Flysheet

The Sutton District Scouting Newsletter – January 2007

Contents

  1. Contents
  2. Chairman’s Notes
  3. Notes from the District Commissioner
  4. Beavers
  5. Cubs
  6. Scouts
  7. County Orienteering Competition
  8. District Camp 2007
  9. Cheam Village Explorer’s Sedan Chair ’06
  10. 1st Wallington (Sutton District) Band
  11. New Policy, Organisation and Rules (POR)
  12. Funding for Sutton District Leader Training
  13. Souwest Gang Show Auditions
  14. Diary 2007
  15. Flysheet

Chairman’s Notes

It is hoped that everyone has had a good Christmas and perhaps a little time to relax and think of other matters than Scouting.

We are now at the beginning of the 100th year of the Scout Movement and what a great opportunity it is to improve our image and make Scouting better known to the public. The general outside view of our movement is that it is good for young people and it does good. Those involved know that we have a progressive training programme with an endless list of opportunities to carry out exciting, challenging, adventurous activities in this country and abroad, also at the same time helping those in poorer countries by practical help to improve their living conditions and environment. Talking to some influential people recently they had no idea of any of this or that everybody from the age of 5¾ is welcome to join.

With the help of our Media Manager, Paul Whitcher, the level of publicity in the District is being increased for 2007 and each Group is asked to play it’s part and to use initiatives to promote their Group as much as possible. Scouting Magazine and the “Join-in-Centenary Packs” give ideas of how to celebrate the 100 years of Scouting and let us remember that the Scouting Movement is the most successful youth movement that the world has ever seen. All of us in the District including parents, families and friends should be given an opportunity to be part of the celebrations.

On Monday 5th February at the District HQ 7:30 for 8pm a workshop is being held to look at Group Annual General Meetings – what is good, what is bad and how improvements can be made. GSLs will be receiving by e-mail the formal notice and it is hoped that a good attendance will be possible. Our 100 years celebrations may give us an opportunity to hold different style meetings to the usual and so increase interest and attendance.

All leaders in Scouting spend a great deal of time working with and for the young people in their Groups and District. It is the nature of Scouting that it has to be programmed and structured and in consequence it is easy to put family and friends into a second place. The use of Section Helpers and considering alternative ways of leading sections is being encouraged in our Development Plans which could help this situation.

There is no doubt that 2007 will be a busy year and let us try to make it most successful.

A Happy New Year to all.

Paul Richardson, District Chairman

Notes from the District Commissioner

Here it is at last! The Centenary of Scouting has arrived!

This is going to be a very busy and I hope exciting and adventurous year for everybody. The District is arranging a number of events including the District Camp which promises to be a huge success. It is nice to know that the overwhelming majority of Groups have signed up to attend. We are also arranging a trip for the Explorers to Iceland in the summer. Monthly information will be put into the Sutton Post with details of Groups and their events. In February the Mayor has invited a representative from each Group to a Reception at the Civic Offices. We have been very lucky that the Mayor in each of the last few years has been supportive of Scouting and has valued the contribution we make to the Borough.

Headquarters have also arranged a programme of events and publicity. Already there have been two programmes on Radio 4 and one on BBC2 on the history of Scouting. There will be a special issue of stamps to coincide with the Jamboree and 50p coins with the Scout Badge are being produced. Has anyone seen one yet?

[Picture of the commemorative 50p coin]
The commemorative 50p coin is also available in a presentation folder from Scout Shops

The District will be organising two special challenges, one to Groups and the other to Parents and Leaders. There will be a prize to the Group winning the Group Challenge and Certificates and badges for the latter. Details will be given at the Group Scouters Meeting in January.

While this year will provide a great range of activities for our District to celebrate our Centenary, we need to make sure that the general public are aware of our existence. After all we are the largest Youth Movement in the Country and the Borough. I would like to encourage all Groups and Sections to get out and about as much as possible so the public can see we are alive and kicking and giving lots of fun, worthwhile activities for our Members.

With all the extra publicity we will be getting we will be getting many more enquiries from people wanting to join us. This will be a great result but we must have good, exciting programmes in the Sections to capture and keep their interest. HQ have provided lots of programme ideas to help out and the District is putting on the usual range of events for the Colonies, Packs and Troops. I hope Section Leaders will make use of all these which will allow them to get their Sections into activities with the minimum of effort on their part.

Last year Geoff Gregory and I helped with a collection outside Morrisons in Sutton for the Poppy Day Appeal. In total £267.86 was raised in two hours. We got a lot of good responses from the public and I would like the District to do this again this year. If we get enough support we could “flood” all the major shopping areas in the Borough. It would be excellent publicity as well as doing a Good turn for a good cause.

I hope everybody has a great year and I look forward to seeing you all at the various events.

John Perkins, District Commissioner

Beavers

A very Happy New Scouting year to you all. I suppose Happy Birthday to all Scouting personnel could be appropriate. I trust you are all in gear and ready to join in all celebrations both District and own groups.

Please encourage your Beavers to fill the Smartie tubes as they will have had no bother in emptying them, and Walton Firs camp site is so valuable to us all.

District Pantomime on Sunday 21st January at 12-noon; a performance to remember.

Our first District meeting of this year will be on Thursday 1st February at 7.45pm. Please make every effort to be there or at least send a representative from the group.

Keep up the excellent work but remember you do it because you want to and this good feeling will pass to all the Beavers.

Pauline Pattison, Assistant District Commissioner Beavers

Cubs

The Cubs section finished off the Autumn term with a rather wet District Challenge Trophy which was convincingly won by 6th Carshalton followed by 3rd Carshalton in second place. Despite the rain everyone had good fun as well as learning more basic Scouting skills. Some even managed to keep the fire going!

[Picture of the winning 6th Carshalton team]
The 6th Carshalton team with District Cub Scout Leader Paul Seward, District Commissioner John Perkins and Assistant District Commissioner Cubs Catherine Keen

We now turn our focus to drier activities for the Spring term. The District Chess Competition and First Aid Competition both promise to be closely fought events. Also throughout the term Cubs will be preparing models, collages, pictures and paintings for the Raksha Trophy (the District Cub craft competition being judged in April).

I’m extremely pleased that Sutton District will be represented at the Chief Scout Silver Award presentation evening that the County is organising on 10th February. It is excellent that the achievements of these Cubs and new Scouts are being recognised by the County. May I wish you all the best for 2007 and I look forward to seeing you throughout the year.

Catherine Keen, Assistant District Commissioner Cubs

Challenge Trophy Competition

Below are the full results from the Challenge Trophy Competition.

Place Pack Score
1st 6th Carshalton 126
2nd 3rd Carshalton 117
=3rd 5th Sutton 111
=3rd 14th Wallington 111
5th 5th Carshalton Arthern 108
6th 1st North Wallington Bren 105
7th 5th Carshalton Floyd 104
=8th 9th Carshalton 100
=8th 11th Wallington 100
10th 1st North Wallington Gunson 96
11th 9th Cheam 85
12th 1st Wallington 81

Scouts

And so once again the year has disappeared in front of our very eyes, but what a great year it was, concluding with a major event in November, this was of course the Tate Shield. Although I was unable to attend (due to having the flu), I am assured that this was once again a great event, enjoyed by all participants and helpers alike. This event tests the Scouts ability to work as a team doing all the things that they have been taught in Scouts, along with a little bit of general thinking thrown in for good measure. It’s dark, it’s cold, they get wet but yet they still come back for more – we must be doing something right. Our congratulations go once again to 3rd Carshalton Scout Troop; they are beginning to think that this trophy is theirs by right. I would also like to say a big thank you to all of the people involved with the planning of this event and everyone that made it happen on the day.

The dedication of the leaders never ceases to amaze me; camps in December, a night hike and sleep over the weekend leading up to Christmas itself, camps in early January, this is what its all about and why I am so proud to be part of such a great section.

In 2006 the Scouts had so many great opportunities that its difficult to see how we can top that in 2007, but I’m sure that we will manage it somehow. I look forward to brining you regular updates about what we have been doing in 2007, so good luck in all that you do in 2007.

Ray Shaw, Assistant District Commissioner Scouts

Tate Shield Competition

Below are the full results from the Tate Shield Competition.

Place Team Score
1st 3rd Carshalton B 410.0
2nd 11th Wallington 404.0
3rd 5th Carshalton 401.0
4th 3rd Carshalton A 390.5
5th 14th Wallington 383.0
6th 1st Wallington 372.5
7th 1st North Sutton Chindit Safe 367.5
8th 3rd Beddington A 364.0
9th 9th Carshalton 361.5
10th 1st North Sutton Gurkha B 353.5
11th 1st North Sutton Gurkha A 349.0
12th 3rd Beddington B 340.5
13th 1st North Sutton Chindit Bold 329.5
14th 1st North Wallington 324.5
15th 15th Wallington 214.5

County Orienteering Competition

This is an annual competition for teams of two Scouts or Explorer Scouts from all Troops and Units in the Scout County of Greater London South West. In 2006 the competition took place on Sunday 26th November in the Happy Valley/Farthing Down area near Coulsdon.

The aim of the competition was to find a set of controls (orienteering markers) using a map and compass. For each control found, ten points were awarded. Each team was given one hour thirty minutes to find all the controls and one point was lost for each minute taken over the one hour thirty minutes. The winning team in each category was the one that finished with the most points in the least time.

Over fifty teams from around the County entered. Below are the results for the Sutton teams.

Under 12 Years – Max Score 60 Points
Place Names Group Time Points
1st William T/Daniel T 5th Carshalton 01:01 60
18th Karen S/Sam K 8th Sutton Trinity 01:15 20
Under 14 Years – Max Score 80 Points
Place Names Group Time Points
8th Daniel H/Christopher W 5th Carshalton 01:03 40
9th David B/Chris C 8th Sutton Trinity 01:23 30
Under 16 Years – Max Score 100 Points
Place Names Group Time Points
3rd Alex I/Flik M Double Dragon ESU 01:03 50
4th Joshua A/Ben O 4th Worcester Park 01:43 47
Under 18 Years – Max Score 120 Points
Place Names Group Time Points
1st Benjamin S/Tony T Double Dragon ESU 01:28 120
3rd Robert B/Ben O 8th Sutton Trinity 01:31 99

District Camp 2007

The clock is ticking, and its getting louder. This major event, which for many will be the pinnacle of the years celebrations, is getting ever closer and the preparations are coming on in leaps and bounds, but as they say “Sutton – we have a problem”. We can arrange lots of activities, off-site trips and much more, but we can not run this event alone. We have asked for support time and again, from your parents, from yourselves, but the response has been stunningly quiet. I have managed to sign up a couple of helpers and have another three possibles, but if I add these to my team we will have about a dozen people to run District camp!!!!

We need to have people to act as car park stewards, site security, gofers, camp fire builders, craft activity organisers and helpers and offsite activity helpers. Please give this some serious consideration NOW, because if we can’t get the support we will have no choice but to reconsider the whole set-up of this event. On a more positive note, it looks very much as though every Group in the District will be represented at this event, so just imagine sitting round a camp fire with over 1,200 people, all of whom are your friends through Scouting, enjoying a good old sing song as we get set to light a beacon to welcome in the next 100 years of Scouting.

We now have a badge that I am sure will take pride of place on your camp fire blanket and everyone that attends will receive one of these.

Activities

The team have been working really hard on these and have come up with some great ideas: abseiling, bat watching, bouncy castles, backwoods cooking, badge work, bases, canoeing, climbing, crafts and so the alphabet goes on. More details will be published in January. Not all sections will be able to do all activities, but if the Beavers could do the same as Explorers, why would they want to stick around!

Finally I look forward to seeing lots of you at this great event.

Making Our Mark

As we begin the 100 days of “Making our Mark”, I would like to say a big thank you to those that have shown such great support of this event. There are of course those who aren’t quite so enthused about this idea; “Why should we be raising money for a campsite?”

Well, because it would be very easy to sit back and do nothing, then we could all have a good moan when another local camp site closes. We also promised to think of others before ourselves, to do a good deed, and so the list goes on.

Perhaps some leaders feel that they have got enough to organise already and that this is just another to add to the list. Well let us make you another offer: have some Smarties instead. Yes, we will give you this option as well, but the difference is we would like you and your members to collect £1 coins in the tubes – yes, they do fit very nicely, but please do let me know.

For those of you who are taking up the challenge, the very best of luck, let me know what you are up to and most importantly, be proud of what you are doing for others.

Ray Shaw, Camp Leader

Copies of all the District Camp Newsletters can now be found on the District web site.

Cheam Village Explorer’s Sedan Chair ’06

Cheam Village Explorer unit set out to surpass all competition at the ‘06 annual Sedan Chair Rally. We fell woefully short of this ambition, but it’s the tacky certificate you get at the end that counts (first place for costume design, fifteenth place in the actual race, and third place overall). This year as Friar Tuck’s cart: the chair had hay, barrels of Mead, realistic cart-wheels, and arrows sticking in it.

[Picture of the Cheam Village Explorers]
The Cheam Village Explorer team during the race

Cheam Village had a great time, and we’ve already begun plans for how we’ll scratch something together at the last minute for next year’s chair.

Details of next year’s event, a weekend camp for Explorer Scouts, Scout Network and Ranger Guides at Tolmers with activities, team competitions, a disco and of course the race, can be found on the Sedan Chair Rally web site at www.sedanchair.org.uk.

1st Wallington (Sutton District) Band

On Sunday 12th November, the 1st Wallington (Sutton District) Scout Band joined with the Wimbledon & Wandle District Scout Band to lead the British Legion Remembrance Day Parade from Mitcham Fair Green to the War Memorial by the Cricket Green and back. It was a bright, sunny day but very solemn as war veterans laid their wreaths and paid their respects.

[Picture of the 1st Wallington (Sutton District) Band]
The combined band leading the parade past the Mayor

Don’t forget, although based at 1st Wallington Group in Ruskin Road, Wallington, this is our District Band and anyone in the District from Cubs, Scouts, Explorers & Network is welcome to join. Guides are also welcome.

We are always looking for new members, and particularly those who may be learning or even starting to learn a brass or woodwind instrument. We meet on a Thursday evening between 6pm & 7pm during term time. However, players who also have Scouts on this same night are able to leave early to get to their meetings on time.

If you are interested, please contact Ian King on 020 8647 6216 or e-mail king.mail@btopenworld.com.

Ian King, 1st Wallington Scout Group Bandmaster

New Policy, Organisation and Rules (POR)

Policy, Organisation and Rules (POR) lays down the structure of Scouting in the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man and defines information about its training and management. A new version, the November 2006 version, was published on 31st December 2006. There are over two pages of amendments that include changes to the wording on ratios of adults to Beavers, Cubs and Scouts and many changes to allow for District Scout Networks.

Funding for Sutton District Leader Training

Financial grants are available to support the training of leaders within Sutton District. Grants will be made to reimburse 50% of the course fees for Scout Association modular training courses provided within Greater London South West and 50% of the course fees for the basic first aid course provided by Greater London South West. Grants to help fund other training course fees may also be made subject to prior approval by the Sutton District Executive Committee. A claim form is being prepared and will be made available on the District web site shortly.

Souwest Gang Show Auditions

Each year the Souwest Gang Show Producer, Andrew Hayward, tells the cast, especially the young ones, that the Gang Show will give them the best week of their lives... and they weren’t disappointed at last year’s show. Souwest 2006 was a very varied show, full of fun and laughter, song and dance... and put on very professionally.

In 2007 Souwest will not only be celebrating 100 years of Scouting but 75 years of Gang Show and 25 years of the South West London Gang Show -- it will be a great show. If you wish to be part of the show then you must audition. Auditions will be held on Sundays 25th February and 4th & 11th March 2007 (you only have to attend one) at St John’s Church Hall, Northdown Road, Belmont. The show itself will take place at the Secombe Theatre in Sutton from Tuesday 23rd October to Saturday 27th October 2007. Full Souwest audition details are available on the County web site at www.glswscouts.org.uk.

Diary 2007

January 2007
21st Sun District Beaver Pantomime
23rd Tue District Cub Leaders’ Meeting
27th Sat District Scout Climbing Day
February 2007
1st Thu District Beaver Leaders’ Meeting
3rd Sat District Cub Chess Competition
10th Sat County Chief Scout’s Silver Award Presentation Ceremony
11th Sun County Scout Cooking Competition
19th–23rd
Mon–Fri		 Sutton LEA Half-Term
22nd Thu Founders Day
23rd Fri District Scout Hand Ball Competition
25th Sun District Canoe Club Pool Session
March 2007
10th–11th
Sat–Sun		 County Scout Night Exercise
16th Fri Centenary Comic Relief Red Nose Day
18th Sun District Canoe Club Pool Session
24th Sat District Cub Peggy Charman First Aid Competition
25th Sun District Scout Five-a-Side Football Competition
30th Fri Sutton LEA Spring Term ends
April 2007
16th Mon Sutton LEA Summer Term starts
22nd Sun District St George’s Day Parade
28th Sat District Cub Raksha Trophy Craft Competition
May 2007
25th–28th
Fri–Mon		 District Centenary Camp at Walton Firs
28th–1st Jun
Mon–Fri		 Sutton LEA Half-Term
June 2007
16th Sat District Annual General Meeting and Barbecue
16th/17th
Sat/Sun		 Gilwell Beaver/Cub Fun Days
23rd Sat District Cub Mat Ball Competition and Athletics Badge Day
Centenary MegaGig in the Manchester Evening News Arena
30th–1st Jul
Sat–Sun		 District Scout How Cup Camping Competition
July 2007
7th–8th
Sat–Sun		 Gilwell 24 Explorer Camp
20th Fri Sutton LEA Summer Term ends
26th Thu Centenary Royal Mail Scouting stamps issued
27th–8th Aug
Fri–Sat		 Centenary 21st World Scout Jamboree
August 2007
1st Wed Centenary Scouting’s Sunrise – the dawn of a new century for Scouting
September 2007
3rd Mon Sutton LEA Autumn Term starts
7th–9th
Fri–Sun		 District Scout Water Activities Camp
Gilwell Reunion
22nd Sat District Cub Sports Day
October 2007
13th Sat District Cub Challenge Trophy Competition
20th–21st
Sat–Sun		 Centenary Jamboree-on-the-Internet (JOTI) and Jamboree-on-the-Air (JOTA)
22nd–26th
Mon–Fri		 Sutton LEA Half-Term
November 2007
17th Sat District Scout Tate Shield Competition
24th Sat Centenary Festival of Scouting in the O2 Arena
December 2007
2nd Sun County Scout/Explorer/Network/Leader Orienteering Competition
19th Wed Sutton LEA Autumn Term ends

Flysheet

Flysheet is the Sutton District Scouting newsletter. If your section or group took part in an event or activity that you think others in the District would like to hear about then please send in details (with pictures if you have them) to the editor, Chris Sowden, preferably by e-mail to flysheet@suttonscouts.org.uk (almost any format would be acceptable). Articles for the March issue should be sent by 23rd February 2007.