Links - Wimbledon & Wandle District Newsletter

The Jamboree will be held in Hylands Park, Essex from 27th July to 8th August 2007. The County has decided to fill 2 contingents and will be looking for 2 Contingent Leaders and 6 Assistants.
With 72 places available we will also be looking for suitable young people to be put forward to form the GLSW Contingent. The requirement is that they must be aged between 14 and 17 on 27 July 2007 that is born between 28 July 1989 and 27 July 1993.
We urgently need applications from Leaders who are interested in the Contingent Leader and Assistant Leader roles so that they can be considered by the County selection panel.
You should be aware that this is not restricted to Explorer Leaders only.
Please contact the DC if you are interested.

Scout Leaders and Explorer Scout Leaders should begin the process of identifying suitable young people to be put forward to the selection panel. The selection panel will be the DC; ADC Scouts Paul Atkins; DESC Neil McLauchlan and ADC General Duties Keith Daly.
We shall be looking for a minimum number of 8 young people, but there will be more spaces if required.
The cost has been indicated as £1000 per participant. It is hoped there will be some support from Groups and District.

Any member over the age of 18 is eligible to apply to be considered for selection to the IST (International Service Team). More details will come later but my advice is, if you wish to be involved in a Jamboree and have never had the opportunity, then this is a wonderful way to do so. It is hard work, but there will be a whole variety of jobs you can be involved in and it is a wonderful experience. The IST team will be in excess of 6000 strong and come from all round the world. The cost is likely to be £1000.

CRB Forms
Please ensure that you always include Group details when sending in CRB forms for your new members. There is nothing on the form to indicate where the applicant will be working.

Scout Store
It must be a first but prices are going down!!!
Scout shirts for boys and girls are being reduced from £16 to £14.50 and the Beaver polo shirt is going down by 50p to £8.

The store will close on 21st July and re-open after the summer on 15th September.

Famous former Scouts
Is one of your ex-Beavers, Cubs or Scouts now a famous pop star, plays cricket for England or has made a million?

If so, please contact simon.carter@scout.org.uk . As part of Scouting's centenary celebrations, Scout HQ are attempting to track down all our famous former Members.

Victory Parade - 10th July
The Mayor of Merton has invited all Groups to take part in the Borough's Service of Commemoration to mark the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II. The invitations only went out mid-June, which is very short notice for busy Scouters, but hopefully some Groups will be attending to show that Scouting is still alive and well. After the Parade, which will be led by members of the Royal British Legion, and the Service, there will be entertainment reflecting the War Years.

District Sports - 8th July and 16th July - Sutton Arena
We hope to have a really good turn out this year with all Groups being represented - it is the only opportunity for all Cubs and Scouts across the District to get together, and for the Explorers and Network members to show off their organizational skills. Call Dave Gould if you can help with either the track or field events, or if you want more information. Details are available here.

Training and Warranted Appointments - Brian Beckley, Local Training Manager

I would like to remind every-body about the Warrant appointments process as the Appointments Sub Committee is meeting with some problems. I will try to make it jargon friendly and start at the very beginning of the process for our new warrant holders.

The District Commissioner (DC), his Assistant District Commissioners (ADCs) and Group Scout Leaders (GSLs) are all 'line managers' of any District Warranted post.

When any-body wishes to fill a Warranted post, the line manager of that post will conduct an initial interview with the Candidate. If the candidate is found satisfactory then the Adult Application form (TS03/AA) and the Criminal Record Bureau Form (CRB) are completed and sent to the Appointments Secretary.

When the CRB check has been completed the Appointments Secretary will issue a PROVISIONAL WARRANT to the line manager for presentation to the candidate.

The line manager will complete training module 1, essential information, issue the 'Code of Behaviour' card (yellow card), 'Safety in Scouting' (Green Card) and a Module 2 work book, completing step one with candidate and asking the candidate to read through the work book as step 2. (Step 1 is The Job Description and line manager's contact details.) The line manager will then present the PROVISIONAL (5 month duration) WARRANT and the candidate can start work, SUPERVISED at all times by a Warranted leader, in the post.

Module 1 is available in Video, DVD, CD ROM or one to one session. The first three can be borrowed from your Local Training Manager, who has a limited supply, or purchased from Headquarters. It can also be covered in a one to one session and the Training Manager can ask the line manager to discuss this with the candidate. The 'yellow & green' cards are available from HQ . (The Yellow card is free if asked for with any 'post paid' item or the Local Training Manager has a few. Module 2 work book is only available from HQ at a cost of £5 plus postage. The Green card is available from Assistant County Commissioner for Activities.)

The Appointments Secretary will also inform the DC or the ADC of the section and the Local Training Manager of the issue of the PROVISIONAL WARRANT.

The DC or ADC will interview the candidate and check that the candidate does know who his line manager is and his job description. They will report completion back to the Appointments Secretary.

The Local Training Manager will appoint the candidate a Training Adviser.

The Training Adviser will complete Module 2 step 3 with the candidate. (Agreeing the training plan and validating any modules. Module 3 or 4 can be completed by the Training Adviser as a one to one session if no County course is available.)

The Training Adviser and candidate have the duration of the 5 month Provisional Warrant to complete the above.

The Training Adviser will report back to the Local Training Manager when Modules 1, 2. 3 or 4 have all been completed.

The Local Training Manager will either report completion to the Appointments Secretary or, after discussion with the Line Manager, ask to extend the Provisional warrant a further 5 months. (Rarely extended and then only once.)

The Appointments Secretary will then call the Candidate to a meeting with the Appointments Sub Committee.

The Appointment Sub Committee will interview the Candidate and, after checking the above process has been completed (by questioning the candidate), will recommend the Full Warrant issue or any remedial action to be taken.

Once the Full Warrant has been approved by the Appointments Sub Committee, the candidate can do the duties unsupervised. The DC or ADC will present the full warrant.

The Training Adviser will continue advising the Candidate on training until the 'Wood Badge' has been awarded, (Within 3 years it is hoped for most people.) and the 'ongoing learning' section is completed in module 2.

The 'ongoing learning' for all District Warranted Leaders is supervised by the Warranted Posts line manager and reported to the Appointments Secretary at the time of a Warrant review.

THIS PROCESS RELATES TO ANY CHANGE OF DISTRICT WARRANT and the candidate will be asked to revisit or complete some additional Modules by the Training Adviser.

If you have any questions or queries on the above, please contact the Appointments Sub Committee Chairperson or the Local Training Manager.
If you have problems with the process in action then contact the Appointments Secretary.

Training Advisers Needed
The County are looking for people to become Training Advisers within the District. Anyone, especially if you are a GSL or in the Beaver or Explorer Sections, hold a 'Wood Badge' and would like to help people through the training process, can apply to become a Training Advisor. Please give your name to Joan Condon who will pass it to County. County will then invite you to do Module 25 (Training Adviser) if you are accepted.

People Who Have Completed Part Of The Old Style Training
Any Warrant Holder who has completed part of his/her training to date will be contacted by County and told the Modules they need to complete for their 'Wood badge'. They will be given the dates of any of the required Modules or given the opportunity to get the Modules validated. Please note some Modules have new/additional material in them although still hold the 'old' training session name. If you have any questions or queries please contact either Joan Condon or me, your Local Training Manager.
Any Warrant holder found with 'no' training during this process will need to start as a Provisional Warrant holder.

On Saturday 2nd July 31 cubs from 4 packs attended a games day at Hillcross school. They played rounders, cricket, Danish longball and other outdoor games. At lunchtime we all had a picnic as we were blessed with good weather. A group photograph completed the day and all the cubs seemed to have enjoyed themselves. Thanks to all the leaders who came along and helped.

Andrew Hayward has accepted a County post as County Scout Leader (Gang Show) and will be stepping down as DCSL for the time being, I'm sure we would all like to express our thanks for the work he has put in for the past few years and wish him well in his new appointment.

Finally we wish good weather and luck to all of you who will be going away with your packs during the summer and look forward to seeing you all in September at the next CSL meeting and hearing how you all got on.

It was very disappointing that we had to cancel the Patrol Camping Weekend after just 3 of our 18 Troops entered. This event is intended to be a key event in the section calendar to promote camping as a core activity but it was clearly not popular despite the Troop Scouters Meeting a fortnight later wanting to keep it in the diary for 2006. I hope that it will be better promoted within the Troops next year so that organisational effort is not wasted again.

The section diary for 2006 has been agreed and published on the web site, it will also be in the June Scouters' Meeting Minutes shortly. It would be helpful if the other sections could consider it when scheduling their own activities for next year so that clashes can be avoided where possible.

A team has been set up to identify ways of reducing the leakage between the Scout & Explorer sections. A key activity is for the SLs to ensure that Dick Hooper has the names and contact details of older Scouts so that they can be advised of their options for the next stage of their Scouting. It is also important that SLs familiarise themselves with the requirements of the Young Leader scheme so that young people who are helping the Troop are properly accounted for and so covered by insurance and given the opportunity to complete mandatory training. Details of the scheme are available on Scouting Fact Sheets FS452009 & FS452029 available on Scoutbase or from the Information Centre.

I hope that all Troop Summer Camp arrangements are complete and that you have an enjoyable and safe time. For those without a camp to go to, the 9th and 13th Wimbledon Troops have extended an invitation to Scouts and their leaders to join them if they wish to. Details are available from Sean Maher & Peter Hutton respectively.

Sports day: Saturday 16th July, 1.00-5.00pm, Sutton Arena. We need as many Explorers and Leaders as possible to come along and support this event. We are running the refreshments and obstacle course, as well as general help for the afternoon. Please ensure that as many as possible attend.

We have been asked to help at the 2nd Morden Cub Pack. They met on Tuesdays 6.30-8.00pm. Please contact Joan Condon directly and also let me know, thanks.

May I remind Units I need a blurb per Unit & 3 pic's each to put on the District website. We also want to place Unit programmes on the website as well (outline details only). I would like this to start from now, so please let me have your contributions asap.

The Scout Network in GLSW is currently having a 'purple patch' with Queen's Scout and Duke of Edinburgh's Gold Awards, and the indications are that we shall break all records in 2005. Our thrice-yearly Expedition Weeks are certainly having some impact: in August we shall be in the Lake District, at October half-term most probably in the Peak District, and next Easter, South Wales is the favoured destination. Further information will appear on the County website in the near future.

During June Network members enjoyed a Barn Dance, also a day clearing undergrowth at Pinewood, Croydon District's training centre, and winning silverware in the Transwight Challenge. On June 19, the International Expedition Scout Network hosted a BBQ at Bow Lane, and during the course of the afternoon, heard more about the County Seychelles trip in 2006 and the second phase of the Belarus Project. On June 24-26, four members completed a 25 mile hike on Dartmoor in sweltering conditions as further practice for their Queen's Scout and DofE Gold 'qualifying' expedition later this year or early next. The CSNC and CSNA were in the area as supervisors, and rendezvoused with them periodically!

Three of our Local SNets have re-branded themselves. Sutton have become the Saturn Network, Richmond the Merlins, and Royal Kingston the Saxons. Just two to go now !

During July and early August we are providing opportunities for older Explorers to complete their 'Moving On' Award. This will be organised on a District basis, and will enable all those heading for university to be inducted into the Scout Network before they go.

I wish everyone some great camping experiences this summer, in particular those going to Kenya and Sweden.

Help is urgently required for the Sports Day, not only on Saturday, 16th July, but on the evening of Friday, 8th July also. The event is to be held at Sutton Arena this year. If you could spare a couple of hours, please contact David Gould, as soon as possible. Any help you can give will be greatly appreciated.

The Barbeque this year will be on Saturday, 23rd July, at David and Jean Gould's home. The cost will be five pounds per head; please bring your own liquid refreshment. Contact Jean or David by Sunday 17th July, at the latest, if you would like to attend.

A date for your diary, for later this year, Sunday 4th September, Ten Pin Bowling, at the David Lloyd Centre. Again, please let Dave Gould know if you are interested in attending by 27th August.

We wish you all a good, sunny, summer and look forward to seeing as many members, and friends, at our events in the future.

We have just been informed that the Lions Fair in Morden Park is going ahead on August Bank Holiday Monday. If you want to run a stall there, please contact 020 8640 4625 as soon as possible.