g 2011 sue 112 Sprin Is r te et sl w The Area Ne
St George‘s Day Awards 2011 Each year, we take this opportunity to recognise
Silver Acorn
exceptional people whose extraordinary dedication and commitment to young people and Scouting has been marked with a St George’s Day Award.
Meriel Phyllis Cole District Chairman - East and South District, Area Executive Member, Area Appointment Advisory Committee Member
Silver Wolf
Howard George Desmond Group President, Group Chairman, 29th Cardiff District Executive Member - East and South District. David Robert Gerrard Deputy Area Commissioner, Area Executive Member, Assistant Area Commissioner (Relationships) Denis Keith Hunt Area Training Administrator, Training Adviser, Scout Active Support Member Janet Helena Williams District Chairman - Afon District, Area Appointment Advisory Committee Member
Martin David Evans Explorer Scout Leader - Barry District, Assistant Area Commissioner (Scouts) Kay Holmes District Commissioner - East and South District Stephen Andrew Holmes Deputy District Commissioner - East and South District Dr Nicholas Stuart Tudor Thomas Formerly District Commissioner, District Supporter - Penarth District Ray Shelton District Treasurer- East and South District
Area Swimming Gala 2011 The Area Swimming
The results were as follows:
Gala was once again well supported and it was nice to see some Groups entering for the first time.
BEAVER Trophy Winners 1st Barry Runners Up 1st Penmark
My thanks to everybody who helped at the Heats and Gala to make it a successful event.
CUB Trophy Winners 2nd Rhiwbina Runners Up 1st Cowbridge and 1st Llanishen (Equal Points)
SCOUT Trophy Winners 2nd Rhiwbina Runners Up 15th Penarth OVERALL GROUP Trophy Winners 2nd Rhiwbina Runners Up 15th Penarth
News and updates from around the Area
Communications Update As you may be aware there have been a few problems with the website recently, mostly due to the site being moved to a more powerful server and partially down to lack of availability of the Comms Team members due to their growing commitments outside of Scouting. To overcome this the team was recently expanded so a big warm welcome to Nigel Vick, Colin Chapman and Nic Shepherd. You may also have noticed a few recent improvements to the website. The Area Calendar has been upgraded to make entering events quicker and overall more accessible, the individual District pages now have location maps of where each group are based and shortly the Message board Forums will be made redundant. If you have any suggestions on how the site can be improved further, please lets us know as without any user input, its hard to know what to change.
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You could be in here! Simply email your news, reports and photographs to comms@catvog.org using a ‘Comms’ form and we will aim to include them.
Honour for Scout Leader Congratulation to Haydn Canter of 11th Barry Sea Scout Group who was recently presented with his second wood badge. It’s Such a great achievement as it’s not often earned twice.
The Scout Shop continues to thrive thanks to the support of Groups in the Area. We recently sent cheques to Groups to the value of almost £600. This represents 10% of what members of those Groups spent in the shop Not only do the Groups benefit, but the Area does as well as any additional profits will help fund the running of The Hub. Other advantages of supporting the Scout Shop is that it is easy for parents and Leaders to find, plenty of parking space is available and it has very competitive prices. Unfortunately some parents are purchasing uniforms from the 'newest' department store in town where they pay more, have to either pay to park their car or go into town on the bus. Surely it is in the best interests of everyone to promote and support the Area shop and everyone will benefit.
We have 50 or so Groups and Explorer Scout Units in the Area and 26 of them have supported the Shop SO WHERE ARE THE REST OF YOU???? The Shop opens every Saturday morning from 10 am until 12 noon in The Hub during term time only. Not only do we send and hold a comprehensive stock of all uniforms, we have books, certificates, record cards, woggles, mugs, trolley tokens, Scouting pin badges and lots more. So why not pay us a visit and if we haven't got what you want in stock we will get it for you.
Sue Ryan scoutshop@catvog.org 029 2065 3969
Mailbox Email us at newsletter@catvog.org or write to CATVOG Courier, CATVOG Scouts, The Hub, Maitland Street, Gabalfa, CF14 3JU
Beaver Scout Anniversary Badge
Want to hear all About it?
The Beaver Scout Section is
You will probably
celebrating it's 25th Anniversary this year and Scout Shops have a special badge to mark the anniversary. We have a stock of these badges in the Scout Shop in The Hub so we look forward to seeing Beaver Scout Leaders on Saturday morning!
Don’t raise our rents Local councils across the UK are gearing up to impose unreasonable rent increases which will threaten the future of Scout Groups.
read elsewhere in The Courier that new members of the Communication Team are working hard to update the website. With this in mind and if you want to keep up to date with what is going on in the Cub Scout Section, can I ask that you visit the CATVOG website at least once a week.
Any news for Cub Scout Leaders will be there as this is the form of communication I will be using in the future. I will work on getting an e-mail database in the future but for now the Website it is! Don't miss out - visit the website and keep up to date with what is happening!
Councils had previously only charged nominal ‘ground rents’ or minimal rates to land occupied by Scout meeting places. Sign the petition and spread the word by pushing this campaign via Facebook, Twitter and through word of mouth.
It’s almost that time of year…
Visit:
Yes now is the time to send in your best
2011 Miskin Mill AGM mmittee Miskin Mill Management Co to their invite all interested parties 2011 Annual General meeting esday to be held at Miskin on Wedn 11th May 2011 commencing at 7.30p.m t. to be followed by refreshmen Thank you Jim Denning Miskin Sec.
photographs taken throughout the past year. These will then be used in our Annual Report to be presented at the Area AGM on Tuesday 14th June. In particular we are after images that show the adventure of Scouting When taking photos try to avoid the use of staged presentation shots (‘grip and grin’), static group shots, and shots of people’s backs and out of focus images. You can email them to : comms@catvog.org
First Cubs Badge Day a Success!” Yet another first for Penarth and District, a District Cub Scout Badge Day. A number of Cub Scouts attended at PADSAC on Saturday 29th January from all over the Penarth and District area. 3 Activity Badges where on offer, DIY, Cyclist and IT staged Badges. Arriving at 10am the day began with a Game and after burning off some energy, the Cub Scouts started working on the badges.
Bikes had to be checked over. The Cubs had to learn about repairing a puncture, keeping the bike in good repair, learn how to mount and dismount, and show how to ride safely and confidently. The DIY badge showed the Cubs how to take care of tools, show how to prepare a surface for painting and produce two items. The IT Stage 2 badge was completed after learning how to safely switch on and shut down a computer, produce a poster and save and open files. Internet Safety showed the cubs what to do and not to do when using the internet. Explain about what a menu, scanner, Digital Camera, browser and more were about.
Use a digital Camera to take picture and use a piece of software to enhance the picture. Produce a Graph. The day was enhanced with breaks for games and of course lunch! The day finished with the presentation of badges by the leaders who had run the bases. Thanks must go to the Leaders who made the day such a great success.
Training Report Update Since our last report we have run various courses. We ran a Module 29 Presenting Skills course which went really well. We had a great day thanks to the participants taking part with great enthusiasm. I am delighted that the participants have either been validated or are in the process. This is great news for the training team as we can now have some new faces taking part in the presentation of modules and also some younger faces! Unfortunately we had to postpone a few of the planned modules due to take place before Christmas due to inclement weather. But, we have now caught up with some; we ran Manager’s Modules on the weekend of 19th and 20th February at the Hub.
These have been long overdue in taking place. We only had 5 take part but it was and excellent weekend. We were able to assess and validated as we went along due to the participants having hands on tasks to complete. This was the first time we had tried this approach and it seemed to go down well. Our next lot of Manager’s modules will take place in November, watch the website for information. Some of us have been out and about visiting Groups to do block assessments. This makes the training more accessible.
The Open mornings and evenings are still well attended. We are aiming to beat our record of those who attain their Wood badge this year. We have had a few more leaders sign up for the OCN. This can be done in conjunction with your wood badge and is an extra external qualification. Anybody interested should contact me training@catvog.org or by phone 029 2073 4936. It was nice to see so many from CATVOG at the DCs/GSL conference at Builth Wells the weekend of March 4th/5th. The subject was Vision for 2018. Any queries please don’t hesitate to contact us. Lynn Thompson Area Training Manager
New Area Treasurer
Wood Badge Success
Welcome to the new Area Treasurer Dom Winfield who has taken over the role from Bob Voisey.
welcome number of congratulations on the Wood Badge Success Board.
Our thanks go to Bob who has been managing the Area’s finances for the past few months.
Hilary Ashton Sarah Maddocks Louise Lucas Julie Smith Mark Ayres Richard Feehan
You can contact Dom on treasurer@catvog.org or via the contact page on the website.
The month of March went out with another
DEXL (YL’S) Afon 19th Cardiff 84th Cardiff 19th GSL 49th Cardiff 5th Barry
It is always a pleasure to be able to announce these individual achievements. Well Done All!
Are you Celebrating the Royal Wedding in your group? If so please let the Comms team know.
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The new Member resources section is now live on
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New Member resources area
lea girls and past Scout and 11th Barry Sea Island) 13th Barry (1st Groups.
www.scouts.org.uk and contains all the information you need within one section of the site. Content is fully up-to-date and has now replaced the old Scoutbase website.
We are looking foders of the
120 Cubs take part in Badge Day
Wii Incident Hike
120 Cub Scouts attended a Saturday full of events from DIY, IT, Creative and Physical Challenges, to first aid and life skills such as team work and leadership. The day was placed to help develop the young Cubs in life skills and these skills would help gain the Cubs the 8 badges awarded on the day. These skills would not only help grow their knowledge, but to take away skills that they could use in everyday life to help make them more rounded individuals. Mike Preston a Cub Scout leader who helped run the day said; “Cub Badge Day was one of the best events I have attended in the district; it was great to see so many young people have a great day and learning new skills.”
New P.O.R 2011 A New Policy, Organisation and Rules is now available and can be downloaded at http://www.scouts.org.uk/supportresources/ Some changes to Beaver Scout Residential Experience, Ratio of Leaders for Scout Activities, Joint Occupation of Premises and more can be found in a single Pdf document.
“The Scouts with the Trophy”
“Expedition Trophy Awarded”
After a break of a few years, Penarth and District Scouts ran an Expedition (Hike!) around the District, covering Penarth, Sully and Dinas Powys. Starting at 10am on Saturday 19th February, the patrols had to learn Map Reading Skills and learn about their environment. The Scouts had to make their way to three different Scout halls. On arrival at the halls, they played different Wii Games to gain points before moving on to the next hall. The patrol gaining the highest Scores and also showing good Map reading Skills Won the John Dicks Expedition Trophy which was present by the District Commissioner, Julian Jordan. 29 Scouts took part and this event will now become one of the many events planned at a District level to further enhance the programme provided within the Scout Troops.
Richard Edwards CATVOG Area Commissioner
1) Who are you and what do you do in Scouts? I'm Richard Edwards and my role as Area Commissioner is to develop Scouting within the Area in accordance with the purpose, method and policies of the Scout Association.
4) Which districts have you worked in before? I volunteered as an occasional helper in the Wenallt District which later became known as the Afon District. I was an Assistant Cub Scout Leader and later a Cub Scout Leader in the Afon District. I also held Area appointment as Child Protection Co-ordinator for CATVOG. 5) What the best thing about Scouts? The many endless experiences and opportunities Scouting has offered me, and still does.
2) How long have you been doing your current position in Scouts? I've been the Area Commissioner for Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan for 15 months.
6) What was your best Scouting experience? As a Scout being on Summer Camp and undertaking the various challenges required for the Backwoodsman Badge.
3) Why did you join Scouts? I joined Scouts as a Cub. I really enjoyed it and went on to become a Scout and later a Senior Scout. I joined because my friends had joined and were enjoying all the different activities, adventure and badge work.
7) What is the worst thing that happened to you in Scouts? On camp as a Patrol Leader, putting lots of salt in the custard instead of sugar and volunteering to taste before anyone else with the biggest spoon I could find!
8) Are you a naturally a outdoor or indoor person? When I was younger I really enjoyed the outdoors, which I still do today. I'm attempting to gain my Dragon Award at the moment with only four more different months to go! 9) What are the benefits of helping out in Scouts? I returned to Scouting as a volunteer because like all parents both my wife Sarah and I, valued what Scouting did for young people. It is extremely worthwhile and very enjoyable. It gives young people more confidence, responsibility, a sense of adventure, a broader set of friends, a chance to pursue things they might not get to do otherwise,
10) In less than 10 seconds explain what Scouts mean to you? Lots of fun, challenge and commitment. It all depends on what you are doing in Scouting as a participant it was the adventure and excitement of attempting to achieve things outside of the school environment, As a Leader working with others to provide a stimulating and exciting programme, as a Commissioner working collaboratively with the Area Team, the Executive and District Commissioners to rise to the challenge of managing the development of Scouting in the Area.
Would you like to feature in this column? If so contact Omm by emailing mdm@catvog.org or by calling 07590 532 609
“Enjoying the sunshine at the Adult Training Weekend held at Miskin�
MBE for Scout Leader Earlier last year, a shocked Julie was told that for all her efforts, she was being given an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday honours list.
“Prince Charles was really, really nice to me.
Julie said: “I was completely gobsmacked. The Scout motto is: ‘Be prepared’, but I certainly was totally unprepared for this.
Julie Smith has earned the ultimate badge of honour after picking up an MBE for a lifetime of selfless volunteering. After being a Brownie and Guide herself, Julie became a young leader at the age of 14 before rising through the ranks of Cub, Scout and group leadership. Since 2003, membership at her 19th Roath Scout Group has swelled by more than 60% and she has raised thousands of pounds to take 25 young people on a European Jamboree. Julie is also involved with youth theatre company Orbit, and sits on the ladies committee of cancer charity Tenovus.
“There were so many other leaders and people involved in charity work in Cardiff – I’m really honoured to be one to be recognised.” “My Scout troop were so excited and made me a big cake and we had a party and everybody has been really supportive,” she said. “You just do it because you really enjoy it.” Julie was joined by husband Owen, brother John and mum Pam at Buckingham Palace, where she was presented with her MBE by the Prince of Wales. She described the experience as “overwhelming” but said she got on well with the Prince.
“My family thought there was something wrong because Charles talked to me for ages. “I can’t believe I have actually had an MBE, let alone gone to the palace to collect it.” But despite mixing with royalty, Julie says it is her love of youth work that will motivate her for the rest of her life. “I get a lot of pleasure from the work that I do with young people,” she said. “I enjoy giving them the opportunities they may not have on a day-to-day basis and the chance to make friends with people they wouldn’t necessarily mix with. “It is something I will carry on with for the rest of my life.”
New Area Calendar The Area Website now contains a Calendar of events that is constantly being updated. Remember to check it regularly to keep up to date with what's going on in the Area.
Editor: Gareth Johns The Hub CATVOG Scouts Maitland Street Gabalfa, CF14 3JU e-mail: comms@catvog.org - Tel: 02920 210 119
“Please note that the views expressed by members and contributors in this newsletter are not necessarily those of The Scout Association.”