## **1st Whitchurch Scout Group** ## **Annual General Meeting 24[th] May 2021 via Zoom due to Covid 19** Chair, Deb Spedding, welcomed Parents, and Leaders. All Executive committee were present, but very few parents. This was not good under the circumstances, joining details had been shared with all parents. The current committee stepped down, the Chair Deb resigned and the Scout Post organizer Wendy and the maintenance officer Sean. Thanks to Deb and Wendy and Sean for their participation over their time on the Exec. Positions were duly nominated and seconded. Committee nominations and elections took place: - Group Chair - James Travers - Group Treasurer – Becca Allsopp. - Group Secretary – Sian Widdows - maintenance Officer – unfilled - Scout post - unfilled 1. The Treasurer delivered the financial report for the year (full details are given in Appendix 1): Income = £30,300 Expenditure = £30,473 2019 ended with unrestricted funds of £63,540 Expenditure higher this year due to Covid reducing hall hire and extra cleaning and Covid measures. Also a large amount of hall maintenance and tree removal from grounds. 2. Each of the Leaders presented a report on their section's activities (Appendix 2). Beavers: Helen briefed, and mentioned needing new leaders. - Cubs: Nick briefed and mentioned how fantastic the help from the young leaders has been, and the good attendance. Scouts: Ian briefed on activities and the use of virtual meetings and good attendance from Scouts and help from young leaders. Page 1 of 14 3. Andy Roberts the District Commissioner gave thanks to all the Leaders who have carried on despite Covid. He made a virtual presentation of Medal of Merit to Nick Allsopp and Chief Scout Commendation Award to Becca Allsopp. Both presented by Les Hancock. Alaya has achieved her Wood Badge. The next Award Committee meeting is in a few weeks, in June. Across District some groups are faring well but some are suffering There is a campaign launched nationwide 27[th] May 2021 for Leader and help recruitment to encourage volunteering: #Good for you. Thinking of ways that parents can help groups, suggestions of using skills they have to help groups, possibly have an appointment of someone with key aim to recruit volunteers. Lots of new waiting list requests in District 4. Looking for volunteers for leader roles. Wendy will provide a breakdown of key duties for Scout Post Thanks to Wendy and Sean for their efforts. Nothing raised by parents. Page 2 of 14 ## **Appendix 1** ## **Treasurer’s Report** 1. The financial report has been independently scrutinized by Jeremy Ray and has been accepted by the Exec. Committee. Our thanks to Jeremy for giving so freely of his time to support us again this year. 2. **Income** = £30,300 £10, 00 was secured via Covid grant scheme but income was down £6,700 on 2019 due to the hall closure. Our income has been affected by the restrictions on hall hirers, for much of the year only the nursery school was permitted to use the hall. 3. **Gift Aid** for 2020 was £722, down £100 on previous year. If you are a UK taxpayer, please consider signing up to allow us to claim Gift Aid on subs. 4. **Scout post income** for 2019 is in these figures as it was banked after 31st December (our year-end). £4090 generated. This is our only fundraiser and with Scout Post cancelled in 2020, we will miss this income this year. We are very grateful to Wendy Johnson for all her work managing our Scout Post activities. 5. **Expenditure** = £30, 473 up from £17,764 in 2019. Covid grant money plus savings was used to repair the hall which had been suffering from water ingress due to blown render. The new cladding on half the hall should help to preserve the building for many years to come. Other planned maintenance completed in 2020: Fence replacement, fire pit area repairs and essential tree maintenance. In 2021 it is hoped that the remainder of the hall can be clad. Additional costs were incurred with preparing the hall for safe use in the light of what we know about Covid transmission. With the income generated from rent the Group can to keep the costs to parents down to £25 per term which, unlike other Groups includes capitation, (£50.50/head in 2020) we also subsidise the Group activities. To put this into perspective, Capitation bill for 2020 was £2,943 for the Group and £1105 was spent on the Group programme, this is about a quarter of the usual spend due to there being no camps or other activities. 2020 ended with cash funds of £63, 540. We have to keep 3 years running costs (12k/year) in reserve. Page 3 of 14 Scouts 1st Whitchurch r￿H￿L￿ EvrY5U￿I 149SKtrldtho •)J U?: OS. 1021 Page 4 of 14 Scouts 1st Whitchurch r￿H￿L￿ EvrY5U￿I 1st Whitchur¢h Scout Group Rèceipts and Payments Account 11t Jv T• Rocoipts 2020 2019 .2943 IZ2 61 sub￿1 Scwi w9l 12T T44 234 Page 5 of 14 Scouts 1st Whitchurch r￿H￿L￿ EvrY5U￿I Page 6 of 14 Scouts 1st Whitchurch r￿H￿L￿ EvrY5U￿I 1st Whltchurch Scout Group Receipts and Payments Account Pa ments 2020 2019 137 718 19 241 Fynd >J L*¥t C•th fvnd• *•t y•w •nd Page 7 of 14 Scouts 1st Whitchurch r￿H￿L￿ EvrY5U￿I Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the year 2020 2019 37107 36 a73 low is1￿} b•h•K by &K 14LLS Ch&r Page 8 of 14 ## **Appendix 2 Section Reports** ## **Annual Report 2021** ## Beavers AGM Report **Boys:** 9 **Girls:** 5 **Total:** 14 **Young Leaders** : 1 **Leaders:** 2 +2 (university away) Over the last year we have been meeting virtually with a good average attendance. We have been concentrating on badges that can be done from home, craft and games. Our priority has been to try and keep the Beavers engaged even if some of the activities we ran would not be classed as traditional scout activities. During our virtual meetings we have had special guests that included a pilot and a person who explained what life is like living with a guide dog (though the dog stole the show). We have created and distributed several resource kits to the beaver’s house with equipment and resources needed for many of our online activities. We have also managed to do our usual craft based around mothers and Father’s Day. As we were unable to take part in this year’s remembrance service, the Beavers along with all the other members of the group painted poppies on pebbles which were left around the war memorial. We also held a virtual camp which everyone enjoyed, especially making mug cakes. Finally, the Beavers were encouraged to attend the Scouts Cymru virtual meetings, the highlight of which was a magic show that everyone enjoyed. We have had one face to face meeting since the restrictions have been lifted which went very well, the Page 9 of 14 Beavers enjoyed meeting and catching up with each other as well as doing some badgework and playing a few games. Our priority for next academic year will be to catch up with the missed outdoor and face to face scouting we have been unable to do over the last year. ## **Annual Report 2021** ## **1 Pack Membership 2020** **Cubs:** 19 **Young Leaders:** 3 **Leaders (exc. GSL):** 6 **2020 Spring Term Average attendance:** 17 cubs **2020 Summer Term Average attendance:** 17 cubs **2020 Winter Term Average attendance:** 16 cubs Pack attendance numbers have been strong throughout 2020 despite having to move the programme online for the majority of the year. In 2020 we awarded a total of 106 badges including 2 of the highest Cub awards: The Chief Scout’s Silver Award. It's been great to award badges throughout lockdown, I've enjoyed delivering those envelopes most of all. Really well done to all our Cubs and thank you to parents for supporting them and uploading all those achievements through. Awarding more badges can only be achieved by parent’s help and would love to see them getting more involved with completing badge work at home. Looking at the badge section in OSM can identify any areas left to complete and you can always talk to a leader. ## **2 Pack Leadership Team** Page 10 of 14 The present pack leadership team consists of 6 adult leaders (Nick Allsopp, Aled Jones-Pritchard, Guto Allsopp, Alya Lawrence, Georgina Hooper and Chris Davies). We are assisted by the Group Scout Leader (Les Hancock). We have three young leaders (Owen Barwise, Lewis Holyfield and Osian Allsopp). Thank you to all Leaders for their help and innovative ideas which have kept the Cub programme as engaging as possible. We learned how to Zoom, Blooket, Escape virtual rooms... what a year. Extra special thanks to our Young Leaders. Their enthusiasm, commitment and willingness to help run activities has been second to none. They set excellent examples to the Cubs and we are very fortunate to have them as part of our Pack Leadership Team. ## **3 What happened in 2020** At the start of 2020, we celebrated Chinese New Year, developed engineering skills with spaghetti and marshmallows, went trampolining, started our scientist badge and made cards and decorated trinket pots for Mother's Day. And then Lockdown hit. I remember delivering all the Mother's Day gifts to doorsteps with a note to our Cubs that they should continue to do their best and be the best Cub they could be until we could meet face to face again. The Cubs did not let us down. They have been fantastic in adapting to the new meetings and we've had some really fun sessions. Of course there have been things we have missed from not being able to meet face to face for a large part of the year, but here are some of my highlights: ## _**Hike to the Moon**_ _We put on our best fancy dress costumes and moon walked, crab walked, fast walked, slow walked, dance walked our way to the moon as part of the National challenge._ ## _**Escape rooms**_ _Cubs solved puzzles to find keys to escape the virtual Scout Hall._ ## _**So many games**_ Bingo, Stop the bus, Pictionary, quiz nights scavenger hunts, Taskmaster, Play your Cards Right ## _**Communicator Badge**_ Page 11 of 14 _Code breaking, learning more about each other,_ ## _**Emergency Aid Badge**_ _With support on a virtual session by a paramedic. Calling for help_ ## _**Personal Safety Badge**_ _With support on a virtual session by community police officer. Firework safety and spotting dangers in everyday situations e.g in a kitchen or crossing a road._ ## _**Lego Builders**_ _Challenges building Lego structures with a limited number of bricks and time._ ## _**Parties**_ _Online Halloween: fancy dress, making spooky ghost lanterns, wooden pumpkin decorating Christmas Party: party hats, making paper chains and tree decorations_ ## _**Cub Camps**_ We held a virtual camp linking up with the National Cub Camp. We managed one hike to Forest Fawr in between lockdowns. Thank you to all the Cubs for making this strange year a little bit easier on us all by giving Thursday evenings a sense of normality with fun, laughter, chats and a little bit of chaos. Thank you to all our parents for their unwavering support, for putting up with their Cubs rushing about looking for a rubber band or pair of socks during a scavenger hunt or listening to the best scream at Halloween. Finally thanks to the Leaders who have delivered the Top Secret Cub envelopes each half term full of goodies for the Cubs to participate in each event. Page 12 of 14 **Annual Report 2021** ## Scout AGM Report **Boys:** 19 **Girls:** 3 Page 13 of 14 **Total:** 22 **Young Leaders** : 0 **Leaders:** 5 +2 (university away) It is been a strange year in scouts, for most of the year we have not been able to meet face to face, there was a short time between the second and third outbreak where we managed to fit in a walk around Forest Fawr in the pouring rain. When the 3[rd] phase of Covid started we were forced back to virtual meetings, with restrictions only now beginning to be lifted. We have had a campfire and a semaphore evening in the scout hall field. Due to the 2-meter restriction (which effects only the scout section) even though we can meet face to face it is difficult to find activities that do not break the rule. However, will try to organize a few more outdoor meetings for the last half of this term. Although under the scout rules it is now possible to consider meeting indoors, due to the troop size and the size of the hall this is not possible. We have decided not to meet indoors while the 2-meter rule is in place. The troop has continued to meet every week over the last year, even though it has been virtually. During this time, we have worked on activity badges that can be done remotely, these have included the craft, communicators, photography, science, global Issues, local knowledge badges and we will be looking at the astronomer’s badge for the rest of this term. At the start of the year, we were averaging 13 scouts per virtual meeting but that has now increased to 16. Our priority for next academic year (once the 2 meter rule will be lifted) will be to catch up with the missed outdoor and face to face scouting we have been unable to do over the last year. Page 14 of 14