May News from the DC Team – Ben, Simon & Heather
Hello,
The unseasonably warm April weather has hung on for a little longer to give us all a sun-soaked May bank holiday weekend…almost too hot for Totem Camp. Alongside hearing about the many great plans for camps and activities, as we have continued to visit our groups, and we have seen the plans for the District Fun Camp beginning to become a reality. It was also a real pleasure to see awards being presented for both our Adult leaders and Young People.
Recent District Events
It was Totem last weekend, the annual Scout competition and training camp. Congratulations to the 1st Hanwell Panthers for winning the main camp and to the 9th Ealing and 25th Ealing for being joint winners of the training camp. We look forward to seeing the Panthers leading the parade at next year’s St George’s Day event.
Totem is a huge event that takes a massive amount of planning and effort from many, many adults. Thank you to Stuart Flaye and Dave Folkerd for leading the two camps and for all the adults that gave up their time to make it a success.
District Development Planning meeting, 17th April (preparation for the Grow your Groups project)
This was a productive and illuminating evening – very much a collaborative effort by all our Groups. Huge thanks to the GSLs, other Leaders and Group Executive Members who came along to make sure their Group’s views were included. We are finalising the schedule for the Grow Your Group project and will be distributing this via your GSLs shortly.
New District Appointments
The Appointments Committee on 24th April was attended by THREE would-be ABSL appointees from 25th Ealing (and a 4th is now due to attend the next meeting). What a fantastic influx! Many thanks, in particular to Jay, for such excellent recruiting of parents.
We welcome Louise Woodward to the District Team as our District Explorer Scout Administrator. She will be supporting Ben, in his role as DESC, in ensuring that the administrative wheels of the Explorer section are well-oiled. Thank you Louise. Please contact Louise on JoinIn@brigantiaesu.org.uk when you have Scouts looking to move on…ideally with as much notice as possible.
Local St George’s Day events
Within Ealing & Hanwell itself, St George’s Day, and the renewal of promises was marked in various ways by different Groups this year, including a Church Parade by 1st Hanwell at St Mary’s and in Montpelier Park by 1st Ealing North on Sunday 22nd. A Renewal of Promises event was held for 5th Hanwell on Thursday 19th and 16th Ealing Beavers and Cubs on Friday 20th (and for their Scouts on Thursday 26th). And there were St George themed meetings for 9th Ealing section meetings (see below for more on the 9E Beavers’ one)
We have already provisionally booked the band for our own St George’s Day event next year – but the location and format will need discussion (indoors or outdoors; opportunity to march or not, similar or different from previous format, etc). Crucially – to make sure we can have a St George’s Day event in 2019, we need a number of people to come forward to form a working party (at least one per section). Please contact the DC team if you would like to be involved in this.
Other News from the Groups: DC Visits this month (9th Ealing, 16th Ealing, 5th Hanwell, 7th Hanwell)
Heather greatly enjoyed attending 9th Ealing Beavers’ special St George’s Day event on Tuesday 24th April. The parents were treated to a presentation about the Saint, including a (brief) fight to the death between ‘George’ and a two-headed Dragon, and there were flags a-plenty – both painted and on the top of iced buns!. The evening also included the investiture of two new Beavers, followed by the Investiture of ABSL Tash Adsley by Heather. (It was also great to meet 9th Ealing’s Executive Committee on 30th April.)
16th Ealing – Simon met with Holly and also attended the Group’s Executive committee meeting.
5th Hanwell – Ben was very proud to be invited to John Matthews’ Silver Wolf Presentation and combined St George’s Day Renewal of Promise on Thursday 19th April. Richard Williams, County Commissioner, attended and presented John with his award before John headed off to Windsor Castle on Sunday for the parade and celebration. John has been a Scouter in Ealing & Hanwell for over 50 years and we are hugely grateful for his years of continued service. Well done and thank you John.
7th Hanwell – Ben attended the 7th Hanwell’s Group Exec meeting this week and it’s really exciting to see the plans developing for their new building. A big planning and fundraising project is just starting so watch this space.
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USEFUL INFORMATION
OSM – County provision
OSM code is now ‘live’ – so every Group can have this, paid for by GLMW; all GSLs have been given the code for FREE OSM so please update your account and get in touch if you need any help.
Training – free to all
Training is free, and we have added some of the latest dates to the District Diary below. Our thanks to Jenny Foxwell who does an incredible job as the Local Training Manager for Ealing and Hanwell. Do get in contact with her if you wish to attend any of the courses below.
GDPR – are you ready?
There has been much in the news about GDPR and the impact on businesses and charities. The Scout Association shared a toolkit with Executive Committee members last month, and David Thurston, our District Chairman, summarised this and shared it with all group Executive Committees. GDPR is not a reason to panic but each Group does need to be taking steps to be compliant. Contact us if you need any help.
Disclosures reminder – we need your help
As a District we do a great job ensuring that everyone who needs a disclosure has one – led by the brilliant Steve Douglas our District Appointments Secretary (thank you Steve). However it is a constant challenge to ensure that disclosures are completed within the timeframes – and as a DC team we are acutely aware of this as we receive individual reminder notifications for every single role in Ealing in Hanwell. If you receive an email informing you of a upcoming DBS expiry please don’t delay but start the process of renewing it straightaway; contact your GSL or Group Administrator (if you have one) if you need any help.
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Coming Soon…..
Skills for Life – Launch of Scouting UK’s plan 2018-2023
As you may have heard, this is being launched on 15th May. We are looking forward to engaging with the strategy as a whole District. And ( !) it goes without saying, we hope it will make it easier to encourage more adults to join in the fun, with the aim of providing even better scouting to even more young people!
District Contacts
Some of your regular District contacts now have new email addresses. Please see below:
Stuart Flaye – ADC Scouts – s.flaye@ealingandhanwellscouts.org.uk
John Stanton – ADC Cubs – j.stanton@ealingandhanwellscouts.org.uk
More next month
See you soon,
Heather, Ben and Simon.
DC team, Ealing & Hanwell
dc@ealingandhanwellscouts.org.uk