Scouts North West Norfolk North West Norfolk District Scout Council Annual Report 2025 th Annual General Meeting: Wednesday 17 September 2025 Agenda l. Welcome/President's remarks 2. Apologles for absence 3. Minutes of the annual general meeting held on 25 September 202%lr 4. Remarks and Reports th 5. Presentation of the Accounts 6. Adoption of the Constitution 7. Electlon of Honorary Auditor 8. Presentations- Percy Robinson award 9. Meetlng close
Minutes of the North West Norfolk District Scout Council Annual General Meetin Visitors Centre on Wednesda 25th Se tember held at Sandrin ham Present: John Rospopa, Roz Rospopa, Rick Cooper, David McGuiness, Gary Clark, Dudley Scott, Nicky Scott, Rebecca Chilvers, Jean McGuiness, Dave McGuiness, Dave Andrews, Rae Steward, Wayne Hornigold, Andy Nicol, Vicki Nicol, Martin Lever, Jack Walker, Pam Walker, Ben Colley, Jim Tripp, Beth Smith, Vanessa Malone, Jim Taylor, Karon Hearle, Bob Hearle, Simon Abel, Tim Rowe, Andrew Farr, Nick Swann, Lesley Doherty, Joanne Fountain, John Marshall-Grint, Pauline Marshall-Grint, Tracey Clark, Dawn Stevens, Donald Birdseye, Linda Birdseye, Phil Jordan, Stephanie Whitley. l. Welcome John Rospopa welcomed everyone to the Annual General Meetin8. Thanks were noted to the Sandringham Estate for the Garden Tour and for the hospitality for the use of the facilities tonight. John Rospopa thanked all present for their attendance and thanked the Trust Board for fundlng sandwiches and Moira Wessson for the cakes. John welcomed Tim Rowe, County Chair. 2. Apologles for absence Received from: Edward Parsons, Jill Hudson, Miranda Smlth, Kelly Bowen, Elaine Taylor, Kim Smith, Paul Spalding, Pam Kirby, Ben Raynor, Sally Hornigold, Lucy Hearle, Claire Palmer, Carolyn Cooper, Zoe Horni8old, Tim Lake, Jane Warden, Paul Beane, Luke Morgan, Shirley Sinclair, Sue Rix, Simon Rlx, Simon Allerton, Lisa Allerton, Amanda Follen, Donna Barr 3. Mlnutes of the annual general meeting held on 5th July 2023 These had been circulated and copies available at the meeting. Proposed by Roz Rospopa, Seconded by Dave McGuiness and accepted unanimously by all - subject to the correction of those present which did not include many who had attended and included names of those who had sent apologies. 4. Remarks and Reports Reports were circulated within the annual report and it was proposed by John Rospopa that all reports bar the accounts were accepted 'en-bloc', this was seconded by Andy Nicol and agreed unanimously. John Rospopa highlighted the growth within the District of both youth members and adults and thanked everyone for their contribution to this. Specific mention was given to the expansion of the District Explorer Section in both memberships and locations, to District Network which has established since the last meeting and has facilitated members work on Kings Scout Awards. John thanked all those who had been part of the 2024 District Camp for its success. 5. Presentatlon of the Accounts Gary Clark presented and circulated the audited accounts, there were no questions raised. Proposed by Wayne Hornigold and Seconded by Phil Jordan, accepted unanimously. 6. Adoption of the Constitution The new District Constitution as per Gilwell's guidelines was circulated and explained by John Rospopa. Proposed by John Rospopa, Seconded by Nicky Scott, agreed unanimously. Meeting agreed that the quorum for the District AGM inline with the Constitution should be 50 members of the District Scout Council. Proposed by John Rospopa, Seconded Vicki Nicol, agreed unanimously.
John Rospopa explained that the size of the District Trustee Board can be between 5 and 12 members including the District Lead Volunteer and District Youth Commissioner as Exofficio. John Rospopa proposed that the New District Trustee Board have 9 members. Seconded by Dave Andrews and agreed unanimously. John Rospopa proposed that the District Trustee Board should have a quorum of 5 members, of which 4 must be elected members. Seconded by Rick Cooper and agreed unanimously. 7. Elections and nomlnatlons to Dlstrlct Executive committee Distrlct Commissionerfs nomination of District Chalr ill Hudson ohn Rospopa Rick Cooper- agreed ALL b. Election of District Treasurer Gary Clark Kelly Bowen Nicky Scott- Agreed ALL c. Electlon of member5 to the District Trustee Board Miranda Smith Kelly Bowen Don Birdseye Kelly Bowen Kelly Bowen Gary Clark Rick Cooper ohn Rospopa Kim Smith Kim Smith Beth Smith Beth Smith Beth Smith Beth Smith Beth Smith Joh'n Rospopa explained the District Trustee Board members are now appointed for a 3 year term. He thanked Richard Wicks, Doreen McNiff and lan Savage for their Service to the Distrlct Executive Committee. 8. Electlon of Honorary Auditor Gary Clark outlined that the Dlstrict have a good relationship with Mike Andrews of Stephen50n -smart as Auditor and would recommend this relationship continue. This was proposed by Lesley Doherty and Seconded by Dave Andrews, agreed unanimously. 9. Presentations: John Rospopa congratulated and presented: Gary Clark- 15 years Service Jean McGuiness- 40 years Service Percy Robinson Award Following a number of nomlnations the team of Jill Hudson, Gary Clark and Kelly Bowen agreed that the parent nomination for Vicki Nicol of 2nd Runction Holme and Watlington for Service beyond the role of Group Treasurer. John Rospopa presented the award. 10. Date of Next Meetlng September 2025- date to be conflrmed and circulated following discussions With the team. 11. Meeting close All were thanked for their attendance. The meeting closed at 19.35
District Leader Volunteer (DC) Annual Report 2025 Firstly, I would like to thank all adult volunteers, whatever your role, for your continued support over the last year. Without you giving up your time and energy the youth members would not have had such an exciting and fruitful year in scouting. Transformation has now taken place and despite the issues with its functionality it is gradually becoming a useful tool. Some leaders have struggled with it and sadly a small number. have chosen to leave Scouting via retirement. AchlevementS: We have increased the number of Squirrel Drays to 7 with Dreys now at the following groups: 1st Terrington 5th Kings Lynn 9th Kings Lynn 12th Kings Lynn 13th Walpole 14th Kings Lynn 21st Kings Lynn Explorers: We have Increased the number of Explorers with sub unlts now meeting at: 1st Downham Market 1st Snettisham 1st Terrington 14th Kings Lynn 12th Klngs Lynn Growth: The District saw stability in youth member numbers and an increase in adult volunteers (up 60AI. This was reflected in the 2025 Census. Sectlon Reports: Squirrels North West Norfolk Squirrel Dreys have continued to increase in numbers, we now have 7 Dreys across the district with 1st Terrington being the latest Drey to have opened. Varied, exciting and action-packed prograrnmes have again been planned and enjoyed by all groups throughout the last year. Activities including," story-telling, pioneerin& canoeing, visits to care homes and the fire station, sleepovers, campfires, cooking, visits from the emergency services and so much more have been enjoyed by many. In January 2025 the Squirrels enjoyed, what has become our annual'District Squirrels, cinema trip to the Alive Corn Exchange Cinema. This year we enjoyed 'Christmas in January, watching Arthur Christma5, wearing our festive headwear and everyone receiving gifts of a selection box and goody bag. In June, 83 members of North West Norfolk District Squirrels filled two coaches for a summer trip to Banham Zoo. A fabulous day was enjoyed by all, with lots of lovely comments from members of the public and zoo staff about how amazing and well behaved all the children were.
Termly get-togethers with the Squirrel leaders and helpers continue to be well represented and enjoyed, enabling ideas to be shared and future plans to be made. A system of sharing resources and 'helpers' has been developed within our 'team' of Squirrel Drews which has been well received and is working well for all. We have dates in the diary for a further District Squirrels trip to the cinema and plans are underway for a future fun day and another summer trip. All of our Squirrel Dreys currently have waiting lists and we hope to see new Dreys opening soon to allow more children to start their Scouting journeys at Squirrels. Many thanks to all the Squirrel Leaders, helpers and young leaders fortheir ongoing enthusiasm and ideas enabling the Squirrels to have such varied and exciting programmes and adventures. Beavers North West Norfolk District Beavers Many thanks to all the leaders, young leaders and volunteers who have continued to offer exciting and action-packed programmes throughout the year for all the North West Norfolk Beaver Colonies. During the autumn term it was fantastic to see many of the colonies join 1500 Squirrels and Beavers from Norfolk Scouts to have a fabulous time at Bewilderwood. For many children the adventure started with the bus journey before climbin8, swingin8, zip-wirin8 and sliding through the magical woodland. It was great to see so many young people, leaders and volunteers enjoying themselves and meetin8 Beavers from all over the county. It also gave the opportunity for adult volunteers to reconnect with new and 'old' scouting colleagues to share news and ideas for future programmes and events. Beaver colonies throughout the district represented their groups smartly and respectfully at lots of dlfferent venues for Remembrance Services during November, and again taking part in the VE parade with the Borough Council of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in May. The Alive Corn Exchange was filled with groups from all over the district throughout the festive season; with screams of laughter, lots of cheering and booing from all. Beavers even representing Scoutlng on at least two occasions going up on the stage with the character Buttons from Cinderella to sing 'Theres a worm at the bottom of the garden, l Termly get-togethers with the Beaver leaders has been difficult to achieve, with so many of the adult volunteers'wearing more than one hat, and getting the District Squirrel Dreys up and running. Moving forward plans are underway for a District Beavers fun day and a possible venue has been found to reintroduce our District Beaver Sleepover. Huge thanks to all the Beaver Leaders, helpers and young leaders fortheir ongoing commitment and ideas enabling the Beavers to have such varied and exciting programmes. Cubs Although we had a quiet end to 2024 we had a few activities to go through into 2025. NWN cubs saw the annual trip in February half term to the majestic cinema, one of the cinemas taken over for 126 Cubs to watch Dog Man. The attendance to this is always a very good turnout. Hence, we have booked in for next year. May 2025 saw a visit to The Minster in King's Lynn, to complete activities for the World Faith badge day. Several activities included matching religious symbols to the correct faith, a treasure hunt /quiz of the Minster, colouring in Rangoli patterns and Cubs were able to try on clothing worn by the leaders of the church.
Thank you to the Cub leaders who supervised the activities. The Cubs walked together to the Catholic Church on London Road. We were given a history of the church and about the faith. A big thank you to Kelly Bowen for use of the Minster, activities and excessive knowledge and information given on the different faiths.. June 2025 We returned to the West Norfolk rugby club for a District Cub camp, the theme was Christmas, and leaders did not disappoint with the theme, activities and crafts. Unfortunately, not many groups were able to attend this was a little disappointing. Cubs had a great time. With the climbin8 wall, shooting and inflatables, campfire singing, crafts, disco, hike and games. The weather was kind, most of the time. However, it did rain rather heavily on the Saturday with a thunder and lightning showl Cubs seemed to enjoy this and were back out between showers to join others and run around havin8 fun. The Norfolk Jamboree (Nor-jam) was held at the Norwich showground in August several Cub groups from NWN attended on the Cub and Brownie days. They visited a few sub camps played some games and made some crafts came home very happy with their drawstring bags and goodies. Thank you as ever to all the leaders, helpers, parents and guardians who support the Cubs to enjoy the activities, pro8ramme, crafts, days out and camps. I would like to say a personal thank you to Phil Jordan and Su Rix for their support throughout the year. Lesley Doherty IADC Cubs) Scouts We held the annual Survlval Camp in October 2024 when 9 Scout Troops, 40 Scouts, 3 Young Leaders, 6 Explorers and 25 Leaders took part. This year the Explorers were there to promote Explorers and compete on an equal playing field as the Scouts. The scouts were split Into 7 groups with each group being made up of scouts from at least 2 different troops. With the support of Adults, they had to construct a shelter on the Saturday night. They then had the issue of food to work out. However, this year they had to find their food via a scavenger hunt around the site {we had not hidden real food but rather printed pictures of the food) The results were as follows: l. The Happy Team- 70 pts and Tinkerbell (Explorersl- 70 pts 2. Team Bush- 69 pts 3. Tired & Delirious- 68 pts and Area 51- 68 pts 3. The Roblns- 65 pts and The 22nd- 65 pts 4. Disney Princess - 60 pts On Saturday 16th March into Sunday 17th March 41 Scouts from 9 Scout Troops and 9 Explorers took part in the 2024 Merv Beckett Trophy (District Scouts Night Hike). The Explorers were obviously judged a little harder than the Scouts. This event is in memory of Merv Becket (District Scout Leader and Scout Leader at the 12th Kings Lynn)
The event again took place at Rougham Hall and involved the Scouts hiking through the night and undertaking tasks at 10 bases along the route including Ditch Crossing, Archery in the Dark, Escape Room, Bearings, Drainpipe Challenge, First Aid and 'The Towers of Hanoi" to name a few. All Scouts did well, with only a couple of minor detours by some, and all were back at base by 6.45am. The results were as follows: 1st - 1st Downham Market - 286 Points 2nd - 1st Dersin8ham - 278 Points 3rd - 14th Kings Lynn B - 273 Points Explorers Griffin 1- 208 Points Griffin 2 - 140 Points Over the very hot weekend of the 20th to 22nd June 2025 26 Scouts from 4 groups took part in the Expedition Challenge. On day I they hiked from the 2nd Runcton-Holme & Watlington HQ to Downham Market. Due to the extreme weather {30 degrees) the hike was cut short and they were then transported to the 19th Kings Lynn HQ for a rest, evenin8 meal and an overnight stay. Griffin Explorer members (working towards Platinum & Diamond Awards) were also hiking with some having walked from the 7th Kings Lynn HQto Runcton-Holme & Watlington on the Friday evening. The Explorers then also walked to Downham but via a self-planned route which was different to the planned route for the Scouts. With the weather still hot on the Sunday, the leadership team decided to cancel the Scouts day 2 hike, but still awarded the badges. The leadership team did allow 4 determined Scouts to join the Explorers on their hike. Despite all the heat the Scouts did extremely well and the activity management of the leadership team ensured it was safe. Explorers This past year has been an extremely busy one for the explorer groups across the district. First of all we had the pleasure of opening a 4th group at downham market, who meet on a thursday night 6-8pm at 1st downham scout hut. Survival camp last year was jointly won by our group'the tinkerbells" &"the happy team" of scouts. Earlier this year Jim, Karon & Suzy took 17 explorers to london for the weekend in march for the annual monopoly run. It was a real eye opener for the young people to be trusted to go round london using different modes of transport & friendships were made, it was great to get to know some of the young people from our other groups. We had the pleasure of presenting our first diamond award to Imogen Allerton on our final day of the term at our beach party at hunstanton.
Even though we had broken up for the summer it was full steam ahead with the preparations for Norjam, where 19 explorers joined jim, suzy, katy & nick for a fun filled packed week of activities in Norwich. This september we are proud to open our 5th district explorer group at snettisham, jimmys field who will meet on every other wednesday.
NORTH WEST NORFOLK DISTRICT SCOUT COUNCIL Income and Expendlture Account Year Ended 31 March 2025
North West Norfolk Distrirt Scout Councll Income and Expenditure Account Year Ended 31 March 2025 Income Expenditure Badge Secretary Income 8916.00 Badge Secretary Expenditure 8508.95 Squlrrels Events 200.00 Squirrels Events 242.84 Cub Events 2340.00 Cub Events 2504.45 Scouts Events 1027.40 Scouts Events 877.82 Explorers Income 9623.56 Explorers Expenditure 13534.36 County Events 2025.00 County Events 2025.00 Water Sports Income 953.00 Water Sports Expennditure 1245.96 Membership Fees 2024 5610.00 Membershlp Fees 2025 45960.00 Membership Fees 2025 45177.00 Equipment Hire 437.80 Equipment Repairs 722.96 Dlstrlct Camp 4978.00 Dlstrlct Camp 4017.77 Bursary 2024 400.00 Bursary 2025 500.00 Dlstrict Uniform 50.00 Training 987.48 Equipment Insurance 479.85 Helper Insurance 52.00 Fllm Llcence 681.42 Appointmentnravel/AGM 376.91 Donations 65.48 Stationery/Website 118.68 Excess Income over Expenditure 1301.83 82970.76 82970.76
North West Norfolk Distrlct Scout Councll Balance Sheet Year Ended 31 March 2025 Balance At l Aprll 2024 Balance at 31 March 2025 Current Account 31337.88 Current Account 32824.71 Current Account IFellowshipl 5647.00 Current Account IFellowshipl 5462.00 Excess Income over Expendlture 1301.83 38286.71 38286.71