Steve's Blog - September 2009
Hi Everyone!
Welcome back after the summer holidays, if you've been to camp or on holiday I hope it was really good. I have already spoken to young people who have been camping, some went to Denmark, I met several Explorers at the National Sea Scout Centennial Celebration Jamboree which was held at the National Water Sports Centre at Nottingham, a small group who went to WINGS 09 at Windsor and others have been camping elsewhere. Some have even been doing their Duke of Edinburgh expedition. They all seem to have had a fantastic time.
As we start this new academic year, we have made a few changes to the County Team. Malc has now taken over the reins of Assistant County Commissioner for Explorer Scouts whilst I have taken on the role of Deputy County Commissioner with main responsibility for Programmes i.e. I support the 5 Sectional ACCs including Malc and the youth side of Scouting in Nottinghamshire.
In County, we are looking at our strategy for the next year and beyond to ensure that Scouting in our county is the best and that you are getting the programme that you should be getting. Remember, your main challenge is to achieve the Queen's Scout Award before your 25th birthday and that is quite easily achievable especially through the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme. We have started a new group based at Ollerton which is called The North Notts DofE Open Group for those who cannot access DofE through their Unit. This is proving to be very successful and numbers continue to swell, so if you are looking for somewhere to go to get help with your DofE be it at Bronze, Silver or Gold or even to complete your Queen's Scout Award, send an e-mail to Malc and he'll let you know when the group next meets. If the group continues to flourish, we may also set one up for the south of the county, so keep watching.
Don't forget that there are a number of activities already in the pipeline for Explorer Scouts over the next few months including the Young Spokesperson Training in November, the County Flag Competition in November, the NESST Night Hike in January, MAD fun day in March and the fantastic Monopoly Run in July (won this year by Rufford Explorers).
I want to give a very big thanks to all those of you that are Young Leaders. I have been speaking to Beaver, Cub and Scout Leaders recently and everyone I have spoken to exude nothing but praise for the YLs they have working with them, so well done. Already many YLs on reaching the age of 18 years are transferring to an Adult Leader role and are claiming some of their YL Modules towards their Adult Leader Training.
Don't forget that if you are stopping in Scouting beyond the age of 18 you need at CRB in force from your 18th birthday, so speak to your Leader when you are about 17½ years old to get one done.
Please tell your friends about this website and keep checking it yourself because this is where you'll find out about what is happening for Explorers in the County. Don't forget to write to us about your camp, expedition, your successes, in fact about anything. Send it to our webmaster, Colyn via this website.
My challenge to you is to help increase the number of Explorer Scouts in this county by the end of the year. Invite a friend along to your Explorer Meeting (and hopefully get them to stay with your Unit). If everyone brought along one friend and we got them all to stay with us, our census numbers would jump by 100%. Now wouldn't that look fantastic for Explorers?
Cheers!
Steve Deputy County Commissioner
