Hampshire Scout News - March 2019

Hampshire Scout News March 2019

About Us Hampshire Scouts provides adventurous activities and personal development opportunities for over 20,000 young people aged 6-25, promoting the physical, intellectual, social and spiritual well-being of the individual, helping them achieve their full potential.

Scouts take part in a wide range of activities as diverse as kayaking, abseiling, expeditions overseas, photography, climbing and zorbing. As a Scout you can learn survival skills, first aid, computer programming or even how to fly a plane. There’s something for everyone. It’s a great way to have fun, make friends, get outdoors, express your creativity and experience the wider world.

Get Involved To join the adventure of Scouting whether as an Adult or Young person then contact us at: www.scouts.org.uk/join e: county.office@hampshirescouts.org.uk or t: 023 8084 7847 Registed Charity Number: 1015788 Share your stories with us Do you have a story or success that you’d like to share? Help us to highlight and celebrate your achievements in growth, exclusivity, youth shaped and community – email us your team’s successes along with any photos of at least 1mb to: county.office@hampshirescouts.org.uk.

Our next deadline is 24th April 2019 for the May edition.

Photography Acknowledgements Where we can, we strive to acknowledge the owner or source of pictures used in this publication.

We use them under the terms ‘for Scouting use only’. If you would like pictures acknowledged, please let us know the owners name when submitting. Thank you.

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Contents 2. Thanks you 4. Volunteering Day, 1st Aldershot Scouts 6. Martin’s News 10. Camping Challenge 10. Service of Remembrance 11. New Forest South Chess Competition 12. Community Involvement & Impact 13. Free Event - Leader’s Rally 14. Bramshill District Remembers 15. Ferny Crofts High Ropes & Heritage Centre 16. Badges for wearing on our uniform 17. Update on YPERN

#SkillsforLife

18. 29th Immaculata Beavers 19. Gosport Gangshow 10th - 13th April 2019 20. We collected 200 pairs of shoes 21. Shooting News 22. Joe of the Antarctic 24. Gosport Kayaking Paddle Sport Courses 25. Target Sprint 2019 26. Kudu 28. Kudu Results 30. Peak Assault 32. Important changes to the Awards 34. Chameleon Camp

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On Founder’s Day 22nd Febuary, the birthday of Robert Baden-Powell, we’d like to say

Thank you to every adult volunteer across our county.

The work you do to enable young people with #SkillsForLife This does not go unnoticed.

You’re awesome!

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1st Aldershot Scouts

Volunteering Day at Rowhill Copse Nature Reserve

On Sunday 17th February 2019 several youngsters from 1st Aldershot Scouts were invited to join volunteers from Rowhill Copse Nature Reserve in Aldershot for a day of conservation work. Six Scouts, one young leader and two leaders met at the 55-acre nature reserve on the Aldershot & Farnham border for a day helping out in the site.

The copse is popular with families and local dog walkers, and has a diverse range of habitats (Heathland, Sphagnum bog, ponds, streams and Pine Woodland). It was a very sunny day and the young people were first given a safety briefing before embarking on a tour of the site where they learnt about different types of trees, what the volunteers do and various facts about nature and wildlife along the way. They were guided around the network of paths throughout the reserve and to the large field, (part of which is maintained as a natural meadow).

The Scouts then had the opportunity to take part in some of the physical conservation work on the habitat. They all enjoyed getting involved with coppicing (a traditional method of woodland management which exploits the capacity of many species of trees to put out

#SkillsforLife

new shoots from their stump or roots if cut down). The volunteers showed them how to peg down branches (ensuring the trees would grow towards the sunlight), they got involved with moving larger branches to build a barrier in the woods and they were also shown splitting wood with a mallet and wedges. The youngsters had a great day and were rewarded with six hours of community service which will go towards their World Challenge badge.

Local volunteers at Rowhill Nature Reserve Society (www.rowhillnaturereserve.org) meet up fortnightly to take part in Conservation work.

1st Aldershot Scouts currently have spaces for scouts aged 101/2 to 14 boys or girls, offering a varied program including various camps throughout the year and district events contact firstaldershotscouts@gmail.com to find out more...

Yours in Scouting Nathan Barham 1st Aldershot Scouts Assistant Leader

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Martin’s News A belated happy New year to everyone and I hope that since my last article in the September edition of HSN you’ve all been enjoying some brilliant Scouting. I hope that you enjoy this edition which, for the first time in Hampshire’s history, is being sent to every adult volunteer with an email address in Compass.

Joe Doherty – Hampshire Scouts Antarctic Explorer

Whilst there has been a considerable amount of Scouting going on across the county over the last few months, our biggest piece of news is that our very own Joe Doherty successfully skied to the South Pole and then kite skied back. What’s even more amazing is that Joe was the first Scout to ever do this. Not many people get to make history in their lifetime, but Joe has done just that. He returned to England on 29 January having left on the on 11 November. This is an amazing achievement and I know that many of you followed Joe’s progress over his 60-day adventure and that your young people have been doing the Hampshire Scout Expeditions Antarctica Challenge Badge. I hope you enjoy reading about Joe’s amazing trip of a lifetime and his ambition to help people to ‘find their own South Pole’. Please go to page 22 for Joe’s Antarctic article.

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Queen’s Scout Award

Over the last few months, I’ve had the pleasure of presenting four scouts in our County with their Queen’s Scout Award: Ben Whitty (Waterlooville), Dan Poyntz-Wright (New Forest West), Steven Osborn (New Forest North) and Sian Howell (Havant). Earning this award is an amazing achievement and I’m always enormously impressed by the level of commitment by those who take on the challenge of gaining this award. Well done to all of them and to everyone who supported them in doing so. I hope they have a great time at Windsor when they attend the Celebration and Achievement day.

Good luck to everyone else who is working towards this award or any others.

New members of the County Growth and Development Team

In my last article I told you that we were looking for two people to take on the job of County Growth and Development officers. Well, I’m pleased to say that our search was successful, and we now have Melissa Salisbury (left) and Katherine Dodds (right) on the County’s Growth and Development team. Both are working for us part-time alongside Vanessa Slawson our full-time GDO. They are already out and about providing support to groups and achieving some good results.

Early years pilots You may be aware that the Scout Association is piloting an Early Years scheme for 4 to 5 year olds over the coming few months. 20 locations in the country have been chosen after HQ received 705 expressions of interest. I’m pleased to tell you that 13th Southampton Group was chosen as one of the pilot locations and started with 16 ‘Hedgehogs’ in early February. We look forward with interest to hear how that goes.

#SkillsforLife

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Hampshire 110th anniversary

On 13 January we celebrated Hampshire’s 110th anniversary in two locations. The first was a fantastic affair held at the Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth where we invited lots of local dignitaries and Scouts to share a few hours together looking over the views of Portsmouth, Gosport and the Isle of Wight. The other event was held at the Westquay shopping centre which was more focussed on recruitment. Both events were incredibly successful, and my thanks go to Peter Marcus and Tom Bell, along with the young people who supported them, for their fantastic efforts. We have a 110th Anniversary Badge that can be earned by completing a number of tasks and already had over 2000 orders for the badges.

Project Boundary At the Autumn County Conference last October, the main topic was on Project Boundary: our look at how we lead, manage, deliver and support Scouting in our county, specifically at the district level, to find areas where we can improve so that we can make Scouting even better. Whilst I know that change is not something that we are all comfortable with, it’s clear that lots of discussions have been taking place to find areas where improvements can be made, which is great especially with a number of districts agreeing to work more closely together. If you haven’t seen the report and are interested in its findings, you can read it here.

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And finally I could fill pages of HSN with news about what’s been going on and the exciting things that are coming up, but I’ll leave others to do that. Please look out for upcoming County run events and activities such as the Beaver’s County Space Camp and amazing international trips in 2020.

Finally, good luck to our World Scout Jamboree 2019 and Project 19 units who are still working hard to raise money for their trips to the USA. I wish them all the very best as they build up to going away in July.

Happy Scouting.

Martin Mackey County Commissioner Hampshire Scouts #SkillsforLife

County Archivist - Newspaper Clippings For many years County Archives has been adding to the collection of newspaper cuttings of the Scouting activities of Groups, Districts and the County. Please send any clippings to: Ken Sherman, County Archivist, C/O, Hampshire Scouts, Ferny Crofts, Beaulieu Road, Beaulieu, Hampshire. SO42 7YQ

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Camping Challenge The Camping Challenge is open to all Explorers, Network and Leaders – the aim is to camp one night every month during 2019. The Extreme challenge involves camping in different ways – as part of a night hike (like the Kudu), in a hammock, sleeping underground, in a cardboard box, three people in a two-man tent and so on.

It is not too late to register as the minimum is to camp 12 nights in at least 10 months and you can continue into 2020.

You can register at: http://camping.hsawards.org/ So far we have had over 120 people register to take part!

Orlando Roake Top Awards Ambassador Camping Challenge Explorer Scout Basingstoke West – Denali Email: camping@hsawards.org

Service of Remembrance Sunday 2nd June 2019 10th Romsey Scout HQ

This will be the 27th service we have held to remember those in Hampshire Scouting who have “Gone Home”. Names may be submitted for those who have been with Hampshire Scouting in any capacity. This includes retired members, those serving, young people and Group or District members like Treasurers, Secretaries and Chairman and also Badge Secretaries.

All that has to be done, is to forward the name and the name of the District they served to Richard Spearing and nearer the time of the service, the DC’s or Active Support Unit Managers will be contacted to invite members of the family to attend the service to light a candle for them or if they are not available, then someone from the district is invited to do it instead. We also ask that a flag from the said district or group is at the service to remember them by.

We are concerned that news of this service is not getting round to all as in the last 26 years, one district has no names entered in the Remembrance book at all and some districts only have a couple of names. Names may be entered retrospectively should the need arise.

Contact Richard via email: richardspearing452@btinternet.com or give him a ring on 02392 382682.

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New Forest South District Chess Competition On Saturday 16th February, Milford on Sea and Keyhaven Cubs Scouts hosted the New Forest South District’s Chess Competition at their Scout hut. Cubs of all ages and abilities were welcomed from all the packs across the District.

The event was a great success! There were some nail biting moments as skill and patience were put to the test, but all Cubs who attended and parents said how much they had enjoyed it.

All participants were given a certificate and bag of sweets for taking part, this also contributed to the demonstrate element of their Hobbies Activity Badge.

Results Age 8 - 91/2 1st Place: Joshua - Hordle 2nd Place: Archie - Milford & Kethaven Age 91/2 - 11 1st Place: Toby - Sway 2nd Place: James - Milford & Kethaven A big well done to all of this weekends winners.

We wish Joshua & Toby lots of luck in the County Championship on the 30th March

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Community Involvement & Impact The term ‘Community Involvement/Impact’ in Hampshire Scouting, I have always seen as predominantly about that which happens around our Scout Groups situated in many instances, in the heart of the community. I am aware of course of the tremendous work that is put into the communities by many Groups including those initiatives that support vulnerable groups either of adults or young people alike.

In the past the County Team have out together cross County initiatives often in partnership with our Hampshire Guides, which have been supported by Districts and Groups. These included the very successful Queens Jubilee Project in 2012 and the more recent Making a Difference Together Week in 2017 where our combined organisations raised in excess of £12,000 for several Hampshire young people charities.

More recently as a County we have been working towards the launch of the Young People’s Emergency Response Network (YPERN), where Hampshire Scouting are ‘founder members’. This is in conjunction with Hampshire Fire & Rescue Service and Hampshire Police and Eastleigh District Council. Pilot Training has taken place and we will be launching County wide later in the year.

learning to swim, row, canoe, sail as well as normal activities. He was involved in forming the first Venture Sea Scout Unit in the Group and achieved his Queens Scout Award in 1983. He then became a Water Activities Instructor and Assistant Scout Leader. On leaving the area to start working life in Hampshire, he transferred and became an Assistant Scout Leader for a short time in Basingstoke. Jon later reconnected with Scouting in 2012 when he became a Founder of a Masonic Lodge for Scouts/Ex Scouts in the Area.

He recently finished full time work in HR and now works as a part time HR Consultant. Jon has been married to Lynn for 28 years and has ten Godchildren. He has been involved with community organisations all his life and as a volunteer with St John Ambulance, the Royal British Legion and the Freemasons. He also sits as a Magistrate in the Southampton Courts.

Jon said “Growing up, Scouting gave me ‘the skills for life I needed’ and he is looking forward to making a small contribution in same way in the future”.

The County Commissioner and I have asked Jon to lead on putting together a cross County Community Team via the cluster groups, and I do hope you will give Jon your support to The County will be launching it’s County Strategy do this. Jon will be contacting the Cluster soon and the Community Strategy will be leads over the next few weeks to talk through included and to do this I need to expand our our thoughts on the strategy and to look at expertise in this area. I am delighted therefore to suggestions for a County Community event announce that we have appointed Jon Whitaker later in the year. as a Community Ambassador to work with Hampshire Scouts to promote out 2019/2020 Community Strategy.

Martin Rudd Deputy County Commissioner Jon joined Scouting as a cub scout in Totnes, & Director of Community Involvement Devon in 1974 then joined the Sea Scouts there, Hampshire Scouts

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Calling all Hampshire Scouters

Free event Leader’s Rally 2019, 10am til 4pm, Saturday 30th March 2019 - Free Event To book a place, please click here At Stoke Park Junior School, Underwood Road, Bishopstoke, Eastleigh. SO50 6GR This event is open to all adult volunteers from all sections and you are welcome to come along and... ...Attend

a section meeting, Meet the County Commissioner, Find out what’s going on in the County, Visit stalls for programme ideas, Training & Media & County trips and much more.

Refreshments will be available from the WSJ team at a small cost.

No uniform needed – feel free to wear informal uniform if you wish.

For more information or if you would like a stall please contact: youth.programme@scouts-hants.org.uk

Bramshill District Remembers With the build up to the centenary of WW1 the Bramshill District Scouts made a trip to Ypres to pay our respects and bring some meaning to the events to our scouts.

The trip started by visiting the Menin Gate on our first evening. We had taken our colours to make a ceremony of laying our wreath but to our surprise and honour the colour party was invited to stand in front of the pipe band.

The Menin Gate was memorable for two Explorers and two Leaders invested after the service of remembrance.

The real education came from visiting the war cemeteries, starting at Bedford House. The Scouts went and found the headstones of former Scouts and Scout Masters fallen in the war. A small Scout marker was laid to respect their sacrifice. 5,210 men lie in this cemetery.

A trip to a preserved trench system, Bayernwald, allowed us to appreciate the conditions and lack of protection the soldiers had during the battles.

It was here that each member of the group was assigned a name. This person was a real ScoutSoldier or played a supporting role. After diving for cover in a mock artillery raid we learnt the fate of them, killed, injured or fortunate to survive the war.

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A visit to watch the play ‘Journey’s End’ in the evening finalised the understanding of the conditions and life living in the trenches.

Our final day allowed us to visit the town of Ypres before visiting the grave of 2nd Lieutenant Musgrave Cazenove Wroughton, a member of Baden-Powell’s first camp on Brownsea Island.

He went on to help in the setting up of the Scouting movement. We also had the privilege to pay our respects with one of the leaders at the grave of his great Grandfather.

The trip certainly helped the Scouts see the link of themselves to the war. The ages of the fallen, the number laid to rest in the handful of cemeteries we visited and the link to Scouts with many of the soldiers. Some were inspired to see if they had family links to the war.

I would like to thank the Leadership Team for their tireless work in making the trip happen and for all our Scouts and Explorers on the trip. The leaders had many comments on the impeccable behaviour of the youths and the way they represented UK Scouting in and out of uniform in Ypres and travelling to and from Belgium.

Peter Day 9th Bramshill

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High Ropes and Heritage Centre Opening Day Saturday 11th May 2019 An event specifically for Hampshire Scouts, to mark the official opening of the Hampshire Scouts Heritage Centre and Ferny Crofts new and improved High Ropes course. There will be four activity zones that groups will work across during the day.

The cost is ÂŁ5 per person and spaces are limited.

For more information, please visit our website: www.fernycrofts.org.uk/highropesandheritageopening2019

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Badges for wearing on our uniform Hampshire County Records Badges are appearing in the County for wearing on uniform which have not been sanctioned by the County Commissioner. Just to remind everyone as given on POR 10.33 the rules for the wearing of badges on uniform are: •

Occasional badges in respect of national programmes, activities or events may be worn as directed and for such periods as decided by Headquarters.

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Occasional badges for wear by Members of a Group, a District or County in connection with a special gathering, camp, event or anniversary must be approved by the County Commissioner to whom a drawing or specimen of the design must be submitted.

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Such badges must not be worn after a period of three months from the date of the conclusion of the occasion unless exceptionally authorised by the County Commissioner in respect of special circumstances for a further period not exceeding nine months.

These rules are also the requirement for Group badges in respect of the design being submitted to the County Commissioner before being produced. The three month rule does not apply.

Therefore, designs for a badge to be worn on uniform, including on a neckerchief, should be submitted to the County Commissioner for verification before it goes into production. When the badge is accepted and goes into production, one of the badges should be submitted to the County Office for inclusion in the County Records. This also includes designs which are directly embroidered onto neckerchiefs.

The designs submitted by Groups or Districts will rarely be denied by the County Commissioner, so long as the wording shows it to be of Scout origin or there is a Scout Arrowhead included in the design.

Commemorative Badges It would be appreciated that if a commemorative badge is produced for not wearing on uniform, such as a camp blanket, Gang Show event etc, that a badge is still provided to County Office so that the records for individual districts, groups and sections can be kept up to date. The County Records also try to have one nametape from each Group and section in the records. Your help with this would be appreciated.

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UPDATE ON

Young Peoples Emergency Response Network (YPERN)

The story so far is that for the last 18 months Adam Jollans and I have been working with Hampshire Fire & Rescue Service, Hampshire Police and the Hampshire Resilience Forum through the Emergency Planning Officer at Eastleigh Council to set this up.

This project is supported by the Lord-Lieutenant, Chief Constable and Chief Fire Officer and is something that people think will support the ‘services’ if an emergency happened anywhere in Hampshire – such as flooding or widespread snowfall. The areas of support that it is thought the ‘young people’ could support were given to us by the Hampshire Youth Council, clearly however, the age of those potentially involved would be 13+, but the decision and activation of any local response would be down to the local Leader in Charge/Network Leader/Administrator – for this role we now have a draft Role Description.

After much work on 6th February 2019 at Copythorne Scout HQ, we undertook a ‘trial’ training session, which was put together by the Fire Service, with several Cadet/Scout Leaders from the Police, Fire Service and Scouts taking part. We are now considering the feedback and will amend the training and related information in due course.

Why at Copythorne people will ask? Well apart from being ideally placed between Portsmouth and Ringwood (where two of the Cadet Units are based), in early 2018, the local Scout Group Stanley’s Own showed what could be done in an emergency click here to see BBC news report, so both Adam and I thought that it would be good as a Group to support this project by initially being where people had actually done something like it.

We will now look forward to organising a ‘pilot exercise’ in late Spring/early Summer to test deployment processes and structures, so lots more to come.

If any adult would like to be involved and in particular those with any ‘emergency support/response’ experience, please contact the undersigned.

Martin Rudd Deputy County Commissioner, Director of Community Impact martin.rudd@hampshirescouts.org.uk

#SkillsforLife

Adam Jollans Chair, Hampshire Scouts Expeditions adam.jollans@hampshirescouts.org.uk

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29th Immaculata Southampton Beavers On a weekend at the end of February the 29th Immaculata Southampton Beavers had a sleepover at the scout hut and enjoyed the amazing weather with a sponsored 5 mile walk, a journey around Mottisfont Abbey and plenty of fun!

Thanks to everyone who sponsored them on this adventure.

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We collected

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pairs of shoes!

10th Romsey Scout Group As part of the World Challenge badge for his Gold Chief Scout Award, Matthew Taylor, from the 10th Romsey Woodley and Crampmoor Group organised a community project for the Troop to take part in.

I heard about a charity that collects shoes for school children in Tanzania. Due to a parasite in the ground, children can not go to school if they don’t have shoes as the parasite can cause blindness. I designed a poster, wrote an article for our Group Newsletter and put a box in the Scout HQ. for the whole Group to donate their shoes. My Scouter Dave and the Group Scout Leader Ian were really supportive. Everyone joined in so we had shoes from the Beavers right through to Explorers.

Over four weeks in September, our scout Group collected over 200 pairs of shoes.

I went to help pack the shoes to send to Tanzania. I met Judith who is the Chairman of the Charity, Friends of St Anne’s Hospital in Liuli.

She told me that she had been supporting the schools and communities near Luili in Tanzania for 25 years. The Charity collects all sorts of items to send to Tanzania, from shoes to school uniforms to bicycles. Medical equipment can be sent, along with blankets, tools, toys and games.

Every Tuesday Dean, Daryl and Annette meet to pack boxes of donations. I helped the team pack the items. We had to put the same age of shoes in one box as they can be sent to a school of the

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right age. We also packed school uniform. The items are packed, wrapped in black plastic to keep them dry, allocated to a school, and given a value so an insurance claim could be made if the ship sank. The Charity has to pay for shipping so also does fundraising to cover those costs.

All the boxes are packed and stored in Eastleigh until there is a container full. We packed 6 boxes that night, and then the Group donated some more shoes so I went and packed about another 8 boxes later in October.

In total we have 150 boxes packed for the container but the container takes 450 so there is still more to do.

Judith and the team have worked with these communities in Tanzania for 25 years. Lots of people can be really generous with giving items, but not many people put in the hard work to do the packing.

I really enjoyed working with the team as they were really welcoming and wanted me to help, which made me feel as if the shoes we collected were really important. I am really pleased that we collected the shoes as a Group because it will really make a difference to people in Luili.

Matt Taylor Patrol Leader, Cruseo Scout Troop, 10th Romsey

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We had a brilliant day at Hampshire Pride on Saturday 23rd February!

Teaching young people Skills for Life is what we’re all about - and it was encouraging to talk with people about becoming an adult volunteer.

Shooting News

2nd or 3rd March – County Competition, Hiltingbury Southampton, TBA 13th April – Field Target, TBA 11th May – Target Sprint, Romsey 8th June – Sports Crossbow Taster Session, TBA All details and entry forms can be found on www.hampshirescoutrifleclub.org.uk Taster Sessions for .22 rimfire (smallbore) are available. Visit the Hampshire Scout Rifle Club website for details of how to book.

Taster Sessions for Air Rifle are available in all districts and can be booked through the County Shooting Advisors again visit the website for details.

Training Dates for courses will be available soon. If you want to register your interest for training email training@hampshirescoutrifleclub.org.uk.

If you would like to get involved or have young people who want to take up air rifle shooting as a sport contact your County Shooting Advisor for details of a club near you.

#SkillsforLife

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Joe of the Antarctic

Antarctica 2018

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The expedition that has been 7 years in the planning for HSX is now complete. It took 61 days to complete a 45 day ski to the pole covering 916km and then 16 days to return using kites and cover 1128km. Covering 2044km in total in the harshest environment on the planet to become the first Scout in the world to ski to the South Pole and kite ski back. I feel extremely proud to be a Hampshire Scout and to have worn the Hampshire necker whilst I was standing at the South Pole.

Imagine dragging a 100kg sled for 8 hours a day, with only a 10 minute break every 1hr you ski for. And in that break you get cold from the -45 degree temperatures you encounter and then you have to force down 300kcal in that 10min break. Combine that with winds up to 40mph and snow conditions that are either super soft or filled with sastrugi (Wind shaped snow) that can be the sizes of cars and small houses. That is exactly what was faced skiing to the South Pole, all the while you have to build your home (A tent) in these conditions, boil water and eat dehydrated food and add 50g of butter to get enough calories into the meal. Then sleep in a country where the sun never sets and get up take down your home and repeat the process. This was only halfway in my journey and soon I had to kite ski back even further than I did to get to the pole. Kite skiing was right on the edge of amazing fun to shear terror, travelling as fast at 45kmph over huge sastrugi and covering 225km on our fastest day it was mental! but on the other side of it we were also stuck in the tent more than one way there due to a lack of wind or too much wind. This could be extremely frustrating and by the end of the expedition we were cutting it close to being able to complete the expedition!

It was the hardest thing I have ever done, every day having to work extremely hard to accomplish a never ending task of skiing in the white room. It was as if I was on a treadmill, I didn’t feel as though I was moving anywhere at all just stuck in one place. It was painful, tiring, exhausting and tedious. But Scouting had given me the life skills I needed to get through all of those challenges and set backs that I faced along the way. Without these vital skills and the attributes that you learn along the way I would have given up on the ice. This has been a once in a life time opportunity for me, but I want this to become an opportunity that anyone can attain.

I found ‘my South Pole’ all those years ago and was supported and mentored in the right ways to accomplish the dream that had been set out. HSX will set up a scheme called ‘my South Pole’ which will deliver talks free of charge to all Scouts across Hampshire at set locations and enable them to meet people who have accomplished their South Pole and give them the tools and experience to accomplish their own.

Joe Doherty Antarctica 2018 Hampshire Scout Expeditions (HSX)

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2019 COMPETITION

21 Romsey Scout HQ, Joe Bigwood Close, Nursling, Souhampton. SO16 0YL st

This year is planned to be a weekend event.

Saturday - Scout and Open competition inc.

British Shooting National Series Qualification 49.5mm targets.

Then Sunday will be a GB Ranking Event / Super League on 35mm targets.

11th May 2019 Scout / Open & National Series

Entry £11.25 via EventBrite

12th May 2019 GB Ranking Event/ Super League

Entry £21.91 via EventBrite

A targetsprint safety certificate is required to participate in either event these can be obtained on the day at a cost of £5 per person or in advance from a local targetsprint leader.

www.targetsprint.org.uk

Kudu Trophy 2019

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The Kudu Trophy is an annual overnight incident hike for Explorer and Network Scouts. This year the event took place at Vernham Dean near Andover with 17 Explorer and 2 Network Teams entering. There are 3 levels to the competition: Bronze which is about 6 miles, Silver which is 8 miles and Gold which is 10 miles; each with more challenging bases and routes.

We arrived and pitched our tents, then we had our kit checked to make sure we were well equipped for the hike, and I met the rest of my team – there were two of us from Basingstoke Denali and we joined with three others from Petersfield District (Drum ESU). We hadn’t met before!

We left at 19:30 along our planned route – we had to complete 8 challenging bases and find 4 orienteering clippers during the hike.

The challenges included: •

Carrying a poppadum around the course without breaking it

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Building a structure with poles to hold a lamp 5 meters in the air

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Rescuing a heavy dummy from a chalk pit.

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Tacking up a horse (a model, not a real one!)

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Dealing with a bleeding casualty

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Directing sheep (our team blindfolded) into a pen

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Gold panning

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Sending a message using Morse Code

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Getting across a mine field marked out on the ground

During the hike we had a timed section between two bases which included going over a giant hill fort – it was incredibly windy and foggy at the top the hill and we needed to pick up three orienteering clippers on route. We decided to run all the max to get maximum points – which was really tiring as we had already walked about six miles. We had to take care to not loose anyone or miss the clippers as visibility was down to a few meters. Luckily, we found all of them and when we got down the hill we were able to have a rest while we waited for another group to complete a base.

Once we had completed all the bases and got all the clippers, we walked back which took way longer than it did when we first set out. Once we were back (it was about 2:30 in the morning) we had hot chocolate and cake. Sadly, we didn’t get many points for the poppadum as we broke it before we even left the building! Once we where done drinking hot chocolate and chatting to the other groups about how they thought they had done we went to bed (we thought we had come last!).

We woke up having had very little sleep and put our tents down and went inside for a Bacon sandwich. We discovered that we had won the Explorer Kudu Trophy! We were very surprised and happy as we stepped up to receive the trophy as a team. Then I said farewell to my team and everyone took their bags and left.

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Kudu Results The winners of the competitions were: Bronze Southampton City (mixed units) Silver Itchen North Hunter ESU Gold Kudu Trophy Explorer Petersfield Drum ESU & Basingstoke Denali ESU (mixed team) Gold Kudu Trophy Network Portsmouth Crusader Network

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Network Kudu winners Portsmouth Network

Explorer Kudu winners (Petersfield & Basingstoke West)

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Peak Assault

A Mountain Micro-adventure in October

It’s nearly midnight. You wake up with a start.

You fell asleep in a minibus on the motorway and now you don’t know where you are – or even where you are heading. There’s darkness outside which could be mountains. When you get to your destination you know you’ll have to pitch your tent in the dark and try and get some sleep…

The early morning mist on the hills has cleared, and you can see the whole route laid out before you from the summit. A quick stop for lunch and high energy food, and a chance to re-plan which checkpoints you’re after. A team of hill marshals visits you and checks you’re all fit before bounding off into the distance.

Five hours later. It’s still dark outside. Time to get up and prepare your backpack for the day ahead.

Full English breakfast, route planning and kit check. Departure photo with your team. It’s just starting to get light and you can see the shapes of the mountains starting to appear. That’s where you’re heading, and this is Peak Assault.

It all started back in April when your leader mentioned Peak Assault to your Unit – a weekend’s orienteering in a surprise mountain location. They had enjoyed it some years earlier as a Hertfordshire Explorer Scout – and now it was open to Hampshire Explorers as well. It looked like a good project to aim for post summer expedition. Then there was a whirl of training at You’re in a team of four Explorers, with an the HQ, an evening advising you on kit for subexperienced adult accompanying you as your zero temperatures, and a weekend trip to the mountain guide. But all the decisions are going to Brecon Beacons to get experience of hill walking. be yours. Which checkpoints to visit, what route to take, how close you can time your arrival at Late afternoon. The sunshine has gone and the the overnight camp to avoid time penalty points. clouds are scudding across the sky. The first You’re up onto moorland now, and the microsnowflakes are falling but you are on your way navigation you learnt is proving its value. You down to the overnight camp. As are fifty other found the first two checkpoints easily, but now teams, some already putting up their tents and the third seems to be well hidden. cooking dinner. You catch up with the Explorers

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you met on the minibus and also meet new teams.

Sunday morning. Far too early and outside the tent it’s freezing. Breakfast is again cooked for you, but you’re keen to strike camp and get back up on the hills for another four hours. Today’s there’s low cloud and route-finding is more challenging. The snow showers have returned.

Final descent back to base camp, and every team is cheered as they reach the finish line. Strike camp, change into uniform and it’s the closing ceremony. The snow is coming down thick and fast, and you’re glad to get into the minibus.

It’s late afternoon. You wake up with a start. You fell asleep in a minibus and for a moment you don’t even know whether you’re heading home or still en route to the mountains. You’re looking forward to a hot shower and a proper meal. But half of you is already missing the mountains.

You fumble for your phone and enter: www.hertfordshirescouts.org.uk/upcomingevents/peak-assault, and start dreaming of next year’s Peak Assault.

Adam Jollans Hampshire Scout Expeditions (HSX)

For more information or to discuss entering a team for Peak Assault in October 2019, please contact: fiona.durrant@hotmail.com or chris.slater@hsx.org.uk Hampshire’s participation in Peak Assault is supported by HSX.

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Important changes

To the Good Service, Gallantry, Meritorious Conduct Awards and Cornwell Scout Badge

Please Remember there have been big changes to the award processes and to change the way Awards are supported at a National level. Key Changes are: • Decision making for some awards has moved from a national level to a local District and County level.

• Local Awards Advisory Groups must be formed to support the decision making for awards in each District. The County now has a County Awards Advisory Group (CAAG).

• Guidance has been created to ensure that decision making is consistent across the UK Scouting • The St George’s Day 1st September deadline has been removed and replaced with quarterly cut off dates for submission of award decisions and applications for review at a National Level - see below.

• A National Awards Advisory Group is now formed to make decisions on awards not decided on locally.

Main Changes: 1 District Commissioners can now agree the Chief Scouts Commendation for Good Service (CSCGS) and the Award of Merit (AoM) to do this they need to: a. To nominate someone for either the CSCGS or the AoM, complete the Nomination Form (see link below) with as much information as possible and pass it to the nominee’s Commissioner or the local/District Awards Advisory Group (if one is in place).

To download Nomination form for the Chief Scout’s Commendation for Good Service and The Award for Merit click here. b. Nominations for these Awards go direct to Gilwell Awards, please do not send or copy the County Office.

2. County Commissioners can now agree the Bar to the Award of Merit and Silver Acorn. a. To nominate someone for The Bar to the Award for Merit or The Silver Acorn, complete the Nomination Form (see link below) below with as much information as possible and pass it to the nominee’s Commissioner or the local/District Awards Advisory Group (if one is in place).

To download Nomination form for the Bar to the Award for Merit and Silver Acorn click here. b. All Award nominations for County approval or recommendation should be sent to awards@hampshirescouts.org.uk. They should not be sent anywhere else.

3. Nominations for other Awards can be made i.e. Chief Scouts Personal Awards, Gallantry and Meritorious Conduct Awards etc. to do this please refer to the Scout Association’s website under

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Awards and Recognition.

4. From now on there will be four cut-off dates per year for the notification of awards approved by local Scouting, together with nominations for any Awards to be considered by the National Awards Advisory Group.

Any applications/notifications received after the date will be processed for the next date, the proposed dates are as follows:

Proposed application/HQ notification cut off dates

Awards processed/dispatched

Upload to Compass (60 days after dispatch)

31 March* 2019

By mid-May

Mid-July

30 June 2019

By mid-August

Mid-October

30 September 2019

By mid-November

Mid-January

16 December* 2019

By mid-February

Mid-April

All Silver Wolf, Bar to Silver Acorn, Silver Acorn, Gallantry, Meritorious Conduct and Cornwell Scout Badge recipients approved during the calendar year (January - December) will be invited to Windsor, A day of Celebration the following calendar year. *exact date may move slightly year on year depending on Easter and Christmas.

Of course, these changes will always take a time to get used to, so please if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact the undersigned.

Martin Rudd Deputy County Commissioner Chair County Awards Advisory Group (CAAG) February 2019.

Illustrations taken from Sea Pie by Gilcraft, George Phillip & Son, Ltd. The London Geograhical Institute.

TYPES OF FIRES

Reflector Fire, good for roasts

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Log Cabin Fire

Crane Fire

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Chameleon Camp Saturday 29th June 2019

Ferny Crofts Scout Activity Centre

This camp will give all young people an opportunity to succeed. It is specifically designed for participants with special needs who can benefit from a total inclusion experience. Chameleon Camp is open to all young people aged 6 to 18 years.

The day will run from 10:00am - 4:00pm.

Each participant can bring along one friend/young family member to experience the day with.

The cost is ÂŁ5 per person.

For more information on the event and participant eligibility, please visit our website: www.fernycrofts.org.uk/chameleoncamp Contact us: fernycrofts@fernycrofts.org.uk tel: 02380 845 092