Annual Report and Accounts 2020/2021
Group Scout leaders report
Youth Awards
| Chief Scouts Bronze Award | None |
|---|---|
| Chief Scouts Silver Award | William Davie, Enzo Florence, Kaiden Nicholl |
| Chief Scouts Gold Award | None |
Adult Awards
Wood Badge Matthew Stanton
Membership
Membership is down in all sections due to the pandemic. We are taking measures to recruit as we reopen in 2021.
Finance
Covid closure had a negative financial impact of some £5000 in the year to March 2021. However, we have been blessed with substantial government support. Overall, the group has received a total of £20293 from various grants made available to organisations affected by lockdown closures.
We are supporting all the voluntary organisations who use this building with half rate charges for the moment. Members of the Scout and Guide groups are not being charged their normal half termly subscriptions until September 2021.
Building
The outside of the building was in need of painting. We normally do this using a volunteer workforce but the pandemic stopped this. Due to its state, we had the building coated professionally. New lighting has also been installed in the kitchen and storerooms so we are now all LED.
Risk assessments have been carried out on the building and most groups have adapted well to the constraints of meeting under Covid status Amber - when we were allowed to. All outside hall users have also adapted well to the Covid rules.
Thanks
Thanks again to Graham, Richard and Ann and the rest of the group executive who keep us under some measure of control.
Thanks to all of you who have volunteered and taken a part in various group activities. Thank you to Barry, Doug and Hilary for putting on some excellent programmes over Zoom. We should also thank those in the wider district of Hayes and Harlington and our own Ian, Nigel, Bridget, Shaun, Llydee & Anita for their help with the weekly meetings.
Alan Stack Group Scout Leader
Sept 2021 Page 1 of 9
Annual Report and Accounts 2020/2021
Thank you all for making it possible for your children to participate in the virtual programmes and allowing the to take up the various activities and idea’s put on by the Scouts nationally and locally. And thank you to all of you who Raced to the Moon, and to those of you who camped during the pandemic.
For the coming year we will need to find some new leaders and committee members to keep the group running. This is primarily due to health issues and retirement moves among some of our staunchest supporters.
So please, please ask yourself - What can I do to help ? – and get involved and join the great game of scouting with 8[th] Hayes
Alan Stack
Group Scout Leader Sept 2021 Page 2 of 9
Annual Report and Accounts 2020/2021
Beaver Report
April 2020 – March 2021
When the Covid pandemic hit the United Kingdom in March 2020, the Scout Association ordered us to stop face-to-face meetings at 6 days’ notice. We didn’t know what to do. After a little while we started sending out weekly e-mails to our 6 Beavers with ideas to do at home. This had very little response. Perhaps the Beavers thought it was too like schoolwork, which they all HAD to do, and so they did not WANT to do any more. Gradually, they started to realise that they could keep getting badges by doing some fun things at home and so we had several Beavers earning their Cook’s badge by making different dishes and sending us pictures on Facebook, others earned their Creative Badge (by sending a number of art works to us) and their Builders Badge (by designing a model e.g. Lego, making it, sending in a picture and then evaluating it) But although we had a couple of Beavers doing this, others did very little.
After a brief spell of face-to-face meetings in the summer, we decided we needed to do more in the second Lockdown and so, very nervously, we started Zoom meetings. Not all the Beavers were happy with Zoom meetings but we manged to cover some of the Challenge Badges and the Disability Awareness Badge and the first stage of the Navigator Badge in our weekly online meetings.
The County organised a series of Zoom meetings run by Karen Tempest which were amazing. Both Doug and I attended with some of the Beavers and we did a great range of craft, songs and games and other activities, and we got a lot of good ideas for our own Zoom meetings. So, for a term, our Beavers then had two meetings a week.
However, in 2020, we didn’t do a lot - but at least we kept the colony going. A big thanks to Doug for working hard as Assistant Beaver Leader as well as Cub Leader and to Sam Davie who is becoming a good young leader and helpful member of the team.
Sadly, the Beavers all got older and several moved up to Cubs, so when we could get back to face-toface meetings again this year, we only had 2 Beavers. Our focus since then has been on recruitment and in July 2021, we had 16 Beavers!
Hilary Stack August 2021
Cubs Report April 2020 to March 2021
The year started so well although we had all heard of Covid it hadn’t really affected us to any great degree and we started the new year keen and eager. We had a camp planned and plenty of activities and events we wanted to do as well.
Sadly after only a few weeks into March we closed Cubs due to Lockdown and had to learn how to run meetings via Facebook and Zoom meetings. Prior to Lockdown we had been running weekly meetings with between 15-20 Cubs, however that number dropped away and initially we only had 6-8 cubs attending.
Alan Stack Group Scout Leader Sept 2021 Page 3 of 9
Annual Report and Accounts 2020/2021
We managed to return to a very different type of face to face meeting in September and October for six weeks until we went into Lockdown two but these meetings were all socially distanced and everything had to be sanitised before and after.
Again we managed to reopen for two weeks in December only to enter Lockdown number 3 which saw us remain on Zoom until April.
As I’ve said at the start of Lockdown 1 we had 20 Cubs on our books, sadly when we did finally return we had 9 attending the first session, some were still isolating but we lost at least 5 Cubs that never returned.
During the closed period I was able to maintain a weekly meeting via Zoom using the free 40 minute account I had set up. Planning a session was a real challenge but during the year we managed to achieve 3 Chief Scout Silver Awards, so congratulations to William, Enzo and Kaiden for their achievements.
I sadly said goodbye to Kaiden and Enzo as we moved them up to Scouts again via a Zoom meeting. I am pleased to say both are enjoying Scouts and I wish them all the best, we miss their enthusiasm at Cubs.
During Lockdown I did manage to recruit Kamran, who we finally invested in May this year, having been with us through most of the Lockdown.
Covid has made it very difficult for Cubs to achieve their Silver Awards as all camping was stopped. In our first meeting we did as much as we could to complete the challenge badges and when we return in September we have planned a Camp with the hope that Amelia, Ella, Charlie, Amari and Cirocco will complete the final part.
Our Recruitment Campaign went well and we have welcomed 12 new Cubs, 4 moved up from Beavers although only Olivia and Cyprus remained and 8 came from outside through the Poster Campaign, which I am pleased to say all nine have remained, so welcome to Diya, Ariyan, Ziana, Manal, Zai, Inaaya, Alfie and Theo. I am pleased to say all my new Cubs have settled in well and many attended our orienteering day at Black Park with parents excited to be out and about again.
Finally my thanks to my team of Leaders and Helpers, Matthew and Bridget who helped me with the Zoom meetings and Llydee and Anita who helped me out most weeks with Matthew at the weekly meetings, often looking after the Cubs while I greeted parents and sanitised the cubs.
I would like to finish by thanking my parents, who have been so supportive not just in normal times but particularly throughout the repeated Lockdowns and the new face to face meetings, putting up with lots of emails, texts and changes as we have all learnt to adapt and change throughout the year.
Let us hope that we are now through the worst and can begin to resume some sort of normal life again, thank you all.
Doug Hester. Cub Leader August 2021
Alan Stack Group Scout Leader
Sept 2021 Page 4 of 9
Annual Report and Accounts 2020/2021
Scout Report: April 2020-March 2021
Whilst we were unable to fully complete the world and outdoor challenge badges as sought out, we did manage to have two of our scouts complete their expedition challenge badge, by taking part in our first ever virtual expedition. This was a simulated expedition where scouts had to take on a role-playing adventure in central London and solve a series of puzzles and clues to achieve a set challenge.
The Summer of 2020 we said goodbye to our two eldest scouts, Sam & Charlie. This left us with a vast majority of younger scouts, including those we’ve onboarded from cubs the past year: Kaiden, Enzo and Rian. With that in mind we proceeded in the autumn to reset to the start of the challenge badge cycle with the teamwork and creative challenge badges.
Despite the challenges the past year has had with COVID-19, it has given us the opportunity to show our resilience and community spirit. We were able to host virtual meetings during lockdowns, which were a great success and provided a good social outlet for our scouts.
The temporary return to face to face scouting in the 2020 autumn was also another challenge to overcome, as we worked to find a way of creating a programme that was both engaging and safe to do during COVID.
Both the virtual and socially distant troop meetings caused us to explore a new world of activities and games, which I think will provide some useful inspiration for future troop meetings.
Finally, we manged to attend a number of district events & external trips the past year, including:
-
A PACCAR trip after lockdown to give scouts an outdoor trip as thanks for their support during the summer term.
-
The first ever Virtual London Adventure, a district event which saw teams of scouts take part in a Spy thriller adventure over zoom.
Barry Stevens
Alan Stack Group Scout Leader
Sept 2021 Page 5 of 9
Scouts Annual Report and Accounts 202012021 8th Hayes Accounts 8th Hayos S¢out Group RK•lpts for the yr •nd•d 31Kt March 2021 2020-2021 2019-2020 S12.00 2.844 C 930 3.774.ty) l+lemb5hp subsuytsM$ Gukles Gp Ins Prnmium sizoo Inv•simtt hKome Yteeived Inierest on bank account & Investments Propprty rnn¢8 Playyroup white light FIW nh1 Da dass Gui$ Ins PFe¥nium Parng fee5 Gfft AKI fecovefèd mattsl art group rihdaylcr8ft Hire 51,82 2,125. 4.525.Q) 225 CQ 1,59).C¥J I,383.) 155.00 155.(M) 1,00158 1.480 00 485.00 510.00 120.00 Donakn• and Gr•nl• Jack Peaehèy Awa 937 50 16.75 380.31 CthBr ch2nats'on$ funds frC grant 204.00 20.193.00 957 67 900 00 21264.87 A P T8yIL¥ Trust 600. 1,914.56 Hayes Ewents Disrtt Ev• sumrner Camp ndhl hike Camps 265. 1.103.00 2.33100 Fund Ralslng Jamboreo Sants kttew3 rxe nighvcancer SS•d Even hays path fate ¢harity coYctn3 1.037 11.0) 1.018.00 Sundry Rtteipts T Shirtslscarf H1 Fee Rè*bty¢aib)n 9_20 3380 678 00 7f1AO Total Roc•lpts 1.784. 20.908.67 Alan Stack Group Scout Leader Sept 2021 Page6of 9
Scouts Annual Report and Accounts 202012021 8th Hayes payn for y•8r •ndlng 2021 2020-2021 2012020 560.00 560. 144 00 160 08 2.486.00 2,468.00 2.259.S1 2,227.97 175.28 1.150 47 4W.30 105. 184.41 233 23 1,541.27 42.DD 7.862.TT Walef charges Insuran¢ Repalr5 and renewd5 fire ¢quipmeJnt m•n Gf888 CLrtling CleaThng 7.78&46 A¢iivllles runds paid bk lo gr(xp Programrne 8cllvibes AGM night hke Events Cafflp bank Cw and (m"ngS 1.356.00 814 58 978.80 172. 100.IM) 845.75 1.183 03 5.238.16 271•9 Admln Exp•fi8•8 On Lln? Managemenl Fee Funds from sa9 Acc¢x Oatn$ to other grw6 Gift to Guths fkn memtership In8wance Jamboreo 1800 1.001_08 1,662 50 833.48 1,373.50 3897.06 1.357.50 10.00 10.00 15.00 Pur¢hasè of Equlpment Sundries 3400 34.00 872.1)0 872.00 Pur¢has• of Unlfomi Unilomi 160.00 160.00 194.C6 194.06 Sundry Expengeg engrgvfftg IAlTh bus NT• Total Exwndllure Ocwoie Actknunbng M•rtJwthp .71 17,607.71 1,784.00 19,391.71 Alan Stack Group Scout Leader Sept 2021 Page7of9
Annual Report and Accounts 2020/2021
Reserve Policy. The Group's policy on reserves is to hold sufficient resources to continue the charitable activities of the group should income and fundraising activities fall short. The Group Executive Committee considers that the group should hold a sum equivalent to 15 months running costs, circa £25000. The current excess is due to the generosity of the Covid Grants we have received.
Investment policy. The Group's Income and Expenditure is relatively small and as a consequence does not have sufficient funds to invest in longer-term investments such as stocks and shares. The Group has therefore adopted a low -risk strategy to the investment of its funds. All funds are held in cash using only mainstream banks or building societies or The Scout Association's Short Term Investment Service.
Risk and internal Controls The group has in place systems of internal controls that are designed to provide reasonable assurance against material mismanagement or loss, these include 2 signatories for all payments and comprehensive insurance policies to ensure that insurable risks are covered.
Alan Stack Group Scout Leader Sept 2021 Page 8 of 9
Scouts Annual Report and Accounts 202012021 8th Hayes Scrutineef's Report to the Trustsos of the 8th Hayes Scout Group I rewt on the accounts of the 8th Haye8 Scout Group lry the year ended 37 March 2021 .Respecth rnwjnslbllltles of TN•tw• and Scrutin••r As the Group's Inthes Y are rn5pon¥ible for the weparation ofthe accounts.. you corider thal neithtrr the audrt nor independent examination requirements ol the CharitS Act 1993 aFWy, 11 Is my '. reSponsilIty wrthoul cafrying out an audit ot independent e¥amrnabon lo scrLrtini5¢ the accounts and to report to you. Buls ot Scnrtln•oes Statemont In 8ecordanc¥ wrth Ihè directicns gNen the Group's cnslilLrtion. l ve SCfuknn1 the reco$ and the accounts sel t on Pages 110 3. In my oynion, tho actounts are in LdIrt with the r•¢ords rKoduced to m¥ atxl comply wrth tr onstrtLttion Name.. Colin M•son Addrg¥s.' 15 Meadi)w v Road Hayes UB4 8EZ SwJn8d.' Alan Stack Group Scout Leader Sept 2021 Page9of9