Diary Dates

District Commissioner

It is with great sadness that we record the passing away of one of our newly elected Vice Presidents: Charles Constantine.

Charles was a former DC of Wimbledon and Merton and heavily involved with the 22nd Wimbledon. He received his Silver Acorn in 2005 and was recently presented with his 50 year Long Service Award.  I know that he will be greatly missed by his Family and his many Scouting friends.

We also send our best wishes to Alex Minajew who has had a spell in hospital and we send him our hopes for a speedy recovery.

I had the great pleasure of visiting the Wimbledon Unit and Raynes Park Unit AGMs and the presentation evening of Explorer Awards gained during the past year.
They were all tremendous celebrations for the fantastic things happening in the Explorer Scout section in our District.
To see so many of our young people receiving the Queens Scout Award is really rewarding and I am absolutely certain that despite there being so many, they have, without question, all been thoroughly deserved.

I have recently returned from the National Conference at Warwick University. The conference was a great success and celebrated the increase in our numbers at the last census.  The main focus was on recruitment and retention and I shall be doing some work during the coming weeks to start to put into place some plans that Keith Daly and I discussed over the weekend. There were a couple of disturbing facts which emerged: of the Leaders recruited in 2004 only 18% remain in post; the second is that of the 200 Leader volunteers received by Gilwell each month, 45% are not followed up.
We have to put plans into place that encourage effective recruitment of adults and then ensuring we retain them.  There were some lively discussion groups especially in the one I attended on the role and function of the Scout Fellowship; and again I will be doing some work with Dave Gould and Rob Brumwell to take this forward.

A number of changes were announced by the Deputy Chief Scout Peter Nicholl: I likened it to the" night of the long knives".
Most of the National Commissioner posts ceased to be and will be replaced with a different structure. 2 new posts were announced: UK Commissioner for Programme and Development and UK Commissioner for Adult Support. All Chief Commissioners stood down to be replaced by 2, one for the North and one for the South. 8 new Regional Commissioners are going to be recruited and will become line managers for the County Commissioners. Does this affect you and I? Well, the answer is not really but I thought it should be shared with you anyway.

Bob Prescott

GLSW Jamboree Fundraiser badges

Fundraiser Badges are now on sale to help raise funds for both the Units from GLSW who will be representing the County at the 2007 World Jamboree.  The badges can be worn on the left sleeve of the Uniform. Available from the District Store £1.50 each

Managing Fire Safety

From 1 October all non-domestic premises will need to comply with the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 in respect to making them safe from fire.  Check out the Fact Sheet 32007 produced by Scout HQ to ensure that you are doing all that is necessary.

Building Materials

Over the years the work team at Bow Lane Scout Centre have accumulated many items that they no longer need.  They do, however, need the space!  Can you use the odd door, hand basin, radiator etc?  If so, please contact Cliff Condon.

Scouting Christmas Catalogue

If you want order from the Christmas Catalogue with October/November Scouting you can through the District Store - just quote the page number and item number.

County Training for 2006/2007 - Brian Beckley

First module on date is morning; last module on date is afternoon. Please check middle modules with your Local Training Manager.

First Aid Training:
Contact Janet Drinkall for information 

9.00am to 5.00pm and cost £15.

Gilwell Park are running various training sessions - full information on website.

Can you use me?

I am available (free of charge) for local charities to use at fundraising events, displays and fetes.

Contact Radio Jackie on 020 8288 1300 or via their website www.radiojackie.com

Archery course

An archery course will be run at Bentley Copse to GNAS standard, two weekends 2/3 and 10/11 December,  9am-5pm each day.  Cost £160.00 per person.

If you are interested please contact the warden Graham Anker 01483 202424 for more information.

Young Leaders

By now all Section Leaders should have seen Ian Newbery's letter regarding Explorer Scouts/Young Leaders.  It issues a clear reminder of our responsibilities as adults when dealing with young people, as well as congratulations on the success of the Young Leader scheme in GLSW. If a copy has not reached you yet, contact your ADC who will be pleased to let you have one.

Cubs - Michèle McNamara (ADC Cubs)

Handicraft Competition - 19th November at 22nd Wimbledon HQ for teams of 4 Cubs any age.  Cost £8 per team. Please advise me if your Pack is entering either by post, phone or e-mail by November 1st, entries after that date will not be accepted. If anyone has any "junk" they would like to donate towards this event, please bring it along to the next CSL meeting for Will Smith to sort out.

Graham Fairclough is still looking for any photos you have of district camp for inclusion on a CD to be issued to all participating groups, photos to him by end of October at the latest. Thanks.

Scouts - Liz Laverick (ADC Scouts)

There were only 8 of us present at the Troop Leaders Meeting on Thursday 14th September at Bow Lane.  I had lots of apologies beforehand and on the day.  I understand it was a very busy week!

The lack of leaders present then may have accounted for the very poor turn out at our first District event since the summer, the Quiz Night on Wednesday 20th September at the 5th Morden HQ.  The date was set in January and therefore combined with the county yearbook should have been in your diaries and all scouts should have been aware before the summer break.  It was disappointing that troops meeting on a Wednesday did not turn up!
The three teams present however had a great time!  In 3rd place were the 8th Morden; the 6th/12th and the 13th were neck and neck until the final round with the 6th/12th winning by half a point!  Well done!
Thanks go to John Bennett for providing the refreshments; Dave Hodges for being question master; Pete, John, Dave and Tim for devising the questions; the scorers and all those who provided teams.  We need a rethink about the timing next year!

Our next Troop Leaders Meeting will be Wednesday 22nd November 2006 at 8pm; the host venue will be the 22nd HQ in Arthur Road, Motspur Park, New Malden.  Please send apologies, reports and/or agenda items to Tim or Liz.
If it is your troop night and you are unable to attend please send a representative to give your report, explain agenda items, take back dates.  This rep can be anyone who knows your Troop - ASL, helper, regular parent helper, GSL or another Section Leader.

The next County event is the Cyclo-cross on 8th October at Frylands.  In addition to the hard copy in the County Yearbook I now have an electronic version of the entry form etc.  Please contact me if you need info or it emailing to you.

Full details of the District Incident Hike on 5th November will go out with the minutes; it will be a 9.30am start at Polyapes.

I look forward to seeing you all at the Gala on the 7th October!

Dates for Troop Scouters' Meetings throughout the next year

Explorers - Neil McLauchlan (DESC)

Welcome back after the summer break. Several Units have been away over the summer and I have heard very positive reports from their various trips. I have also been to two very interesting AGMs where the members presented their reports from the last year.

We now have a new Unit started. They are temporarily meeting at the 22nd Wimbledon HQ until they decide where they wish to meet in the future. Andy Dunfield is leading ex-Scouts from the 22nd Wimbledon and 1st Lower Morden Troops we all wish him well for the future.

We held a fantastic District Explorer Scout Presentation evening at the Old Rutlishians Clubhouse. We celebrated all the members from across the District who had gained awards over the past year. We had approx. 70 members there with their parents & supporters.  Congratulations and presentations were made by Ian Newbery (ACCES) & Roger Hurrion (CC). It was a truly great evening, which we plan to hold every year from now on.

The County Night Hike is taking place on the 14/15th October. I need applications by Thursday 5th October.

Network - Chris Dean

The new Committee has elected the following officers for 2006/7:-

September got off to a cracking start with the Gilwell Reunion,  which was well supported across GLSW. Although the weather was not as kind as usual, a good time was had by all. Two weeks later our Network crew rowed in the 19th Great River Race, from Richmond to Greenwich, a distance of 22 miles. 273 crews took part and 'Dorney' finished 247th on handicap in 3 hours 59 minutes. We have already booked the skiff for next year, and will start training in the Spring.

Our most recent Investiture ceremony was held at the top of Box Hill on September 22, and necessitated negotiating the stepping stones across the River Mole in total darkness. The steep climb uphill also posed a challenge, especially for the least fit in the party ! Although we are holding a special Network Investiture on Brownsea Island next May, we are pleased to arrange more local investitures given reasonable notice.

Network members assisted the County Development Officer, Jo Launchbury, at the Kingston University 'Freshers Fayre' again this year, and hopefully this will result in more members and some Leaders for the Scout Groups in the area.

Looking ahead we have an action-packed autumn - the Sedan Chair Rally at Tolmers (October 20-22), a workparty at Bow Lane (November 11), and a Christmas Meal (December 17) hosted by the Saturn Network. There will also be a gathering of those interested in going to Nepal in 2008 or 2009.

Finally, it is pleasing to report an upsurge in interest for the Queen's Scout Award, and 2007 could indeed be a record year for the numbers achieving this award and the Duke of Edinburgh's Gold. There will be places available on an Expedition Training course in January (19-21), and an opportunity to undertake practice and qualifying hikes in April (8-14). You may book the latter online on www.glswscouts.org.uk/network

Fellowship - Linda Vaudrey

We hope you have had a good summer and we look forward to another busy programme for the following year.

Recent Events:
A big thank you to Bill and Enid for the very interesting evening on 19th September.   Bill always manages to invite a good speaker and Enid provides the refreshments.

It seems to be a fairly quiet month - if you are interested in going on the walk on Sunday, 8th October, please let Rob Brumwell know.

On Wednesday 1st November we have the popular Beetle Drive, arranged by Jean and David Gould, together with a Fish 'n' Chip supper.  Please let me know your fish order by Sunday 29th October. Many thanks.

Best wishes to Enid, recovering after a foot operation.