Hitchin District Scouts Annual Review to 13[th] May 2024
Hitchin District Scout Council
President & Vice Presidents
President Vice Presidents
Graham Woolley Rose De Roeck Tony Freeman Peter Hankin Bernard Higgs Keith McEwen Shirley Street
District Board of Trustees
Chairman Secretary Treasurer Assistant Treasurer District Lead Volunteer District Youth Lead Trustees
Mike Wells Colin Wilson Craig Wilson Anna Pargeter Henry Harrison Tom Hankin Denise Wells Geraint Edwards Alan Langley Tony Hankin Tracey Higginbotham Kevin Hankin
District Membership
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Squirrels 9
Beavers 267 Membership Trend
Cubs 298
1200
Scouts 217
1000
Explorers 93
Network 14 800
Total Young People 898 600
Total Adults 285 400
Total Membership 1183 200
0
This year our youth
membership increased by 2.6%.
Its brilliant to see our youth
Youth Membership Adult Membership
2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 2019 2021 2023
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This year our youth membership increased by 2.6%. Its brilliant to see our youth membership continuing to grow Youth Membership Adult Membership after the drop caused by the COVID pandemic. It’s great to see more young people in Hitchin benefiting from scouting. We are really delighted that the volunteer membership grew by over 10%. This was largely due to a couple of successful recruitment events. Explorer membership also grew a huge amount, from 69 to 93 explorers. Finally, it was great to declare our first Squirrel Drey at 8[th] Hitchin.
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Lochearnhead Group
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Groups and Units in Hitchin District
Scout Groups
1st Hitchin (Boys’ School)
2nd Hitchin (Air Scouts)
3rd Hitchin (Walsworth Road Baptist Church) 4th Hitchin (St. Ippolytts)
Explorer Scout Units
1st Hitchin ESU BEAR ESU DORA ESU HYDRUS Young Leaders
5th Hitchin (St. Mark’s)
6th Hitchin (Priory)
7th Hitchin (Our Lady’s)
Network Scout Unit Hitchin District Network
8th Hitchin (Oughton)
9th Hitchin (1st Ickleford)
11th Hitchin (Christchurch)
12th Hitchin (St. Mary’s and Holy Saviour) 15th Hitchin (Holwell and Pirton) 16th Hitchin (St. Faiths) 17th Hitchin (St. Michael’s)
District Awards and Achievements
Silver Wolf Tony Hankin
Bar to the Award for Merit
Chief Scouts Commendation for Good Service
Anna Wilson Victoria Hellyer
Wendy Hawkes
Chief Scouts Award for Merit
Andrew Murray Moore Dennis Richard Alder Janette Alexandra Innes Peter Watson
30 Years’ Service
Sandra Stokes
20 Years’ Service
Julie Hobbs Robert Annett Patricia Reiser
15 Years’ Service
Gavin Love Raymond Shakespear Tim Stroud
10 Years’ Service
Claire Slater Henry Harrison Geoffrey Eyles Tomasz Pernak Tina Hay Rebecca Roberts
5 years’ service
Tom Hankin Esta Norton Amy Parker Helen Matthews James Cole Michelle Stafford Roger Powell Suzanne Anderson David Bevan Richard Burgess Mark Drury Daniel Ellis Emma Faulkner Helen Neeves Holly Pomfret Richard Proctor Alex Woolston
District Chairman
Hello again and thank you for reading the annual review of Hitchin Scouting. It was very sad earlier on in this Scouting year that we lost Richard Cox who had been our District president for many years. He was a great supporter of Hitchin Scouting and after he stood down from his role, I presented him with a gift of appropriately named rose bushes and an engraved oak plaque. There is good news on the presidential front but I will leave this to Henry to tell everyone.
It has been another very busy year with activities for our young people and I would sincerely like to thank all of the leaders and adult volunteers who have helped to deliver these “Skills for life”, we simply could not do it without you. During this year, Hitchin Scouting was represented at the Tilehouse Rotary Youth activities showcase event in the Market Place. This was very successful and I am very pleased to say that a number of new adult volunteers came forward following this event.
I also attended the District Awards Evening at The Priory School to see so many of our young people gain awards and recognition. As I write this, I look forward to the leader information evening at The Highlander and St Georges day parade later this month, and I look forward to welcoming you to our AGM at the Cricket club in May.
Mike Wells District Chairman
District Treasurer
The Financial Accounts for the calendar year 2023 have been presented for consideration at this AGM. The accounts have been independently examined, and I would like to thank Philippa Morgan-Males for carrying out the examination. Both the accounts and the examiner’s report were approved by the District Trustee Board at a meeting on 15[th] April.
Hitchin Scouts were very fortunate to receive substantial grants and donations in 2023. The attendees of the World Scout Jamboree were instrumental in the success of the District’s application for a £40,000 grant from the LIV Foundation. This grant enabled the District to fully subsidise the Jamboree fees for all five of our attendees. In addition, this grant was used to subside the cost of the Lochearnhead 2023 trip, and to buy new equipment (bell tents and expedition tents). At the end of 2023, approximately £14,700 of this grant remained. The District Trustee Board agreed at their last meeting that funds from this grant will be used to support volunteer training (£2,000) and to subsidise the 2025 districtwide DAW event (£5,000). A £10,000 donation was also received from the Revere Trust, a local charitable trust. The District Trustee Board has agreed that £5,000 of this donation should be used to further subside DAW in 2025.
In 2023, the Scout Association closed its Short-Term Investment Service. This was an investment account available to Scout Groups, Districts and Counties for the purposes of generating a return on invested funds. Hitchin District had just under £12,000 of reserves in this account, and this money was returned into the District bank account. At a meeting of the Trustee Board in September 2023, it was agreed that the District should open a savings account for the purpose of earning interest on cash reserves. The board voted to invest reserves of £40,000 in a 30day notice account from Dudley Building Society earning 4.1% interest per annum. This account is now open.
Scout Association membership fees for 2023 increased by £2 per young person per year compared to 2022. The District was able to hold their portion of the
membership fee at the same level as the previous year. Furthermore, the District Trustee Board has agreed that the previously awarded Covid grant will be used in 2024 to subside the district membership fee for groups, to help offset further increases at the national and county level. Subscription costs charged by groups increased from an average of £32.50 per young person per term in 2022 to an average of £34 in 2023.
Scout Shop income in 2023 was very similar to 2022 at just over £13,750 of sales and £11,400 expenditure. All profits from the shop are re-invested into Hitchin Scouts. Thank you to Denise and the team for all their work.
Gift Aid in the amount of £2,500 was received in 2023 – this consists of £1,200 from the 2022 claim and £1,300 from the 2023 claim.
Expenditure on the Scout HQ building, including insurance and facilities was down by £1,000 compared to 2022. Moving to a cheaper electricity tariff contributed to this, as did the stepping back of the person who did regular tidying up, weeding etc. The Trustee Board is seeking a replacement.
Expenditure on Admin/PR increased by £1,100 compared to 2022. This was largely due to a PR and recruitment campaign designed to promote Hitchin Scouts and attract new volunteers to the District through a series of events held throughout the year.
Expenditure on training increased by £1,700 compared to 2022. This increase was largely due to the mental health training course which was provided for District volunteers and paid for from a grant received from Bedford and Luton Community Fund.
Expenditure on equipment increased ten-fold from around £1,000 in 2022 to £10,000 in 2023. The purchases of tents from grants and donation noted above, along with purchase and refurbishment of second-hand boats (from ringfenced water sports funds) were the main contributors to this increase. Given that all major purchases came from grants or ringfenced funds, there is no concern on the
impact to District finances from this increased expenditure.
Explorer Unit finances are healthy and there are no concerns with the ability to pay the national membership fees for any of the units. Explorer subscriptions will remain at the current level of £30 per term for 2024.
Receipts were £118,915 in 2023 compared with £124,343 in 2022. Both of these figures are substantially higher than typical, because of the awards of the grants and donations mentioned above, and because of the receipts of fees for major events such as Lochearnhead 2023.
Expenditure in 2023 was substantially higher at £130,446 compared to £82,070 in 2022. Almost £61,000 of this expenditure was for the Lochearnhead trip, for which fees and grants were received across 2022 and 2023.
Overall, at the end of 2023, District funds stood at £82,450 compared to £93,980, in 2022. The lower figure is explained by the collection of funds for major events such as Lochearnhead in 2022 which were spent in 2023.
Craig Wilson
District Lead Volunteer
I’d like to give a huge thank you to all our volunteers for their continued commitment, dedication, and enthusiasm. Every week, 900 young people learn skills for life, develop into better citizens and have a great time. This couldn’t happen without a huge amount of volunteer time. It was brilliant to see an increase in leadership this year with 27 new leaders, 8 of these coming from the town centre Youth Showcase event. This was followed up with an adult climbing taster session that we will be running again this year.
For many of our Scouts, Explorers and leaders, last year was dominated by our district trip to Lochearnhead in Scotland to stay at an old train station owned by Hertfordshire Scouts. Organising a trip on this scale is a mammoth logistical challenge. Sam and Tony Hankin did a fantastic job making sure that the 66 young people and 50 leaders had an amazing trip. Over the 2 weeks, young people experienced: walking, bouldering, sailing, kayaking, mountain biking and high ropes alongside day trips to Stirling, Highland games and an overnight expedition. For many of the Young People, this is the longest they have been away from home, especially since the pandemic. It is so important for our young people to have these opportunities that they wouldn’t get elsewhere.
Last year was also a Jamboree year. Hitchin sent 5 young people to South Korea for the 25[th] World Scout Jamboree. Although it didn’t go totally as planned, I was very pleased to hear that our scouts still managed to have a great time and get a once in a lifetime experience out of the Jamboree. They were able to meet with scouts from every corner of the world and learn about other cultures and customs. The next Jamboree will be in Poland in 2027 and we expect to be looking for participants next year. For those aged between 14 and 18 in August 2027, please keep an eye open for communications next year.
There has been a big focus on safety this year following a couple of incidents and near misses. As we look after 900 children weekly, safety and safeguarding must be a top priority for all of us. Leader training compliance is one element of this. Leaders who have out of date mandatory training will now be automatically suspended. Thankfully, Hitchin has always been relatively good at adult training
compliance. Thank you to leaders for making this as easy as possible! We must also continue to have a risk assessment for every activity that we run. This is something that the district will be improving with and asking groups to look at as well. This year, we are running risk assessment sessions aimed at leaders and committee members. We want to help provide training for skills that our leaders require. Last year we also ran extra training for Mental Health Awareness, this year we ran some Autism Awareness training. If anybody has suggestions for extra sessions that would be helpful, please get in touch.
As ever, there is loads to look forward to coming up in the calendar. Following on from a hugely successful Cub Camp last year, we have a Space themed Cub Camp this summer. We also have a Beaver Activity day and Scout Night Hike towards the end of the summer. In 2025, we will have the return of the District Activity Weekend, a weekend open to every young person in the district. Next year, we also have an Explorer trip to Yellowstone National Park for 8 young people aged 16+.
As part of the wider Scouts Transformation project, the district team will be rebranding to use the new role titles following this AGM. Please see the new roles below.
Henry Harrison
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District Leads
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People Team •Y Ha Team Tw Programme Team
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Activity Team
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Vacancies
We are always looking for people to join the district team and help coordinate scouting across the district. If you are interested in any position, please get in touch with somebody in the district team. In particular, we are looking for a People Team Member and somebody to help with the Activities Team.
We need somebody to support the 18-25 age range in the district. This could be young adults who volunteer with us or members who want to stay in touch with the district after explorers. It involves keeping in semi-regular contact with the group, supporting events and acting as a go-between for the network and the district team.
We are also looking for somebody who is good with organisation, IT and planning to help support the Activity Team with organising District Activities.
Finally, we are starting to look for somebody aged 18-25 to support the Youth Lead. As Tom is getting older, we will be looking for the next Youth Lead! Ideally, we would have a longer handover period to make this more effective.
Upcoming events
| May | Beaver Activity Day |
|---|---|
| May | Safety Workshop |
| June | Duxford Visit |
| July | Farnborough Air show trip |
| August | Hermitage Road Day (Hitchin Scouts have climbing wall) |
| September | Youth Showcase event in the town square |
| October | District Cub Hike |
| November | Scout Night Hike |
| December | Cub Christmas Challenge |
| January | Beaver Sleepover |
| February | Celebration Evening |
| May | DAW |
For up to date district and county event dates please see the district calendar: hitchinscouts.org/calendar
Photos from around the district
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Scouts Hitchin Registered Charity Number 302546
Hitchin District Scout Council Receipts and Payments Account
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For the year
01/01/2023 To 31/12/2023
from
Receipts
2023 2022
£ £
Subscriptions
Membership subscriptions 47,685.00 46,746.00
Less:Membership subscriptions paid on
- 43,350.00 - 42,336.00
(National/County/Area/District)
Net membership subscriptions retained 4,335.00 4,410.00
District Operations
Premises 298.99 44.99
Administration & PR - -
Adult support & training 80.00 -
Equipment - -
Sub total 378.99 44.99
District Activities & Groups
District events & activities 11,382.64 24,776.35
Watersports 6,539.29 7,023.56
Jamboree - 7,087.50 7,087.50
Explorers 13,435.71 11,365.14
Youth Forum, Young Leaders & Network - -
Lochearnhead 19,738.17 32,063.28
Sub total 44,008.31 82,315.83
Donations, legacies and similar income
Private donations and grants 50,332.00 7,275.00
DHQ Roof - 10,000.00
Charities Trust - 500.00
Jamboree Donations and Grants 369.50 6,805.45
Lochearnhead Donations and Grants 2,550.00 -
Benevity and Amazon Smile 524.52 60.35
Sub total 53,776.02 24,640.80
Charitable income to pass on
Corporate matched funding passed to specific
- 82.16
groups
- 82.16
Scout Shop
Scout Shop Sales 13,754.02 13,836.27
13,754.02 13,836.27
Investment income
Bank interest 157.13 13.86
Gift Aid 2,505.76 -
Sub total 2,662.89 13.86
Total receipts 118,915.23 125,343.91
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Payments
2023 2022
£ £
District Operations
Premises 3,188.38 4,213.58
Administration & PR 1,650.71 510.87
Adult support & training 4,229.80 2,545.53
Equipment 10,176.36 928.72
Sub total 19,245.25 8,198.70
District Activities & Groups
District events & activities 13,327.71 30,806.32
Watersports 4,137.04 5,591.57
Jamboree 2023 5,749.57 12,767.50
Explorers 15,465.68 11,876.36
Youth Forum, Young Leaders & Network 75.77 344.48
Lochearnhead 60,894.52 1,081.18
Sub total 99,650.29 62,467.41
Charitable income to pass on
Hitchin Initiative 150.00 150.00
Corporate matched funding passed to specific
- 68.51
groups
RBL Poppy Appeal - 30.00
150.00 248.51
Scout Shop
Scout Shop Expenditure 11,400.81 11,156.24
11,400.81 11,156.24
Total payments 130,446.35 82,070.86
Receipts and Payments Accounts Summary
2023 2022
£ £
Total Receipts 118,915.23 125,343.91
Total payments 130,446.35 82,070.86
Net of receipts/(payments) - 11,531.12 43,273.05
Cash funds last year end 93,980.93 50,707.88
Cash funds carried forward 82,449.81 93,980.93
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Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the year
2023 2022
£ £
Cash funds
Bank current account 57,754.70 28,618.96
2nd 'Project' account 4,330.38 33,757.10
The Scout Association Short Term
- 11,589.88
Investment Service
Paypal 325.48 299.57
Explorers 10,850.65 12,880.62
Equals Cards 0.59 -
Scout Shop current account 6,011.44 4,632.23
Scout Shop Liability - -
Scout shop Cash/Floats 25.00 25.00
Scout shop Debtors 3,151.57 2,177.57
Total cash funds 82,449.81 93,980.93
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The above receipts and payments account and statement of assets and liabilities were approved by the Trustee Board on 15th April 2024 and signed on their behalf by
| Signature | Print Name CRAIG WILSON Treasurer MIKE WELLS Chair |
|---|---|
Lfioo(M)6. Indepen(Oent Examinees Report to the Trustees (February 20241 Independent examinerfs report to the trustees of Hitchin District Scout Counal l pOrt to the trL¢Stees on my examination of the accounts of the Hitchin District Scout Councilfor the year ended 3111 December 2023. Responsibilities and basis of report As the charity trustee5 of the Htrhin District Scout CounciL you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance the requiremerrts of the Charities Aci 2011 fthe Act?. I report in respert of my examination o* the Htichin Distrirt Scout Council accounts carried oirt Ltnder secbon 145 otthe 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all the appiicabLe Dirertions gNen bythe Charty Commission under section 14515llbl of the ACL Independent examiner's statement I have completed my examination. I confirni that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to bebeve that in arTry material respect accounting records were not kept in respect of the Hitchin District Scout Council as required by section 130 of the A¢. or the accounts do not accord with those record I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in conneclion with the examination to which attention should be drawn in thi5 report in order to enable a proper understsnding of the accounts to be reached. Signed.. Name.. 14 l¥J Relevant professional qualification or membership of profes%onaL bodies Irf any): Address= Date.. '//t/,,