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Wivenhoe
Scout & Guide Association Chairman’s
Report to the AGM - May 2006 The 10 Scout
and Guiding Units making up our Association have had probably their most
stable year for some time with no changes in key leaders. Beavers, Cubs
and Scouts all have waiting lists and until recently, so too did Explorer
Scouts. This is a good thing actually as youngsters will progress from
Scouts to Explorers next September and this will be useful for each group
in turn. The Guiding
Units have not been so pressured but the 6-in-total Rainbow, Brownie and
Guide Units are all stable. The Association
is pleased to welcome some new Assistant Leaders and helpers which keeps
the overall team at around 35 people, all involved in delivering an
exciting programme of activity to nearly 200 youngsters aged from 6 to
18years. I think we are
all very impressed when we see all these youngsters together at the Young
People’s Act of Remembrance, which we organise each November, and then
afterwards standing around the War Memorial with the Town Mayor,
Councillors, Royal British Legion and many other people.
Otherwise they are all busy with their meetings, off on outings or
hiking, camping and even mountaineering now for the Explorers, and we
never see them altogether.
Several years
ago, Scouting became ‘co-educational’ with girls joining. We have
slowly embraced this change with some girls joining Beavers and Cubs this
year for the first time, whilst Explorer Scouts of course have always had
girls. We have no need to go on any sort of a recruitment drive and our
scouting leaders have no wish to attract girls away from traditional
Guiding. We feel it will be the case there are some girls who are not
attracted to Guiding but who may be interested in Scouting.
Once again this
year, the Association has spent a lot of money this year for Leader
training. This we see as an investment for the benefit of young people and
in consequence we are happy to meet this cost and nurture all Leaders in
our Units. We continue to
maintain our Hall in good condition, which is another primary
responsibility of our Association. I
am grateful to my wife Bonnie for all that she does in terms of quickly
getting things fixed if they go wrong, showing many people around the Hall
who are interested in holding an event in it, and collecting the money
afterwards. In consequence,
not just is the Hall very well used, but it means approximately half of
our overall revenue comes from lettings and this keeps Unit subscriptions
down. I must thank
John Belcher for responding to Bonnie’s calls to fix things, and
especially to Pat Green who goes to the Hall every day to make sure it is
clean and tidy. Pat is very diligent in her thoroughness. And thanks go
overall to all the Leaders, Assistant Leaders, Unit Helpers and others who
make up our Association. They do a great job for all the members of the
Scouting and Guiding Units. Without their enthusiasm, without payment and
sometimes without thanks (although I’m sure all parents are extremely
grateful for this voluntary effort), the many undoubted benefits of
Scouting and Guiding would not be experienced by so many young people.
Well done everybody.
Peter Hill,
Chairman and Acting Group Scout Leader
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