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This page provides access to current and past copies of the the monthly newsletter of the 4th Worcester Park Scout Group plus other reports relating to life at the 4th. The Friends of the Fourth page has copies of their own section's newsletter. 4th News, May 2004Sections
Keith DalyGROUP SCOUT LEADERCongratulationsCongratulations to Bob Prescott on being awarded the Bar to the Silver Acorn in the St.George's Day awards. Bob was my predecessor as Group Scout Leader and is currently District Commissioner of Wimbledon and Merton District. Congratulations also to Peter Kinton (President) and Sheila Kinton (Vice President) who celebrated their Golden Wedding anniversary recently. NeighboursThose people whose houses border our premises can have quite a lot to put up with particularly those whose properties surround our entrance. However they are very good to us and generally our relations with them have been excellent. I would like to keep it that way and would ask for everyone's help in doing so. We have had some justifiable complaints of late which are being dealt with but I feel I should take this opportunity to address the whole issue. Could I ask all parents collecting boys and people attending functions in the HQ to be careful where they park. Unfortunately there is insufficient room inside the gates for parent parking so we have to ask you to park outside but we do ask that you avoid blocking any drives or parking on the pavement. Also could I ask that people try to keep noise down to an absolute minimum particularly late in the evening. Once outside the gates those leaving any late finishing function are requested not to rev engines, play loud music, hoot or call out to others. Thank you. Eddie DoveyIt is with deep regret that we report the death of Eddie (Tiger) Dovey. Eddie was for many years in the 1950's and 60's an Assistant Scout Master in Purple Troop. Much of his artistic talent can still be seen around the Headquarters. The heraldic shield in the Fellowship Den that helped to win a Surrey County Rover competition, and the Patrol shields in the meeting room. Formerly these formed part of the proscenium above the stage. Our sympathies go to his family and we thank them for allowing Eddie to give so much of his time to Scouting. ASPEN COLONYAnne Mays (MAYO), Carol Salter (HOLLY)Firstly we would like to say a sad farewell to Richard Barber who has left us and joined Charterhouse Pack; we would like to wish him all the best. Again we would like to say a big thank you to Fred for driving the mini bus for us when we went bowling, we had a great evening. We also had food and drink which always makes for a successful event. We made a picture journey using all different types of transport, played some new games and had a fire drill. We have also been talking about and actively taking part in Road Safety. We find that if we make learning fun the boys seem to remember it better - so Holly was a car, Tom a bus and I was directing the traffic on a road drawn out of the floor! It seemed to work so let's hope they remember. We had a brilliant sleepover in the Scout Headquarters. We went to the Science Museum in the morning with a packed lunch. We travelled by mini bus to Worcester Park Station (thank you Tom - Margaret's husband for driving us there) and went by train and underground. We had a really good but tiring day and travelled home the same way. Holly and I would like to say a big Thank You to Margaret who is the Akela for Charterhouse Pack, for coming with us to the Science Museum. She and her husband kindly stood in for Fred who was unwell and unable to travel with us. We would like to say a big thank you in fact to all the parents that made the sleepover possible. Although I had to go for training, it would not have been possible without help. Therefore Holly and I would like to say thank you to Laura Skingley who stayed overnight, Mrs King and Mrs Burdon who kindly cooked our dinner, Mrs Jukes who came down later to help with snacks and clearing up and Mr and Mrs Lewis who came down bright and early on Sunday morning to do breakfast. A BIG THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU!!! The night time at the sleepover was interesting, the boys seemed to settle OK with about four stories read by Tom. Then the action started with an hour and a half toilet run but finally all was quiet and after a while to relax we went to bed. Just after 6am we were all up again, but we took it in its stride! It was a fun weekend and we will certainly like to do it again in the summer at sometime, but I guess it all depends on the help that's available. We are still looking for a parent to go on the Parents and Friends Committee and keep us informed of what's happening. If anyone would like to help I think they meet once a month on a Wednesday; it's mainly to help with the big functions like the Christmas Bazaar and the Summer Fete. BIRCH COLONYAnne Richardson (MAPLE)We've been to Tolworth Bowl, for a game of Ten Pin Bowling and a meal. Sheila organised a meeting in which we made Mothers' Day presents, and another when we talked about the USA for part of our Friendship Badge. At our last meeting we made Easter baskets. Unfortunately only four boys came to Scout's Own on 28th March, and I had only one or two apologies from boys who couldn't come, so where was everyone else? We've given out Creativity badges to Edward Yelf and Scott Marshall, Friendship badges to Mark Dawson and Scott Marshall, and a Discovery badge to Lewis Webb. CEDAR COLONYAnne PriceWe've been to Tolworth Bowl, for a game of Ten Pin Bowling and a meal. Sheila organised a meeting in which we made Mothers' Day presents, and another when we talked about the USA for part of our Friendship Badge. At our last meeting we made Easter baskets. Unfortunately only four boys came to Scout's Own on 28th March, and I had only one or two apologies from boys who couldn't come, so where was everyone else? We've given out Creativity badges to Edward Yelf and Scott Marshall, Friendship badges to Mark Dawson and Scott Marshall, and a Discovery badge to Lewis Webb. ANGLIA PACKBrenda Hunt (AKELA)No news this month. BROWNSEA PACKLes Prescott (KERICK)Our grateful thanks to the Fellowship who organised an evening of table tennis with us. The evening went very well indeed and who knows, in 60 years' time, the Cubs now learning table tennis will be joining the Fellowship's table tennis mornings! We undertook the requirements of the Local Knowledge badge over two meetings. On the first evening, we looked at maps of the local area to identify where we lived. We then went for a walk and plotted the location of the Churches, Library, Police Office, Post Office and other places of interest. On the following week, we invited the Group's President, Peter Kinton (Kim) to talk about Worcester Park when he was a boy living in the neighbourhood 70 years ago. The Cubs asked questions and we thank Kim for sparing the time to impart his memories which the Cubs found very interesting. We were able to present the Local Knowledge Badge to 18 Cubs. Well done! Ben and Harry ran an exciting wide game for us in Nonsuch Park and the following week Sally masterminded the making of chocolate nests while the young leaders sorted out the traditional Easter Egg hunt in the field. We have now said Goodbye to Sixers Ryan Moore, Kyle Merson and Sam Brown. Kyle and Sam have joined Silver Troop and we wish them all the best with their Scouting. At the Scouts' Own we welcomed William Eyre, Joseph Finn and Ben Purahoo into the Cubs from Beavers. William and Joseph had completed their link training already and we they were invested into the Pack on the following Thursday. Earlier in the month we invested Brynmor Chittock and we welcome all the new boys into Brownsea and trust they will enjoy their Cubbing with us. Our new Sixers are: Joss Newman, Grant Hamilton, Michael Cornish and Joel Bastable and the new Seconds are: Matthew Bowers, Charlie King, William Jackson and Elliott Williams. Dates for your Diary:
CHARTERHOUSE PACKMargaret Pennington (AKELA)No news this month. PURPLE TROOPAlan Avery (Scout Leader)
Well done to Joe Purdy on getting his profile in the local papers for stopping a chip pan fire at home. His visit to the Fire Station paid off - it would be good if you lads would listen to my words of wisdom when I read out notices!! We went Laser Questing in Kingston and expended the usual amount of energy. We did four bases in preparation for the mountain camp and did route cards on another occasion whilst the rest did a Chip survey. SILVER TROOPPaul Green (Scout Leader)No news this month. EXPLORER UNITAlan Avery (Explorer Scout Leader)We went for a stroll along the Mole following grid references. We joined the Rangers for a quiz and they were phoning us for some of the answers whilst a few of us were in North Wales. I took Nick Attwell, Richard Pennington and George Day to a work weekend at Bethesda in North Wales. They worked hard and the organisers were very complementary on their performance and the lads were clearly good ambassadors for the Group - whoops no sorry, District! Albert ran a wide game on Banstead Heath and Leigh compiled a trial by jury and I finished with an exercise on public speaking. Finally we cleared more wood from the field - built a massive bonfire and did some backwoods cooking, where a few creations were produced. Don't forget the Unit Expedition is 6th - 22nd August to Slovakia. We have had a reply and they are prepared to look after us. We will get into gear on this after the mountain camp. PARENTS & FRIENDSRichard Marston (Chairman)Grand AuctionThe Group's Auction has become a regular part of the Worcester Park diary and over time is being better attended by dealers looking for (and finding) some real bargains. Their attendance is useful as it tends to increase the price of items sold. Thanks to Terry and Graham for managing the event and to our resident auctioneer Dave and his new trainee Chris. Pampering eveningWhat a good evening when all the Ladies of 4th Worcester Park joined in a
pamper evening earlier this month. With a glass of wine in their hand it did not
take them long to be done up and completely relaxed. Thanks to all the ladies
who joined in and supported us as well as those who stayed and helped till the
end. Thanks to Valerie for her support and a special thanks to Geoff Morris for
being our barman. Let us know what you thought and we will try another one in
the autumn with a bit more massage and nails this time. Mandy Caulder Special thanks to Les and Brownsea for allowing us to disrupt their evening, we will try to pick on someone else next time! Book saleI had been told many times that we had a large stock of books but I was overwhelmed to see four rows of tables covered with books stretching from one end of the hall to the other and escaping up onto the stage. There was a good turnout and a large number of books were sold but we still have plenty of stock for another sale some time. My thanks to the Fellowship for suggesting the event, managing it and providing the majority of the resource to run it. Race NightAnother regular in the 4th's calendar and once again sold out long before the day. As ever the event was masterminded, managed and staffed by Fred and Charterhouse and as usual it provided a large contribution to our financial target for the year. Jumble Sales Sat 8th and 15th MayPlease bring down your unwanted items ready for sale at the jumbles. Summer Fete Sat 3 JulyThe Group's largest event of the year and our most important financially so please put it in your diary NOW. We have already started our planning so give us a call if you can provide some time to help with the preparations over the coming months. We also need a large number of helpers in the days leading up to the Fete and to build, run and take down stalls on the day. A lot of our limited resource is wasted trying to make sure we have enough helpers so PLEASE give us your name now if you can give us an hour or more of your time on the Friday evening or Saturday. If you have any comments or suggestions about the Fete please let us know as soon as possible. Internet www.4wp.org.ukThe increase in people shopping via the website has already brought in a good
income this year and a change in our contract with Amazon will see our
commission increase significantly if we can increase the number of orders. A great month financially with profits from the Grand Auction (£995), Ladies Pampering Evening (£160), Book Sale (£158), Race Night (£550) plus web site commission of £61. This gives us a total of £2,743 for the year and enabled us to present the Group with a cheque for £2,000 at the March Scout's Own. The figure is even more impressive when you consider the small number of boys' families attending the events. ContactAs usual, I am pleased to receive any comments, suggestions and offers of help by email to "p and f" at "4wp.org.uk" or by telephone on 020 8337 2641. FELLOWSHIPGraham SmithThe Fellowship AGM for 2004, the 20th anniversary year of its formation, was held on the 25th March and was extremely well attended. As we listened to the secretary's report for the past year, given by Mary Root, we all appreciated what a very full and, I think, successful year was just ending; both in our support of Group activities and in the fellowship we all enjoy. Our treasurer, Alan Hedger, reported that our finances were in good order and that he saw no justification in having to increase the level of Fellowship annual subscriptions. These therefore remain at £22.00. We then came to the Election of Officers. At our meeting at the end of February, as Chairman, I asked for nominations for the posts of Chairman, Treasurer and Secretary to be put forward for election at the Annual General Meeting. None were received. The same invitation was put to members at the AGM - again no takers! Consequently Mary Root, despite having said last year that she wished to complete only one further year as secretary, agreed that she would do one more year but fully intends that there must be a change for 2005-2006. Likewise our treasurer, Alan Hedger, is prepared to serve for another year but, as with Mary, would like to step down next year. For myself I agreed to serve another year as chairman in the absence of any other person being nominated. Consequently all three proposed officers were duly elected. With the meeting ended, we all then enjoyed a marvellous cheese and wine party, organised by Pauline and Geoff Morris, together with, as it was the 20th anniversary of the Fellowship, a birthday cake. The previous Saturday, the 20th, was the occasion of the Giant Book Sale organised by Brian and Sheila Yearley. With the setting up operation starting at 9pm on the Friday, the many willing Fellowship members had all the books placed and sorted for the 2.30pm start on the Saturday. There was good public attendance and approximately £175 was raised for Group funds. The Saturday evening following the AGM was Race Nite and with a number of Fellowship members attending along with parents and friends, and the Plough Bakery, together making a "full house" and all prepared to chance their luck, a good time was had by all. Our next meeting on the 29th April will be followed by "A look at 4th Worcester Park Archives" and the end of May meeting has been put back to Thursday 10th June when a daytime visit to Gilwell Park takes place.
Information for June 2004 Newsletter to be with Keith Daly by Monday 10th May
This page was last updated on 26 May 2004 |