Diary Dates

It was good to see several Beaver Leaders at the County Skills Day at Walton Firs last week, I'm sure that those who came went away with some new ideas.

Sunday 6th April is the Bike and Scooter ride in Morden Hall Park. We will meet at DHQ Morden Hall Park at 1.45pm. Please make sure that the Beavers can ride the bike that they bring and it is the appropriate size for them.

Message from Linda:  If anybody does not get Minutes of the Beaver Leaders meetings and would like a copy please contact Linda Vaudrey with your email address or send her some stamped addressed envelopes and she will make sure you are included.

It was great to see more leaders at the meeting last week. The next Leaders' meeting is at DHQ 8pm on the 21st May - see you there.

7-a-side Football - By now all Packs should have received details of the football competition to be held on May 11th. Sorry about the further change of date. This reason being the venue were told that despite our confirmed booking that priority had to be given to the school governors who suddenly wanted to hold a fete on the 18th.  Note some of the rules have changed since last year in accordance with your suggestions. Each Pack should if possible provide a referee.
REMEMBER YOU HAVE UNTIL 1st MAY to REGISTER YOUR TEAMS, NO ENTRIES ACCEPTED AFTER THIS DATE.

Adventure Day - Nearly 70 cubs attended this event on Sunday March 30th, thanks to all the leaders/helpers who helped put this event on and special thanks to Mia Patterson and her team for organising this event. I'm sure the Mums were really pleased to get their very muddy cubs back home and we are all thankful that the promised rain held off. It's a shame we didn't have more participants; since this is an opportunity for Cubs from different Packs to get together in a non-competitive atmosphere and have we hope fun!

My thanks go to all concerned with the organisation and running of the 5-a-side football competition.  It takes a lot of work to keep on top of things, especially when the number of teams keeps changing.  We finally had an entry of 12 teams (I think!!) and congratulations go to the winners, 6/12th Mitcham.  Well done to 13th Wimbledon who were 2nd and 8th Morden who were 3rd.

Karting - don't forget the closing date for the Karting at Streatham is 12th May.  Details are in the handbook and replies should come to me, please.

Survival Skills weekend - don't forget to register any interest by 27th April so that we can start detailed planning.

Contact details for 6/12th Mitcham Troop:  please note that in future any correspondence should be sent to Peter Treagust, GSL, and not to Roy Court.

The next Troop Scouters' meeting is on 12th May, Morden Hall DHQ at 8pm.  See you then!

Following our District Leaders' meeting, we are preparing literature to circulate to all Groups in the District about Explorer Scouting including Young Leaders. We intend to use this as a recruitment tool for members from the Scout Section as well as from elsewhere. All Units now have the new books from headquarters with the changes to our Section including badge-work.

Most Units are planning their summer expeditions & camps now as well as award hikes etc.

Saturday March 8th saw 5 YLs from W & W join Croydon District to undertake training in Modules A, C, F and J.  It was a fun filled morning packed with games and even breakfast was included!
Orange cards were distributed to the YLs, the equivalent of the adult leader yellow cards.  As well as child protection, topics covered included, risk assessment, the purpose and method of Scouting, POR, the role of the YL, special needs and adaptations, methods of effective learning, working with small groups and passing on skills, and the badges and progressive awards scheme.

This training can be used not only for Scouting awards but towards bronze or silver D of E providing they have registered and are the correct age.  If they can provide evidence of putting this training to use then this can be validated towards their adult training when they take out a warrant.  So Section Leaders don't just have them to run games and make the squash; involve them in programme planning and use them like an Assistant Leader!

Ciao Italia - County Explorer Belt Expedition 2009
GLSW are building on the very successful 2006 Explorer Belt Expedition to Lithuania by holding another expedition in 2009, this time to the Tuscany Region of Italy. Teams of 3 to 6 people aged 16 to 25 can take part in a 10 day trek to get under the skin of this part of Italy and potentially gain the prized Explorer Belt. For details contact Alex Minajew.

It was good to see so many members at the AGM. We hope you enjoyed the evening. We are hoping to make a trip to Chatham Dockyard, in October.  At the moment we do not have an exact date.  If you are interested though please let David Gould know, as soon as possible, as he may need to book transport.

Our next event is the Beetle Drive and Fish 'n Chip supper, on Wednesday, 16th April, at the Wandle DHQ 7.30 p.m.  If you have not been before, do come along, it is nice to get together and the evening is normally fun.  If you are interested in coming please give me a ring with your fish order, no later than Sunday 13th April.

On Sunday 27th April help will be needed at the St George's Day Parade, 1p.m. at Wimbledon College, Sports Hall.  If you can help please let Rob Brumwell know  ASAP.

On Friday, 16th May, we are planning an evening walk, around the Isabella Plantation, so please keep this date free and hope for good weather.

Also, a reminder that we would like to see all members at the District AGM on Wednesday 14th May at the Kenneth Black Hall.

Gang Show 2008
Auditions for the next Gang Show will be held on Sundays 4th and 11th May and for the dance group on Wednesday 30th April.  Any member of the Scouts or Guides over the age of 9 can take part.  For more details and application forms contact Jo, the Producer, through the link below.

St George's Day Parade and Service
Sunday 27th April, Wimbledon Common, The Causeway, 1pm.
Full details have now been published and can be found on the District website through the link below.  Our numbers have gone up considerably this year, according to the census - hopefully this means we will have a really impressive Parade!

District Store
You will see from the Store advert that Brian will be opening the Store on certain Saturday mornings throughout 2008 - if it proves to be popular then this will continue into next year. Full details for the Store are on the link below.

With the camping season starting, don't forget that he still has a number of nearly-new air beds for sale at £10.

Missing From Worple Road DHQ:

One game of giant Jenga belonging to the District Cubs, if anyone knows of its whereabouts, could they please contact Michèle McNamara or Graham Fairclough.

Trophies
Cliff has again asked that all Trophies be passed to him for engraving and for a record to be kept, as several have gone missing recently.  When you hand it to him for engraving, please indicate when you need it returned eg for an AGM or Parents' evening.