Diary Dates

Congratulations. . .

Census and Membership Fees
The census will be distributed as soon as it is available.  Please make sure that you make your returns to the District and not direct to Scout Headquarters.
The census must be in by 14th January (but the GSLs' meeting on 10 January could be a good time to pass it over to the District).

Memberships fees this year will be calculated as follows:

There will be a 50p discount for all Groups who get their census in on time, making the total due £22.50.

The County have warned that they will be increasing their fees by £1.50 next year and the year after.  They are also asking every District for a very substantial one-off donation to offset their rising expenses.

Trophies

Very few trophies were passed to Cliff Condon after the notice in last months Links - thanks to those who did respond - and he has now written to all GSLs.

If you have a trophy of any kind, please get it to Cliff as soon as possible - phone him or leave them at the Morden Hall Park HQ.

Many thanks to Andrew Hayward who has donated a new trophy for the Cubs' Swimming Gala.

Scout Shops
Many of you will have seen on the recent email from Scout HQ or in the press that the retail outlets of Scout Shops Ltd have been sold to the group who own Blacks and Millets.  Our District store currently gets all its stock from the Scout Shop in Buckingham Palace Road so Brian will be making alternative arrangements for obtaining uniforms, books etc.  Please be patient if there are a few hiccups until the new scheme settles down.

Another District merger

A further District merger has taken place with Surbiton and Kingston & Malden coming together. They will be called Royal Kingston and the new DC is Bob Bushell.  I am sure we all wish them well as their new District commences its life.

Morden Hall Park HQ

Remembering Morden Hall Park and Mr Hatfeild

The National Trust is running a reminiscence project as part of The Untold Story which aims to explore the significance of historic places by asking local people to tell stories about those places that are meaningful to them.
Mr Hatfeild left Morden Hall Park to the National Trust for the benefit of the community. He is warmly remembered by many local people who attended his annual parties or lived and worked on the estate.  If you have memories of Mr Hatfeild, the children's parties or film stars parties held on the estate the National Trust would love to hear from you.

The National Trust are running some reminiscence sessions for people to come and meet old and new friends and share their memories of Morden Hall Park.  The next sessions are Wednesday 3rd November and Tuesday 30th November from 1.30pm and transport is available.  Please contact Lisa Green at the National Trust for further details at lisa.green@nationaltrust.org.uk or 020 8545 6850.

Handicraft Competition Sunday 7 November at 22nd Wimbledon H.Q. 11 teams have entered.  All entry fees to be paid by 3 November.

Don't forget that at each CSLs' Meeting we will be discussing one of the zones. This month we will be discussing the creative zone, and at the meeting in January it will be the 'Discovering the world around you' zone, so if you have any ideas you want to share or any problems with these zones, bring them along. Remember these discussions can form part of your 5 hours training requirement.

Finally. the Scientist Badge day is on 30 January at Bow Lane - we still need volunteers to run bases for this event.

After the concerns expressed within the Section about the organisation of District events, a concerted effort was put in to ensure that the Scout & Explorer Swimming Gala was properly planned. It was therefore disappointing that the support from the Troops was poor with two simply not turning up on the night despite having registered their intention to attend. Some of the teams that did enter were short of numbers and so were unable to enter some of the races. We can discuss this further at the next Scouters' meeting to understand why it happened.

The event itself went well and I am grateful to the team of helpers who volunteered for various jobs. The degree of support from the Explorer Units was particularly good such that we had more workers than we had jobs for. Thanks to you all for your help.

The Gala was deservedly won by the 14th Wimbledon followed by the 22nd Wimbledon & 8th Morden. Congratulations to all of the race winners who have been given certificates to record their achievements. Full results are on the web site.

Plans for the Incident Hike on Sunday 7th November are just about finalised and we look forward to an interesting activity on Box Hill. With hindsight, we will avoid a date clash with the County Explorer Night Exercise next year so that the events are easier to manage.

All Troops are invited to enter the Quiz Night at the Upper Hall on Edge Hill on Wednesday 17th November. Doors open at 7:30 for first question at 8:00. We will be finished by 10pm. Refreshments will be available from the 9th Wimbledon. Details are available on the web site.

If you have volunteered to provide questions, please let me have them as soon as you can.

The date set for our January Scouters' Meeting clashes with a Bank Holiday so I will circulate a revised date when I have identified an available venue.

After a successful evening on Sunday 10th October at the David Lloyd Centre, another Ten Pin Bowling evening has been arranged for Sunday 21st November.  If you would like to take part, please contact David Gould by Sunday 14th November. Members of the Explorers and Network are also welcome.

Reminder - the Xmas Party will be held on Saturday, 4th December, 7.30 for 8.00 p.m. at the DHQ, Morden Road.  Names to Jean Gould please.

The Fellowship will again be helping at the Morden Park Choral Society's Carol Concert at St John the Devine, South Wimbledon.  This year's events will be on Saturday 11 December at 1.45pm and 6.45pm.  Brian Whalebone will be organising our side of this but needs some help - please phone him if you can be there.