Hampshire Scouting Review 2013

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Scouting for All Scouting started on the city streets, as young people read the first instalments of “Scouting for Boys” and decided to create their own adventures.

Scouting’s first experimental camp on Brownsea Island brought together boys from very different backgrounds, to live and work together.

And from its earliest days, Scouts were involved in serious community projects, from “good work in the slums of London” to coastwatching during the First World War. We had another very successful year for Hampshire Scouting, with 2.9% growth during 2013, international expeditions to Switzerland and Nepal, and the opening of our first Muslim Scout Group in Basingstoke.

We started 25 new Sections, recruited 600 new young people and adults, and our County Activity Centre at Ferny Crofts in the New Forest continues to thrive.

Our value proposition of adventure, fun and friendship - supported by dedicated adult volunteers - increasingly resonates with young people.

So now is the time for us to go outward bound, build on our success, and expand our vision - to enable Scouting for All.

UK Scouting recently envisioned that “In 2018, Scouting will be enjoyed by 500,000 young people. They will come from every background, make their voices heard and bring positive changes to their communities.”

What does this mean for us in Hampshire Scouting ?

Growth: Building on our ninth successive year of growth in Hampshire Scouting, we are renewing our Development project for a further three years. Our focus will be on tackling waiting lists, opening new Groups in housing developments, and establishing Scouting in fresh areas from hospitals to young carers. We’ll also look at how we can improve links between Sections, and retention of both young people and adult volunteers.

Inclusivity: We have appointed a County Inclusion Adviser to help us remove the real and perceived barriers to young people from every background joining Scouting. Working with community groups and local authorities, we will develop joint projects to reach out to young people with special needs, in tower blocks, and from BME communities, to enable them all to experience and enjoy Scouting.

Youth Shaped: Realising that youth participation is about personal development as well as democracy, we will build on our successful Hampshire Scouting Youth Council to encourage and support Youth Forums at the heart of every Section, and inspire our Young Leaders and the next generation of adult volunteers with opportunities to grow and stretch themselves.

Community Impact: We know how much difference our international development expeditions around the world make both to local communities and to the young people who take part in the expeditions. Working with partners across Hampshire, we will look at doing the same at home, and increase our local impact with quality community projects.

This is Scouting’s time. Thanks to everyone in Hampshire Scouting for all you have done in 2013, and for all you will do during 2014.

Together we can achieve amazing things. #Scouting4All

Adam Jollans County Commissioner

i e Th s n a m Chair t Repor

Yet another busy , exciting and successful year for Hampshire Scouting, and once again a very big Thank you to all the adults who give up so much of their spare time and energy to make this happen.

The County Office has continued to support the many County events and activities, and thanks to Helen and Jon for their continued dedication to ensure all Leaders of activities are fully supported.

Helen is currently on maternity leave and has just given birth to a baby boy. We wish her and the family well, and look forward to seeing her soon. Lisa, our book keeper also decided to move on, and we wish her well in her future endeavours.

This left the County Office struggling to support, but with the help from Carol of Balanced Solutions, our Management Accountants and Lucie Rowe who has joined us to cover for Helen we are getting back on track.

One of the big additions to our support this year has been Executive Committee Training.

Scout Headquarters have now introduced a full training session for Trustees, and with the help from Paul O’Beirne, County Secretary and Mike Kerrigan, Director of District Support, we have delivered training to nearly 200 Group and District executive committee members in the first twelve months.

The feedback from these sessions, including a specialist Treasurers session has been very good and we will continue to put on regular courses in the future. It is important that all adult supporters of Scouting have the opportunity to receive training One key position we have struggled to fill is the role of County Treasurer, and we are now undertaking additional initiatives to try and fill this position as soon as possible. In the meantime a big thank you to Russ Parke, our Deputy County Commissioner, who has spent what seems like, endless hours working and supporting the office and the auditors, as well as presenting the accounts to County Executive Committee meetings.

A big Thank you to Adam and Russ, along with Paul, as the County Management Team, and to the County Executive Committee for their full support throughout the year Here’s to another 12 months of enthusiastic fun and adventure.

Peter Moody, County Chairman

THE Accounts Incoming Resources

Jan - Dec 2013 61,770

Grants Donations & Legacy

162,080

Membership Fees

3,118

Investment

32,617

STET

532,817

Activities & Events

422,429

Ferny Crofts

1,214,832

Total

Expended Resources

Jan - Dec 2013

Grants

14,760

Governance

19,849

Admin, Support, Core Team & Development Officer

180,777

Activities & Events

536,298

Ferny Crofts

353,980

Total

Total Assets Fixed Restricted Funds General Funds

1,105,664

Jan - Dec 2013 1,115,017 5,552 156,325

Designated Funds - Legacies

97,248

- Ferny Crofts Capital Development

80,053

- Section & Activities Working Capital

120,923

- Development Officer

114,789

- International Support Fund

20,000

- Inclusion in Scouting

10,000

- County Office I.T.

15,000

Total

1,734,907

After our last AGM, Beavers have continued to maintain a steady number across the County, with leaders providing great programmes for children to enjoy. There have been fun days and sleepovers and some wonderful Chief Scout’s Bronze award ceremonies.

Paultons Park came and went all too quickly, with over 3000 attending to see Santa and many leaders networking along the way.

2014 started off with new colonies being opened across the county and new leaders signing up for Beaver fun, always a great start to the New Year.

Our Beaver leaders log chew in March, was for all involved with Beavers to come and find out more information, learn new skills and meet other leaders. Over 50 attended and left asking for the date of the next one.

Then it was all systems go for Link In camp. With a great team, the Beaver leaders ran a cooking zone, in which people from all sections tried new ways to cook, even Bear Grylls did his chocolate banana!!

We are now heading for H0014 with over 300 Beavers sleeping over and day visitors as well, this again will be a wonderful event and a great opportunity for Beavers to see the ‘whole’ of scouting.

With a leaders meeting booked for 6th September and Paultons Park booked for 8th November, this year will fly by.

My thanks as always to my county Beaver team and all leaders for giving their time.

Teresa Ginn, Assistant County Commissioner Beavers

This year has been full of changes and illness for the County cub Team. I stepped down half way through the year, and was replaced by Amanda Thompson.

Even through all these changes, the cub section’s year has been a very busy one with lots of activities and events that the cubs have enjoyed along with all activities and badge work that every district organises.

The main County events in 2013 were the Six-a-side Football and the Chess competitions, which were both extremely well supported by the Districts. Thanks to Ivan Sparks and Sue Eastick and their teams for organising these events.

The County Cub Survival Camp was once again successfully run by Frank O’callahan, with the cubs enjoying a wide variety of traditional scouting activities including pioneering and backwoods cooking.

2014 will see the section looking at the reasons why cubs leave and explore the ways to retain them. We are also looking forward to attending both the Hampshire Jamboree and the Linked Camps.

We will also be looking forward to the centenary of Cub Scouting in 2016 and the ways we can celebrate this momentous milestone.

Finally, my thanks to the County and District leaders, helpers and Cubs who have organised and attended these events.

Thelma Young, Hampshire County Cub Scout Leader

During 2013 the Scout Section held various events these included a week long County Summer Camp at Lyons Copse with over 100 attending, 2 Patrol Leaders Training weekends with over 30 attending each of the weekends, County Winter Camp at Lyons Copse to which over 700 attended even though it snowed, Expedition Challenge & Survival Skills weekends both of which were well attended. There were also a number of Pro-Badge weekends and the County Emlyn Camping Competition held at Foxlease, which 18 Patrols took part in was won by a Patrol from New Forest East, with a Patrol from Southampton City & a Patrol from Gosport coming equal second, the Camp Cook competition was won by another Patrol from Gosport & a Patrol from Winchester won the Special Challenge Trophy.

These events are open to whole troops, Patrols or individual Scouts & well over 1000 Scouts took part in them.

Teams of Scouts also took part in the Annual Trek Cart races held at Cricket Campsite along with Explorer Scouts & Scout Network Teams.

At a County Presentation Evening to celebrate their achievement 43 Scouts were presented with their Chief Scout’s Gold Award by Steve Peck the Director of Programme & Development for the Scout Association.

Dave Pannell, Assistant County Commissioner for Scouts

Young Leader Training Three very successful and well attended residential weekends were held during 2013 and going from strength to strength we have helped over 180 young people from across Hampshire achieve their modules from B to K. With an updated set of modules available, leading to the Young Leader Belt Buckle and the chance to join the Institute of Young Leader Management, these residential weekends have been acknowledged as being of a professional nature.

It is great to know that districts are presenting the Belt Buckle with 5 in New Forest North.

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It was great meeting new people and making new friends.

Hampshire Scouts Young Leaders

Trek Cart - Cart in the Park 2013 What a year for Trek Cart. Supported by Manor Country Park and Heat SAS the challenge was set. Gus drew up the plan and launched Cart in the Park. The challenge was accepted by Scouts, Explorers and Network from around the county. The core team set up Headquarters on Friday afternoon ready to welcome all the teams to Cricket Camp. All teams booked in and the scrutineering and final adjustments were made ready for the Endurance race which was to start at 08.00 Saturday morning.

The Teams were up early, well watered and fed and ready to take this challenge head on. The Endurance challenge was one of the hardest challenges to date running 7 miles with their Trek carts along tracks that had pot holes and trenches deeper and bigger than any dug by the army, and to make it more interesting - they were full of water.

There were hills small and large with fallen trees and gateways to overcome along the way, one was very narrow and slowed the teams down quite drastically.

No matter what the teams came across they tackled it with a smile on their face and even stopping to help the other teams get past the obstacles. This showed the true scouting spirit between all the sections competing. After a hard challenge the teams earned themselves a well deserved break before all the fun began with the activities. There was a volleyball tournament run by Chris Scott (Network). All the young people loved the twists that where added

by Chris. There was tomahawk throwing, archery, giant water slide, pizza making to name a few, all well run and enjoyed by all.

Due to the lovely weather and the heat the core team supplied ice lollies for all attending just before the start of the sprint challenge. This section had each team running and trying to set the fastest sprint time over 800m all the teams completed the challenge setting some of the fastest times seen. What a day and it wasn’t over we still had our

neon/glow in the dark disco (open air). The Disco was brilliant thanks to Gary and Pete who ran on it our behalf. All the young people still had some energy left to make some moves along with the adults, to top it off the weather and clear skies made for the perfect open air disco.

Sunday morning brought not so enthusiastic teams. They were a bit apprehensive about what they were getting ready to face. The assault course challenge saw all the teams running a course of approximately 1000m tackling obstacles natural and man made, there were cargo nets, letter boxes, drain pipes to get through and lots of water.

No one knows for sure who came off the worst, the leaders or the young people, either way everyone loved it and wanted more so we ran the course again. What a competition. Everyone who entered was a winner, the challenges where harder, bigger, and longer and everyone was still smiling at the end. Bring on 2014 who knows what might happen.

Around the County Achievements The Assistant County Commissioner Explorer Scouts now holds responsibility for supporting and signing off the paperwork for both Explorer Belt and the Queen’s Scout Awards if they are achieved whilst the young person is in the Explorer Scout section. It has given me a great deal of pleasure to support a trip by a group from Andover to Hungary overseen by Julian and Jo Sore. I have met with and attended some Queen’s Scout Award presentations in Andover and Waterlooville.

After a very busy period holding selection camps for the next World Scout Jamboree the units are up and running and have held some training camps. Explorer Scouts have also joined trips scheduled for 2015 to Tanzania, Gambia, Uganda and Iceland.

Around the districts, it is good to hear that Explorer Scouts have been active and inventive with their programmes including badge work, attending the linked in camp, helping with local community events, visiting local hospitals and taking part in St George’s day celebrations. Community week and bag packing seem to be popular activities as well as supporting other sections and external services (Portchester).

In Fareham West Warriors and Air Explorers have been actively working with existing units. They have set up their Young Leader unit and are supporting five Explorer Scouts who will be attending the jamboree with fund raising events. They continue with their successful Duke of Edinburgh Award programme as well as nationally recognised water activities including power boating.

Explorer Scouts in Itchen North has 70 Explorers in four units and 20 Young Leader’s in the Young Leader’s Unit. We had six Duke of Edinburgh Bronze award holders this year. In October they went to Thorpe Park Fright Night! They are very proud to have had two of Explorers picked for the Jamboree. The Young Leaders Unit has met several times, and has continued to deliver the Module A Training.

Andover Explorers went to Kandersteg and have had an extremely successful year with Duke of Edinburgh Awards achievements, Queen’s Scout Award and diamond and platinum scout awards. They also visited the Majedski stadium in Reading, took part in the Monopoly run in London and the raft race in Newbury.

In Chandlers Ford last year saw one of their biggest annual increases in Explorers for several years. Their success is put down to the active balanced programme, extensive support for Duke of Edinburgh Awards and other activities.

In Petersfield both units have members selected to go to the 2015 Jamboree in Japan and in February a unit went to Kandersteg Scout Centre in Switzerland. A large group of Explorers gained their Duke of Edinburgh Gold Awards as well as others working hard on their Silver awards.

In Eastleigh Explorer Scouts took part in The Cotswold Marathon, a night hike of 36miles across the Cotswolds near Gloucester, and 18 Explorers developed varying levels of night navigational skill and physical endurance to make four teams. On the night three Explorers managed to complete the entire 36 mile route. Eastleigh and Cheltenham District Explorers combined to hire two canal boats and travelled up the Grand Union Canal. Summer camp saw another joint exercise in a green field site on the Gower Peninsula.

Gosport explorer scouts have grown to over 50 members. They continue to offer explorer scouting for land, sea and air. They have achieved eight Chief Scouts awards, four Platinum and four Diamond awards.

Carol Pannell, Assistant County Commissioner Explorer Scouts

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Just had an incredible two weeks in Switzerland with the Network Scouts, those guys know how to do it ! bring on Suisse 2016!

Will Farthing

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After two amazing weeks away there is nothing better than a good shower and a sit down on the sofa. Thanks to all the Suisse13 people Bring on Suisse16!

Fi Durrant, Assistant County Commissioner of Youth Participation

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The Youth Council has had another fantastic year, with camps held at Ferny Crofts and Runways End for the annual conferences.

Young people got involved in shaping the strategy for Hampshire Scouting by creative consultation – including rapping and dancing.

The Youth Council have this year set up the Captain Ketch Ambassador Award, and took part in writing the badge and designing it – of which over 750 have been sold to date raising money for ELIFAR. Members of the council voted in their elected youth reps and county executive reps, and also selected the winners of the Lt Cdr Henry Bruce Award as part of their responsibilities. Some members of the council took part in a survey weekend at Ferny Crofts, where they tested out activities and compiled a report for the board, and then helped out with the award holder’s tea party afterwards. All in all it has been a busy and fruitful year for the Youth Council and we are very proud of all of their achievements so far.

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Develop, recruit & Grow Our County Development Project, which, initially was for three years (April 2011 to March 2014), is now at an end, so what have we achieved and where do we go from here?

Scouting has a very good reputation, providing fun and adventure for young people and because of this more and more young people want to get involved. In Hampshire we constantly have somewhere between 1600 to 1800 young people on our want to join lists. It therefore follows that if we are to satisfy this need then we do need to have continual and steady growth in our leadership and adult support numbers. The main strand of our project was to specifically increase our youth numbers by providing more adults, which in turn would provide us with the opportunity to open both new groups and additional sections.

A County Development Board has supported the project by meeting formally 4 times a year and informally as and when required. Its purpose has been to monitor the quality of the project together with its usefulness and effectiveness. Vanessa Slawson our employed County Development Officer has reported directly to the board being line managed by the Assistant County Commissioner (Development) who has also acted as Chairman of the Board. Our two Development Grants Board representatives Bill Cockcroft and Zena Martin have regularly attended two of our formal meetings each year and their advice and guidance has been invaluable in moving the project forward. The County Executive has been particularly supportive in not only providing some of the funding but by members participating in the County Development Board and regular reviews.

Of particular note, the project has established a County Development Forum meeting twice a year for representatives from the County and Districts to come together specifically with the aim of communicating the progress of the project and sharing good practice across the County. In addition our relationship with the Regional Development Service has been enhanced as they have been working with our Districts, particularly with new DC’s induction and providing the initial support for the production of District Development Plans.

Without doubt the project has had the effect of raising the profile of development across the County with each District now having a named person with the responsibility for Development in their brief. The identifying of these key people within the Districts who can act as liaison officers for development has been vital in trying to cope with the needs of a large County such as Hampshire. During the life of the project a number of our Districts have run Development workshops supported by the County Development Team.

In summary the result of our 3-year project is to have recruited 700 young people, 447 Adults and established 45 new sections and opened 13 new groups – half of Hampshire’s increase during the past three years. We are therefore very satisfied that the project has made a significant contribution to the growth of Scouting in the County and are keen to build on these very satisfying results but before I outline what is planned for the future can I just thank all those who have been involved in the project so far, the County Executive, The County Development Board members, the nominees in the Districts who have attended the workshops and all those Districts that have worked closely with us to ensure that we have done what we set out to do and give more young people the opportunity of being involved in Scouting.

For the future we submitted a new bid to continue the project for a further 3 years to the Development Grants Board last November and I am very pleased to say that it has just recently been accepted. Although the focus of the new project will still be on growth we are going to take the opportunity to target 3 main areas which are: 1)

Making a significant real reduction in the Counties waiting / joining list.

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Providing Scouting to a significant number of young people by satisfying the demand brought about through a number of new housing developments in Hampshire.

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By improving our growth through Diversity by recruiting members from hard to reach areas.

We will be continuing to employ Vanessa as our County Development Officer in order to help us achieve our objectives We are also very pleased to report that in January 2014 we received a grant of £4,000 from the Freemasons Grand Charity to assist in our endeavors of achieving growth. We have chosen to use this money to provide bespoke scout units for young people in care particularly hospitals and to provide an activity day at Ferny Crofts for Young Carers. The recently formed Pax Hill Scout Lodge has discussed the project and shown an interest in becoming involved in both parts of the project.

If anyone would like any further information about any of our development projects or about development in general please do not hesitate to contact Vanessa or myself.

Gordon Brakewell, Assistant County Commissioner for Development

e, r u t n e adv , t n e m p develo ent achievem & Fun!

2013 was another successful year for Ferny Crofts with income increasing by 9% to £424,558. This means Ferny Crofts has doubled its income in the last 6 years. A good achievement for any business!

More importantly it means we have been able to offer more young people even more fun and adventure in a beautiful Forest environment!

We used surplus from the last few years to make improvements on site, including upgrading the sewage system and putting in hard standing areas for mess tents. These hard standing areas were in direct response to the unprecedented weather in summer 2012. Thankfully this weather cycle wasn’t repeated in 2013 and many people enjoyed sunny camps!

We have developed a specialist “Survival Zone” area deep in the woods. We use this area to run our backwoods cooking, fire lighting, wood whittling and survival skills activities, which are proving increasingly popular.

Our new tented camps are up and running. This new facility allows us to accommodate more schools on site at our busiest times and has enabled us to provide more young people with fun and adventure at Ferny Crofts than ever before!

We continue to run popular training courses for adults and now include First Aid, Raft Building, Bushcraft, as well as NSRA, GNAS and Climbing.

We were blessed this year with a number of celebrity visitors, Captain Ketch – James Ketchell, launched his “round the world cycle challenge” from Ferny Crofts on 9th March. Ferny Crofts Gold Team along with other Hampshire Scouts joined him for his practice first leg down to the Hythe ferry.

Chris Packham received his Animal Carer badge at Ferny Crofts in September. He inspired many young people during his visit, taking time out to abseil down the mega tower – in the pouring rain!

The Open Day on 29th June was the best yet with over 60 people in Ferny Crofts gold t-shirts plus the support of many Hampshire activity groups and scout groups. We delivered over 2000 have-a-go activity sessions on the day and also secured fantastic press coverage for Ferny Crofts and Hampshire Scouting. Well done to the extended Ferny Crofts Team!

The Ferny Crofts team managed to get out and about quite a bit this year promoting Hampshire Scouting as well as Ferny Crofts. The New Forest Show was perhaps one of our bigger events with us providing fun activities for literally thousands of young people!!

We continue to concentrate our time on developing young people at Ferny Crofts by forging strong links with local Colleges and Universities. We offered over 25 work experience placements last year, which in turn helps to feed our Gold Team, Instructor base and Bursary.

The future of the Ferny Crofts bursary has been secured for the next 5 years through a legacy donation that funds 50% of the cost of this positive scheme for young people. We have also secured government and external funding for a Customer Service apprentice.

We have continued to work closely with local partners in particular The New Forest National Park and have been successful in securing funding from their Sustainable Transport Fund to upgrade our bikes and also provide funding for a new bike shed, work shop and attached toilet and shower facilities. This is all part of our “totally sustainable stay package” whereby people can arrive by train and then either hike or cycle around the New Forest.

All in all it has been another exciting year with lots happening to improve facilities and activities for our visitors with the continued aim of providing yet more fun and adventure for young people.

We couldn’t have done it without all the hard work of the staff, volunteers and supporters – thank you. We look forward to seeing you again soon for more fun and adventure!

Donna Neseyif, Centre Manager

Life is an Adventure.

Live it!

I’m very proud to say that this has been another active and adventurous year with the Hampshire Activity Team!

Starting with the County Activity Clubs/SASUs who are at the heart of the Activity Team and the envy of many other Counties! The Activity Team has seen both HEAT Bushcraft & Survival and Pro-Badge Scout Training move across from the Programme Team. Both are Active Support Units with a great deal of experience in what they offer both young people and adults. If your own sections are struggling with offering running ‘back to basic’ skills or some of the section activity badges then get in contact with these teams. The links to their websites can be found on the Activity Clubs page of the County website.

Both the Archery Club and Rifle Club have not only been busy with running their own County programmes but also run the National shooting and archery competitions which have increased in their popularity over the years.

My sincere thanks to both these teams as it’s a huge commitment which they cope with on top of their County support. The Caving Club experience days are also increasing in popularity and becoming booked up very quickly! The club wish to recruit more adults to take up this activity so if you do fancy an underground adventure, then get in contact with the team who run a regular club member programme on top of their open events.

In the autumn I met with all the activity advisers and club chairs to discuss the County Strategy and the objectives and aims set for the next 5 years. Hopefully in the coming months you will start to see some of the ideas come to fruition. In particular offering activity taster sessions free of charge, in fact the Hampshire Scout Mountaineering Team from July are running free navigation training days to teach adults the core skills of using a map and compass which is again one of those ‘back to basic’ Scouting skills.

Staying on the subject of the County Strategy and making activities more accessible and affordable, I’m pleased to say that we’ve now opened up the County Activity Instructor Grant scheme to those members who require financial assistance with gaining National Governing Body qualifications or Adventurous Activity Permits. I’m hoping that this will reduce some of the barriers which may put off members wanting to lead adventurous activities. This does seem to be the case as there has been an increase in those wanting assessment at the Water Activity Permit Assessment days that are run during the spring. Many thanks to Clive Aylett, Joan Veal, Steve Moore and the other assessors for running these opportunities.

Making activities more accessible also extends to residential experiences. This is the only activity where POR states a minimum amount of Nights Away experiences should be offered to young people. Mark Dolton and the

County Nights Away team have been running Nights Away Permit Assessment events for those who struggle to get assessed locally. The events are also an opportunity for new Nights Away Advisers to shadow an assessment and for anyone wanting to know more about the scheme to drop in and get advice from Mark and the team. More events are being organised for the autumn and spring so keep an eye out.

The Activity Team have also directly responded to the request from members about an Activity Skills Day for those wishing to learn new practical outdoor skills or refresh old ones. Amanda Stanley has been coordinating the day and by the time you have read this, hopefully many leaders will now have new skills to take back to their sections. We are also looking at running a similar event in the future for creative activities.

Last month Hampshire had the pleasure of running and hosting a Royal Life Saving Society Water Safety Management Programme course. The course is one of the appropriate qualifications to run swimming activities in open water. The feedback on the course was very positive, even after a very blustery and chilly practical session in Southampton Water! I’m hoping to make this course a regular on the County Activity calendar.

Finally, in February this year during the Winter Olympics we launched Suisse Adventure 2016 Winter! The Suisse Adventure trip usually takes place during the summer months but for 2016 there will be both a summer AND winter trip offering a different activity programme in the Swiss Alps. The winter trip will be focussed on snow sports which is something not many young people have the opportunity to take part in during their Scouting time.

The closing date for the winter trip is 1st July 2014 so Explorer Scouts and Scout Network have just a few more days left!

Mark Langdown, Assistant County Commissioner Activities

Adult Training 2013 was another good year for Hampshire Adult Training although we did have a slight decrease in the number of Wood Badges awarded over the number in 2012. However the numbers rose in terms of module certificate recognition through County & District run modules.

The number of Wood Badges gained in Districts in 2013 was 248 against 253 awarded in 2012. The number of module certificates issued to leaders was 1147, an increase of 26% over those issued in 2012 which was 906.

Fewer courses were cancelled due to low attendance than in previous years and the number of ‘no shows’ at training modules continues to reduce.

Our wonderful Trainers, as usual, were very supportive of all initiatives including the need to put in place and present at additional Workshops to cater for Safeguarding and Executive Training Sessions across the County.

We continue to recruit to increase the numbers of Training Advisers in each District and the number of Local Training Managers, so that we can offer training delivery support to all new leaders and ensure that our team mantra of LOVE is widely accepted.

In November 2013 we ran our third Hampshire Leadership and Management Residential weekend for District Commissioners & Group Scout Leaders who have been in post for up to 24 months. We have also planned a further weekend over 22/23rd November 2014 for the same cohort. Hampshire continues to lead in this area of Adult Training and is working with Gilwell to develop further this exciting initiative.

Once again my thanks go to my team and to everyone who supports Adult Training in Hampshire, you all do a great job, particularly as I know that in many cases Local Training Managers and Training Advisors in particular, have additional responsibilities elsewhere in Scouting. My thanks also to the County Commissioner and my colleagues in the Core Hampshire Team, whose comment and advice I always value.

Martin Rudd, Director of Adult Training

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Our Queen s ScoutS Hayley Bench Thomas Bosher Robert Chidwick Lee Craven Eleanor Dewhurst Kate Harvey Alexandra King

Frank Morsman Charles Nunn Kelly Parham Ben Parker Lauren Preston Thomas Redgrave Alastair Sawdy

James Sawdy James Snape Jack Youngs Jan Walukiewicz Gregory Wilgar Craig Wise

Alastair Sawdy received the Queen’s Scout Award from Mark Tarry, Deputy Chief Commissioner of England. Oeschinensee lake 2013.

Hampshire Scouts County

Canoe Club

While the Club maintains a membership of around 90 people, it has not been particularly active over the past year. This has in part been due to people either moving away, other commitments, illness and just plain lack of members signing up to events! There is a rolling programme with at least one event planned for each month. We have brought in a white water coach (a former Scout Leader) and “piggy back” on some events held by other organisations e.g. Upper Hamble Canoe Club, in an effort to get more members to attend events.

However, where the Club has been successful over the past year is in advising Groups, Sections and individuals on setting up, resurrecting or providing canoeing in their area. For example, 8th Alton Scout Group have been put in touch with Itchen South District Canoe Centre who are helping to train up several Leaders/Parents to take on and run kayaking for the Alton Group.

We have also been able to provide “Taster” sessions for individual sections that would otherwise go without or have to pay commercial rates for canoeing. While these were not the founding aims of the Club being able to help Scouters within Hants to get involved with, experience and develop canoeing can only be a good thing for County Scouting as a whole.

At the AGM 2013 it was decided to continue the Club in the current format and without a membership fee until our AGM in Autumn 2014 when the future of the Club will be reviewed.

While the Club is unlikely to fold in the short term, it may well change format so that costs can be illuminated to protect the limited financial reserves and reduce the administration burden e.g. Website.

The foundations are in place for the Club to become active and provide numerous advanced canoeing opportunities for Hampshire Scouters. What we will find out over the next year is whether there is a significant uptake of the events/trips/courses provided.

Richie Ross, Chairman

Scout Active Support

Scout Active Support is a Scout Section for adults aged 18 upwards who wish to use skills they have and develop new skills to support local Scouting.

We have a number of Scout Active Support Units at county level, including Bushcraft, Pro-Badge, Kaira Konko and a brand new unit for D of E support.

Bushcraft have supported a number of events, most recently the Linked In Camp in May, where they provided activities all day. These included making Paracord Woggles, Paracord Bracelets, Raffia, Willow Weaving, Throwing Tomahawks, Basic Knife Skills, Fire Lighting and Building Shelters.

Kairo Konko continue to support Scouting in Gambia. Congratulations to Marion Christmas on the award of her Silver Acorn in this year’s St George’s Day awards.

The Pro-Badge SAS manages the Activity Badge Training Scheme, which uses the resources of the Solent Scout Training Centre at Lyons Copse, to the best advantage of the Cub Scouts, Scouts, Explorer Scouts and Scout Leaders. The scheme provides training for badges that require predominantly outdoor Scouting activity or natural resources.

There are many local Active Support members across the County who are putting in fantastic work helping across the board with District Activities and it involves helping all sections from the Beavers right through to Network and the Leadership.

Active Support has been trying this year to encourage the Scout Network to join them for some social type activities we hope that with an open invitation for Networks to join us for the quiz in February 2015 we will be able to meet up with some of them and exchange ideas. The Network is the feeder group to Active Support after all if you look at the age ranges.

Thank you to all the members of Scout Active Support Hampshire for all the work you do in your districts and across the County. I know some of it comes as a last minute call to provide services and you rise to the challenge superbly. Well done!

Richard Spearing, Assistant County Commissioner Scout Active Support Hampshire (Sash)

e r i h s p m Ha Scout tions Expedi (HSX) Hampshire Scout Expeditions (HSX) are mounting an expedition to the South Pole in 2018.

The team, comprised of local Scout leaders are attempting to walk 700 miles unassisted to the South Pole and kite-ski the return journey. This journey is to inspire, empower and promote the values of Scouting through determination, self-motivation and co-operation. Along the way, the team will raise money for the Motor Neurone Disease Association and create a legacy fund for future Scout expeditions and it is hoped that with the involvement and support of all Scouts in Hampshire that this expedition will showcase the best that the county’s Scouts can achieve.

HSX Antarctica have had a pretty busy year: from training in the Alps in summer 2013, Scotland in winter and Norway a few weeks ago to meeting Bear Grylls at the Linked In camp at Ferny

Crofts in June. A recurring slot on BBC Radio Solent has meant that the team are advertising themselves to a wider audience and future events, such as H0014 will help to spread the team’s message; the past 12 months have seen great progress being made to achieve our ultimate goal.

Although several years away, the team are working hard now to prepare for the financial, logistical and physical challenges that this expedition poses.

Delivering a polar expedition is not straightforward and finance is a limiting factor, however the team have begun to contact relevant organisations for equipment and financial sponsorship, as well as understanding the intricacies of the expedition when on the ice.

The team would like to thank Southampton Solent University for their continued support in providing nutritional assessment and advice during our preparations so far and also Antarctic Logistics and Expeditions.

Want to keep up to date with the team’s progress? Check out our blogs at: www.hsx.org.uk/antarctica

Tom Robinson, HSX, Antarctica Expedition Leader

Photos

Thanks to our Hampshire Scouts Photographers: Pete Rawlinson, Helen Mack, Chole Hinton, Peter Marcus and Vanessa Slawson.

Contact us:

Hampshire Scouts The County Office, Ferny Crofts, Beaulieu Road, Beaulieu, Brockenhurst. SO42 7YQ t: 023 8084 7847 e: county.office@scouts-hants.org.uk Registered Charity Number: 1015788

www.hampshirescouts.org.uk