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The monthly newsletter of the 4th Worcester Park Scout Group December 2003Sections
Keith DalyGROUP SCOUT LEADERChief Scout's VisitOn Wednesday 12th November the Chief Scout, George Purdy, paid a visit to the Group. The whole Group was invited to attend and most did. The evening went very well indeed and from my point of view better than I hoped. There were a number of reasons why this was the case not least because the Chief is a most delightful man who seemed just at home talking to the youngest Beavers as he is the more senior citizens amongst us. He happily joined us in a campfire, presented some awards, cut our anniversary cake, watched the boys undertaking numerous activities and chatted to as many people as he could. He chatted with boys about football, took on a Cub Scout at Connect 4 and watched some of Silver Troop's Summer Camp film. The evening finished with coffee and deserts with the leaders and supporters.
The Chief being welcomed to the Group by members representing each of the sections.
The second reason why it was successful was the excellent turnout from the boys in the Group. My thanks to all those who made the effort, particularly those who gave up other things to be able to be there. I hope you enjoyed the evening. The third main reason was the effort put in by so many people to make it the success it was. My thanks go to:
Congratulations to Ben Alembic, Chris Stocker and Steve Marston on being awarded their Queen Scout award by 'The Chief'.
Keith presenting the Chief with a framed certificate commemorating his visit to the 4thsigned by members of each section.
The Chief's visit included the Scouter's Room where he remarked on the pictures of his predecessors. He also visited the Explorer Den which was remarkably tidy and in which he studied the Queen's Scout Award Holders Board and remarked that for all our boys who have gained this award, not one of them was a 'George'! NewsletterThis newsletter is the best way that the Group communicates with its members and more importantly the parents. Without it the Group would not be so effective. It is important therefore that we continue to publish it but we have a small problem. Sue Newland who has been typing the newsletter for some four years has decided that due to study, work and family commitments she cannot guarantee to meet the Group's timetable. We therefore need someone to take her place. The newsletter is produced each month except for August and the job is to type the contributions from the section leaders into a template using 'Word'. Some of the contributions may be received on floppy disc and need to be incorporated. Once typed the newsletter is passed on to someone else to layout and edit as required. If you think you might be able to help with this vital task please let me or any section leader know. My grateful thanks to Sue for her efforts over the past four years. ASPEN COLONYAnne Mays (MAYO), Carol Salter (HOLLY)October has been and gone so quickly it seems hardly possible that we are now into November. Jake Jukes has now received his One Year Badge and James Wardell has joined us. We hope he will be happy with us. We have been to collect conkers and played conker games. We have done some spectacular biscuit bases and our two Scouts, Tom and Philip, helped the boys to make dough balls on the campfire. Holly has been on holiday and Fred came down to sell some tickets for the fireworks display and stayed with us for the evening and organised a game enjoyed very much by the boys. We have had a nature trail in the field trying to find as many things that we could to complete the most popular letters in the alphabet. A sad farewell to William Rainbow and Edward Howford who have now joined Cubs. BIRCH COLONYAnne Richardson (MAPLE), Sheila Kinton (BAGHEERA)This month has been a short month due to half term, but I have to say hasn't felt like it! We've made bats and spiders for Halloween, and had an evening talking about healthy eating. Scott's dad, Mr Marshall, went to a lot of time and trouble to organise a 'How Things Work' evening where we talked about magnets, and made some magnetic toys. Many thanks, the Beavers really enjoyed it. Two new boys have been invested; Srivats Lakshman and Joseph Spellman. Discovery Badges have been awarded to Brynmor Chittock, Aaron Wade, Edward Yelf, Stuart Grigg, Mark Dawson, Joshua James, Michael Cooney, William Singer who has also received a Buddy Badge, Alex Thompson, Kye Whelan, Daniel Lipscombe, Myles Mitchell and Scott Marshall. Outdoor Challenge Badges have been given to Stuart Grigg, Mark Dawson, Michael Cooney, Daniel Lipscombe, Myles Mitchell, Scott Marshall and Lewis Webb. Friendship Badges have been received by Joshua James, William Singer and Thomas Sharp, and an Animal Friend Badge given to Scott Marshall. Well done to everybody. We've said what I hope is 'au revoir' to John Williams from the Explorer Unit, who has been a great help to us for the last six months or so, but who can't come for the time being due to pressure of school work. Thanks John, and good luck with the exams - we hope to see you again when time permits. CEDAR COLONYValerie Clarkson (CHIPMUNK)Well done to everyone who came along for the Chief Scout's visit. I hope all the boys enjoyed themselves. On the one hand we wanted them to have fun at the camp fire etc. whilst on the other hand being on their best behaviour, not an easy concept at their age. A special well done to William Eyre who was our representative to welcome George Purdy. Although William did not get to chat to the Chief he presented himself immaculately. Another very special well done to Jamie Smart who signed the two certificates on behalf of all the Beavers. Both were framed and one handed to the Chief as a memento of his visit. The second will be hung in the HQ to mark this very special occasion. So when Jamie is an old man he can bring his grandchildren down to see the certificate that both he and the Chief signed - trust me it will still be on the wall. Apart from this during our weekly meetings we have made jumping frogs and planted bulbs in pots we had previously decorated. Hopefully these are growing and we will be able to give them away to the Senior Residents for Christmas. We also made upside down balancing clowns and had a tea party on the Friday before half term, where we also decorated biscuits. A very big thank you and well done to Ben Martin and Jack Rosenthal who each brought a parent along to the work morning. Jack even brought his sister and they all worked very hard cleaning windows. William Eyre's mother also came along just as we were finishing - good timing. Enjoy the busy run up to Christmas. ANGLIA PACKBrenda Hunt (AKELA)This month we concentrated on badge work. We worked towards the Handyman Badge making really nice coat hooks for the Cubs' bedrooms. We also made sewing cases for our mums - we did beautiful sewing including sewing on a button. I was amazed how much the boys enjoyed it. They also had to polish brass and tackle the ironing. Our first week we took the boys to the driving range, it was a great evening and the boys behaved very well. My thanks to Justin Smith and Christopher Hunt who came along and gave us all a few tips. Our Parents Evening will be held on November 17th at 7pm - 8pm where we will show the camp film. Please come along even if your son wasn't at camp; it shows what fun we have. Farewell to Connor Judson, Max Gawler, Nathan Bishop and Peter Caulder who have now joined the Troop. I'm sure they will make great Scouts. BROWNSEA PACKLes Prescott (KERICK)This month has included meetings where the boys improved their knowledge of the use of a compass and map reading, knotting, flags and water and firework safety. We also visited Worcester Park to do a survey of chips available in the local shops. This required some tasting and was of course very popular. Thank you to Hazel for organising this for us. One evening was spent in Nonsuch Park on a wide game when we became smugglers and coastguards. During the month we were pleased to invest Luke Cornish into the Pack Please note due to the visit of The Chief Scout the Charity Evening has been postponed to next term. www.brownseapack.co.uk - is the Pack's new website which now includes this year's camps. Congratulations to the following Cubs for gaining the sixers or seconds stripes:
CHARTERHOUSE PACKMargaret Pennington (AKELA)No news item this month. PURPLE TROOPAlan Avery (Scout Leader)
Well done Ricki Reino on gaining his Chief Scout's Award (Gold) - the highest in the Scout section and being presented by the Chief. We have made a collage of good examples of the Law and Promise and two other collages of photos of events and tidied the campfire circle in preparation for the Chief Scout's visit. We went in search of rare artefacts (jumble collecting), Masterchef, keeping fit, an obstacle course and an attempt at trestle making. In the keep fit one boy didn't seem to have a pulse! Dates to remember: - Mountain camp 13th -18th April Summer camp 29th May - 5th June SILVER TROOPPaul Green (Scout Leader)No news item this month. EXPLORER UNITAlan Avery (Explorer Scout Leader)We have started digging up our water supply pipe as water is coming out rusty! Plenty of iron in the diet! We went to the County Gang Show in which our Chairman, Leigh, was performing. It was very good and was well received by the lads. We had a wide game using rockets with the Rangers. In my absence a few went up to London to do a quiz run by Richard Pennington. Well done Nick Attwell, Richard Pennington, David Heron on gaining their Chief Scout Platinum Award and to Leigh Wicks, his Chief Scout's Diamond Award. These two Awards correspond directly with the Duke of Edinburgh Bronze and Silver Awards respectively. PARENTS & FRIENDSRichard Marston (Chairman)How are we doing?Further to last month's report of the figures from the first jumble sale, I am pleased to say the income from the second jumble plus the sale of left over clothes has brought the total up to the budgeted figure of £650. The firework display also achieved a profit in line with budget of £205 bringing our total profit for the year to over £7,700. This leaves us to make a further £800 to reach the £8,500 promised to the Group by the Parents and Friends and £2,300 to reach our revised target of £10,000. PLEASE bring the family to the remaining events in 2003, or do some shopping at www.4wp.org.uk and earn some commission for the Group. £10,000 can be achieved with a final effort from you all! Recent EventsFireworks. The income from the firework display is very dependent on the weather and with the heavy rain in 2002 we were lucky we managed a profit of £27! This year the weather was dry and not too cold and enabled us to make a profit of £205. Many thanks to Fred Fletcher for once again managing this excellent event and to Charterhouse Pack for providing the majority of the helpers. Coming SoonChristmas Bazaar, Saturday 6th December - Your chance to get into the festive spirit and pick up some presents without breaking the bank. For the younger ones it's a chance to visit Santa in his grotto. This is always a popular, colourful and busy event and raises a large proportion of our annual income. It will be our last fundraising event of the year so please come along to help or spend (or both!) to ensure we break the magic £10,000 target for the year. Internet www.4wp.org.uk.Recently members saved 20% on a hi-fi from Tesco Electrical Store and 50% on Hardy's wine from Tesco Wine Store; let us know if you have made any useful savings. There is still time to do some shopping via the Group's website so get some last-minute ideas, save some money and benefit the Group by shopping via the links on www.4wp.org.uk. 2004 - reminder As mentioned last month, in November members of the Group Executive meet to fix the Group's budget for 2004. Each year some difficult decisions have to be made to ensure the Group remains financially viable. If the Group is to provide the excellent facilities the boys have come to expect the Parents and Friends must commit to raising an amount which is usually equivalent to the income from the boys subs. Don't forget we are still looking for a permanent Chairman for the P&F, and some parents to join the committee so that we can continue to raise the large sum required. Thanks In this final report of 2003 may I take the opportunity to pass on my personal thanks and best wishes to all those that have helped at the many events run by the P&F this year. In particular I would like to thank the small but loyal band that comprises the Parents and Friends committee and those that have invested significant time and energy in managing the events. Without you the role of Chairman would not have been tenable. ContactAs usual, I am pleased to receive any comments, suggestions and offers of help by e-mail to p-and-f (at) 4wp.org.uk or by telephone on 020 8337 2641. FELLOWSHIPGraham SmithOur October meeting on the 30th was really quite noteworthy because we had the pleasure of welcoming a new member, Dolly Would, and also because two of our members, Jean Hedger and John Green, both celebrated birthdays on that date. There was a very good attendance of members although we missed one or two of the Fellowship's stalwarts who had prior commitments elsewhere. We reviewed the various events in which Fellowship members had participated during September and October and the visits made and then discussed the Group's forthcoming events and the role members will be playing in them, particularly the Chief Scout's visit on the 12th November, the Christmas Bazaar on the 6th December and the Senior Resident's Party on the 14th. It was agreed that the Fellowship's annual dinner would again be held in The Study at the Kingswood Arms, the date being the 29th January. The booking has been made and we shall decide on the menu at our November meeting. The Fellowship programme for 2004-2005 has more or less been completed and will be circulated in the New Year, but please note one alteration to this year's programme. Instead of the Quiz to be arranged by Colin and Pam Barnard on the 26th February 2004, we shall be listening to a talk given by Mr Colin Read entitled ' A Humorous Look at 19th Century Medicine'. This talk was intended to be on 29th April 2004 being the first event in the 2004-2005 programme, but due to a number of Fellowship members being unable to attend on that date, it was decided to bring it forward so as to hopefully maximise on numbers. The business meeting concluded with a 'commercial' - a reminder about Cuddington Players' Christmas Pantomime, 'Panto at the OK Corral; from the 2nd December until the 6th December at the Adrian Mann Theatre, NESCOT. Before we moved into the hall, John thanked the Fellowship for their birthday wishes and gift and asked all of us to join him in a glass of champagne. This we enjoyed while our musical knowledge was tested to the full by the Musical Quiz organised by Joyce Smith. The questions included those relating both to the classics and to popular singers and bands of several years past, but it soon became apparent that many of us recognised the music but couldn't put a name to the various artistes on the excerpts played! It proved to be very enjoyable and even though some of us were unable to get the answers, it was a pleasure just to listen to the excerpts Joyce had put on tape. She was thanked for all the work she had done in compiling this quiz. At the end of the quiz, birthday girl, Jean, treated us to our tea, coffee and biscuits. Thank you to both John and Jean for their generosity that evening. Our next meeting is on the 27th November at 8.00pm in the Den and after the business of the evening is concluded we shall be trying our luck at Bar Skills.
Information for January 2004 Newsletter to be with Keith Daly by Monday 1st December
This page was last updated on 26 December 2003 |
