Chester Scout Newsletter

June 2010

DISTRICT AGM: GUILDHALL, 10 JUNE

DISTRICT CAMP 2010

About a third of our District’s membership took part in the District Camp at Poulton. We had rain, winds and sunshine – with a lot of great activities all weekend. We’re sure that everyone had a great time and we look forward to our next Chester Camp, in a couple of years’ time. Congratulations and thanks to the organising team and to all the Groups and Units who took part and helped with the programme.

There is a selection of photos on www.flickr.com/photos/chesterscouts/sets/

our

Flickr

site

JOIN THE ADVENTURE THE SCOUT ASSOCIATION CHESTER AND DISTRICT SCOUT COUNCIL District Centre: adjacent Westlea County Primary School Weston Grove Chester CH2 1QJ E: enquiries@chesterscouts.org.uk T: 01244 398635 Registered charity no. 511406

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NEW HONORARY VICE PRESIDENT

If they have completed the learning under the current Module 16 they will also have covered the learning required to validate the new Module 38 (Skills for Residential Experiences). These Leaders can choose to validate the new Module if they will be running residential experiences for their Members and therefore need a Nights Away Permit.

Details of the availability of the new Modules will be announced shortly. The new Module 16 will be available in the next programme of Modules and the new Module 38 is available from the end of this year.

We are delighted to report that the new Member of Parliament for Chester had accepted the role of Honorary Vice President of the District Scout Council. It has been the custom for many years for the sitting MP to be asked to be one of our Vice Presidents during their time as MP. In accepting the office, Stephen Mosley MP wrote:

I am delighted to accept your offer to become an honorary Vice President of the Chester & District Scout Council.

As someone who was brought up in the Scouting Movement, (my grandparents met when they were both Scout Leaders in the 1930s, my mother was a Guide Leader for many years and I was a member of the Cubs, Scouts, Venture Scouts and Scout Fellowship, a Queens Scout and a former Assistant Scout Leader and Venture Scout Leader), I can safely say that I am extremely supportive of Scouting!

If there is anything I can do to assist the Chester & District Scout Council, and the wider Scout Movement, please let me know.

Stephen Mosley MP

NIGHTS AWAY TRAINING Following feedback from training managers and participants there will be some changes in how nights away training is provided. There will be two modules: an introductory module (Module 16) and a skills-based module (Module 38).

For those undertaking their Wood Badge, Module 16 will need to be completed. For new leaders, those new to Scouting, or those who want to brush up on their skills for residential experiences or to hone their skills for a Nights Away Permit, an additional Module (not part of the obligatory Modules for the Wood Badge) will give more structured and practical training that will cover these skills.

Leaders who have not yet validated Module 16 (Nights Away) should complete the validation criteria for the new Module 16 (renamed Introduction to Residential Experiences) for Wood Badge purposes.

NEWS FOR CHESTER SCOUTING

WATERWAYS

RALLY

AT

CHESTER

BASIN

The Inland Waterways Association (a national waterways charity) is running a waterways rally at Chester Basin over the weekend of 26/27 June 2010. There are lots of activities for children and there will also be a young volunteer Waterways Action Squad doing music workshops during the weekend (age group 18 - 25). In addition Get Hooked on Fishing will be doing angling taster sessions.

All the activities are free. There will also be the Tom Rolt steam train and vintage cars as well as a concept hydrogen powered narrow boat from Birmingham University and nearly 100 modern and historic narrow boats on the canal.

TO SUPPORT THE LAUNCH OF THE NEW DIGITAL CODE FOR CHILDREN ‘ZIP IT, BLOCK IT, FLAG IT’, THE SCOUT ASSOCIATION ARE WORKING WITH MICROSOFT TO OFFER TRAINING SESSIONS TO ALL SCOUT VOLUNTEERS WHO WOULD LIKE TO LEARN MORE

ABOUT

INTERNET

SAFETY

These will be virtual sessions which you can join at no cost from the comfort of your own home or work location. All you will need is a PC with audio that is connected to the internet. On completion of the training you will have access to a bespoke presentation and supporting resources. The presentation covers the benefits and safety concerns of the internet, as well as introducing basic information on how technology such as social networking and instant messaging is used by young people.

You can run the presentations through your own Group as well as other community connections you may have. http://www.scouts.org.uk/cms.php?pageid=2931

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LUMOGAS LANTERNS Pam Holland of 1st Ashton recently needed to replace a broken glass for a broken Lumogas lantern (they run off rechargeable cylinders of camping gaz). Having searched all the outdoor shops, this item is no longer manufactured and so no glass is available for replacement. By sheer luck, Pam has a contact with a glass blowing firm and they are able to make a replacement Pyrex frosted glass to fit. If anyone else has a similar problem Pam would be glad to pass on the contact to them.

THE PIKE VIEW HIKE The Pike View Hike is run by Bolton South District at Bibby’s Farm camp site. A team from 1st Malpas entered this year’s Hike and did really well. Congratulations to them on coming twentieth. The first check point was their biggest challenge, in that they didn't know all the characters from the Jungle Book! After that they did really well matching the winning teams on most of the incidents and being one of the only teams to get 100% correct on a Scout badge base.

The Hike used footpaths in the camp area along with a section along open hill. Although the Pike View is not a timed event, the team left tenth and came home six hours later as third team home. They would have been the first team home, but for one of the team starting to feel ill on the hike. The rest of the team shared his rucksack out between them and walked slower until he felt better. A real team effort!

The team attended the Hike's St Georges Day Scouts’ Own at the site on the Sunday morning along with the other 81 teams and Leaders, where they all renewed their Promises. The service was followed by the presentations.

Each team member was awarded a certificate and medal for completing the Hike. The first three places in the Scout age Pike View Hike all went to one Group from Bolton, who did very well.

The team certainly enjoyed themselves, and want to do it again.

NEW ONLINE CHARITY FUNDRAISING EFFORTS

CALENDAR

TO

HELP

www.calendarcheck.co.uk is a new website designed to help organisers plan their events more effectively and boost fundraising potential by avoiding clashes with other high profile occasions.

Organisers can search for competing charitable events and, having selected the perfect date, can simply upload details of their own event for free. Calendar Check also offers a means of directly communicating with supporters and creating greater awareness for their fundraising efforts.

Billed as the ‘who, what, where and when’ of charity events, more than 20 of the UK’s major charities have already endorsed Calendar Check prior to its launch, including Cancer Research UK, the British Red Cross, NSPCC, Breakthrough Breast Cancer and the Royal National Institute for the Blind.

Events can be searched by date range, charity and type both nationally and by region. In addition to helping fix dates and avoid clashes, there are a number of other invaluable benefits the website will soon provide for charities, such as an online directory of services and product suppliers which will be regionalised to tie in with events in particular locations and postcode areas.

There will also be an opportunity for charities to offer their supporters their own e-newsletters, which smaller charities may not have previously been able to provide because of their size or lack of human resources.

Stephen Lewis, a partner at Calendar Check, who designed the website, said “We hope organisers and fundraisers will continue to upload their events throughout the year, from sponsored walks to car boot sales through to annual fundraising dinners and glitzy balls. Calendar Check is looking forward to helping maximise opportunities to make every charitable event a roaring success.”

NEWS FOR CHESTER SCOUTING To make our communications quicker and to reduce paper use, we only send our monthly News for Chester Scouting electronically. Please pass on the information to those who do not have Internet access. You can always download the latest (and some earlier) versions from: • the News and Events pages of www.chesterscouts.org.uk or from: • http://issuu.com/chesterscouts

NEWS FOR CHESTER SCOUTING

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DISTRICT DIARY 2010 CENTENARY OF SCOUTING IN CHESTER 10 June – District Annual General Meeting, Chester Guildhall (speaker: Nigel Hailey, International Commissioner) 13 June - County Scout Sunday, Chester 15 June – County Annual General Meeting, Wilmslow 19 June – District Conference, Quaker Meeting House 19 June – First Response course, Weston Grove 22/23 June – Cheshire Show, Tabley 1 July - Time Capsule/tree planting and Safeguarding training, Weston Grove 9/11 July – Scout/Explorer Scout MIMO event 31 July/7 August – Chamboree 2010, Tabley 15 September – Platinum and Diamond Chief Scout’s Awards and Queen’s Scout Awards presentations, Runcorn 18 September - Centenary Dinner Dance, Chester Golf Club 25 September – Practical Skills Day for Leaders, Tatton Park 26 September – Pioneering Skills Day for Scout and Explorer Scout Leaders, Tatton Park 15/17 October – Jamboree on the Air/Jamboree on the Internet 23 October – Alton Towers trip for Scouts and Explorer Scouts 29/31 October – Scout Network/Explorer Scout Halloween Camp, Forest Camp 12/14 November – Leaders’ Weekend, Great Tower 20 November – County Patrol Leaders’ Forum 21 November – Gold Chief Scout’s Award presentations 27 November – County Swimming Gala for Cubs and Scouts 9 December - Centenary Carol Service, Chester Cathedral District Leaders’ Meetings: first Thursday in each month (except August) 8 pm (Section meetings alternate with general meetings) Team m (DC, District Chair, ADCs, DESC and Chair of Scout Fellowship; also attended by the Local District Core Tea Training Manager): second Thursday in each month (except July and August) District Executive Committee: third Thursday in each month (except August) Appointments District Appoi ntments Approval Meeting: last Thursday in each month (except August and December) District Scout Fellowship: first Tuesday of each month (for further details email fellowship@chesterscouts.org.uk) Adult Training Modules: check the separate listing and registration form

NEWS FOR CHESTER SCOUTING

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