Cumbria Chat - February 2013

February 2013 www.scouts.org.uk - www.cumbriascouts.org.uk County Team Contacts:

County Diary:

County Commissioner – Graham White

22/02/2013 – Re-Energise (Explorers) Ennerdale

grahamdwhite@gmail.com Deputy County Commissioner – Julie Samson juliasamson@hotmail.com Deputy County Commissioner – Richard Hirst skiphirst@hotmail.com County Chairman – Tim Leader timleader25@gmail.com County Administrator – Marion Dixon cumbriascouts@stricklandgate-house.org.uk ACC (Network) – John Seed jseedgt@ignetics.co.uk ACC (Explorers) – Steve Dawson s.j.dawson@hotmail.co.uk ACC (Scouts) – John Sharpe john.sharpe21@btinternet.com ACC (Cubs) – David Hodkiss david.hodgkiss@btinternet.com

Contact Steve Dawson s.j.dawson@hotmail.co.uk 01/03/2013 – Winter Walking Weekend, Scotland.

Contact Phil Hopley phil.hopley@tesco.net 10/03/2013 – Train the Trainer (young Leader Training) Contact Richard Hirst skiphirst@hotmail.com 16/03/2013 – Getting Started, Barrow Contact Cath Johnston cath.johnston2@btinternet.com 20/03/2013 – Doug Scott Presentation Evening Contact hwharam@gmail.com 25/04/2013 – Chief Scout’s Gold to Queen’s Scout Awards Evening Contact John Sharpe, john.sharpe21@btinternet.com 11/05/2013 – County Funday Kendal Showground Contact Richard Hirst skiphirst@hotmail.com 22/06/2013 – County Scouts Manhunt Competition Contact John Sharpe, john.sharpe21@btinternet.com 12/07/2013 – Regional Scouts iShout PL Forum & camp Contact John Sharpe, john.sharpe21@btinternet.com

ACC (Beavers) – Vacant County Training Manager – Linda kitchen lkitchin7@googlemail.com ACC (Activities) – Phil Hopley phil.hopley@tesco.net ACC (International) – Richard Hirst skiphirst@hotmail.com

Cumbria Scouts Diary Online http://www.cumbriascouts.org.uk/diary/home

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Cumbria Chat Input County Fun Day Jamboree Leaders Frostbite Camp County Awards Presentation Evening Cumbria Scouts – Facebook Cub Section Leadership Training Adult Recruitment Train the Trainer for Young Leader Training Nepal Fundraiser iShout – Regional PL Forum County Scout Manhunt Competition Scout Community Week National News • Upcoming Events Local News • Obituary: Eric Lewin • Ayers Explorers Share Charity Pot • South Cumbria Scout Development Project • Reivers District Bowling Competition

Cumbria Chat Input: Let the rest of the County find out what you’re doing and what you’ve done, write down your plans for the coming months and brief reports of your recent adventures. It’s great fun reading the exploits of others, but twice as much fun if the article is about you or for you.

Email your inputs for inclusion in the next edition of Cumbria Chat to john.sharpe21@btinternet.com.

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Cumbria County Fun Day & Camp

By now I am hoping that the news has reached you that Cumbria County Scouts are planning to hold a Fun Day on the 11th May 2013 to which every member of Cumbria Scouting is invited.

The day will take place at the Westmorland County Showground and we will be providing fully staffed attractions for all ages (6-25). The day will be split in two sections, half a day taking part in an “It’s a Knockout” event which is suitable for all ages from 6 to 25. The second part will be a number of activities including a circus, inflatables, zorbing and a host of other attractions again open to all ages. All you and your leader team have to do is get your young people there and enjoy the day with them. Only minimal supervision will be required as you wander round with your young people so you get to enjoy the fun day as well.

We will also be offering offsite Adventurous Activities; these will be in addition to those above and will require people to individually book their place. What’s more we are hoping that the Chief Scout himself will literally drop in to pay us a short visit. Sadly not everyone will get the chance to meet him personally but the day itself will more than make up for it. Even better we are keeping the cost at a price you can all afford at just £10 for the day. For those who want to make a weekend of it, you can camp over the weekend and attend the fun day for just £15. Your group has received a Booking Form for your section/group/unit and you need to make a decision by the 1st April. District Commissioners have been asked to look at assisting with the cost of providing transport for those who have to travel. Each District has two leaders on the organising team and yours will be in touch soon to answer any questions you will have.

This will be a great day for Cumbria Scouting so make sure you are there Looking forward to seeing you Richard cumbaree@hotmail.com Two Leaders required to be the Cumbrian Jamboree Contingent Leader Team for the 2015 World Scout Jamboree to Japan.

If you would like to be part of this event please contact Richard Hurst at skiphirst@hotmail.com before the 6th March to be invited to a meeting where the Leader Team responsibilities will be explained.

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Cumbria Scouts – Frostbite Camp 25th to 27th January 2013 Cumbria Scouts – “Born Survivors!”

As the snow began to fall on Friday afternoon, many Cumbrian scouts made their way home from school with only one thing on their mind; the adventurous challenge that is ‘Frostbite’- the annual winter camp at Great Tower scout activity centre, near Windermere. This camp is renowned throughout Cumbrian scouting due to its extreme weather conditions and this year, 2013 was not going to disappoint.

By the time most of the scouts had arrived, there was already a thick covering of snow on the ground-it was blocking many of the county’s main roads and still falling heavily. The scouts soon set to work, clearing patches of snow so that they could pitch their tents. Once this was done, they had a well-deserved mug of hot chocolate and settled down for the night.

The scouts awoke in the morning to a winter wonderland of the type that would have been more familiar to the great explorers, like Captain Scott and Ranulph Feinnes. After a typically hearty scout breakfast of sausage and beans, the scouts were ready to do what scouts do best: building snowmen, igloos, sledging and of course having the obligatory snowball fights! By lunchtime the campsite had been cleared of enough snow to allow the planned activities to proceed. These activities included archery, crate stacking, stilt walking, tackling an assault course and mountain biking through the snow-filled camp tracks.

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The fun didn’t stop as the evening drew in; the scouts took part in their version of The Royal Navy’s ‘Field Gun Challenge’, charging back and forth with their wooden carts, dismantling the wheels to carry through obstacles, then re-assembling them to fire a victory salute. The night ended with a giant game of hide and seek in the woods, where the scouts had to locate and rescue their trainee leaders, who were playing the part of lost explorers in the Arctic Circle.

As if the extreme snow of the first night were not enough, the inclement weather returned on Saturday night, this time in the form of torrential rain and strong gusting winds! But as all scouts are motivated by their Chief Scout, Bear Grylls, and aspire to be “Born Survivors”, they took all this in their stride, emerging again for a second day of adventurous activities.

Oliver Cowell from Leven Valley, (awarded the most adventurous scout of the weekend) said, “This weekend has been awesome, I’ve really enjoyed the challenge the weather has given us over the weekend, I can’t wait to sign up for next year’s winter camp!”

John Sharpe, from Barrow, who leads the County Scout Section said: “The great thing about these county weekends is that they are fun, social events for the leaders too. With scouting growing, we just need new adults to come along and join in the adventure, so that more young people can further-enjoy the opportunities scouting provides, even if it is only for one weekend a year.

Scouting offers adults a social life with a purpose, and as a leader, the chance to gain new skills, and have fun whilst helping other people.”

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County Awards Presentation Evening: In a slight change to previous announcements, the county awards presentation evening will be on Wednesday 25th April. The venue will be the Kendal town hall assembly room.

If you have Scouts, Explorers or Young Leaders that have achieved these great awards since the last presentation, please let the County know via John Sharpe, email: john.sharpe21@btinternet.com and they, their families and leaders will receive personal invites to this Awards Evening.

Cumbria Scouts – Social Media

Cumbria Scouts now have a further communications platform via their Facebook Page at www.facebook.com/CumbriaScouts. You should note that we acknowledge that not everyone is on Facebook, but that this is part of an integrated communications strategy to improve dialogue and information sharing across the County.

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Cubs Section There is a subliminal message hidden in this month’s Cub News. I wonder if you can spot it??

Are we in contact with you?

Over the past few months we have been trying hard to contact all of the Cub leaders across the County. Please can you check that your email address in your Backpack is up to date. If you want to be sure that you receive emails about Cub issues then you can also email me at cubs@13thcarlisle.org and I’ll add you to the distribution list.

We have set up a closed Facebook Group for Cumbria Cub Leaders. This is to share ideas and discuss issues that are common to all of us. Search for Cumbria Cub Leaders on Facebook and one of the administrators will sign you up. It’s a great way to stay in touch.

County Cub Trip It was envisaged that the Cubs would be visiting Camelot this year. However as has now closed we are looking for an alternative for the last weekend of September. An email was sent to all leaders in December asking that they see what their Cubs would want to do instead.

Some of the ideas are on our Facebook page. Why not have a look and see which Cubs would favour.

When your Cubs have an idea then let everyone know. We’ll be making a decision in March so please make your ideas and opinions known.

Monthly Challenges At the County Conference it was suggested that we have a simple challenge each month that leaders can build into their programme. This started in February and once again was shared on our Facebook page.

These are simple, fun activities which challenge Cubs ingenuity and cost little or nothing at all to do. What not look one up and have a go. Post your results online and we’ll share these in future editions of Cumbria Chat.

Above: Cubs from 1st Hawkshead undertaking the roll an orange challenge.

Chief Scouts Silver Awards Please can you email me with the names of Cubs who earn their Chief Scouts Silver Award and also copy this to your ADC (Cubs.) Once again we’d like to celebrate these in future editions of Cumbria Chat and we’d also like to record how many Silver Awards are given out each year.

And Finally Are all your leaders getting to see Cumbria Chat? If not please forward a copy to them. Next month I’ll share details from the recent Regional Cub Meeting which focussed on the retention of Cubs. Once again you can comment on this and many other issues on our Facebook page.

David Hodgkiss (ACC Cub Scouts)

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Leadership Training: For information. Roger Fisher has taken on the role of ‘Training Registrar’ and all booking requests for training should be passed through him. Contact roger.pf@tiscali.co.uk

Congratulations to the following Leaders who have recently completed their training.

Getting Started Nick Linton Mark Wilson Matt Wilson Lewis Faulder Emma Kirkman Robert McIntyre

10th Kendal 4th Kendal 4th Kendal 4th Kendal Caldbeck Caldbeck

Wood Badge Kai Lindsay Gillian Hughes Trevor Hughes

2nd Maryport 6th Duddon 6th Duddon

Adult Recruitment There will be a series of workshops happening around the County during Feb/March/April dealing with Adult Recruitment. You only need to attend one of the workshops to pick up very hot tips and hints to help you recruitment for whatever role you need to fill. Even if you don't need to recruit (?) you will more than likely find the workshop very useful. Contact you DC to find out further details and in the meantime you might like to look at the dates below to decide the best workshop to attend.

Saturday 23rd Feb - Carlisle Sunday 24th Feb - Western Lakes Saturday 9th March - Eden Saturday 23rd March - South West Lakes Sunday 24th March - Kentdale If you don't see a workshop for your District then contact your DC and ask him/her to contact me asap for an available dates. The Workshop will start at 10am and will finish no later than 4pm. Just bring a packed lunch and an open and enquiring mind.

Julia Samson DCC Adult Support 8

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Train the Trainer Delivering the Young Leader Training Programme Sunday 10 March 2013 At Ambleside Scout Hut Start 9:30 to 16:00. Lunch provided An opportunity for all those involved in or interested in helping to deliver the Young Leader training programme. The day with be run by Chris Brewster, who delivered the excellent Young Leader session at our County conference.

Young Leaders are our future and deserve the best support we can provide.

Contact Richard Hirst skiphirst@hotmail.com

Nepal Fundraiser – Explorer Belt 2013 Doug Scott will be giving a presentation at the Lakes School on 20th March titled: “Significant and Joyous Moments in the Mountains.”

Tickets are £10 each and available from: 01228 711612 / hwharam@gmail.com

North West Regional – iShout Patrol Leaders Forum: The Northwest Regional Scout section is organising a patrol leaders forum for the whole of the region on the 12th to 14th July 2013 at Waddecar campsite near Preston. The aim of this forum is to invite patrol leaders from the districts around the region, to meet up for a weekend of camping activities, with the opportunity to share experiences, thoughts and ideas with similar young people from the Northwest. The main event of the weekend will be the ‘Great Badge Swap’ on Saturday.

Please speak to your ADC Scouts or DC if you would like your Patrol Leaders to represent your District at this great event. Further information from ACC Scouts – John Sharpe

County Manhunt Competition: To Cumbria Scouts, Are you and your Scouts up for the challenge and adventure? How good is your map & compass reading? Can you navigate a 6 mile course through the wild Cumbrian fells? And on top of all this, can you avoid capture from our expert team of highly trained catchers!!???? (or are you better off attending Brownies?)

We need teams of 4 to 7 scouts to enter this event on Saturday 22 nd June, plus explorers and leaders to chase and catch (or at least try). The planned route is somewhere between Coniston and Ulverston. Information & booking forms are being sent to scout leaders as you read this newsletter Further information from ACC Scouts – John Sharpe 9

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Scout Community Week: Support your community and fellow Scouts Taking place from 3-9 June 2013, Scout Community Week not only gives us the opportunity to bond with the local community and raise essential funds, it’s also a chance to champion all the inspiring things we do during the other 51 weeks of the year.

Sign up for your FREE Scout Community Week pack and receive your planning brochure and resources including balloons, bunting, fundraising kit, stickers and more. Our partners, B&Q, are on hand to offer support such as DIY classes, in-store fundraising, and useful materials.

Check out our advice on how to build a relationship with your local store.

Supporting Scouts with disabilities All Groups taking part are asked to donate 25% of the money raised to help fund grants for Scouts with disabilities and additional needs. This offers a vital lifeline to Groups and members who need financial support in order to take part in Scouting. The remaining 75% can be kept by the Group to help deliver what Scouting does best – adventurous activities locally, every week.

Getting parents involved Whether your project lasts for one evening or the whole week, it’s a great opportunity to invite parents along and show them how rewarding it is to be a volunteer. This is a chance to bring friends, family and neighbours together to experience Scouting while giving something back to the community.

Sign up for you free pack today!

A message from Bear Grylls

NATIONAL NEWS: New print centre resources A number of new resources are now available when logging in to the print centre: • Scout show materials (which can be found under ‘Events/Performance’ – look for the ‘One Big Night’ products).

• Volunteer vacancy boards and cards (one of the icons on the front screen).

• Sectional car stickers (under section tabs and in Materials/Stickers).

Win £50 to spend at B&Q Register for a free Scout Community Week pack by 16 March and you could win £50 to spend on your project. From paints to plants; get some extra materials and make an even bigger local impact. For your chance to win register today. Don't forget to tweet about all things Scout Community Week using the hashtag #scoutsdo1thing.

Scouts' Question Time – Cambridge Feel ignored by the system? Think MPs don't care about you and your friends? Lucky for you, Scouts Question Time is back and it's coming to Cambridge on Saturday 23 March 2013, 10am to 5pm. A morning campaigning and debating skills workshop session for Explorers, then an afternoon Question Time debate open to all Scouts aged 14+.

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Renovating your meeting place If you have undertaken renovations or essential repairs, however small, on your Scout meeting place in the last five years, or plan to do so in the future, then please share your feedback. What were the challenges? How did you raise the money? And how could we have helped? The survey will only take five minutes to complete.

Opportunities for you to stand out Did you know that there are specific opportunities for you to work directly with UKHQ? You can play a vital role in the development of Scouting, develop your own skills and even make your CV stand out. Visit scouts.org.uk/volunteervacancies for an up to-date list of national Scouting roles.

ShelterBox’s London Scavenger Hunt Saturday 8 June 2013 This exciting, annual event will see Cubs, Scouts and Explorers take to the streets of London to undertake different challenges and solve cryptic questions. This year there is no set route, giving teams the freedom to create their own strategy for earning the maximum number of points. Set in the very heart of central London, 2013’s event promises to be more exciting than ever before. More information and a registration form can be accessed online. Alternatively, please email youngshelterbox@shelterbox.org.uk.

LOCAL NEWS: Obituary – Eric Lewin It is with deep regret that we announce the passing of Eric Lewin who died on 28th January in FGH. Eric was born on the Isle of Man 88 years ago and grew up there with his younger sister Maureen. The family ironmongery was located close to the railway station and it was quite common for farmers to arrive with their wooden wheels in need of new iron bands. Eric often went down to the foundry beginning his lifelong fascination with machinery.

After school he was apprenticed as a marine engineer to the Isle of Man Steam Packet Co. At the beginning of 1945, he was alerted by a friend in the office that his call up papers had come….for the army….so he (and another friend) dashed off to sign up for the navy.

Stationed on the South Coast, it will come as no surprise that he started volunteering with local Scout troops – filling in gaps. He’d long been a Scout himself, having joined at 11 becoming patrol leader and helping his Scout Leader…eventually gaining a King’s Scout Award.

Eric was demobbed in the Spring of 1947 and spent the next 9 years in the Merchant Navy gaining first class chief engineer tickets for both steam and diesel.

His time at sea saw him travelling round the world – including N and S America and India. Life at sea brought many adventures…fire on a Jute ship that was put out when the captain ran it aground in order to pump water. There was the meat run from Fray Bentos in S America up to NY, taking Triumph motor bikes ashore and racing Police Harleys. He saved the lives of a raft full of people when it was spotted drifting down river out of control out towards the Indian Ocean. His strength and courage came to the fore in another ship fire when 11

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he found one man overcome with fumes and carried him in a fireman’s lift up the ship’s ladders for 2-3 decks.

Interwoven with working life was a growing friendship with Nan. They’d known each other to a degree, but really met at the Palais de Dance and married in 1951, 2 days after Christmas….tho’ it was a close call as fog on the Mersey almost postponed the event. Of course Eric was away at sea for 6 month periods…on his first leave home after the wedding he responded to a call for help at a Scout Camp!

In 1956 Nan and Eric moved to Barrow where he joined Vickers, working in ADEB and NAVED where his contribution to submarine noise reduction was enormous, When they first moved to Barrow, Nan and Eric did not know the town so they found themselves lodging in Hibbert Rd while they got their bearings. A couple of nights in there was a knock at the door and on the step stood the vicar of St Paul’s. By some means he had heard that Eric was a Scout Leader so invited him to get involved with the St Paul’s Scouts. Eric promised to think about it. Much to their delight he went to St Paul’s and began what was to be a long and fruitful association with church and Scouting there and across the district and county. The District Chairman said this about him; “‘the Scout movement owes Eric a huge debt of gratitude…to me Eric was a true Scout and lived by the promise he made countless times, ‘duty to God and Queen and to help other people at all times.” he continues…’he touched so many young people’s lives and had a profound influence in shaping them to cope with the many rigours of life.”

A very obvious sign of Eric’s work is St. Paul’s Scout Hall for which Eric worked tirelessly.

The Isle of Man was always an important part of the family’s life ....in fact it remains so we leave this one picture.

Imagine the family returning from one of their many holidays there. As always, they are accompanied by boxes of hundreds of Manx kippers…On reaching home, the next few nights will be spent around the kitchen table chopping off heads and bagging up kippers to be given to friends and colleagues of Eric….

Our heartfelt condolences are given to Eric’s wife, Nan, his children Graih, Ean and Orry and his sister Maureen.

Ayers Explorers share charity pot: A Cumbrian charity has shared a pot of £10,000 after topping a public poll of the region’s most deserving charitable causes.

The regional winner, Carlisle-based Ayers Explorer Scout Unit, is a group that focuses on the development of young people in achieving their full physical, intellectual, spiritual and social potential through a variety of organised activities.

The prize money is being donated by the Benfield Charitable Trust, which sees the Benfield motor group pledge five per cent of its profits to worthy causes each year. The winning charity was chosen through an online public vote on Benfield’s Facebook page, in an initiative called Benfield Charity Drive, which was launched two years ago.

Explorer Scout leader Eddie Ward said: “We were overjoyed to win such an amazing amount of money and are really grateful for all the support we have received in achieving it. I first found out about the Charity Drive when I saw that we had already been nominated for it online – a great testimony.

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“It’s going to make a real difference, certainly in helping us to organise a trip to America in 2014 for the Scouts. As teenagers our members are really keen to do the more adventurous activities that Scouting offers but we often come up against cost as a barrier so this will make more opportunities available to them.”

South Cumbria Scout Development Project (SCSDP) We are pleased to welcome James Baggley, as the newly appointed scout Regional Development Officer (RDO), assigned to the South Cumbria Scout Development Project. Like the West Cumbria project, this is a 3 year scout development project, looking to develop (grow) scouting across south Cumbria. It covers the scout districts of Kentdale and South West Lakes.

James has recently moved to the area, to take up this post, from County Durham, were he was a secondary school teacher. James has been a scout member since 1998 when he joined as a scout in East Yorkshire. He then went on to Explorers, and then became an Explorer leader in 2009.

Following his induction process as part of the scout association Regional Development Service, James is starting on some priority development activities, to support scouting in South Cumbria. Hopefully, this project will kick-start the growth in scouting in South Cumbria, giving more opportunities to young people, and with recruitment of adult leaders and supporters.

Look out for further news from the South Cumbria Scout Development Project and please make James feel welcome when you meet him.

If you would like any further information about this project then get in touch with me, or James directly (James.Baggley@scouts.org.uk) or the respective District Commissioners Matthew Canwell [Kentdale District] or Eddie Richards [South West Lakes District].

Ged Pugh

Reivers District Bowling Competition: More than 180 Cub Scouts enjoyed two Fun filled evenings at Carlisle’s AMF bowling centre organised by Colin Read of the 25th Carlisle Group on Wednesday 23rd and Thursday 24th January 2013.

Colin Read explained, "The event has grown over the years due to the dedication of the Leaders who organise the event, so much that this is the first year that there are so many Cub Scouts eager to take part the event has been split over 2 nights."

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