July 2021 Newsletter from the DC & DDC Team

Groups across the district have been busy, with lots of extra activities and events going on for our young people. Thank you.

After the success of our Beaver Adventure Days last month, we have Camporee coming up this month for Cubs. Huge thanks to Martin and team for all their hard work planning an exciting programme and good luck!

Please note that Heather will be away 18th-23rd July and DDC Nisha Patel will be your first point of contact in her absence. Heather is also away 23rd-27th August – DDC Mandy Combes will be your first point of contact then.

There will be no newsletter in August – next one September.

Have a great summer everyone!

Here’s a summary of this month’s Newsletter:

• Latest National Scouting’s announcements

• Air Rifles course

• First Aid training

• Young Leaders

• New website for Walter Davies Campsite

• PACCAR family camping week

• Group AGMs

• Recent District events & News from the Groups

National Scouting announcements 

What comes next – 19th July onwards

At the time of publication we have just had an initial email from HQ about the changes to restrictions but we are still waiting to read the full details. These will be added to the National Scout website ( click on this link ) on Monday. For now, one statement in the email seems worth quoting:

“We hope this update will enable you to continue to offer amazing experiences for young people, but it’s important to make sure that safety remains at the forefront of your plans. We all have a responsibility to make sure our activities are planned to mitigate the risk of COVID-19 spreading.”

We would ask everyone to bear in mind that we have rising case numbers in our area at the moment, so that also needs to be taken into consideration.

Air Rifles training: 14-15 August 

We are holding an NSRA Rifle Range Instructor Course at Walter Davies on the weekend of 14th/15th August from 09:00 to 17:00 both days . The cost is £80 for E&H Leaders. Lunch will be provided along with drinks and refreshments throughout the day.

As with the Archery Instructor Course, the district is able to fund one place per group. If Leaders would like to book a place please contact both your GSL and Cliff asap at: c.brooke@walterdaviesscoutcamp.org.uk

A maximum of 12 people can take part. (There are a large number of people across the county wanting to complete this course but the places are being offered to Ealing & Hanwell leaders exclusively for a week – from 18th July – and will be publicised more widely after that.)

First Aid Training: GLMW

County are offering a large number of  first response learning courses over the following months. The Learning (10a) consists of some self taught elements and a zoom session. After that leaders are eligible for their practical training (10b) which is held in a covid safe set- up and takes around half an hour. All elements must be completed. Booking details are available on the GLMW website

Young Leaders training

Many of the District’s Young Leaders recently took part in two Zoom sessions, arranged by Nuria and Sergio. In addition to this, the District website now includes online versions of the 11 Young Leader training modules and details of the 4 missions. We have also recently passed on information to all our YLs from GLMW about full-day multi-module sessions which are on offer to E&H YLs in Greenford and Northwood in September/ October. A final plea – please would groups keep Nuria and Sergio updated about any Young Leaders that you have, so that they can be included in the training programme. Contact them via youngleaders@ealingandhanwellscouts.org.uk

New website for Walter Davies Campsite

We now have a new dedicated website for our Campsite, free-standing but linked across from the District website . https://www.walterdaviesscoutcamp.org.uk

PACCAR family camping week: 9th-15th August (for separate households)

Paccar Scout Camp will once again be open exclusively to Scout and Guide Families for Camping and Activities from 9th – 15th August 2021. To book or for more information. Please see https://paccarscoutcamp.org/familycamping

District representation at Group AGMs

Whether your Group AGM will be virtual or in person, please give the DC & DDCs plenty of notice of the date and time, so that one of us (or another District representative) join you if we possibly can.

Recent District events & News from the Groups

• Our Skills day for Leaders was a great success, as you will have seen in the GLMW newsletter – thanks very much Mark. We hope to run more in the future. Email mark@8thealingscoutgroup.org.uk if you would like to be informed of the next next one.

• Archery course 12 leaders attended the Archery course this weekend. The heat didn’t put anyone off – everyone passed – congratulations to them! We now have a new set of District leaders who can help give more YP the chance to participate in the sport. Keep an eye out for future courses.

• Around the Groups: Last week-end was certainly a particularly busy one! – 5th Hanwell, 6th Ealing and 7th Hanwell were all at PACCAR for (separate) Activity Days. In addition, 16E Beavers took part in a different style of Activity Day at the Walter Davies campsite, and 7th Hanwell Scouts got to do a Gold Expedition Training Hike and a small Overnight Camp. This overnight camp (in tents outside at the 7H HQ) was our District’s first residential since before lockdown in March 2020! To achieve this the Leaders went through informal consultation with the DC, followed by  formal submission of a carefully prepared RA (including Covid measures) and Nights Away Notification. Many thanks to all concerned for their dedication and extra efforts #SkillsforLife

Coming up

• Hanwell Carnival 21st August In order to up the ante and recruit more leaders for the District, so we can expand our offering across E&H, we are taking part in Hanwell Carnival. If you are able to help for even an hour, we would be so grateful! The last time we did this we managed to recruit 2 leaders! ( Email Nisha)

• Totem 2nd-3rd October. Stuart and team are planning for some sort of Totem event for Scouts, dependent on any ongoing restrictions. Details to follow asap, but please make sure you save the date!

• Beaver Hike -9th October This is being organised by Sarah Mehan – details to follow early in the Autumn term. And a reminder that there’ll be a District Beaver Leaders meeting on 20th September.

• Cubs Monopoly Run –  10th October After the hugely successful Monopoly Run only 3 days before the first National lockdown, there are plans to run a similar event in October, Details to follow from Martin

• Skills Day – TBC. Mark Yates organised a fantastic skills day in June. We are hoping to put on another in the Autumn term.

To share YOUR activity experiences in our next newsletter- email n.patel@ealingandhanwellscouts.org.uk

Yours in Scouting

Heather, Nisha & Mandy

DC & DDC Team, Ealing & Hanwell

dc@ealingandhanwellscouts.org.uk

n.patel@ealingandhnwellscouts.org.uk

m.combes@ealingandhanwellscouts.org.uk

DISTRICT DIARY (in brief)

July

Sat 17th & Sun 18th – Archery permit training

Mon 26th – Thurs 29th E&H Cub Camporee (non-residential)

August

9th -15th PACCAR Family camping week

14th-15th   Air Rifles Instructor Training – Walter Davies

September

Thurs 9th – District Executive Committee

Monday 20th – District Beaver Leaders meeting

Wed 22nd – District AGM

(Autumn – date tbc: 2023 Jamboree Roadshow for E&H)

October

Sat 2nd – Sun 3rd – Totem competition for Scouts

Sat 9th – E&H Beaver Hike

Sun 10th – E&H Cub Monopoly Run

Tue 12th – Core Team meeting

Wed 20th – GSLs meeting

November

Sun 14th – Remembrance Sunday parade

Thurs 25th – District Executive

December

GLMW Ski Trip