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2021-04-04-accounts

2[nd] Worcester Scout Group Annual Report

2020-2021

Welcome to the annual report for our Scout group, including the Trustees’ Annual Report which we need to submit to the Charity Commission. Every section leader has taken the time to write a report to keep you informed about what has been happening over the last year, please take the time to read it. There is also an overview from the Group Scout Leader and the Chair of the Executive Committee and some information about our finances.

Just before you delve in, and whilst you are online anyway, could you sign up to easyfundraising to help us raise much-needed funds every time you shop online…?

https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/2ndworcestersg

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From the Executive Committee

Chair’s report

Hello everyone another year has passed since our last report, how time flies. To say the last year has been difficult for us all is an understatement. Many of us have had to give much more time to the group to enable scouting to continue in St Johns, be it face-to-face or online; it has not been easy. I want to pay tribute to all those people who volunteer to keep the group going, including the leaders and committee and helpers.

It is fair to say that the Paul’s workload as Group Scout Leader has grown exponentially since the start of COVID and he has done a sterling job under the circumstances. Thank you on behalf of the group Paul. I really don’t know how you do it.

Yet again I am appealing to you all to give the group the support it needs as we are losing leaders that so far we have not been able to replace. Sadly this could mean that your child’s section may be forced to close unless more adults come forward to give us the support we need. It should be remembered that the Leaders and Executive Committee members are all volunteers and give their time up to enable the group to function and to run activities for your children, we need help to keep this group running. PLEASE STEP UP!

Group Scout Leader’s report

This could be the strangest annual report I have written in 17years as Group Scout Leader at 2nd Worcester. Our small band of Leaders, Section Assistants and Committee Members has worked hard to keep Scouting in St. John’s going in what has been the toughest year during my time as Group Scout Leader.

Simply THANK YOU to all of them.

So how has Covid affected us so far?

At the end of January 2021 the annual census showed that our youth membership at 2nd Worcester had reduced by 11%. This can be partly attributed to Covid and the Government and Scout Association guidance / rules, which means we are running with smaller section sizes. We are also managing the Cub

numbers carefully, the reasons for which will be explained later in this report. This reduction was actually a good result when compared with the average for all of the Worcester Scout Groups of a 21% reduction and the Scout Association’s prediction that the reduction across the UK would be 30%.

There are two main reasons for our relatively small loss of youth members:1. The committee has tried to help combat the financial impact of Covid on our parents by reducing the amount of subs we asked for from £142 for the year April 2020 to April 2021 to £68 for the year. This was a reduction of £74 per young person and approximately £6000 across the group. We were able to do this as a result of Covid-related grants from government schemes. Thanks to our Group

Secretary Anne for securing this funding for us. We will continue with the reduced subs from Easter 2021 to Summer 2021. This will be approximately another £2000 for which we have used the grant.

  1. The Leaders have continued to provide weekly meetings on Zoom and Face to Face when the restrictions have allowed. I have sat in on many of the meetings and have

been amazed at the range of activities that the Beavers, Cubs and Scouts have been offered. Well done to the Group’s Leaders and Young Leaders. I have personal knowledge that this has not been the case in all Groups either locally or further afield. There has been a lot of talk in the media around the effect that Covid has had on the mental wellbeing of young people. It is widely recognised that Scouting has a positive effect on young people’s wellbeing and this could clearly be seen in lock down when the Beavers, Cubs and Scouts joined in the Zoom meetings and camps at home.

The government grant also covered the cost of preparing the Hut for the resumption of face-to-face meetings in October 2020. We have spent close to £1000 on PPE, cleaning equipment, additional signage and so on.

We were fortunate in 2019/2020 to be chosen to be one of the Co-op local community fund recipients. We gratefully received £6,052.39 in October 2020. This allowed the committee to engage an electrical contractor to carry out a full electrical survey of the Scout Hut. We have subsequently spent most of the

Co-op award on upgrading the electrics, including the supply to the Scout Hut, upgrading the emergency lighting, improving the external lighting and fitting LED lighting throughout the building to reduce our running costs and carbon footprint.

The committee has also agreed work on the Scout Hut toilets. A disabled toilet is being created and the other toilet facilities upgraded. These are first structural changes to the building in the last 25 years.

As you will see elsewhere in treasurer’s report, we are reasonably secure financially despite Covid.

Talking of the Treasurer, Roger has decided that he will step down from the role of Treasure, a post he has held for the last 20 years. Thank you very much for all your time and effort you have put in over the period. From my own personal perspective Roger has always been a voice of reason and has helped me continuously, often providing sanity checks, during my tenure as Group Scout Leader. Thank you. At this point I would like to welcome Rowan Williams into the role of Group Treasurer.

All the Leaders are looking forward to the day when we can provide normal face-to -face weekly Scouting, trips, activity days, and nights away experiences. We will have to wait until we are given the green light from the Government / Scout Association. At the moment we are restricted by having to maintain 2 metre

social distancing indoors and out, which makes many of our normal activities extremely difficult to achieve. It is for this reason that we are running with smaller section numbers than normal. As a consequence, we have longer than normal waiting lists for some sections.

As we start to see a light at the end of the Covid tunnel, so the interest in joining Scouting grows. I am currently receiving on average two enquires per week. Some young people will not get the chance to take part in the Scouting experience unless we can offer more spaces.

Offer more spaces! How?

After 15 years of running Red pack, Sue has decided to hang up her Akela’s woggle. I would like to thank Sue for all her efforts, time and expertise in running the pack since 1st April 2006. At the same time as Sue stands down, Chloe who has been with us for the last 3 years during her University course at Worcester has finished her time here and has gone back home. Thank you, Chloe.

This leaves us with on one person to run the pack. Each section needs a minimum of 4 regular adults. We are in real danger of having to close the pack. For those of you who are relatively new to 2nd Worcester,

you need to be aware that we had a similar situation with our Monday Beaver Colony in 2018 and, because no-one came forward to help, the Colony subsequently closed, depriving many young people the chance to join Scouting. If the parents of 2nd Worcester cannot help me to find a leadership team for Red pack, it too will close.

If we can keep Red pack open and reopen the Monday Beaver colony, we would be able to offer 130 young people the chance to enjoy the Scouting experience, gain skills for life and enjoy a better level of wellbeing. If Red pack closes and the Monday Beaver colony stays closed, we will only be able to offer 80 places across all sections, the lowest total since 2008.

It will come as no surprise to you all when I say that the greatest danger to the continuation of the Scout Group is the lack of volunteers as Leaders and Section Assistants, not the lack of young people wanting to join.

The table below shows you how many adults we need for each section in order to continue offering the Scouting experience in St. Johns.

Please do not dismiss this. I know we are always asking for more volunteers, but this time it really is critical!

----- Start of picture text -----
Section Position Number Required
Gold Scout Troop – Monday Assistant Scout Leader or 2
Section Assistant
Gold Beaver Colony – Beaver Scout Leader 1
Monday (to reopen) Assistant Beaver Scout Leader
Section Assistant 2
1
Green Scout Troop – Assistant Scout Leader 1
Wednesday
Red Cub Pack – Thursday Cub Scout Leader 1
(to keep open) Assistant Cub Scout Leader 2
Section Assistant 2
Red Colony Beavers- Assistant Beaver Scout Leader 1
Thursday
----- End of picture text -----

Paul Carpenter, Group Scout Leader

From the sections

Beavers Red Colony

The past year in Scouting has seen plenty of challenges for the Beavers, Young Leaders and Leaders

within Beavers and I am extremely proud of the how everyone has adapted to these challenges.

We have welcomed back James Sheldon as an adult leader, who used to be a Young Leader with Gold Colony.

The Zoom meetings which we held during the lockdowns were really well attended. The Beavers have

Enjoyed working towards a variety of badges including Space, Safety, Explore, Faith and Camp Craft. We also enjoyed games such as scavenger hunts (a Beavers’ favourite, maybe not the parents!), quizzes, I-

Spy and the alphabet game.

Some Beavers took part in the recent County Beavers Cirque Du Scout camp weekend over

the May Bank Holiday.

When we could meet in face to face, the Beavers have responded to all the new changes extremely well.

We should have 3 Beavers achieve the highest Beaver Award that they can achieve which is the

Chief Scout Bronze award, this is an amazing achievement. Thank you to parents for supporting and enabling their child with this award.

I would like to thank a few people who have helped and supported me as Beaver Leader this past year. Firstly, thank you to Mike, James and Clare (Section Assistants), Young Leaders Chloe, Logan and

Todd for their help and support in running sessions each week in person or via Zoom.

I would also like to thank Paul and Lyn Carpenter for their continued support throughout the year and

their support when we returned to face to face meeting without Paul and Lyn Beavers would have struggled to run.

Looking forward to the future, the Beaver leadership team has grown this year However, we are

always looking for fresh ideas, so if you are interested then please get in contact.

As always, it’s been a great pleasure to have your children in the Colony and see them grow in confidence and move on throughout the sections.

Kind regards, Iain Sweatman Beaver Scout Leader

Cubs Green Pack

What a year it’s been! I think it’s safe to say that it has been a very different and challenging year for

all of us, including Green Pack Cubs. However, owing to our dedicated leadership team and with a little

help from technology, we were able to continue providing good quality Scouting with a combination

of Zoom and socially distanced face to face meetings when allowed.

Unfortunately, owing to Covid restrictions, we were not able to go camping this past year but we did

manage to offer two virtual camps. It was really good to see the Cubs’ photos of them taking part in the

camp activities set including building a den, baking, creating a mini raft, clapping for carers, yoga and even having a virtual water fight. It was nice to see families joining in with some of the activities

especially the virtual campfire. I even spotted the odd family pet!

In November, as we weren’t able to attend our usual Remembrance Sunday event, the Group organised its own virtual act of remembrance where we observed 2 minutes silence with all the

other sections at 2nd Worcester.

Through the combination of both virtual and face-to-face meetings, Cubs have been busy working on

badge work and their teamwork challenges, including socially distanced relay games. Cubs also had the chance to achieve their Hobbies or Collector, Road Safety and Artist badges.

We have also set a number of challenges to do at home. One was the RSPB bird watch. Another,

which made me particularly proud of Green Pack, was when the Cubs were asked to make Christmas

decorations which were laminated and used during Christmas on hospital wards in Pershore, as they

were not able to put up their regular decorations. It is great to see Cubs helping and supporting our local communities so thankyou to Sharon for organising.

We wouldn’t be able to do all this without our team of leaders and young leaders who give up their

time each week to provide good quality Scouting and help the Cubs achieve badges and skills for life.

Also, behind the scenes, our committee and our Group Scout Leader Paul Carpenter have been very

busy completing risk assessments and making sure the hut is Covid friendly in order for us to meet

safely. So, thank you team!

Happy Scouting everyone and we look forward to have more fun next year.

Ryan Griffiths, Cub Scout Leader

Cubs Red Pack

Well, what a year this has been for Red Pack, as it has for all Scouts everywhere as the COVID-19 pandemic has made such a difference to us all. Sadly, our Spring Term 2020 was cut short as we suddenly had to stop meeting in March but all of us at 2nd Worcester worked very hard to find our way forward so we could continue our Scouting. Before March I thought that Zoom was something that applied to rockets and transport but by the end of April I had learnt a lot about this new way of working and how we could use it to continue meeting. I have been so proud of Red Pack cubs and their families as they all coped very well with the very strange and unprecedented situation and continued to enjoy their Scouting in the spirit of the movement.

Cubs have had lots of fun as usual and have achieved many badges. Well done to all Cubs that have moved onto our Scout Troop or joined from the waiting list or Beavers.

Meeting on Zoom for much of the year has enabled us to try out different activities and for families and sections to work together such as for our Group camp in May. This camp was our very own 2[nd] Worcester virtual camp at home weekend organised very efficiently by our Scout Leaders and it included activities for all sections. The many photos I received showed how much Cubs enjoyed trying out everything including the toilet roll seat challenge, making parachutes and twig rafts, cooking breakfast, sleeping in a tent or elsewhere such as in a camper van or making a den under a table and, of course, our camp fire with many of our favourite camp songs.

We completed the Summer term with Our Skills and Our World Challenge activities including Cubs Can Cook. We just had to try and taste all the yummy cakes virtually as they looked so good and showed huge talent.

Our Autumn Term 2020 started on Zoom but in October we were very pleased to be able to meet outside at our hut for four weeks. The weather was good and so Cubs all achieved the Astronomer badge. We had lots of activities, the Moon kindly made an appearance on one night and we enjoyed using Oreo biscuits to create phases of the moon. Cubs were very pleased to use their torches and the challenge was to find out facts and make up our space jigsaw by torchlight! During November and December most meetings were on Zoom and we ran much of Fire Safety and Cubs demonstrated their interests with personal badges.

Zoom was the word for our Spring Term 2021 as we continued with the Our Skills and Our World Challenges and we became more inventive with our meetings by trying new games and wellbeing activities. Well done to our Young Leaders, Sophie and Henry as they achieved their mission badges by planning and delivering sessions about recycling and British sign language. Cubs enjoyed making African drums with recycled materials and learnt to sign the Cub Scout Promise. Thank you to Chloe for our mug cakes evening which was great fun and thank you Sam for our healthy eating meetings which taught us many useful facts.

Now, as we move forward into the Summer term, we are able to meet face to face indoors and outdoors and so Scouting is starting to return to more like normal. However, we have learnt a lot through this year and it has certainly been Skills for Life for us all. As I say every year, and it is always so true, thank you very much to Red Pack leaders who all work so hard and we enjoy our Scouting together. We said a huge thank you for everything to Charlotte last Summer as her university course ended and she moved on. Thank you to Sam for continuing to help us so well every week as our Section Assistant and many thanks as well to leaders from our other sections who help

us. We would like to say a huge thank you to Chloe as she has been such an asset to Red Pack. She has left us now as she has finished her course at the University of Worcester and has returned home.

Thank you very much to our Young Leaders, Henry and Sophie, who are such stars. They have both worked so hard to achieve their missions and Cubs have always enjoyed their activities. Their badge presentations by litter picker from Paul was a very memorable occasion.

Looking forward I would like to let you know that from September, I will be standing down as Red Pack Leader as I think it is time to move on. I have been Akela for 15 years and before that I helped the previous Red Pack leaders for about five years. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with Red Pack as it has been a pleasure and privilege to lead the pack and to help young people achieve and have lots of fun. In September I am looking forward to helping Iain with our Beaver colony as Assistant Beaver Scout Leader and so I will be pleased to continue to be part our 2nd Worcester team.

All of us at Red Pack would like to say a huge thank you to all our parents, families, our Scout Group and the Committee for all your support and encouragement.

Happy Scouting next year everyone. Sue Fairman, Akela Red Pack

Scouts Green and Gold Troops

We start with the quote from a famous song; “The show must go on.” So, on both Monday and Wednesday nights, Scouts embraced this and go on we most certainly did! We merged both troops

together throughout the lockdowns which enabled Scouts to attend Zoom sessions whenever they

were able to or as little / often as they wished. We regularly had over 15 Scouts attend these sessions.

During our report last year, we were not sure how or when Scouts would get back to normal and although not there yet, we are getting back to a new normal. Throughout the last year we have all pulled together, delivered a remarkable programme, learnt new skills and although it was tough, we came up with new ideas to run on our virtual Zoom sessions.

Scouts have enjoyed the opportunity to take place in 4 virtual Camp@Home events during the last 12 months. The first of these took place in May as a whole group camp. For Scouts, this included camping out in the garden or in a den for 2 nights. Alongside this they had a busy schedule including Facebook live

events and zoom sessions. The Scouts also had fun with science experiments, an alphabet hike with the family, cooking campfire doughnuts (mmm, very tasty) and getting wet with the tippy-tappy project. And not forgetting the funny toilet faces..!

The Great Indoors Weekender was the national Scout camp held in July. Again Scouts had chance to sleep out or in a den created inside. Scouts joined in with the national

Scout campfire and cooked calzone and breakfast, including the washing up. Sharon joined us on zoom and ran a fantastic Yoga session, a first for many of us.

In October our usual JOTI event was obviously affected, but we managed to get small groups of Scouts back into the hut throughout the weekend to talk to scouts from around the world. It was great fun and interesting to hear how the pandemic had affected different parts of the Scouting world. This was our 3rd camp@home and, with the international theme, Scouts cooked food from another country and tried their hand at an international craft.

In December, our 4th camp was for Christmas, packed with activities. Scouts slept inside in a Christmas themed den, wrote a Christmas message like the Queen, wrote and performed some fantastic new Christmas campfire songs, made peppermint cremes, donated to the food bank and enjoyed another fantastic campfire with Christmas-related songs.

Throughout the year we got all ZOOMED out with either one or two meetings a week. We have had

so much fun it’s hard to pick the highlights, but here are a few that spring to mind

and Global Issues badges.

and control all emergency services responses’, Network rail and the BBC news (Not sure but

think some leaders had more fun on this than the scouts!!)

through undetected right to the end.

We were able to return to F2F sessions in October where we held small groups sessions. This enabled us to welcome new Scouts to the section who had moved up whilst in lockdown, to work with our new patrol leaders and their assistants and to meet with those who have since completed their Chief Scout Gold Award.

We aim to be back for F2F sessions after Easter. This still comes with plenty of challenges, to devise socially distanced activities that fit within the stringent COVID guidance that can be run both inside and outside whilst still keeping everyone on track to complete their Chief Scouts Gold Award.

Sadly, Carol from Monday night has stepped back from section assistant and Katie, who is studying at

University, will be away for most of the second half of the summer term. Wednesday night has welcomed Tom back to the group as an assistant Scout Leader. The next 12 months we will see a bit of a change in some of our Young Leaders with some becoming 18 and hopefully becoming adult leaders and other new ex-Scouts returning to start their journey with us.

Thank you to everyone who has helped Scouts over the year, whether that be on Zoom or at our face-to-face

sessions - Paul A, Ryan, Keith, Phil, Tom, Katie, Iain, Clare Creswell and Paul C and to our amazing Young Leaders- Summer, Jessica, Jonathon and Ollie. As always, we find ourselves in the position where we have a shortage of leaders with too many current leaders running both of our sessions in the week. Please speak to Paul C if you feel you can help in any way.

Finally, a thank you to our wonderful Scouts, their parents and families for all the support during this

past year, hopefully you have all learnt something new and found enjoyment in Scouts as much as

we always do. During the difficult times in lockdown, seeing the Scouts at sessions has really helped many of us leaders keep busy and smiling. Watching all the photos arriving on Facebook showing what you were up to during the camps is a particular memory from a difficult year.

Here’s to another fun filled year.

Jason and Graham, Scout Leaders

Trustees’ Annual Report for 2[nd] Worcester Scout Group (registered charity 524646)

Trustees

----- Start of picture text -----
Name Role In role since Trustee since
Bill Davison Chairperson 1 [st] January 2007 1 [st] January 2007
Anne Eyre Secretary 1 [st] May 2018 31 [st] October 2016
Rowan Williams Treasurer 2 [nd] October 2021 26 [th] September 2020
Paul Carpenter Group Scout 16 [th] May 2004 1994
Leader
Caroline Committee 23 [rd] September 2012 23 [rd] September 2012
Bradley Member
Lynda Committee November 2000 November 2000
Carpenter Member
Roger Fairman Committee 2 [nd] October 2021 10 [th] October 2000
Member
Susan Fairman Committee 1994 1994
Member
L.C.F Rowberry Committee 1994 1994
Member
Jacquelyn Committee 27 [th] April 2010 27 [th] April 2010
Sheldon Member
John Wedgwood Committee 30 [th] October 2016 30 [th] October 2016
- Pound Member
----- End of picture text -----

Structure, Governance and Management

Constitution; The Group's governing documents are those of the Scout Association. They consist of a Royal Charter, which in turn gives authority to the Bye Laws of the Association and The Policy, Organisation and Rules of the Scout Association. The Group is a trust established under its rules which are common to all Scouts. The current constitution was adopted in 2020 and is attached for reference.

Trustee selection; The Trustees are appointed in accordance with the Policy, Organisation and Rules of the Scout Association.

Management of the group; The Group is managed by the Group Executive Committee, the members of which are the ‘Charity Trustees’ of the Scout Group which is an educational charity. As charity trustees they are responsible for complying with legislation applicable to charities. This includes the registration, keeping proper accounts and making returns to the Charity Commission as appropriate.

The Committee consists of 3 independent representatives, Chair, Treasurer and Secretary together with the Group Scout Leader, individual section leaders (if opted to take on the responsibility) and parent/carer representation and meets at least four times a year.

This Group Executive Committee exists to support the Group Scout Leader in meeting the responsibilities of the appointments and is responsible for; the maintenance of Group property, the raising of funds and the administration of Group finances, the insurance of persons, property and equipment, Group public occasions.

Risk and internal controls; The Group Executive Committee has identified the major risks to which they believe the Group is exposed, these have been reviewed and

systems have been established to mitigate against them. The main areas of concern that have been identified are:

Objectives and activities

Purpose; Scouting exists to actively engage and support young people in their personal development, empowering them to make a positive contribution to society.

Values; As Scouts we are guided by these values:

Methods; Scouting takes place when young people, in partnership with adults, work together based on the values of Scouting and:

Public benefit statement; the Group meets the Charity Commission's public benefit criteria under both the advancement of education and the advancement of citizenship or community development headings.

Key Achievements and Performance These are detailed in individual section reports.

Financial review

Reserves 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 at least 6 months running costs.

2[nd] Worcester Scout Group

Financial Statements &Treasurer’s Report

Year Ending April 5[th] 2021

Summary

During the second financial year hit by Covid, several grants and the continued financial support of parents meant that Worcester 2[nd] had a cash injection. This both allowed us to weather the pandemic storm and start some much-needed improvements on the hut.

Income

A generous £6k grant from Co-op, with restrictions to spend on the hut electrics and infra-structure will be spent in early 21/22. The government Covid Grant of nearly £20k will also go toward hut repairs next year.

Parents kindly continued paying subs albeit at a slightly reduced rate, despite the Covid restrictions preventing the hut from being open for most of the year, along with the several years of Gift Aid (which were caught up on claiming in 20/21) this more than covered all hut and operational running costs for the year.

Expenditure

Utilities remain the highest of the premises costs in 20/21. Although funding for repairs was secured in 20/21, the money will be spent in 21/22, starting with the re-wiring, the replacing some of the kitchen cupboards, replacing the bathrooms and access with disability facilities and consideration.

Reserves

The reserves of 2[nd] Worcester have grown by over £29k in year due to the Covid and Co-op grants. 2[nd] Worcester remain in a good financial position to start 21/22.

Roger Fairman Treasurer

2[nd] Worcester Scout Group Financial Statements Year ending April 5[th] 2021

Statement of Independent Reviewer

I have reviewed these accounts and the supporting material and consider them to be a true reflection of the financial activity of 2[nd] Worcester in the financial year 20/21 Liane Lafferty (CGMA)

Trustee Approval

These accounts were considered by the trustees and approved on their behalf by the Chairman, Mr Bill Davison

Our treasurer Roger Fairman will be standing down this year are 20 years of service; I would like to thank him for all his work for 2[nd] Worcester and wish him a happy retirement with his two boys and Sue his wife.

Bill Davison, Chairman

Notes to the Financial Statements

1. Basis of Preparation

2. Weekly subscription charges during the pandemic

3. Grants Received

4. Events income and Expenditure

5. Large Equipment Purchases