**Group Lead Volunteer Report 2024- 2025** 15[th] October 2025 Having just heard all the section reports you’re struck by how much the Group has achieved with a core team of Leaders, assistants, helpers and Young leaders; we’ve shown that we can survive the ups & downs of family life & still deliver a really good quality scouting programme for all abilities So as GSL (now GLV ) I’m not about to compete with that – the credit is the Leaders – and on your behalf I’d like to thank all Leaders, adults including parents, young leaders and those who help on an ad hoc basis for their continued dedication and loyalty to our Group. Behind the scenes- It’s the now Trustee board who keep us on the straight and narrow, usually a quiet background role but without them we cannot function – they keep us safe and legal and financially afloat. So Victor Mo & Marie – Thank you and to you all leaders and parents who have contributed by helping us with advice. We now continue in our new roles for the coming year & adjust to the new rules for running the Group. An even bigger Thankyou must go to Mo & Leigh who battle the finances and as you can see with the increase in Subs and change in accounting year to School year end have the pounds & pence completely balanced. We also thank our Community Representatives Tony Clayton & Mrs Taylor for their help maintaining our profile within the local community. Our Hall Management Committee – for the upkeep of the Hall - as you can see is lovely and well maintained. As you’ve heard Sam Smith has stepped out for a while from Scouts & we’ve lost Elizabeth to Nigeria – and Dave Wilson to Salisbury/ Idminston. At Christmas last year we thought we would close the Cub Pack – but Richie Holliday has kindly put his hand up & stepped into the Pack team leader role with Elizabeth generating the programme from afar. We have gained Lisa Graves – shes returned after her B/C/S have flown the nest and is Rakhsa & we’ve finally pinned down Mr Pattinson who’s taken on the Shere Khan challenge also with the Cubs If anyone is interested in a role share or supporting the Cub leadership team with programme planning – please contact me or one of us & we’ll fill you in on the role I still need a full time Beaver leaders – anyone ? Our helpers include many of you as parents – within all the sections Beavers Cubs & Scouts. In addition we have those who have moved away – travelling from across the UK – So I’d like to thank - Scouting team Mark Lovell Sam Smith & Gretta with Neil Harrison, & the Giffards. - Our new Cub team Richie – Baloo & Lisa Raksha & Simon Pattinson – Shere Kan -Akela -Mo who provides us with cover, Megan – Nag, Elizabeth Salter & sadly weve lost Coops due to family commitments.- although hes still on our hit list. - And finally our young Leaders Alex, Maddie, Daniel & Hannah. - Our Hall team – with Leigh who also remains at the end of the phone as our in touch person - Grateful thanks go to the Taylors of Wild Cherries – we ‘ve had another wonderful year digging firepits in their garden, with the safe space to Scavenger hunt, and navigate & track. We appreciate their patience. Leaders families – thank you for your patience and support – the dinners are always ready when we get home after 9 or 10 at night and the carting of us and kit for camps. If I’ve missed any one – sorry As you probably know our local Explorer Unit Yeti closed over a year ago Apr 2024, this was sad but if anyone fancies taking on the leadership role please let us know. We remain under pressure to open Squirrels – and are considering this possibility in Autumn 26 with help from District So you’ve heard a lot about the Trustee board and the new structure for Scouting. This is to bring us inline with Charities Commission and their roles. Please bear with us if we appear confused as we must now separate out the managerial roles from front facing roles when dealing with your queries ## If you wish to help us please do catch one of us Please please remember that for us to stay safe & legal we are jumping through even bigger hoops – all activities are risk assessed to the nth degree and with that comes a lot of restrictions. Scouting is a tradition and to teach your child to light a fire say comes with a lot of assessment including adults being present. If we ask for help – please do come forward – we like you have families and homes – we are volunteers but need you to help us when we call out - if everyone gives up 30 mins -2 hours of time to help us we would have toasted marshmallows, or clear camp / meetings so much quicker and I know from having parents help on Beaver Raft building evenings you have fun too ! ## **Beavers Secton Report 2024_2025** Presentation by S Perritt & F Waghorn Summer 2024 Beavers started with high energy healthy living navigation & hikes, so camp cooking popcorn healthy foods & making smoothies - they loved the green ones – & learning compass points & navigation around Stockbridge & going for a hike around Stockbridge Down. As the nights drew in we joined with the whole Group & families for the annual Fireworks evening on the rec club. We dressed smartly Paraded & dipped the Flag without incident attending the local Remembrance Day Service at St Peters Church Stockbridge, the inevitable shock of rocket marking the 2 minuet Silence was marked by them plugging their ears as the rockets were fired for the 2 minuet silence. As the skies grew darker and clearer we did our space badge making soalr systems with quiet a few aliens and rockets. We joined our District friend for a lovely atmospheric Christingle at St Marys Church and then made our Seasonal or Christmas decorations before the holiday. We gained our Navigation, Healthy eating Hike Space & craft badges ## Spring 2025 We learnt about science colours & light– its amazing just how many colours are cramed into one felt tip pen – the brown ones are best ! We grew seeds and learnt about gardening. We also learnt about disabilities and how they affect all ages in some way – how others may not see hear feel move or think and how we can help people, we also learnt a little Makaton. Pancakes and chocolate nests ended the term. & by now we had gained our Team work gardening disability & experiment badges ## Summer term 2025 Popcorn & firelighting started the term, followed with pitching tents and meeting up with our Group & District for the annual Circus – a really fun night. We designed rafts, built & raced them down the bunny – a really fun evening with lots of help from Dads & Mums. We are so lucky to have the marsh nearby and so we did a scavenger hunt & another out tracking – finding really beautiful damsel flies & spiders. As the weather got hotter we had a cool hike on the marsh sitting by the river watching the ducks float by - eating ice lollies, & we spent a hot evening getting drenched with water games. We ended the term with pond dipping at Chilbolton finding amazing creatures amongst the weeds and mud. By the end of term we had earnt our Camp, builders hike & outdoor challenge badge My Thanks go to granddad Bradley & GrandMum Foster --- parents Mr Holder Mr Booth & to all parents for stepping up when needed. As ever my big thanks go to Stag – Sam Perritt for helping with the Colony – and reading what is going on in a Beavers mind. & to you Parents thankyou – without the parent helpers we would not be able to do our exciting meetings. **Cub Secton Report 2024- 2025** Presented by R Holiday Collated by E Salter Your Leaders go by funny names, but we are all involved with the enjoyment and learning that happens in Cubs: - Richie – Baloo, Frances – Bagheera Lisa – Raksha Hannah – Young Leader - Elizabeth – Woodpecker Yes, she is still involved with planning, and although a long way away, sends her best wishes This year - We have said goodbye to Dave (Skip) - who has moved house and is helping with Sailsbury Sea Scouts - We have said hello to Richie (Baloo) - Elizabeth (Woodpecker) has moved abroad - Elizabeth received her Wood Badge - 9 Cubs have been awarded their Silver Chief Scout’s Award - Cub numbers have remained steady - Armfuls of badges have been worked towards - And fun, friendships, service and learning have all been promoted - • Come and be a part time leader - Can you come and help once a month? – great! - • Come and be a full-time volunteer - Just turn up an supervise - great - Help in the background - There is planning, printing, badge sorting, buying supplies … - Whatever it is that you can do, it will be appreciated - • Come and join our fun, caring team - Talk to Richie **Scout Leaders Report 2024-2025** Presentation by Mark & Gretta Loall ## **Autumn Term** Autumn term started with a session to practise cooking spaghetti bolognaise and carbonara on gas stoves, this was in preparation for our Camp the following weekend. We joined with 100 other Scouts from across the Andover District at Ferny Crofts for a super camp involving shooting, climbing, archery, aeroball, crate stacking and Jacobs ladder challenges, and a very high zip wire! It was great to mix and make friends with Scouts from other groups. But also, some of the nicest moments we had were just chilling in our camp cooking breakfast or playing games in the evenings. Many thanks to James Clark and the District team for setting up the weekend, and Mark and I were assessed on camp and very pleased to be awarded our Nights Away Permits. We had a beautiful evening walk around Stockbridge marshes and the Test Way with an incredible sunset. Then we took a look at healthy lifestyle factors and the importance of good diet and sleep, and avoiding alcohol and drugs. The Scouts had to rate how much sugar was in various drinks, as well as other harmful ingredients, and were surprised by the results. We had a session on teambuilding activities, working together to extract a tin ‘bomb’, build a bridge and cross an imaginary swamp! We had a delicious two weeks preparing for and hosting last years AGM. The Scouts designed and made savoury and sweet canapes to serve, including learning how to make mini meringues, which were topped with cream and fruit. We had our annual firewood splitting session, using large and small axes, kindling splitters and saws. After half term we held our joint fireworks session with the Cubs and Beavers, enjoying firepits, sparklers and fireworks. And then a more sombre occasion, meeting for the Remembrance service at St. Peters in Stockbridge. The Scouts were smartly dressed, well behaved and read the prayers beautifully. We then learned some watercolour painting techniques, starting with a session on a remembrance poppy wreath, and moving on to an autumn leaf wreath. Oxenwood autumn camp was a brilliant weekend joint camp with our Cub section. The Scouts hiked, mountain biked, climbed, paddle boarded and had a go at rifle shooting too. A great time was had by all, a huge thank you to Mo for organising, and for the delicious food too. It is always lovely to watch the Scouts grow closer together during our residential experiences, as well as seeing a visible increase in confidence. Then we had a visitor from Good News for Everyone who came to talk to us about the Christian faith. Vic Anderson had been awarded the Queen’s Scout Award many years ago, and brought his old Scout uniform and certificate for us to see. The Scouts were fascinated seeing the difference between his and today’s more modern uniform, and he also gave us some special Scout bibles. He introduced us to some great games too and also talked about his time as a prop maker on the Thunderbirds set! On Sunday 1[st] December we attended the District Awards ceremony to see some of our Scouts receive their Chief Scout Gold award. Congratulations to Max, Henry, William, Dan, James, Maddie and Ferdy who have all earned theirs this year. We hiked on Broughton down in the dark, practising our navigation skills, and then we got creative with Christmas wreath making. We purloined our hedges and woods on the farm for holly, ivy, and moss etc, and each Scout made a beautiful wreath for their front door. Huge thanks to Claire Robinson for bringing her floristry expertise to help us. We finished the term attending the Danebury Christmas carol concert at which some of our Scouts and ex Scouts were performing. It was a lovely festive end to our term. ## **Spring term** We started the term by reflecting on the Kings Christmas message and how it echoed so many of our Scouting values of kindness and helping others. We looked at setting ourselves some Personal challenges as part of our Gold Scout award and played some of the silly Christmas games we’d been given! Our theme for the term was pioneering, and we started off learning some basic knots and lashing techniques, before developing our skills and making some camp gadgets. We did an evening hike, this time from our farm at Jacks Bush, ending with some stargazing from the top of our hill. Then we cooked burgers on campfires, always a favourite session for the Scouts. At the start of half term, we took a trip on the train with the Cubs and Beavers up to the Basingstoke Gangshow, as always a great performance. We feasted on late night chips for supper and stayed overnight in the Gill Nethercott centre in Whitchurch. Huge thanks to Mo for organising the trip and the overnight stay. We had an evening of games and cake on Mark’s birthday, followed by a tasty meeting making pancakes with a delicious variety of toppings. Then we looked at what equipment to take on an expedition and how to pack a rucksack. Neil brought his bike and panniers set up for bike packing and we discussed the different types of gear needed for different expeditions. We continued our pioneering with an outdoor project to cross an imaginary river in our paddock at the farm, and then we learnt how to splice a rope. We finished the term by planting potatoes in sacks so we could learn the fork to plate process of making our own chips! The Scouts took great delight in shovelling and mixing the compost, and then we lit campfires and enjoyed some hand cooked chips we’d prepared in the oven to give them an idea of what was to come in July when they would make their own chips with the potatoes they’d grown! ## **Summer Term** Summer term started with a District St. Georges day parade in Andover for the first time in a few years, and then we met for our annual Bluebell Walk in Bentley wood with the customary game of camouflage! We coked over campfires, this time bacon butties or BLTs for those that like their salad! It was great to see some older ones teaching our newer Scouts how to make their fires. Next, we visited the Circus with groups from across District, huge thanks to Mo for organising this event for us all again. Then we started our summer theme of the Farming and Naturalist badges with a look at Bee keeping, wildflower sowing and taking Dahlia cuttings. We looked at how Mark keeps his bees and had a delicious evening extracting some honey from the frames Mark had taken out of the hives. We had a great session gardening at the Scout hut, weeding, clearing, trimming trees and planting the lovely yellow and red dahlias that you can see outside along the path. The Scouts surprised themselves with what a difference they had made, and it looked incredible afterwards! We then looked at flower identification in the hedgerows and wild corners of the farm as part of our naturalist badge. We used both book ID guides and technology in the form of Google lens search and used this as an example for a discussion around constructive use of the internet and internet safety issues. We looked at International Scouting around the world, and said goodbye to one of our eldest scouts with a session of games and snacks at the farm finishing with a beautiful walk through our barley field at sunset. Then we went down to Stockbridge marshes on a roasting hot evening to cool off paddling in the river and look at the wildlife underwater with Neil’s submersible magnifying glass. On the penultimate week of term, we tipped out our potato sacks to find that they had multiplied massively, and we scrubbed and chopped the potatoes to make enough chips to feed a small army! While they were in the oven the Scouts had a tour of our farm machinery as part of our farming badge, many thanks to our son Joe and daughter Katelin for helping with this. The Scouts loved being able to see the machinery up close and learn more about how the combine, baler and tractors work. We ate our home-grown, home-made chips as the sun went down, and they were the best chips ever! Our last session of the year was learning about water safety ahead of the summer holidays. We walked down to the River Test at the marshes again and paddled while practicing the technique for a water rescue with a throw rope, then we talked about what to do if caught in a rip current, safety flags at beaches and discussed having appropriate equipment when doing water sports. We want to thank our fabulous group of Scouts for being such a great bunch of young people to work with. Watching you all grow in confidence is a joy, and you make this a hugely rewarding role. Mark and I are very grateful for the help of our team of regular helpers - Neil Harrison who gives so much of his time, Sam Watts who has just come on board, Sam Smith and all her wonderful Scout experience – currently taking a break, but we hope to see you again soon, and Lloyd Hotchkiss who has started helping more this year. And we couldn’t do it either without those who have stepped in occasionally when needed - Andrea Zanchi, Dan Robinson, Claire Robinson, Bryan and Sarah Glasspool, William, Tom and Rowena Giffard, Madeline Maple, and Mirembe Woodrow have all helped us this year. Our parent support is wonderful, thank you all for the kind messages you send us, it makes all the difference. Thank you to our Group Lead Frances holding it all together, Mo our treasurer and organiser of brilliant events, and to the Cub and Beaver team and hut committee too – you are all amazing. Mark and Gretta Lovell ## **14th Andover (Stockbridge) Scout Group** ## **’ Treasurer s Report Summary Sept 24- Aug 25 AGM 2025** This year marks our first full financial year operating on an academic year-end rather than a business year-end. The change has given us a much clearer picture of how our income and expenditure align with the Scouting calendar. The previous 18-month reporting period, used to make the transition, revealed that the Group had been running at an unsustainable deficit and was relying heavily on grant income to stay afloat. ## **Financial Position** The decision taken last year to raise subscriptions to £50 per term has been challenging for some parents but it has successfully returned the Group to a stable financial footing. For the first time in several years, we have completed a year operating in the black. We would like to thank the leaders for delivering an outstanding programme on a very tight budget. This year also marked the start of our Gift Aid reclaim trial, which has already brought in over £2,000. Given its success, Leigh (our Hall Treasurer) and I will now continue to process the remaining backlog of eligible claims and ensure that Gift Aid is claimed regularly going forward. This will provide a valuable and sustainable income stream to support the Group’s ongoing running costs. We also want to recognise that many of our leaders and volunteers do not claim back all of their expenses. This generosity saves the Group a significant amount each year, and we are sincerely grateful for that support but also means we must be alert that this cannot be an expectation and we should always budget as if full expenses are claimed. ## **Sustainability Projects** Our focus for the coming year is on long-term environmental and financial sustainability: - The Group has been awarded over £29,000 in ring-fenced grants — including a National Lottery grant and a Test Valley Borough Council Community Infrastructure Grant — to install solar panels on the Scout Hut roof. - We are also upgrading the heating system to ensure the building operates at maximum efficiency. - Once complete, we aim to reduce our energy bills and hopefully sell any surplus power back to the grid. - During the next year, we will also apply for additional grants to support water-use reduction and to replace all internal and external lighting with energy-efficient LED units. We would like to thank Stockbridge Community Cinema for their generous financial contribution supporting camp costs, and to express appreciation to the individual donors who have kindly given financial support to the Group this year. ## **Debt Management** This year we have begun actively monitoring bad debt, focusing on parents who have not cleared balances after their children have left the Group despite repeated reminders. From September 2025, a new “two formal requests” policy will apply: After two formal reminders, a child’s membership will be temporarily suspended until arrears are cleared. This measure is necessary to prevent a small number of unpaid fees from affecting the whole Group. We fully appreciate that many families are facing financial pressures, and we continue to offer: - A Camp Bank facility to spread larger payments, and - The option to agree extended payment plans with the Treasurer in confidence. ## **Reserves Policy** With income stabilised, we are now formalising a reserves target of approximately £5,000, equivalent to around six months of core operating costs. This will provide financial security in the event of unexpected income disruption or urgent expenditure. ## **Summary** To summarise: - The switch to an academic year-end has clarified our financial picture. - The increase in subscriptions has restored financial stability. - Major grants are being invested in long-term sustainability projects: solar power, heating upgrades, water efficiency, and LED lighting. - We are managing outstanding debt proactively, while supporting families in need. - We are deeply grateful for the continuing generosity of leaders, volunteers, Stockbridge Community Cinema, and individual supporters who make Scouting possible in our community. Together, we have secured a stable, sustainable foundation for the future of Scouting in Stockbridge. •K li JA£aw' £ SAse.30 Cjtry) F4*5 141,2.) J5K.US 254 E l_I'Jl U? (ffcw23ni nkTht.md £ 53205) * IJ.1I6M 9A5.C £ 41321.50 1 7.IOb.YAI t ITIO.%5 * Ll:0 19 E J.JlY.11S £ Jsi.fji £ s￿).. a¢ ijyii I Jpit•i (￿u¢ f J.7X.L f 2.71N Can4)feeg 4U¥ •tikt¥wiilr•rylvi 563 46 x lrtAw12021 f 6.150 £ 7A)12 7G IrKryry•lpss 14-8,, 1. 23 518.7* ?WA * 7m7 76 O•fjkO•kne•i* 3¢ t 71*12.76 r.yh ¥p.•ir hfthl f IQSV 75 £ Lll7.03