Flysheet

The Sutton District Scouting Newsletter – March 2007

Contents

1. Contents
2. Awards
3. Chairman’s Notes
4. Notes from the District Commissioner
5. Beavers
6. Cubs
7. Scouts
8. Explorers
9. District Camp 2007
10. Join-in-Centenary Badges
11. Badges—where do you get yours?
12. Live 07
13. A Night in The Scrubs
14. Sainsbury’s Active Kids
15. New and Updated Fact Sheets
16. Diary 2007
17. Flysheet

Awards

Chairman’s Notes

Two months have already gone into the Centenary Year of the Scout Movement, and with the various items seen in Newspapers, on Television, and the publicity in our District it is noticeable that members of the general public are becoming more aware of Scouting... All leaders should do their best to help the present generation of Young People to understand their Scouting Heritage and all that it means – standards in all aspects of living, considering others, having a faith.

To promote Scouting as much as possible it is hoped that Groups are arranging their own “open” functions to interest not only the parents of their members but others outside of the Movement. We need all the help and support that we can get.

On the 1st August 2007 all former and current Scouts are being encouraged to renew their Promise at 8:00am local time wherever they are in the world. This is exactly 100 years after Scouting started. If you are not in camp this may be an opportunity to be seen locally.

A good start to our recognition of 100 years of Scouting was the “Mayor’s Reception” on Thursday 15th February. The Mayor’s Parlour was full with Group Scout Leaders, District Officers and Members of the Executive. The Mayor and Mayoress chatted to everyone in a very relaxed atmosphere. It was much appreciated and enjoyed by all.

Seated from left to right: Paul Richardson, Chairman of the Executive, The Mayor Cllr Richard Bailey and John Perkins, District Commissioner.

The Workshop to help improve Group Annual General Meetings on the 5th February was not so well attended as hoped but all those present took part in the discussions and came away with a variety of ideas of good practice and ways of attracting parents to the meetings. Thank you for the support.

Please keep checking the District Programme for 2007 so nothing is missed to make this a really special year.

Paul Richardson, District Chairman

Notes from the District Commissioner

Our Centenary Year has started out very well. The Awards listed above have been made to members of our District and are very well deserved. Congratulations to everybody.

Further good news is that our census figures have shown a small increase of 27 over last year. The breakdown is as follows:

Beavers	507
Cubs	627
Scouts	433
Explorer Scouts	118
Adults	392
Total	2,082

Although the increase is small, it is in the right direction. As I have said before and will never tire of saying, it is more important to concentrate on the quality of the Scouting we offer and the numbers will follow. There has been a marked increase in the numbers of enquiries from parents wanting their children to join Scouting I have received since the beginning of the year. This must surely be due to the extra publicity Scouting is receiving about the Centenary of Scouting. The District is doing its bit in putting on an excellent range of events and competitions and I want to record my thanks to the ADCs and their teams for the work they are undertaking.

In February the Mayor invited the District Team, Executive and Group Scout Leaders to a reception in the Mayor’s Parlour as a thank you for all the work Scouting does for the youth in the Borough. It was a very pleasant evening but more importantly it was nice that Scouting was recognised as having an important role of in the Borough.

The next District event will be the St George’s Day Parade on 22nd April 2007 at Manor Park. Details are being sent to GSLs and I hope we will have good weather and a large turn out of our members.

Details of the Challenge to Groups and Parents have been published on the District web site and the District team are already collating the points for the Challenge. Interest is good so far. Are your Group and Section taking part? The prizes available are worthwhile trying for.

John Perkins, District Commissioner

Beavers

Since the successful Pantomime in January the Beaver section has held a camp fire afternoon at Park Farm Scout Campsite in Banstead. On Saturday 17th March 2007 over 200 beavers piled into the site to firstly take part in a scavenger hunt looking for natural objects (hopefully) and then gathered around the camp fire (brilliantly built by 1st Belmont) for a great singsong led by Ray Shaw. Afterwards everyone was ready for hot dogs, squash or hot chocolate.

The scavenger hunt was just won by 6th Carshalton as they managed to find the most natural objects.

The sun shone throughout and every Beaver seemed to be in very good spirits and full of life. We hope this will encourage them all to visit the District Camp at Walton Firs in May.

The whole afternoon was a success because of the efforts put in by Beaver Leader Linda Burton and her willing team from 1st Belmont. It was also a record for the Beaver section as 16 Groups were represented. Keep up the enthusiasm.

Pauline Pattison, Assistant District Commissioner Beavers

Cubs

In early February the County put on a really good evening for the Cubs and Scouts who gained their Chief Scout’s Silver Award in 2006. After activities such as a blindfold string trail, candle spitting and making sherbet apples, their achievements were recognised with the presentation of a county certificate. As you will see from the photo, Sutton District was well represented.

We also had a very successful Chess competition. The silence and concentration whilst nearly 40 Cubs played chess simultaneously is quite an experience. Congratulations to 1st Cheam A who won the group trophy and to Joseph (1st North Wallington) and Harvey, Thomas and Henry (1st Cheam) who scored the highest individually. Many thanks to Sue and Richard for organising this event.

I know many Packs have been practising their first aid in preparation for the Peggy Charman Trophy at the end of the month and hope that the creative Cubs are starting to think about their entries for the Raksha Trophy handicraft competition on 28th April. The displays of competition entries will be open for viewing so if anyone not in the Cub section would like to come along please do contact me or another Cub leader for details. The Mayor and Mayoress of Sutton have agreed to present the trophies and certificates and we have several judges lined up. This should be an excellent event celebrating the centenary year.

I look forward to seeing you at forthcoming events.

Catherine Keen, Assistant District Commissioner Cubs

Scouts

Once again it is time to report back as to what has been happening in our section. Well I’m happy to say that as ever it has been a full program going on out there. Many camps and hikes have already taken place in the first couple of months of the year, proving that cold wet weather doesn’t stop Scouts doing what Scouts do best. Also we have held our climbing day. This was a great success, fully booked out and a leader getting the chance for the first part of their assessment for an activity permit.

The end of February half term saw the Scouts handball competition. This year we moved to a new venue, Overton Grange High School. This was a superb facility and allowed us to play three games at a time. This was as always a hard fought competition, but as always a winner in each age group was found. In the junior section this was fought between 5th Worcester Park and 5th Carshalton, 5th Carshalton being the winners. The seniors was between 5th Worcester Park and 5th Sutton, this being won by 5th Worcester Park. I think that it was the 5s night. Well done to our winners and well done to all that took part.

Pancake night was as always a good excuse to get the frying pans out and there was lots of flipping going on around the District. Some that I saw looked really good and fit to eat—others were a little less appealing, but as to the toppings! Let’s just say I’m sure that they pushed up the sugar intake.

I was also lucky enough to join with two Scouts (and some leaders) from 3rd Cheam to attend the Founders Day service at Westminster Abbey. It made you feel very proud to see the World Scout Flag flying from the top of the Abbey. It was a wonderful opportunity to be part of something so special and I’m sure the two Scouts, despite having to get up early on a Saturday morning, will remember this for a very long time.

Recently Simon and myself went to Longridge for a look around in anticipation of our visit in September. Despite being very muddy it was a very informative visit and we feel that we will have a great weekend there.

Ray Shaw, Assistant District Commissioner Scouts

Explorers

Operation Red Flare

This year’s ‘Operation Red Flare’, held over the weekend 3rd–4th March 2007 and organised by Croydon District Scout Council, was won by a team from Sutton District’s Belmont Explorer Scout Unit. The event, now in its 43rd year, is a 12-mile hike at night with activities (incidents) at checkpoints along the way. A new route is devised each year and teams have no idea of where they are going until they check in at the start, which this year was at Adamswell Scout Camp near Tunbridge Wells.

The winning team from Belmont Explorer Scout Unit with the Red Flare Trophy

Altogether there were 14 teams of 4–7 Explorer Scouts, Ranger Guides, and Scout Network members, six of them (including a Ranger Unit) from Sutton. In total there were 75 participants with 30 Leaders undertaking various tasks such as marshalling, transport and catering. The route was 12½ miles long and circular: Adamswell – Groombridge – Ashurst – Eridge – Adamswell. Activities included building a shelter, making a ‘bridge’ and crossing a stream, lighting a stove and cooking food, climbing a tree, making a Gilwell woggle, and lighting a fire to boil a pint of water.

Points were awarded for navigation, speed, the activities, a pre-start kit check, and a quiz to do on the way round. 10 teams completed the challenge; the other four teams retired before the finish. The table below shows a summary of the scores for the Sutton teams. Note that the time figures used are totals of the times taken to navigate the course and the times taken to complete the tasks.

Place	Team	Time	Points	Bases	Tasks	Total
1st	Belmont	6:54	146	90	148	384
3rd	Cheam Village	8:12	68	90	148	306
5th	Sutton	8:00	80	80	81	241
6th	Double Dragon B	10:12	0	90	139	229
7th	Wallington Rangers	9:20	0	90	136	226
13th	Double Dragon A		0	30	51	81

District Camp 2007

As I sit to write this report on 8th March we are only 79 days away from this great event. The planning is progressing very well and their will be lots to do for everyone.

One of the high spots of this weekend will be the Beacon lighting ceremony (8:00pm Saturday), which will be during camp fire. This will probably be the biggest camp fire you will have attended—we anticipate having over 1,000 people there. Would you like to be directly involved? If the answer is yes and you would like to lead a song or perform a stunt then you need to send me an e-mail with the details of what you would like to do. Also we hope to send out the song list in advance of the camp so that everyone can go over the songs in advance if they so wish.

Thank you to everyone that has volunteered to run bases, activities or other such offers, but it’s still not too late to get involved. Just speak to one of the camp team who will be most happy to agree a task with you.

For all you Disco Divas there will be the chance to strut your funky stuff on Sunday evening. For the more discerning there will be a quiz for which I’m sure we will find a small prize for the winning team.

Well we look forward to seeing as many of you there as possible as this will be one of the big highlights of the centenary calendar, and let’s all hope for dry weather.

Ray Shaw, Camp Leader

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

Join-in-Centenary Badges

There is some confusion about where the Join-in-Centenary badges should be worn on uniform.

The Join-in-Centenary badges may be worn either on the apex of the Centenary scarf or on the uniform right sleeve below the County/District badge (and any other awards worn there). Note that the card enclosed with the Join-in-Centenary badge sets gives incorrect information about the position of these badges on uniform.

Fact Sheet FS909000 says:

The Join-In-Centenary scarf would be worn in addition to any other scarf or tie but tied at the bottom with a friendship knot. The badges would form a diamond shape when all sewn on to the apex point of the scarf at the back and would be achieved as follows:

The Join-in-Centenary Badge and scarf would denote a persons participation in the year of Join-in-Centenary.

The Centenary Camps Badge would be worn or added to the scarf immediately before a person participates in a ‘local’ Centenary Camp activity.

The Bring a Friend Badge would be worn or added to the scarf at any time during 2007 as a result of introducing a new young person or adult to Scouting in their local area.

The Scouting’s Sunrise Badge would be worn or added to the scarf immediately before a person participates in a local, national or international Scouting’s Sunrise activity.

Badges—where do you get yours?

In line with Scout Association rules, Sutton has a District Badge Secretary, Maureen Taylor, whose task is to supply all Groups and Units in Sutton with official Beaver, Cub, Scout and Explorer uniform badges. If you buy your badges from another Badge Secretary then you may be unwittingly subsidising another Scout District.

Please support our District and our District Badge Secretary by buying your badges directly from Maureen (020 8395 5973).

Live 07

Live 07 – The Festival of Scouting – will be held on Saturday 24th November 2007 at the 02 Arena (formerly the Millennium Dome). John has asked me to co-ordinate the purchase of tickets which will be going on sale shortly and are only being allocated via Districts. The price at the moment is unknown, but to keep costs down those wishing to attend will need to make their own travelling arrangements.

We have been advised that the show will feature some 3,000 participants and there will be two performances: afternoon and evening. I will be making a bid to buy tickets for the afternoon performance which will allow Beaver Scouts to attend. This is a “must attend” event as part of the 100 years of Scouting and will not happen again for another 100 years.

To help me purchase the tickets I need to know how many would like to attend. Can you please send me an e-mail (to pwhitcher@blueyonder.co.uk) with the approximate numbers required for your Group. I will not hold you to these figures and will let you have more information as it becomes available. If you would like to talk about this event then please telephone me.

Paul Whitcher, District Media Manager

A Night in The Scrubs

On Saturday 3rd February 2007 Rachel and Karen from 15th Wallington Beaver Colony, along with 24 others, spent a night at Wormwood Scrubs Prison in aid of Cancer Research UK.

They arrived at 6:00pm and were taken straight to the Gym where they were given prison uniforms and were put through their paces, including being instructed to call out their prison numbers. If they didn’t get this right then the whole group were told to do press-ups! Karen seemed to find this hard and made everyone do press-ups!!!

They were then given a tour of the prison and met several prison officers. They both said it was a very good experience and a real eye-opener to see what prison life was really like. Karen and Rachel where known as “hot plates” inside and had to serve the food to the other people. Thankfully this was cooked by the prison chefs and not by the inmates. They also played games and had scary DVDs to watch through the night. They were woken just after 6:00am, given breakfast and then released at around 7:00am for good behaviour.

Between them Karen and Rachel raised just over £600 and in total the group raised around £10,000. They are hoping (if given the chance) to do this again and will also be taking part in other fund raising events such as Race for Life through the year.

Derek Smith, Group Scout Leader 15th Wallington

Sainsbury’s Active Kids

Has your section or group registered for Sainsbury’s Active Kids 07 yet? When you register you will receive a welcome pack including a catalogue and a free Scout resource book of programme ideas. You don’t need to collect huge numbers of vouchers to claim useful equipment—for example just 28 vouchers are needed for a skipping rope. The campaign runs until 29th May 2007 and you can register online at www.sainsburys.co.uk/activekids or by telephone on 0870 350 0404.

New and Updated Fact Sheets

FS140100 Resolving Complaints – The Scout Association’s Complaints Procedure (Mar/07 [2] 101KBytes)
FS120603 Water Safety (Incorporating Life Jackets and Buoyancy Aids) (Mar/07 [7] 180KBytes)
FS260018 Thinking of Going Abroad (Feb/07 [4] 96KBytes)
BP260005 Voluntary Opportunities Overseas (Feb/07 [6] 103KBytes)
BP260009 International Community Development Expeditions Briefing Pack (Feb/07 [2] 94KBytes)
FS260008 Taking a Minibus Abroad (Feb/07 [4] 53KBytes)
FS260003 Sources of Information (Feb/07 [5] 52KBytes)
FS260007 Overseas Travel Packages (Jan/07 [6] 41KBytes)
FS260025 Activities to prepare for Visits Abroad (Feb/07 [2] 62KBytes)
FS185094 The Christian Community in Scouting (Jan/07 80KBytes)
FS120004 Target Shooting (Jan/07 [7] 429KBytes)
FS140101 Guidance on the formal suspension of youth members (Jan/07 [1] 44KBytes)
FS250060 Speech, Language and Communication Impairments (Dec/06 [1] 86KBytes)
FS120079 Accidents – A Guide To Reporting For Leaders And Commissioners (Jan/07 [4] 66KBytes)
FS250059 Self-Harm (Jan/07 [1] 89KBytes)
FS260071 Visas for Scouts visiting the United Kingdom (Nov/06 [2] 112KBytes)
FS295207 Developing a Scouting Website (Dec/06 [4] 106KBytes)
FS260029 Welcome to the UK! (Nov/06 [2] 38KBytes)
FS260070 Global Explorer – a programme for international camps (Nov/06 [2] 67KBytes)
FS260024 International camps in the UK (Nov/06 [4] 119KBytes)
FS185093 Organising Interfaith Celebrations (Nov/06 [1] 65KBytes)
FS185092 Alcohol and Scouting (Nov/06 [1] 74KBytes)
FS250057 Successfully Integrating Scouts With Special Needs (Sep/06 [1] 85KBytes)

Diary 2007

March 2007
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
19th Thu	District Cub Leaders’ Meeting
21st Sat	District Canoe Club River Trip
22nd Sun	District St George’s Day Parade
28th Sat	District Cub Raksha Trophy Craft Competition
May 2007
20th Sun	District Canoe Club River Trip
25th–28th Fri–Mon	District Centenary Camp at Walton Firs
28th–1st Jun Mon–Fri	Sutton LEA Half-Term
June 2007
5th Tue	District Beaver Leaders’ Meeting
16th Sat	District Annual General Meeting and Barbecue
16th/17th Sat/Sun	Gilwell Beaver/Cub Fun Days
17th Sun	District Canoe Club River Trip
23rd Sat	District Cub Mat Ball Competition and Athletics Badge Day
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
31st–2nd Sep Fri–Sun	District Canoe Club River Wye Weekend
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
7th Sun	County Scout/Explorer Cyclo-Cross
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
28th Sun	District Beaver Sports Afternoon at Westcroft
November 2007
17th Sat	District Scout Tate Shield Competition
24th Sat	Centenary Festival of Scouting in the O2 Arena
25th Sun	District Beaver 100th Celebration Birthday Party, Phoenix Centre, Roundshaw, 3:30pm–5:30pm
December 2007
2nd Sun	County Scout/Explorer/Network/Leader Orienteering Competition
6th Thu	District Beavers St Nicholas Service
19th Wed	Sutton LEA Autumn Term ends

Flysheet

Flysheet is the Sutton District Scouting newsletter. Please send items (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 May issue should be sent by 27th April 2007.

Site Web

---

• » About Sutton District
• » Resources
• » Canoe Club

---

• » Latest Flysheet
• » Jun 2008
• » Mar 2008
• » Jan 2008
• » Nov 2007
• » Sep 2007
• » Jul 2007
• » May 2007
• » Mar 2007
• » Jan 2007
• » Nov 2006
• » Jul 2006
• » May 2006
• » Mar 2006
• » Jan 2006
• » Nov 2005
• » Sep 2005
• » Jul 2005
• » May 2005