding from our District Council which allowed us to make the improvements.

I would also like to say a very big thank you to Brian who has so much knowledge in his head and who offers this to us whenever we need it, we almost lost him this year due to a health scare and as such he is going to step down as secretary at our AGM but he is still going to be in the background helping us and keeping us on the straight and narrow.

If I have missed anyone off with my thanks then I am sorry but you are all to numerous to mention.

Gareth

Group Scout Leader

Treasurer’s Report – 1[st] September 2021 to 31[st] August 2022

Charity Number: 302126

The Accounts included in this report have been prepared by myself, Diane Ruck as Group Treasurer. The accounts cover the period from 1[st] September 2020 to 31[st] August 2021. These accounts will be examined by an Independent Auditor and a return completed to the Charity Commission.

The Group operates 3 bank accounts:

• HSBC Current account – all standing orders for membership subscriptions are paid into this account. This is also the Group’s main account for the payment of all running costs and Lodge hire income, Lodge hire.

• HSBC – Deposit account – a contingency account that does earn a very small amount of interest.

• Lloyds Bank Plc – this account gives the Group the ability to manage online payments. This account is increasingly being used for camps and activities as well as purchases for premises and activities.

• In addition each section leader is issued with an Equals Payment debit card which enables them to make section related purchases. The Equals account is funded by deposits from the Lloyds Bank account and is run as a cashless petty cash system. Leaders have a limit on spending and have a quarterly spending limit determined by the number of members in their section.

Standing Order payments

The majority of parents are now paying by Standing Order – thank you – this is very much appreciated. There is a small saving by paying by standing order – if you would like to start paying in this way please ask your Leader for the necessary form.

Subscriptions

The Executive are aware that the cost of living crisis will be affecting everyone in the coming months. There will be no increases in membership fees for the foreseeable future but we cannot guarantee this long term. Membership fees will be reviewed regularly by the Executive.

Membership fees

Gift Aid – following a continued effort of leaders to get parents to sign up for the Gift Aid Scheme, we have continued to claim Gift Aid from the HMRC in respect of Gift Aid on the subscriptions that you all pay for your children. A total of £2,387.47 has been claimed in the period 1[st] September 2021 to 31[st] August 2022. If you haven’t signed up already, get a form from your Leader.

The income raised through the Gift Aid Scheme is used to give financial assistance to members wishing to attend an International Camps, Activities and local camps. Although these funds have been little used this year they will remain available to fund camps and activities in the future e.g. Next World Jamboree in South Korea and Haarlem Camp in Holland.

Grants

As a business rates payer, the Group have continued to receive Coronavirus grants of £500.00 from the Forest of Dean District Council. This will be the last payment – fingers crossed!

In summary, the Group’s finances remain in a secure position. The return to face to face scouting has seen an increase in both income and expenditure. Lodge Hire has increased and the young people are back enjoying exciting activities, experiences and camps that are at the heart of the Scouting experience.

Diane Ruck

Group Treasurer

Beaver Scouts

August 2021 to August 2022.

I am pleased the way the Beaver colony has bounced back after a strange two years. The numbers started growing at a healthy rate. We invested 18 new Beavers into our colony over the past year and saw 13 swim up to cubs, with 3 moving onto other adventures and 2 still with us. The Beaver section has been operating normally since September and managed all our usual indoor and outdoor meetings again.

1[st] Royal Forest Beavers attended the Remembrance parade at West Dean Centre where we paraded up to the Cenotaph. We were all proud of the Beavers who were all extremely smart, well behaved and impressed how well they lowered the standard and laid our wreath on the cenotaph.

We were invited to a Beavers in Space Virtual Camp in February, where Hertfordshire Scouts live streamed from zoom to YouTube, using the Facebook group to post photos and comments. The

programme consisted of a Lego work shop, space talk, drawing, cooking, camp fire and family challenges. Over 1,000 participants joined in!

We have covered a lot of Beaver badge work by making Elf homes from natural material, making pancakes from scratch and Beavers washing up after themselves! We have been grass sledging, building fires and cooking lovely sticky fruit and chocolate tortilla wraps. At Easter we had our annual Easter Egg Hunt – Who Stole the Easter Eggs? Where Beaver’s had to find out which cartoon character had taken the chocolate and if they could find them in time. June was a busy month where we visited the fire station in Coleford. Beavers were able to look over the fire engine, wear the firefighter’s uniform and even have a go on their hose, Great fun had by all! With thanks to Akela Ang, Tuesday Cub leader, we were able to join them at Skill zone in Gloucester. We had a fabulous time learning about safety, how to contact the emergency services, stranger danger, railway and road crossing and dangers in the home. Everybody went home with good safety knowledge.

The First Royal Forest clubbed together to hold a family fun day for the Queens Platinum Jubilee. We all enjoyed hunt the corgi’s, making nature crowns, raffle, adult vs kids challenge and especially hot dogs and bacon rolls! It was great to see the whole of 1st Royal Forest enjoying time together. Sadly, later on we commemorated the Queens life by reading a poem, saying our promise, playing royal games and all had commemorative badges.

All this could not be done without the amazing 1[st] Royal Forest Beaver Team. We welcomed Steve Doe into our colony, he has been a big help alongside Fran Barnett. Our amazing 4 young leaders who not only attend every week but are with us planning, providing material and even started risk assessing. Without these amazing leaders, the 1[st] Royal Forest Beaver Scouts would not be in a fantastic position that it is in and be able to do all the amazing, fun activities that we provide. On a sad note, we had to say goodbye to one of our amazing leaders, Alison Buttery. Alison has 15 years’ service with the Scout movement. She is seeking to take the Group Secretary role and is unable to keep her leader role. I personally want to thank her for all the support and advice she has given me over the years. We made a fantastic team together and 1[st] Royal Forest Beavers is not the same without you.

As our numbers have increased, so quickly, and the waiting list is rising, we would like to encourage more adults to join our team. I am a firm believer in the initiative of Flexible Volunteering. We know that not everyone is able to commit to attending a meeting every week, but if we could increase our team of leaders/volunteers, this makes it easier for everyone and allows us to continue to provide an exciting and challenging programme for our Beavers. There are many ways that you can help or even run your own Beaver Colony. Why not give it some thought and come and have an informal chat with me. You will definitely be made most welcome.

Kerry Billingham

Beaver Scout Leader

Tuesday Cubs

18 Cubs, 4 Leaders and 1x YL

After the pandemic Tuesday Cubs started back in ‘normal’ sized (full pack) cubs session in September 2021. We made the most of being outside to keep everything safe and as free from COVID as we could be. We had a very successful Skill Challenge Badge evening where cubs learned several life skills including tying their shoelaces, putting a duvet cover on a duvet and ironing their neckers!

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Visit to Morrisons
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Other activities that cubs have enjoyed this year are fire lighting, campfire songs, ice-cream tasting, den building in the forest, a visit to meet the Mayor of Coleford in the Council Chambers as well as a visit to Morrisons in Ross on Wye. We’ve had a visit to Skill-zone in Gloucester and also played darts at Forest of Dean Youth Darts Academy. DIY Badge - using tools to make key hooks and a mini train. We also spend several sessions learning about The Royal family - this included writing letters and sending pictures to Queen Elizabeth II. We had a lovely reply from her and proudly now wear her commemoration badge on our uniform. We have taken part in the following District events:

We have taken part in the following District events: October 2021 - District Cubs cycle ride November 2021 - Remembrance Parade December 2021 - Cub Incident Hike April 2022 -District St George’s Day parade June 2022 - Evolution Camp for Sixers & Seconders.

I’d like to give a special mention to the parents and Leaders/Young Leaders that help with Tuesday Cubs. They are a tremendous team and it’s lovely to have your support. Thank you.

Ang Healy Akela

Thursday Cubs

Well, it’s certainly been an interesting first year for me as section leader! It’s been a steep learning curve planning and organising the sessions but I’ve had amazing support from many people. I would like to individually thank Ang Healy for all her patience with me while gaining the insights required for organising the sessions for our cubs! A big shout out goes to Hettie Smith for all of her help being both a young and assistant leader when she turned 18!

We have been able to award a lot of badges, including the completion of a Chief Scout Silver for one of our cubs, especially while coming out of lockdown and interspersed with delays and cancelled sessions due to Covid!

We said our farewells to four cubs moving on to Scouts after the Spring half-term and welcomed a few new cubs both from Beavers and fresh to the movement which has been another eye-opening experience with tailoring the sessions for both!

We have spent a lot of time at the Lodge last year working on our Pioneering and Team building yet we did adventure up to New Fancy view to tackle some stargazing and astronomy which everyone enjoyed; as well as walked around the Whitemead campsite grounds learning about local plants and trees for our Naturalist badges and Countryside code!

We closed our summer term with a Sports day organised by our Young leader turned assistant leader Hettie Smith which was a great success and wished our cubs a fun-filled summer break while giving them the option to work on their Home-Help badge over the break but stressing

“only if they wanted to”!

We have looked forward to the new term in September and wished Hettie all the best with her learning as she left to attend university! Bagheera (Jon)

Monday Scouts

It is that time of year again to look back over the year and take stock of achievements. Our troop are all young, so no Gold Awards were achieved in this year – but we are all well on the way to getting them.

I really enjoyed looking back over the past year. Such a lot has changed and September 2021 seems a very long time ago. We were still very much working to Covid restrictions and meeting outside in all weathers.

Highlights of the Autumn term include the Backwoods challenge, Remembrance Parade, climbing at Cheltenham Ladies College and a Halloween party outside

Spring term was great fun. There was a lot of food involved this term with a Chinese New Year feast, Valentine’s biscuit decorating, exploring healthy eating, and making campfire Doughnuts on tangiers

We had a great time teaming up with Wednesday Scouts at Laser tag.

But the absolute highlight was our first residential trip since before the Pandemic at PGL Tregoyd House. It was so great to be able to do this again.

Summer term was back to the usual crammed event diary. There were a lot of water activities with raft building (not our best skill!), kayaking, sailing and stand up paddleboarding. We entered the Strategy 2022 competition and camped with Tuesday Scouts. Monday Scouts did very well despite soaring temperatures on the Friday followed by torrential rain on Saturday.

Fiona Morrissey

Tuesday Scouts

After the disruption of Covid it’s been good to see Tuesday Scouts gradually returning to a more traditional programme of face-to-face scouting over the last year. Although Covid has had a

significant impact, we have tried to ensure that all our scouts have an opportunity to complete their Chief Scout’s Gold Award during their time with us though a wide ranging and varied programme of activities. Over the course of the year we have awarded nearly 150 badges including 9 Challenge Awards, 10 Activity Badges, 2 Activity Plus Badges, 50 Staged Activity Badges and 78 special awards for participation, camps, and special events. It’s encouraging, that following Covid, the young people have been so keen to continue in scouting. The emphasis on getting together in person, reestablishing relationships and having fun has worked well - attendance has been excellent across all 20 scouts in the troop.

Our scouts have enjoyed engaging with scouts from other groups through various District, County national and international events. These shared experiences are often highlights of the year and included Belgium 22, Gloucestershire Tall Ships, Strategy (our best result yet!), the Cotswold Marathon (an event which was new to us but in which our scouts excelled), the District Incident Hike and Water Days, Backwoods, and the Biathlon Rifle Shooting Competition. It’s good to see the scouts engaging in new experiences and in some cases developing skills to a very high level. They have supported others in the community, volunteering both individually and as a group and have taken part in various community events such as the Remembrance Sunday Parade, Speech House Fireworks, the Wild Boar Chase and Arts-jab.

Our Tuesday night programme focused on the elements of the Chief Scout’s Gold Award which many of our older scouts needed to complete their award after the time lost to Covid, as well as welcoming our younger scouts into the troop. Although the number of badges awarded this year has been significantly down on pre-Covid years they have all made excellent progress and have enjoyed a wide range of activities. Many of our older scouts are now well placed to complete their Gold Award in the coming months.

After 13 + years of service it was rewarding to be given a merit award in November. Scouting would not happen without the support of our much appreciated, dedicated leaders and I would particularly like to thank Lloyd for his support this year. With only two leaders in the group, his help has been indispensable. A considerable amount of work in regaining permits which expired during Covid is ongoing so that we can continue to offer a full and engaging programme of activities.

Steve Crick

Wednesday Scouts

In the Autumn Term we started back with Claire, Jessie and Myself as leaders and Alina and Issy as Young Leaders. The start of the term saw the return of the trash converter and a litter picking walk, scouts also tried Rugby with the help of parent coaches and finished the evening with hot-dogs and skittles, which was enjoyed by all. For Christmas scouts requested to do a performance to parents, which was very well received by their families, we also managed to do paint your own pottery at Beaver Lodge courtesy of Reckless Designs.

The Spring Term saw the return of lots of activities we had been unable to do over the last 2 years including fires and camp cooking, we also had a visit to a lambing shed, where all the scouts were very happy cuddling the orphaned lambs. We also camped at Beaver Lodge and visited the Dean Field Study Centre for Climbing Activities, this was enjoyed so much by scouts that they asked to go back again to explore the tunnels. This term we also joined with Monday scouts to do laser-tag at Elton Corner which all of those who participated enjoyed, thank you Fiona for organising.

The Summer Term saw the return of Strategy which started with a very hot Friday evening and a reasonable wet Saturday! Despite the weather the event was enjoyed by all who participated. We had visits from the new PCSO and also the District Commissioner and Youth Commissioners who very kindly judged our international themed scout cooking competition. There was also Jubilee celebrations, exploration of the tunnels, a very popular evening, Youth Shaped Scouting with the older scouts planning and delivery activities to cover the Communications Badge to scouts. The Term ended on a warm sunny evening at Mallards Pike, with raft building and lots of swimming, followed by the award of 4 Gold Awards and goodbyes to 4 scouts and Jessie who has now gone off to University. Thank you Gareth for organising the raft building.

Tracy

Awards

During the year several of our Leaders have received recognition of their service that they have given to Scouting recognised by an award.

5 year

Michelle Screen John Humphreys Lloyd Townsend

20 year

Diane Ruck

Chief Scout’s Commendation

Steve McAuliffe our Chair has received the Chief Scout’s Commendation in recognition of his working in leading the Executive Committee through a very difficult period and for the hours he has given, to give the front of Beaver Lodge a new look, also the Group has instead of a leaky asbestos clad steel structure have a weather proof building to store the equipment in.

Brian Wingfield

District Administrator (Awards)

Secretary Report

These last 12 months have been very different from any that I have experienced during my many years in scouting we were just getting back to some normality when I was taken ill, I was fortunate that my Grandson was with me or the outcome could have been very different. I thank the members of the Executive who rallied round to cover the meetings etc. As a result I have had to step back and Alison will take on the role of Group Secretary at the AGM. During the next few months I will be supporting and guiding her as she takes on this new task.

The Executive meetings were either by electronic correspondence or by video; the main substance of the meetings was the decisions regarding the finances to keep the Lodge and its grounds ready for when the sections restarted.

The Executive at times struggles because there are numerous things that need to done, the purpose of the Executive as Trustees is to ensure that we are financially sound and that monies we receive is used to the best advantage for the young people and to keep Beaver Lodge, its Grounds safe and tidy together with equipment for the young people and also support for the leaders.

During the next few years some of our young people will have the opportunity to travel to other countries and they will need our support, the Group has encouraged parents to sign up to Gift Aid on subscriptions this enables the Group to help support these young people when it is needed.

The Scouts, Cubs and Beavers are represented on the Executive by Leaders from these sections but what we lack is the expertise of parents, we are not asking them to tie knots or spend the night under canvas but they can if they want, it is important that we seek parents views.

The Executive normally meets 4 -5 times a year on a Friday evening and the meeting lasts for about 90 mins. If you would like to find out more about becoming a member there is some online training which helps you understand your role as well as support from the groups training advisor. If you would like to know more please contact Alison.

Brian Wingfield Group Secretary

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Beaver Lodge, grounds
and stream
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FIRST ROYAL FOREST SCOUT GROUP INCOME & EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT YEAR ENDED 31ST AUGUST,2022 INCOME Dep Alc Interest Subscriptions Lodge Hire Events/Camps HMRC GiftAid EXPENSES RLpairs & Maint Gas/EleL 8ad8es Phonellnternet Capitation Insurancf. £5,586.18 £893.60 £17,264.70 £1.433.00 £5,112.59 £808.56 £598.73 £2,387.47 £500.00 £6,267.50 £3,477.74 £4,969.99 £922.87 Grant Fund Raising Donations Refund Uniform £951.81 mps/A¢tivities Waste Reriioiral £248.00 £103.56 Section Resoiirces £2,095.34 £3,288.06 £383.40 £35.0(5 Misc £2,100.00 Licence Water Rates £222.61 £30,137.02 Eouipment Subs Refunde.d Uniform £1,129.21 £60.00 LOSS FOR YEAR £571.77 £5.00 £30,708.79 £30,7CIB.79 BANK ACCOUNTS bal blfwd HSBC CIA LLOYDS CIA HSBC DIA £8,997.66 £10,816.05 £4,433.5? Bal c./fwd: HSBC £12,607.81 £6,633.24 £4,434.40 LLOYDS DEP AIC LOSS FOR YEAR £571.77 £24,247.22 £24,247.22 The accounts have been prepared from information ano explanations furnished to me and I hereby certify them as correct. SHARON STRATFORD Windermere, Parkend, Lydnev. 18ih April, 2023