September 2011
WELCOME BACK! We hope you’ve had a good summer break. The news of the many camps has been excellent – well done all! Two major events this year have of course been the District’s Explorer Scout expedition to Kandersteg International Scout Centre and the World Scout Jamboree in Sweden. We shall hear more about both events but here are a few photographs to give something of a flavour of the experiences.
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
JOIN THE ADVENTURE THE SCOUT ASSOCIATION CHESTER AND DISTRICT SCOUT COUNCIL District Centre: 58 Weston Grove Upton Chester CH2 1QJ E: enquiries@chesterscouts.org.uk T: 01244 398635 W: www.chesterscouts.org.uk/ Facebook: http://groups.to/chesterscouts2011/ Twitter: http://twitter.com/@ChesterScouts Registered charity no. 511406
Why do we want you on board?
LOOTING AND UNREST DURING AUGUST All the District Commissioners in Cheshire have written letters for publication to the local media drawing attention to the contrast between the behaviour we saw on the streets in various parts of the country during August and the behaviour of, for example, our representatives at the recent World Scout Jamboree. There are of course plenty of other instances we can offer to show why Scouting's aim to help young people develop positive values is so important. It is wrong to scapegoat and to demonise young people generally and we all hope that more people will be persuaded to join us as adult volunteers to support what we are doing to help society as a whole, so that we can reach even more young people. What happened in those few days has made even clearer the huge value of what you do in the Movement. Thank you for all your efforts - it really is important. ARE YOU GETTING THE MESSAGE? We are carrying out a simple survey to check with as many people as possible how well you think we are communicating in the District. You can do this survey online at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ZYSKHNV You can also do the survey on paper. Copies are available at the District Scout Centre at Weston Grove – there will be a supply available at our District meeting on 1 September.
HILLWALKING RULES Changes to POR rules on Hillwalking have been announced. There are a number of small tweaks including: group sizes; route and emergency cards; roads within terrain definitions and governance for specialist terrain (such as glaciers) that falls outside the skills assessed in Terrain 2.
We think that Cheshire Scouting is great. We know that there is always ways we can make things better though. To make sure we're giving you exactly what you want, we're trying to listen harder to make sure you're at the centre of everything we do. What do we want you to do? We need you to be able to come to two weekend events. One will be in October, the other in February. They will never clash with any other County events and we'll try and avoid District ones too. We would like you to be able to stay in touch via Facebook - not such a big task! At the events we'll ask you what you enjoy, what you don't enjoy and most importantly, what we can do to make Scouting in Cheshire even better. Events will be free all you need to do is get to the location (we might even be able to help with that). What kind of person do I need to be? • • •
Positive and enthusiastic Confident and assertive Able to... • work well in a team • discuss ideas, agree and disagree! • put your views across to others and unafraid to ask others what they think • talk about how your friends in Scouting feel, not just your own ideas • commit to the two weekends a year for the youth forum
Don't worry if you can't do many of these - we can help! The main thing is that we need people who are really enthusiastic about scouting, and want to get young people's views heard in Cheshire! How do I apply? Visit http://bit.ly/oMmjlx (case sensitive) to fill out our online application form.
CONGRATULATIONS ...
There are also changes to rules relating to High Ropes, which come into force on 31 March 2012. Full amendments to POR can be made viewed at http://www.scouts.org.uk/activitiesupdates. Various fact sheets have been updated; check that your copies are the latest ones.
CHESHIRE SCOUTS YOUTH FORUM Are you aged 16-25 and interested in making Scouting in Cheshire better today and for the future? If so, Cheshire Scouts are setting up a Youth Forum and we want you to be part of it!
NEWS FOR CHESTER SCOUTING
... to Charlotte and Roger – Mrs and Mrs Hewitt - on their marriage on 6 August!
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This is a management decision based on safe practice and safe enjoyment of our site, no exceptions The Tower has three climbing routes on the front for fixed belay climbing, three routes on the back wall and one on the side wall for belaying to multiple points. The front wall is 12 meters high the rear 10 meters to the platform for abseiling access and belay points.
31 JULY TO 9 AUGUST 2012 – WILGA SCOUT CENTRE This is the fourth international camp organised by the Garwolin ZHP District in Poland – the first was in 1995. Previously those attending have been Scouts and Guides from the UK, France, Germany, Sweden, Kazakhstan, Holland, the United States and of course from Poland. Scouts 12-18 years old are invited to take part in the camp. It is planned that each visiting group (10-15 participants) will be partnered with local Scout or Guide group and they will camp and eat and undertake the programme together. The camp is called "Quinta Essentia" - the fifth and highest element after air and earth and fire and water; it was believed to be the substance composing all heavenly bodies. The camp fee will 275 Euro and will include: tents hire, all food, and transfer from airport to the camp (250 Euro if we supply our own tents). Flights are available at relatively cheap prices. The camp centre has permanent facilities which include a shower and toilet block, camp tuck shop and other buildings that will be use for such as first aid centre, camp office and leaders’ meeting room. We have been building links with Garwolin and it is our plan to take part in Dip 2012. Contact david.bull@chesterscouts.org.uk if you want to know more.
CLIMBING WALL AT FOREST CAMP Please see the latest information regarding use of the wall by Scouting groups. All Groups must comply with the arrangements, so pass this on to all who need to know, please!
To ensure availability sessions can be booked for morning/afternoon/evening at £50 per session. These must be booked through the normal booking process. For fairness only two sessions may be pre booked by individual groups, other access can be booked via the Wardens at the site on the day if available. All users must have their own equipment including ropes. We intend to run open courses over a couple of weekends in September, (dates will be announced on the website), to upgrade climbing wall fixed point belay authorisations to use the rear of the wall Dave Metcalfe County Camp Sites Manager, Cheshire Scouts Scouts Tatton Park Scout Camp Site and Forest Camp Activity Centre campsitemanager@cheshirescouts.org.uk
WOOD BADGE Congratulations to the latest Leaders in the District who have earned their Wood Badge: • •
YOUTH GROUP GAMES Three new articles have www.youthgroupgames.co.uk/ • •
The back of the tower is only for single pitch and abseiling permit holders but the front of the tower can be used by anyone with a permit for climbing towers with fixed belay points and their own equipment. To ensure clarification: the rear section requires a knowledge of belaying from different and mobile points that is why an SPA is required. This applies to both climbing and abseiling.
NEWS FOR CHESTER SCOUTING
Carol Gorman 42nd Chester Jane Shortall 18th Chester
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Games That Make the Most of Autumn Mad Memory Games - Virtually everyone loves memory games, and as the mind is a muscle that needs to be exercised regularly to stay in optimal shape, they are designed to benefit our powers of observation, concentration and recall. Best of all, they're great fun for children of all ages - and adults as well! Our Youth Group's Got Talent - Looking for a cohesive event to bring the members of your group closer together - and have fun and raise money at the same time? Look no further!
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accounts or other social media profiles. Anecdotally, there are also common reports of people using false video feeds on sites like Chatroulette or Omegle to convince users that they are in a video conversation with a celebrity. Whilst in some cases this behaviour takes the form of a malicious prank, CEOP has received a number of reports of young people befriending and communicating with people they believe are real celebrities – fake accounts for Justin Bieber are a common example. A new badge to celebrate The Queen's Diamond Jubilee will be launched at the Gilwell Reunion 2011 later this month. The badge can be worn by all Beavers, Cubs, Scouts, Explorers, members of the Scout Network and Adult Leaders in the Scout Association, and will also be worn by members of Girl Guiding UK. General release of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee badge will follow the Gilwell Reunion. Supplies will be available in our Shop.
Those working with children and young people who use social networks should be aware that by accepting friend requests, or seeking to be friends with these false profiles, young people are putting themselves at risk of inappropriate contact. Fake accounts should be reported to the social network, and suspicious behaviour or contact can be reported to CEOP. Little Gossip
CRISIS IN EAST AFRICA Famine, drought and conflict have left millions of people needing food, water and healthcare. The UN says that many thousands of Somalis have died of causes related to malnutrition. Most of them were children. Very poor rainfall in the region (which includes Somalia, Kenya, Djibouti, Ethiopia and Uganda) has led to the driest period in 60 years for some areas, leading to crop failures and deaths of livestock. High and increasing staple food prices, as well as regional conflict, are combining with the weather to make a bad situation even worse. The rate of refugees from Somalia arriving in southern Ethiopia has been rapidly increasing. More than half the children arriving from Somalia are malnourished. More funds are urgently needed to address emergency needs. Money raised will go to support the work in the region, both providing emergency relief and helping people recover their livelihoods. There are many agencies who are involved. Here are a small number who are accepting donations: • • •
UNICEF - http://bit.ly/oRYgW2 Disasters Emergency Committee http://bit.ly/nMQWhm British Red Cross - http://bit.ly/pG3Czn
Ideas for handling these issues in Scouting can be found in the fact sheet Responding to World Disasters.
GUIDANCE FROM CHILD EXPLOITATION ONLINE PROTECTION (CEOP)
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You may have heard of a trend of celebrities and politicians being impersonated through fake Twitter
NEWS FOR CHESTER SCOUTING
As you may know, the Little Gossip website is back online following its closure earlier this year. If you’re not familiar with the website, it is a message board where users can post anonymous public messages about people and link these messages to a school, college, university or organisation, thus creating a searchable archive of gossip and rumour. Users can then vote on whether they think these rumours to be true. CEOP previously received a number of emails from schools and parents concerned that the postings on the website were highly offensive and that it encouraged cyberbullying. The site received significant criticism in the press and was shut down voluntarily by its owners in February. It is now back up and running once again with additional measures in place to try and discourage users under 18. These include explicitly stating that users should be over 18 and the removal of schools from the drop down list of organisations. Despite the changes concern over this harassment of young block young people possible.
made to the website, there is still site’s potential for anonymous people. We would advise schools to from accessing the website where
Any offensive material should be reported to the website via the ‘Report’ link next to the messages. The site’s owners state that any comments reported by email to contact@littlegossip.com will be removed as quickly as possible. In previous information received from Little Gossip, they informed CEOP that they would remove any organisation listed on the website if it was reported to them that there were people under 18 years old that attend i.e. any schools with pupils under 18.
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Facebook knows what you look like Formspring guide CEOP has received a number of reports of bullying taking place on other websites that allow users to post anonymous statements. You might be familiar with one of the most popular, Formspring. Formspring is a website that allows users to ask and respond to questions anonymously. To help you respond to issues you may face with Formspring, you can download a document with advice on changing privacy settings, as well as how to report and remove links from Formspring to other social networks: www.chesterscouts.org.uk/page11.php (click on Safeguarding). You are welcome to forward this document to any colleagues seeking advice on the website. Now share where... As smart phones get cheaper and cheaper, more and more people have access to the internet on their mobiles. With mobile internet comes ‘location based services’ and with location based services come opportunities but also new risks to children’s safety online. ‘Location based services’ use the fact that your phone knows where you are to add features to websites. Anyone who’s been lost and found themselves with an iPhone and Google maps will know how useful this can be. Increasingly, however, social networking sites are offering services which enable you to share your exact location with your network of friends. With over ten million users, Foursquare is a popular example of this but the larger social networks are taking advantage of the new technology too. Most significantly, Facebook’s ‘Facebook Places’ enables you to ‘check in’ at your location and share this in your news feed. For a quick intro to Facebook Places have a look at www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbiH0DxmPc8 Although we can see positive aspects of these features for adults, it is important to remember that there may be significant risks for young people in sharing their exact location. If they have not set their privacy settings to private or if they’re ‘friends’ with people they don’t know, then sharing where they are at any one time could place them at risk. We would recommend advising children against sharing their location on social networks as we believe that currently the benefits don’t outweigh the risks.
NEWS FOR CHESTER SCOUTING
Last month Facebook rolled out a feature that attempts to assist users in tagging their friends in new photos they upload. By building up information from already tagged photos, Facebook’s systems attempt to recognise faces in newly uploaded pictures. It then makes suggestions for users to tag people in photos where it recognises a match. This feature has been automatically switched on. Whilst it aims to make photo tagging easier, some people may be uncomfortable about their faces being recognised automatically in other users’ photos. To disable this feature go to your account’s privacy settings and select the ‘Customize settings’ link.
NEW DISTRICT, NEW NAME From Jan1 January 2012 when North West and Widnes Districts merge the new name will be Mersey Weaver District.
SCOUTING MEMBERSHIP FEE 2012 The national Membership fee for every Member (both youth and adults) will be £21.00 in 2012. There will be a 50p rebate per Member for early payment. In addition to this there will be a District fee of £3.75 per Member and also one for the County. Details of the County fee will be announced as soon as we have confirmation.
WATER SAFETY MANAGEMENT COURSES More RLSS Water Safety Management Courses are being run in September and October around the UK. These courses meet the requirements for those who wish to supervise swimming activities in B1 waters and above but are also useful for those who have a general interest in water safety or are running activities near water. For full details of the programme go to visit the Water Safety Management Programme page: http://www.scouts.org.uk/wsmp and for dates and locations of courses go to the Swimming Training events page: http://scouts.org.uk/events?category=Swimming+Training
MEMBERS: FIND YOUR VOICE Visit this new page and answer questions on your programme. It will be updated regularly. Your Programme, Your Voice: http://on.fb.me/nPYOjq
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SCOUTS ANSWER BOOKBRIDGE CALL International charity Bookbridge has declared itself to be ‘totally overwhelmed’ by the response to its book collection initiative. An astonishing 75,000 books were collected by Scouts across the UK; far surpassing the 30,000 target. Another 15,000 were collected in Germany. In all, there were 28 collection centres set up by Scouts in the UK, including in Cheshire, and nearly 40 volunteers helped out at the book sorting weekend at Sherbrooke campsite.
22 September - Sectional Support and Development Meeting, Runcorn 1 October – Sponsored Walk 6 October – District Leaders’ Meeting (Sectional and GSLs) 14/16 October – Jamboree on the Air/Jamboree on the Internet 15 October – Beaver Faith Badge, Chester Cathedral 17 October – First Response Refresher 22 October – County Youth Forum, Chester 28/30 October – Halloween Camp (Network and Explorer Scouts), Forest Camp 3 November – District Leaders’ Meeting (General) 6 November – County Gold Chief Scout’s Award Presentations, Warrington 13 November – Remembrance Day 17 November – Safeguarding Training 19 November – County Cub and Scout Swimming Gala, Warrington 1 December – District Leaders’ Meeting (Sectional and GSLs) 3 December – First Response
District Leaders’ Meetings: first Thursday in each month (except August) 8 pm (Section meetings alternate with general meetings) ‘We didn’t expect anything like this at all,’ said Martina Knittel from Bookbridge. ‘People even came to the campsite sorting weekend to hand over more books.’ Around 30,000 books will go to libraries in Cambodia, giving young people the tools to learn English, acquire decent jobs and escape poverty. A further 25,000 were donated to Oxfam and 35,000 are being held back for next year’s library, earmarked for Mongolia or Cambodia. ‘This was a magnificent effort,’ said Daisy Charlton, International Adviser at The Scout Association. ‘It was truly humbling to see the generosity and hard work of so many Scouts who made this such a successful project. Thank you all so much.’ And special thanks to everyone in Chester and District who responded to the call for books!
Committee: e: third Thursday in each District Executive Committe month (except August) District Appointments Approval Meeting: last Thursday in each month (except August and December) Chester Scout Fellowship Active Support Unit: first Tuesday of each month (for further details email activesupport@chesterscouts.org.uk) Adult Training Modules: check the separate listing and registration form
DISTRICT DIARY 2012 14 -18 February – Chester Gang Show 10 March – County Cub Scout Craft Competition, Warrington 11 March - County Beaver Challenge
DISTRICT DIARY 2011
31 March/1 April - Cheshire Hike
1 September – District Leaders’ Meeting (General) 4 September – County Platinum and Diamond Chief Scout’s Awards Presentations, Northwich 17 September – First Response 17 September - District Cub Scout Totem Pole Competition 22 September - Validation sessions for GSLs/District Team, Weston Grove
22 April – St George’s Day Service
NEWS FOR CHESTER SCOUTING
28 April – Skills Training Day 30 June – Beeston Hike (provisional) 31 July /9 August – Drop into Poland
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