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Over 450 new members in Derbyshire help take Scouting’s numbers to highest this century Annual census: Scout numbers in Derbyshire now stand at almost 9,500. UK membership now stands at over 525,000, up 3.2% on 2011. Nationally “Young Leaders’ Scheme” reaches 10,000; with 250 in Derbyshire. 372 young people and 84 adult volunteers joining Derbyshire Scouts in the past twelve months have helped take the number in the UK to its highest this century. The news comes as details of The Scout Association’s annual census are published today. Scouting in Derbyshire has grown by 5.1% in the past twelve months, helping take total UK membership to 525,327. Total numbers in Derbyshire now stand at 9,473. This impressive surge in membership – the seventh consecutive year of expansion – has helped cement Scouting as the UK’s largest co-educational youth Movement. Growth has been achieved across all age ranges but especially the youngest Beaver Scout section, which now accounts for over 2,000 6-8 year olds in the county. The teenage Explorer Scout section is also enjoying a significant boom, with growth of almost 8% taking numbers to 720. This includes over 250 that have signed up to the Young Leader scheme, through which Explorer Scouts volunteer as Leaders in the younger sections of the Movement. Those involved in the scheme are offered full training, helping them to develop and grow as individuals while aiding the personal development of other young people. Furthermore, the skills involved in leadership – such as communication and time planning – can be transferred to other environments like the workplace. Scouting provides an enormous range of adventures for young people, allowing them to experience the great outdoors and it is believed that this is a key reason for the surge in member-
ship. There are more than 200 activities available from abseiling to zorbing, and Derbyshire Scouts has recently set up specialist teams of volunteer instructors to provide caving, mountain biking and power kiting activities. Explorer Scout Matt Swain said: “I get a lot out of Explorers, catching up with friends, going on camps and expeditions. Meeting the Chief Scout Bear Grylls was exciting. I also love having the chance to pass on my scouting skills to the younger generation when I help as a young leader.” Chief Scout Bear Grylls said: “It is so great to see Scout numbers rising in Derbyshire and a big reason for this is the number of teenagers joining the adventure. More and more young people are realising that Scouting offers them so much - whether its the opportunity to go on a big international adventure or the chance to learn and hone vital life skills. “I am also excited to see so many young people have committed their time to give back as Young Leaders. Leadership in Scouting offers so many personal rewards and practical benefits, and so many employers nowadays recognise these as being both empowering and work/life-enhancing. There truly is something for everyone in the world of scouting.” However, despite success in recruiting over 80 new volunteers during the past year, Derbyshire Scouts is appealing for more adults to consider donating some of spare their time to ensure that they are able to keep pace with increasing demand from young people. One recent recruit, Richard Bramley, said: “Both my children are scouts and when their leaders asked for help, I was happy to get involved. I saw the exciting activities they are involved with and accompanied the Cub pack on their summer camp. When I heard the leader wanted to move on, I thought long and hard about volunteering. It was daunting at first, but the support I have had both from the young people, parents and the other Leaders has been phenomenal.”
urn hire Tom’ssioT ner, Derbys
mis County Com Scout Council ty n Cou When Tom asked me to write an article for this edition, I did not realise that it was going to be so difficult – not for working out what to include, but with so many good news stories and achievements happening in Derbyshire at the moment, how to fit it all in - impossible! Derbyshire’s census figures are truly stunning with an increase of over 5%. Well done to Rita and everyone who has worked so hard on Development throughout the County. We have a great “product” and one that young people want to be a part of so let’s continue recruiting more members across all age groups and reduce our waiting lists. Let’s see if we can increase our numbers again in 2013. Sally and the training team have been working very hard to ensure that we make it as easy as possible for leaders to complete their training. One of the main comments nationally is the requested for more flexibility and availability of mid-week training as well as provision of training from a variety of venues to reduce leaders travel. This is something we have been trying hard to address in Derbyshire over the last 2 years. We would like to thank members of the training team who have embraced the extra commitment needed to make it possible by taking training courses out and about making it easier for people to attend training courses. In Derbyshire we must be doing something right as results from the National Learners survey showed that the County to be above average in many areas: quality of training, use of different methods of learning, access to Training Advisers, variety of methods used for validation and evidence of prior learning used. This is further evidenced by the increase in the number of Wood Badges gained – up from 79 in 2009 to 91 in 2011. It would be great if we could have over 100 Wood Badges awarded in 2012. We hope that the Training Advisors throughout the county will encourage and support Leaders in completing their training obligations. Lesley and her team at our County Camp Site at Drum Hill have been working very hard upgrading the facilities at the site. Recently we have been very fortunate to receive a grant
from Tesco’s that has enabled us to have installed a new access platform for the abseil tower. This improvement, costing over £20,000, provides easier access to the tower and we are already seeing the benefits in that we have a faster throughput which means more abseils for the young people. In the future they hope to add further faces to the tower. Spring Bank Camp is full once again and everyone at Drum Hill is looking forward to a great “Jubilee” camp. I am sure that you cannot have failed to see at least one of the Counties media streams whether it is an edition of K.Scout, or you have followed us on Face book or Twitter or received your weekly copy of K. Scout Plus. Dan and his team have improved the communications immensely with timely and easy to read information. If you have not signed up yourself yet to receive K.Scout Plus, please register your e-mail address on our website and encourage all your leaders to sign up as well so that you will be kept up to date with news from Derbyshire Scouting. Dan has also been able to set up contacts with a number of local newspapers who are all keen to publish regular items on Scouting to help us raise our public profile. However he is unable to write local items for all the publications. What Dan needs is a network of District media contacts to keep the press up to date. Could I please ask that every District appoints a local contact and forwards their details to Dan? I have recently started some work with other youth organisations in Derbyshire under the banner of “Youth United”. This work should see us being able to share good practice and to use each other’s specialist skills and facilities. Scouts have already benefited from being a member of Youth United as we have been offered tickets for the Queen’s Jubilee Concert outside Buckingham Palace. Seven lucky members from Derbyshire Scouting have tickets to the “must see” concert of the summer. I am sure they will all have a fabulous time. I am running out of space but, as you can see, Scouting in Derbyshire is moving forward in all directions – thank you to everyone who makes it all happen on a weekly basis and keep up the great work! Stephen
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K.Scout is the Newsletter of the Derbyshire County Scout Council. All contributions and photos gratefully received and should be sent to news@derbyshirescouts.org for inclusion. Deadline for next issue: 20th September 2012!
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Caving Day For Leaders The caving team are running a come a try caving day for Adult Leaders on Sunday 15th July. Basically this is an opportunity for Adult Leaders to try something new without have any pressures put on them, please contact Mik at caving@derbyshirescouts.org if you are interested and when Mik has had some responses he will let people know a venue and time to meet. This will be a great opportunity and a good laugh, also it won’t be to hard going as it will be an introductory trip.
Activity Skills Database The activity team are attempting to put together a database of skills across the County. Do you have a skill? Examples could be: balloon animals, circus skills, survival skills, fencing etc . If so please get in touch with the activity team on www.derbyshirescouts.org
Duck Race For Denmark Please help support Derbyshire Scouts & Guides who are fundraising for a trip to the Denmark Jamboree 2012 and buy a ticket for the “Duck Race”
Approx. 500 ducks will be released down the Trent on 23rd June, prizes on offer include: £40.00 worth of food and drink vouchers for The Trent Lock Inn a free 3 day VIP family day pass for The Village Hotel a 16gb USB Drive a bath gift set Ice skating passes to the National Ice Arena Nottingham 2 tickets to a DCFC match some goodies from Alfie Loves Cupcakes £10.00 to spend at Georges Fish and Chip Shop. Also, Contingent badges are for sale at £1.50 each and Wristbands in red, white & blue at £1.00 each, to raise much needed funds for contingents trip to Denmark in July. If you would like Duck Race tickets, contingent badges and wristbands then please contact Nigel & Julie Tattersall at the 147th Derby Scout Group on 01332 544980
Astakos Adventure A new and exciting competition for scouts in Derbyshire, run by Helios ESU (the ones with the lobster…) When is it? 6 – 8 July 2012. Where is it? Walesby Forest Campsite Full details? www.astakos.org.uk
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Foxwell Trophy Competition
The Foxwell Trophy is a Scouting Skills Competition held annually at Drum Hill Campsite and is we think the oldest trophy awarded in Derbyshire -this year is its centenary.
The 147th Derby (3rd Ockbrook and Borrowash) were the winners. The joint runners up were 20th Derby “B” Team.. 149th Derby
The trophies were presented by Tom Stoddart County Commissioner. Whilst this is a competition, the
organisers are happy to help those who do not yet have the knowledge to win so they may go away a little better equipped than when they arrived. Several of the judging team commented on the excellent attitude and the positive personality of many of those taking part. On Sunday 13th May a record number of 24 teams from Derby’s three districts entered to take part in a patrol competition, testing their Scouting skills. During the day they were required to show their knowledge of fire lighting, axe and saw, tent pitching, 1stAid, orienteering and pioneering.
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Alton Towers Camp 2012 Alton Towers Camp is Derbyshire Scout Network's popular annual theme park camp, a social event open to everyone in scouting aged over 18. For 2012, we're looking for new people to join the team that organises and runs the event. We would be particularly interested to hear from Network members that are willing to get involved, but anyone that has time or skills to offer is welcome to put their name forward. It is a great opportunity to get involved in organising a large scale event, whether its for the first time or you have years of experience that you can bring to the table. For anyone joining the team, there is the support of the existing organisers who have several year's experience of the event but are looking for fresh ideas and input. A lot of work goes on behind the scenes to make an event like this a success, and we're looking for people that are willing to help with any of these tasks. Including: event promotion, entertainment/activities, site/ equipment, catering, bookings,
answering queries, finance, bar, safety/ first aid, etc. At this stage, we're primarily after people that are willing to take on an aspect of the event to organise - although additional staff to help run the event during the weekend itself (e.g. bar staff, first aiders) will be recruited nearer the time. Please get in touch via atc@derbyshirenetwork.org.uk if you are interested.
As we speed through this term, no doubt many of us will be turning our thoughts towards our summer holidays. This summer we will see Scout Groups and Explorer Units from across the County travelling to Holland, Denmark, France and Switzerland although Belper District get the prize for the furthest journey as they head off to the USA. We wish them well and a safe journey, as they carry our Group, District and County badges overseas. If you are not on this list which is celebrating this great event but also the rest of the Commonwealth. Have a look at www.thecommonwealth.org for ideas. then I don’t know about you and we will need to get the paperwork sorted as quickly as possible please. We also have our own County contingent of Explorer Scouts representing us at Denmark Jamboree 2012 and a County contingent of Scouts going to BrumJam. They have been supported by the Peak International Fund and are representing many of your Districts. Our thanks go to the leaders: Nigel, Julie, Graham and Jo who are taking them. Both units are joint with Girlguiding and when I met the Denmark youngsters at their first training weekend I couldn’t tell who was who. I am sure that most of you have planned this term’s programme and included our major Global event of the year, the Olympic Games. Please note that while The Scout Association is permitted to use the ‘Inspired by London 2012’ mark in for Our Sporting Adventure, there are strict controls set by LOCOG, the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games, on the use of this and words such as ‘Olympics’, ‘Games’ and ‘2012’. You should therefore avoid using these in the names of local events and initiatives. Please refer to https://members.scouts.org.uk/documents/ Noticeboard/111111/guide-to-protected-gamesmarks.pdf for full details. How many of you have celebrated the Queen’s Jubilee yet? Don’t forget that there is another Global opportunity here as it is not only the UK
Let me know what exciting programmes you get up to by sending me an article or photos to accinternational@derbyshirescouts.org and you could be starring in the next issue of International News in K.Scout. Here are some programme ideas for the rest of this term: Try cooking Fairtrade bananas and chocolate or maybe you’ll need a nice cup of Fairtrade tea or coffee perhaps with Fairtrade. There are lots of useful ideas in this link: http:// www.fairtrade.org.uk/includes/documents/ cm_docs/2011/C/CS0002_F2012_Action% 20guide%20for% 20organisers_DOWNLOAD.pdf What about tidying up around your meeting place on World Environment Day on 5th June. Beavers could think about Paddington Bear during Refugee Week 2012 which is going to be from the 18th to the 24th of June. After all he arrived in a foreign country without anyone to look after him. Finally would you be interested in joining in with a World Scout Jamboree on the Internet (JOTI) event this year (20th/21st October)? So far it is an idea but I am wondering if there would be interest in an event where different groups sign up for a session across the 24 hours to enable us to put Derbyshire on the Global Scouting map. Perhaps we might want to combine this with a camp. Any thoughts to me please. Simon, ACC(International)
2011 saw a record number of wood badges issued for the county and requests have continue to filter their way through to me during the first part of 2012. Numbers booked on courses also continue to rise but we do have to continually review the training diary to make sure it meets everyone’s needs to please make sure you book early and check details on the county web site because we have had to change some venues and course dates due to unforeseen circumstances. The latest programme is featured on the last page of this Kscout. Head Quarters also continue to update the Modules with the most recent changes being that Module 13 is now called ‘Developing the Section’ and Module 21 is now ‘Developing the Movement. This has also affected some of the validation requirements for these modules
which can be found in the Training Advisers Guide. Unfortunately the Adults’s Personal File has not yet been updated. We are also currently in the process of planning some extra training sessions to meet demand in specific areas so please look out for further information on the following: Module 9 – Derby Area Module 16 and Sleepover Skills Day In order to make sure training is available across the county we continue to look for volunteers to help support leaders through the training process. If you are interested in a role within the training team – even if you can only spare an hour a week! Anything from delivering a Training session to QM for training equipment to Training Adviser for new leaders – we need you!
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Griffin g.....Kirotinve, Derbyshire Introduocuin ta n th Represe
Y Nominated
Hi, My name is Kiron Griffin and I am the new Derbyshire NYR (Nominated Youth Representative), which basically means that I am the Youth Representative on the County Executive Committee.
This year, for the first time, we are having a mid-year presentation - at Spring Bank Camp at Drum Hill – 2nd June. Presentations this time will be made by our Regional Commissioner Dean Smith.
Dragon Awards continue to grow in popularity, we have seen Bronze Awards presented to 21st Ilkeston and 1st Willington over the last few weeks. If you are still not sure how to get your Scouts started, just go to the County website and download the forms to get you started. If still in doubt, talk to your ADC-Scouts. As we get towards summer, it’s hard to think of that when we had up to a metre of snow in some parts of Derbyshire just a month or so ago! - preparations are in place for a number of trips overseas. It would be really interesting to share some of your experiences here in future editions of K.Scout.
Although I have only been in position for 6 month, I have already seen so much as the NYR: from attending the National Scout AGM in London to helping out at the Big Weekend. One thing I am trying to learn from other counties is how to increase youth participation at county level – so that young people get a voice in executive decision made in Derbyshire. One very successful idea was a Youth Council, which was originally set up in Hampshire. Tom Stoddard and I have been discussing how we can set up a similar council here in Derbyshire. Derbyshire Youth Council will be a group made up of 2 or 3 representatives from each District in Derbyshire. We will meet every 6 months to discuss issues relating to Derbyshire scouts, but participants will also have the chance to meet likeminded people and have great fun as well! This is where you can help us! We are looking for keen scouters between the ages of 13 and 18 to join this group and represent your district. This is a great opportunity to make sure that your opinions and voices are heard. We are in the final stage of planning this, but shortly information will be sent to District Commissioners, so – WATCH THIS SPACE!