Flysheet

The Sutton District Scouting Newsletter – November 2007

Contents

  1. Contents
  2. Chairman’s Notes
  3. Notes from the District Commissioner
  4. Beavers
  5. Cubs
  6. Scouts
  7. Explorers
  8. Network
  9. District Swimming Gala
  10. Adult Training in Sutton
  11. Sutton District Headquarters
  12. National Scout Shooting Championships 2007
  13. LIVE 07
  14. Brownsea Island National Patrol Leaders’ Camp
  15. Canoe Club
  16. Bike Skills Course
  17. Sutton Youth Service Equipment
  18. Laser Quest
  19. New and Updated Fact Sheets
  20. Diary 2007–2008
  21. Flysheet

Chairman’s Notes

All members of Sutton District will have had the letter from our District Commissioner John Perkins stating his decision to stand down when a new Commissioner for the District has been appointed. John has been able to consolidate the former two Districts of Sutton and Cheam and Wallington and Carshalton that now make up the Sutton District and next year, 2008, will be the commencement of its fourth year. The new person appointed will be able to build on these foundations to take the District forward, so please consider your nominations and let the Chairman of the District Search Group, Chris Heath, have replies on the appropriate form by 30th November.

At the County Annual General Meeting on 10th October Ian Newbery was presented with his warrant as our new County Commissioner, replacing Roger Hurrion who has led the County for the past ten years. Congratulations and best wishes to Ian, who has held appointments in the Wallington and Carshalton District, and many thanks to Roger for all that he has done for Greater London South West.

With a new County Commissioner and, soon, a new District Commissioner, together with other changes of appointments, there will be much to do and it is at Group level that the acceptance of Recruits, New Leaders, Quality of Programme and Standards will fall. The County and District Teams are there to give as much support as possible.

It is interesting to note from HQ that in the months of July, August, and September two hundred new member enquiries were taken for GLSW on the “Want to Join” system. Twenty-six of these applied to our Sutton District. This is in addition to a good number of enquiries received as a result of our own publicity action. There is no doubt that young people are becoming much more interested in joining Scouting.

Scouting is a “Movement” – so keep looking forward and let us build on our wealth of experience.

Paul Richardson, District Chairman

Notes from the District Commissioner

By now the news will have got around the District that I have offered my resignation as District Commissioner to the County Commissioner. I feel that I have gone as far as I can go in leading our District and it is time for someone else to take over. I have enjoyed my time as DC and look forward to working with the new DC during the hand over period and to continuing Scouting in Sutton. I would like to thank all of you who have been kind enough to contact me and express your best wishes.

We have almost reached the end of our Centenary Year. It has been very busy for all of us and many Groups have put on special programmes and events as well as taking part in the District and National events. No doubt we will all give a sigh of relief that it is all over but... we cannot just stop trying. Many new members have joined the Movement as a result of seeing and reading about all the marvellous things we get up to. To keep their interest we must continue to provide good and imaginative programmes.

Sunrise Ceremony

Apologies to the 3rd Cheam and 1st North Wallington for having left them out of the list published last month of those Groups who held Sunrise Ceremonies or attended the District Sunrise Ceremony.

Sainsbury’s Scout Community Week

I was disappointed at the lack of take up by Groups of the opportunity to take part in the Sainsbury’s Scout Community Week. It was a great chance to keep Scouting in the public eye as well as raising some funds. The District have bought two sets of banners and these are stored at HQ and are available for Groups to borrow. They would be very good for AGMs etc. Please let me know when you want to use them. My thanks to those Groups and Leaders who did take part.

Poppy Day Appeal

The Royal British Legion have asked for help in selling poppies in Cheam and the 2nd and 9th Cheam Groups have responded. Not only is this a Scout Good Turn in helping to raise funds for a very good cause it again is good publicity for Scouting.

Nights Away Permits

Following the successful “drop in” evening last month the District will be running a further evening for those who need to renew their Permits. Details will be sent out as soon as they are available.

As this will be the last Flysheet this year I would like to wish everybody a Happy Christmas and a successful New Year.

John Perkins, District Commissioner

Beavers

At Westcroft Leisure Centre last Sunday over 200 Beavers arrived for an afternoon of sport. Divided into two sessions of 100 each they enjoyed football, short tennis, basketball, trampoline and Kids Kingdom. With 2½ hours of non stop exercise they went home exhausted but very happy. The whole event was very successful.

[Beavers Picture]

[Beavers Picture]

[Beavers Picture]

We now look forward to our Birthday Party on 25th November at the Phoenix Centre, followed by St Nicholas Service on 6th December. I do hope that all Colonies participate in these events as they are special to centenary year.

Also special to centenary year is the Scout and Guide Spectacular on 24th November in the O2 arena. This will be a once in a lifetime experience and the District has purchased 100 tickets. Please talk to Catherine Keen who will be delighted to sell you a ticket.

The Beaver section is thriving thanks to you the leaders. Keep up the enthusiasm – it’s catching.

Pauline Pattison, Assistant District Commissioner Beavers

Cubs

Sports Day

The District Cub Sports Day, an annual competition, was held on Sunday 23rd September 2007 at Sutton Arena. The events included flat races, potato races, hurdles, sack races, three-legged races, a relay race, cricket ball throw, high jump and long jump.

Seven Cub Packs from the district took part and the results were:

TeamPointsPosition
5th Carshalton Floyd621st
1st Belmont442nd
14th Wallington383rd
11th Wallington374th
3rd Carshalton325th
1st North Wallington Gunson316th
9th Carshalton187th

The tug-of-war competition winners were the 5th Carshalton Floyd Pack.

Challenge Trophy

The Challenge Trophy competition took place on Saturday 13th October 2007 at Park Farm Scout Campsite near Banstead. Nine teams of four Cubs (one 8-year-old, two 9-year-olds and one 10-year-old) took part, each visiting eight 15-minute bases: Pioneering, Communications, First Aid, Tracking, Compass, Tents, Fire lighting and Nature. The results were:

TeamPointsPosition
5th Sutton128.51st
9th Carshalton119=2nd
14th Wallington119=2nd
9th Cheam1114th
1st Belmont Ryde1095th
5th Carshalton Floyd101.56th
1st North Wallington Bren96.57th
1st Belmont Osbourne90.58th
11th Wallington909th

[Winning Challenge Trophy Team Picture]
The winning Challenge Trophy team

Scouts

Cooking Competition

This year’s District Cooking Competition took place at the 1st Wallington Scout Headquarters on Sunday 7th October 2007. The results were:

TeamPointsPosition
5th Carshalton841st
3rd Beddington742nd
3rd Cheam733rd
1st Wallington714th
5th Sutton605th
8th Sutton Trinity Ben Nevis596th

Congratulations to 5th Carshalton for an outstanding performance, and to all competitors for taking part. Standards generally were very high and every team should rightly be very pleased with their performance.

Explorers

County Night Hike

The fourth GLSW County Explorer Night Hike took place on Saturday 13th October 2007. From 7:30pm onwards fourteen teams from all parts of the County were set off at five-minute intervals into the countryside around West Horsley Village Hall near Guildford in Surrey. Nine teams completed the full 13-mile Gold route, two teams completed the shorter 10-mile Silver route and two teams completed the shortest 8-mile Bronze route.

[Belmont Team Picture]
The “Last But Not Least” Belmont ESU Team finished the Gold route in first place

[Double Dragon Team Picture]
The Double Dragon ESU Team finished the Silver route in first place

Two teams from Sutton District took part, one from Belmont ESU and one from Double Dragon ESU. The “Last But Not Least” Belmont team completed the Gold route to win the first place Gold trophy in four hours and ten minutes, finishing just eleven minutes ahead of their rivals, the second-placed Hampton team. The Double Dragon team completed the Silver route in three hours forty-one minutes and gained the first place Silver trophy. The teams are pictured just after Ian Newbery, the County Commissioner, presented them with the first place “ice axe” trophies.

Network

Sutton Network is up and running every other Thursday night at District HQ and, with Network having just celebrated its fifth Birthday, we are growing stronger and stronger. So far this term we have been bowling, had a takeaway while having a recruitment planning evening and we have been to the Souwest County Gang Show. Next half term we are linking up with Greater London South Network who are going to run a circus skills evening for us, going ice skating up in London and attending the Christmas Network Ball at BP House to name a few things. To see a full copy of our programme please visit the new look Network page on the Sutton district website where you will find a link to the programme, our new logo and photos of different events.

County Network events have included the King’s and Queen’s Scouts Muster at Kings College School Wimbledon, where we heard about the experiences of a King’s Scout and a Queen’s Scout, had Queen’s Scout Awards presented by Roger Hurrion and a King’s Scout celebratory cake. There has also been caving and a Queen’s Scout / Gold Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Expedition.

[Queen’s Scout Award Presentation Picture]
GLSW Network Queen’s Scout Award recipients with Chris Dean (County Scout Network Commissioner) and Peter Duncan (Chief Scout)

Network members have the opportunity to undertake the Queen’s Scout Award. Along with other members of GLSW Network, I attended the Queen’s Scout Award presentation at the Tate Modern on Saturday 20th October. The morning presentation was split into three small groups and I was in the last group so I had time to explore the galleries and see the crack?!? There were only four other Award recipients in my group and the presentation was very informal. We all sat on a couple of sofas overlooking a brilliant view of the Thames and Peter Duncan (Chief Scout) awarded our certificates one by one. Peter asked us lots of different questions including what we had enjoyed about the award and what our plans were for the future. After our presentations we had a buffet lunch and renewed our promises. It was a fantastic day and I am now looking forward to being one of a group of GLSW Queen’s Scouts in the Royal Guard of Honour at the Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday.

If you would like to find out more about Sutton Network please contact me at claire.dunne@glswscouts.org.uk.

Claire Dunne, County Scout Network Leader Sutton

District Swimming Gala

More than half the District took part in this year’s gala. There was stiff competition all evening but I think everyone had a good time.

[Winning Beaver Team Picture]
The winning Beaver team

Congratulations to all those that took part and thanks to the many leaders and parents who helped it run so smoothly. Well done to 14th Wallington for winning the Group Trophy and to Double Dragon Explorers for winning the Explorer section trophy. Congratulations also go to the following teams in the various sections:

Beavers1st14th Wallington
2nd1st Cheam
3rd11th Wallington
Cubs1st14th Wallington
2nd3rd Carshalton
3rd5th Carshalton Floyd
Scouts=1st3rd Carshalton
=1st14th Wallington
3rd5th Carshalton
Explorers1stDouble Dragon
2nd5th Worcester Park Young Leaders
3rd15th Wallington

Adult Training in Sutton

For the time being all training needs in the District are being covered by Janet Drinkall and Jenny Turner. Please direct all initial enquiries to Jenny at jennyturner2@blueyonder.co.uk. If you are waiting for your Personal Learning Plan (PLP) to be sorted, again ask Jenny in the first instance.

Please note that a First Aid qualification is NOT a requirement before you can obtain your warrant – it is one of the Modules you have to complete in order to get your Wood Badge. Likewise a First Aid qualification is NOT a requirement for a Nights Away permit.

We look forward to hearing from all those Leaders who are currently wanting to finish their training and be awarded their Wood Badges.

Janet Drinkall, Assistant County Commissioner (General Duties)

Sutton District Headquarters

From December the entrance to the Sutton District Headquarters in Wallington will again be via Woodcote Road.

To open the closed gate from Woodcote Road, walk or drive up to the gate and stop for approximately 30 seconds and wait until the gate automatically opens, then enter. The gate will close after you. To leave the Headquarters, walk or drive up to the wait line painted on the ground and stop for approximately 30 seconds and wait until the gate automatically opens, then exit. The gate will close after you.

We have been allocated four parking spaces (marked “Private Scouts”) in front of the main door. We cannot park anywhere else on the site.

Jim Dimmock, District Headquarters Booking Secretary

National Scout Shooting Championships 2007

A team of shooters from the two Scout Troops of 1st North Sutton took part in the 31st National Scout Air Rifle Championships at the National Shooting Centre at Bisley – the home of shooting in the UK and the worldwide home of target shooting as a sport. They were also joined by two guest shooters from the District who had completed their Master at Arms badges to a high standard on courses run during the year.

A very high standard of shooting was evident throughout the event from all the teams entered. However, this did not prevent the 1st North Sutton’s team from gaining medals – for the 3rd year running – and high places in some of the events.

Star placing goes to Cyrus Wyett, who is the 2007 National Champion in the Junior Reactive Target Knockout competition. Coming near to gaining a “double” in the knockout competitions, Leslie Button lost a very close final to the reigning champion to take the Silver Medal in the senior event.

Finally, a guest in the Team, James Randall of the 1st Belmont, who successfully completed a Master at Arms shooting course with the 1st North Sutton last Autumn, achieved a Silver Medal, coming second in the Summer Biathlon competition – a combination of shooting and cross country running.

Additionally, several top-ten results were attained:

Team-wise, the 1st North Sutton came 11th in the Pistol team competition and 7th in the Rifle Team competition.

Please join us all in congratulating not only Cyrus, Leslie and James on their achievements, but the whole team on their skill and dedication to the sport of target shooting which underlines the commitment to high quality target shooting and training at 1st North Sutton. Shooting as an activity is available to any Scout Troop, Explorer Scout Unit or Scout Fellowship in the District. If you would like to find out more or to book a session, please contact Leslie Button (leslie.button@suttonscouts.org.uk), Assistant Group Scout Leader, for more details.

LIVE 07

This is your last chance to be part of a truly inspirational, entertaining and one-off event. LIVE 07 is the Festival of Scouting, an extravaganza to celebrate the best of Scouting in 2007 taking place on Saturday 24th November 2007 at The O2 arena. It’ll be the perfect opportunity to reflect on our Scouting history, remember the fun times in 2007 and look towards the next 100 years and beyond. A group is going by coach from Sutton and there are a few places left. Contact Catherine Keen (catherine.keen@glswscouts.org.uk) for more details.

Brownsea Island National Patrol Leaders’ Camp

As you all know there were many centenary celebration camps held on Brownsea Island this summer celebrating 100 years of Scouting. I was one of three extremely lucky Scouts to be picked to represent Greater London South West at the National Patrol Leaders’ Camp.

How did we get to Brownsea?

Unfortunately the estimated 200 PLs were told to meet at Poole Quay at 10:00am. Now, for someone who lives about three hours away, driving in the rush hour isn’t good news. Luckily with my mum’s fab driving and road map we got there on time and ready to check in. Once my mum had ditched me with a bag that was so heavy it practically crippled me, we were given shirts assigning us to our designated camps, and scarves with the Brownsea Island logo. Since I was one of the first to check in I met one of my sub-camp leaders – George – and she and I set off trying to teach everyone how to tie friendship knots. This sounds easy but, trust me, it wasn’t. Now that everyone was set, we were shovelled onto three ferries, and set off on the 15-minute boat ride across the water to Brownsea.

What did we get up to on the island?

Once we had made it to dry land again we walked for about 20 minutes into an extremely large field. There we split ourselves up into our four different sub-camps and got to know all the people in our group. The four sub-camps were Bulls, Curlews, Ravens and Wolves; each one was assigned a hilariously embarrassing or rather weird catch-phrase. Since I was in wolves, ours was (I am embarrassed to say) “Wicked! Wicked! Wicked! Wolves! Wolves! Wolves! Wolves! Wicked! Wolves! Wicked! Wolves! Wicked! Wicked! Wicked! Wolves! Wolves! Wolves!”. Yes, I know what you are thinking, but I am proud to say ours wasn’t the worst. Others such as “Let me hear your funky Raven!” followed by some evil birdie noise was probably the second most embarrassing. I won’t even describe the Curlew’s catch-phrase.

Putting catch-phrases aside, there were loads of great things we got up to over the weekend. After getting settled on Friday, we got stuck in to our activities the next morning. Our sub-camps were split into groups of about eight and those were the people we ‘hung with’ the majority of our day. My group did archery, coracling – which is making some awesome rounded boat, and we visited, just like EuroJam, different world tents and did our “Starburst” activity, which was chopping down some of the woods to make way for plants to grow, and had a guided tour of the nature reserve part of the island. Other activities which were more unexpected were a morning session of tai chi... oh and lots of night life (*thumbs up*). Saturday night after this quite good band had played, this juggling guy came on stage. Now if you think you can juggle, think again. He was juggling 3–5 long plastic thingies, on top of a unicycle and kind of smacking his head and then throwing that one up and then doing it again. He was an absolute laugh and a half. Amazing doesn’t even describe him.

But although we had a lot of fun on the island, the best part was definitely the people I met. On my sub-camp the most amazing people were Tom and Xavi. They came from Wiltshire near Bournemouth and thankfully I got their mobile numbers and e-mail addresses. Another really awesome guy was Mike. He was friends with my lot but was in the Raven’s sub-camp. Now this guy could put practically anything in his mouth and make it come out of either one of his nostrils. We made him do it with jam... raisins... I think some kind of sweets... rice... it was incredible, but weird. Oh and don’t let me forget Jens. He was one of our sub-camp leaders, lives in Denmark and was pretty cool. One of the things I remember him telling me was that the prettiest girls in the world come from Denmark because the Vikings took them from all around Europe... completely off the subject, but hey.

Leaving

Unfortunately, since the camp was only for three days, this time came quite quickly. But it was definitely an experience I will never forget. The people I met, the things we did and the ultimate reason why I went on this camp. I seriously urge you to visit Brownsea Island and just take a look around at all the amazing things, like the peacocks wandering around aimlessly.

I would just like the say a big thank you to all the people in my district that made it possible for me to take part in such a great event. Finally, I would like to say a big THANK YOU to Greater London South West for selecting me, Sutton District for their financial support and most of all, my Scout Leader, Leslie Button, for putting me forward and getting me a place on this amazing camp.

Alice Beeson, 1st North Sutton

Canoe Club

Pool sessions have been secured on three dates next year at Wimbledon College Pool in Edge Hill: Sundays 27th January, 17th February and 16th March 2008.

The 1:00pm-2:00pm sessions are “club” sessions, aimed at individuals or small groups who want to work on their strokes, rolls etc. Cost is £6 per person. Bring swimming costume, towel and t-shirt to canoe in.

The 2:00pm-3:00pm and 3:00pm-4:00pm sessions are “Group sessions”, which are available to individual groups or combined groups. We can provide teaching or fun sessions (or a combination of the two). Cost is £75 per hour and we recommend a maximum of 17 paddlers.

Places must be pre-booked through Keith (keith_axbey@hotmail.com or 020 8942 5736) and are offered on a first come – first served basis only.

Keith Axbey, Canoe Club

Bike Skills Course

The Sutton Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme (www.suttondofe.org.uk) will be offering a three-month bike skills course starting in the next couple of weeks on Monday evenings for one hour per week. The course will be run with Bikestreet and will deal with:

If any members need to complete an award skills or service section then the Scheme can assist. Please contact Paul Matthews (pmatthews1@suttonlea.org or 020 8687 0239) or have the participants e-mail Paul directly for a place.

Paul Matthews, London Borough of Sutton Outdoor Education Co-ordinator

Sutton Youth Service Equipment

The 2007 London Borough of Sutton Youth Service Equipment Catalogue is available on the district web site at www.suttonscouts.org.uk/resources/sutton-youth-service-equipment.pdf. Most of the equipment may be used free of charge by Sutton Scout Groups (as registered voluntary groups in the London Borough of Sutton).

Laser Quest

A Laser Quest has recently opened at City Limits on the Purley Way in Croydon. Laser Quest is a laser tag game played in an indoor maze with up to 30 players in teams or as individuals. See the web site at www.lqcroydon.co.uk for details.

New and Updated Fact Sheets

AC120990 Assessment Checklist for a Nights Away Permit (Sep/07 [1] 80KBytes)
FS120804 Nights Away Permit Scheme - Nights Away Advisers (Sep/07 [1] 38KBytes)
FS120803 Nights Away Permit Scheme - Commissioners’ Guide (Sep/07 [1] 60KBytes)
FS120802 Nights Away Permit Scheme - Assessment Guide (Sep/07 [1] 56KBytes)
FS120801 Nights Away Permit Scheme - Applicants’ Guide (Sep/07 [1] 41KBytes)
FS120800 Nights Away Permit Scheme (Sep/07 [1] 120KBytes)

Nights Away Permit Scheme

Several important changes were made to the Nights Away Permit Scheme in September. The changes include:

Some parts of the Nights Away Permit Scheme have been clarified:

There are now better definitions of:

A full summary can be found on ScoutBaseUK at www.scoutbase.org.uk/ps/nightsaway/summary.pdf.

Policy, Organisation and Rules

The Policy, Organisation and Rules (POR) of the Scout Association were updated twice in September to reflect the changes to the Nights Away Permit Scheme and the phasing out of warrants. The latest POR can be found on ScoutBaseUK at www.scoutbase.org.uk/library/hqdocs/por/ as web pages or as a single PDF document on the district web site at www.suttonscouts.org.uk/resources/por.pdf (the PDF document on ScoutBaseUK has not been updated).

Diary 2007–2008

November 2007
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
29th Thu District Scout Patrol Leaders’ Forum
December 2007
2nd Sun County Scout/Explorer/Network/Leader Orienteering Competition
6th Thu District Beaver St Nicholas Service
8th Sat Croydon District Nitex Explorer Night Hike
19th Wed Sutton LEA Autumn Term ends
January 2008
3rd Thu Sutton LEA Spring Term starts
11th–13th
Fri–Sun		 Gilwell Scout/Guide/Ranger/Explorer Winter Camp
13th Sun District Beaver Pantomime – Frosty the Snowman
17th Thu District Cub Leaders’ Meeting
22nd Tue District Scout Leaders’ Meeting
26th Sat District Scout Climbing Day
27th Sun Canoe Club Pool Session
February 2008
2nd Sat District Cub Chess Competition (provisional date)
7th Thu District Beaver Leaders’ Meeting
17th Sun Canoe Club Pool Session
17th–24th
Sun–Sun		 District Ski Trip, Prato Nevosa, Italy
18th–22nd
Mon–Fri		 Sutton LEA Half-Term
22nd Fri District Scout Handball Competition
March 2008
16th Sun District Scout 5-a-side Football Competition
16th Sun Canoe Club Pool Session
April 2008
4th Fri Sutton LEA Spring Term ends
5th Sat District Cub Peggy Charman First Aid Competition (provisional date)
12th Sat District Scout Leaders’ Camping Skills Training Day
13th Sun District Scout Camping Skills Training Day
20th Sun District St George’s Day Parade
21st Mon Sutton LEA Summer Term starts
30th Wed District Scout Leaders’ Meeting
May 2008
26th–30th
Mon–Fri		 Sutton LEA Half-Term
June 2008
13th–15th
Fri–Sun		 District Scout Water Activities Camp
27th–29th
Fri–Sun		 District Scout How Cup Camping Competition
28th Sat District Cub Sports Day (provisional date)
July 2008
11th Fri District Scout Athletics Badge Evening
23rd Wed Sutton LEA Summer Term ends

Flysheet

Flysheet is the Sutton District Scouting newsletter. Please send items/pictures to the editor, Chris Sowden, at flysheet@suttonscouts.org.uk (almost any format would be acceptable). Articles for the January issue should be sent by 2nd January 2008.