Welcome back!

And just like that, the half term holiday is over! We hope you have all had a fantastic week off and spent some time having fun and relaxing. We have lots of exciting opportunities coming up over the spring term for our young people and we are looking forward to more new adventures, skills learned, challenges and team-work!

Please note: We’ve slightly altered the structure of this post; we recognise that there’s the temptation to skip straight to the part that relates to whichever section(s) your young person/people are part of; however there are some useful and important group-wide updates too, and we’ve moved those group updates to the top so that you don’t miss them. Don’t worry, right after the group updates, we get right back into the section specific updates.

Group (All sections)

Group calendar

We’ve lots planned for 2019, and we’ve even begun to look at the 2020 and 2021 programme! Over the last couple of weeks, and in the future months, we will share invitations to events using the Online Scout Manager Parent Portal interface. The best place to keep up to date with what’s on, and when, is the group calendar. It’s the central place where all events, except for weekly section meetings (based at the Scout Hut or School) are posted/shared. You can subscribe to the calendar so you can see it alongside your own calendar on your mobile device or tablet. For a video example walkthrough, please see this vlog I put together last year.

Parent Portal

Our group make use of a product called Online Scout Manager. It helps with administrative duties, badge records, event bookings and more. Like many school systems, it has a parent portal. This has been present for a little while but known by a different name. The providers have now simplified it and the component of particular interest (hopefully!) to you is referred to as the Parent Portal. Each emailed event invitation you receive will ask you to click a link to respond – when you do so, you’ll be prompted to log into the portal; if you haven’t before, you’ll be asked to set up an account. Within this, you can see what your young person is signed up for, plus other information the leader team has shared. Over the coming months, we will be standardising the group’s use of the portal and exploring some of the additional options, for example, online payments. We will also be asking you to validate your young person’s personal data is accurate. There’s a great video introduction to the portal on the vendor’s website, here.

Subs and events (payments)

Subs are either £12.50 per month when paid by standing order, or £14 per month when paid in cash/cheque. It really helps the group if subs are paid by standing order, especially now there’s a distinct lack of physical banks to pay in at. Similarly, when it comes to events, we would be grateful if payment by bank transfer were to become the standard approach. Within our letters we always include the relevant account details – please pay attention to these given that joint events are not always run out of your young person’s specific section account. As mentioned within the “Parent Portal” comments above, we are exploring online payments similar to how many schools operate. We appreciate that not everyone has online banking and cash is preferable to some; however, if you are in a position to pay electronically, we’d be grateful in your support reducing administrative overheads. If you need a standing order form, or the group’s bank account details so you can set up a standing order form using online banking, please let us know. Thank you.

Take the four-week challenge

Our young people would benefit from some additional adult support; some of the sections need more leaders (not necessarily every week) and therefore we’d like to ask as many of you as possible to please take up the four-week challenge. It’s a fabulously rewarding volunteering opportunity, that doesn’t have to necessarily be youth facing and certainly doesn’t require an ongoing weekly commitment. Volunteering should be flexible – please see the following dedicated challenge post here.

Maintenance weekends

We recently polled the leader team for when would make for the best maintenance days for the Scout Hut. Those with the highest availability are Sunday 10th March and Saturday 12th October. We have tentatively added these to the group calendar, but we are acutely aware that they are more successful with your support. The March date we plan on getting all of the tents and associated equipment out so we can ensure it’s fit for use throughout the year. Additionally, we will progress some more of our decluttering, cleaning and building maintenance. If you can support us, please let us know by emailing Rob.  (I’ve said tentative for the 10th March because there’s a Duke of Edinburgh building booking that has priority – once we have some certainty around if that’s taking place, we’ll finalise our maintenance days)

Group camp

Our group camp is scheduled for the 12th to 14th July @ Walesby Scout campsite. It will be open to all sections. We are finalising some details before we pull the covers off and open bookings. Please, if your young person is interested, save the date in your diaries.

Section Leaders

The next planned Section Leader meeting is Sunday 10th March @ 16:30. If you are unable to attend, please send a deputy. Just a reminder that there were some actions from the last Section Leader meeting you might want to revisit prior to the session, please.

Executive committee

The next planned Executive Committee meeting is Monday 4th March from 19:30 at the Scout Hut.

Back in the here and now, let’s take a look at the coming week:

The week ahead (25th February 2019 onwards)

Beavers

Section meetings

All colonies – will be starting on the “Builder” badge. This first week will be planning activities, and the following week the actual building of our creations.

For the week of 4th March, we’d be very grateful if parents and guardians could please bring along junk modelling resources for the Beavers to use to build their mini-golf holes. We are looking for items such as boxes, bottles, yoghurt pots, etc. Thank you.

Future Beaver events

Over the half-term holiday, you should have received an email inviting your Beaver to Space Camp. This will be a Saturday / Sunday in May at Silverwood Scout Campsite. If your young person would like to attend, please book on by using the corresponding “Yes” button in the received email. To secure the booking, please make sure the £10 deposit is paid by the next section meeting. (Details in the letter and on the dedicated event page).

Sleepover at the Museum – Final call for Beavers who wish to attend has gone out, original letter available here.  The final details/briefing pack will be going out in the next week or so. If you have committed to going, by ticking the yes box on the e-mail to the parent portal then please ensure you have paid the monies. As a reminder, the dates are 22-23 March.

Beaver Fun Day – This event will take place at Hesley Wood on 19 May. Further details to follow.

Beaver Christmas Camp – We have a placeholder in the diary for this year’s Beaver Christmas Camp (gotta get these sorted early!). It’s set to be 14th / 15th December.

Cubs

Section meetings

All three packs – We had planned for this first week back to be enjoying an evening volunteering with the Woodland Trust at Baggerwood; however, due to some last-minute work challenges for our key contact, we’ve had to delay this. An email will be sent to each section during the week to advise if there are any deviations from the normal meeting times and locations.

Future Cub events

Seaside trip – we have a proposed trip to the seaside in the diary for cubs 17th to 19th May. Once we’ve finalised our leader availability, we will open bookings for the young people. If any leaders would like to support the trip, please let Shauna know.

Abseiling camp – Over the weekend of the 7th & 8th December, we have provisionally booked an abseiling camp. Details to follow in due course.

Scouts

Section meetings

Enigma – will meet in the car park at Langsett at 7 pm and the collection will be from the same place at 9 pm.  A torch, walking boots, coat, water and optional snacks are needed.

Wibbles – will be testing our logic and fire lighting skills so bring a warm coat and sensible shoes, please.

Viernes – Richard is back from his holiday and is eager to get back to Scouting. He’s cooking something up for this Friday; either he or Rob will drop an email out to with details later in the week.

Future Scout events

Monopoly Run – the event briefing pack went out to attendees recently. If you haven’t received your copy, or can’t locate the email, the information can be found on the dedicated event page. In the coming weeks the final payment will be due; please see the briefing pack for details.

Baggerwood Expedition – a fabulous opportunity for scouts to achieve their Expedition Challenge badge. A day supporting the Woodland Trust, then a short walk (3.5 miles) to Silverwood Scout Campsite where they’ll camp for the night and make their tea backwoods cooking style, then Sunday morning walk back to Baggerwood for a few more hours volunteering. Dedicated event page here.

Centrepoint sleepout – a charity fundraiser for young homeless people. Scouts and Explorers will sleep out under the stars (at Silverwood Scout Campsite) and seek sponsorship for their achievement. The young people will have sleeping bags and survival bags, plus the opportunity to build their own cardboard accommodation so they can experience and support the lives of those less fortunate. The leader team will be providing a soup kitchen throughout the night. Dedicated event page here.

Brunt’s Barn expedition #1 – a smaller expedition weekend, this time to the Peak District. Due to limited sleeping accommodation, this will be open to female scouts only. A male scout only trip will be later in the year. This is booked, but not available to secure places as yet. Placeholder page here.

Alton Towers Camp – a camping trip with a difference. We will be pitching tents on the grass at the side of the lake inside of Alton Towers. On the first evening we’ve access to Splash Landings water park, then all day Sunday we’ve access to the Theme Park (including early access to some rides). This has been opened for bookings, please respond via the Parent Portal and get your deposit made to secure a place. [Event also open to Explorers]

South Yorkshire Challenge – we plan on taking some teams to the South Yorkshire Challenge based out of Hesley Wood. This is a county organised event and the leader team will be working to arrange the plans in the coming weeks. Placeholder page here.

Brunt’s Barn expedition #2 – a smaller expedition weekend, this time to the Peak District. Due to limited sleeping accommodation, this will be open to male scouts only. The female scout only trip is earlier in the year. This is booked, but not available to secure places as yet. Placeholder page here.

Caving – we have one secured date in the diary and will work with caving teams to find more. Again, a placeholder where we will open invitations in the near future.

Christmas Camp – a full weekend at Castleton Rotary Centre including a Christmas Dinner, festive fun and proposed trips out in the local area. The venue is booked, we will open spaces in the coming weeks. Dedicated event placeholder page is here.

Explorers

Section meetings

Look out for an email with any special instructions regarding the unit meeting after the half term break but in the meantime, we hope the 13 Explorers attending Freezer camp have a great time.

Future Explorer events

We have a great selection of events planned, some with the Scouts, but many as a unit.

Centrepoint sleepout – a charity fundraiser for young homeless people. Scouts and Explorers will sleep out under the stars (at Silverwood Scout Campsite) and seek sponsorship for their achievement. The young people will have sleeping bags and survival bags, plus the opportunity to build their own cardboard accommodation so they can experience and support the lives of those less fortunate. The leader team will be providing a soup kitchen throughout the night. Dedicated event page here.

Alton Towers Camp – a camping trip with a difference. We will be pitching tents on the grass at the side of the lake inside of Alton Towers. On the first evening we’ve access to Splash Landings water park, then all day Sunday we’ve access to the Theme Park (including early access to some rides). This has been opened for bookings, please respond via the Parent Portal and get your deposit made to secure a place. [Event also open to Scouts]

With the reminders out of the way, let’s take a look back over some of the Scouting we’ve been up to during the holidays.

SCUBA taster session

Scouts from Wibbles and Viernes troop attended a SCUBA taster session at Stocksbridge Leisure Centre. Many thanks to the Chapeltown Sub Aqua club for making this possible. It’ll be the turn of our Explorer Scouts next.

Freezer Camp

13 Explorers were at Hesley Wood Scout Activity Centre this past weekend for the County Freezer Camp. Whilst the temperature did drop a little low in the evening / overnight, it was a far cry from some of the previous Freezer Camps where snow has been known to fall on the ground. A great time was had by all!

Back in time sleepover

Cubs from all three packs went to Beamish on Saturday. They had a terrific time exploring the living museum. To see how they got on, please have a look at the dedicated post on our website. As a teaser, how many cubs do you think you can get in a small shelter? Answer in the following video:

Beamish shelter

How many Cubs can you fit in a shelter at Beamish?

Barnsley football club collection

The Jamboree team are nearing the finishing line of their epic fundraising challenge. The first Saturday of half term, before kick-off, they were at Barnsley Football Club collecting donations towards their fundraising goal.

British Health Foundation support

Last Sunday, a number of volunteers from the group went to staff a couple of water stations for the British Heart Foundation half marathon and 10K run at Harewood House near Leeds. This provided the participants of the annual event with refreshments as they passed. A very worthwhile cause and one that the group are pleased to have been able to support for a number of years. Many thanks to all those who came along.

And finally:

Music through time

Stainborough Rotary Club is putting on a fundraiser in aid of Silverwood Scout Campsite and other local charities.

Please see the below poster for full details and support this fantastic event.