District Beaver Scout Leader’s Meeting

Held on Tuesday 08 July 2014 at9thB&D Headquarters

Those Present:

Ken Thompson / ADC Beavers / Also representing the 4th B&D
Diana McNaughton / BL / 1stB&D
Maggie Robinson / ABL / 6th B&D
Jill May / BL / 8th B&D
Leigh Dowling / BL/DBL / 9th B&D
Ron Pringle / BL / 11th B&D
Tracey Gifford / BL / 12th B&D
Joanne Bright / ABL / 12th B&D
Trevor Howard / GSL / 15thB&D
Graham Russ / GSL/BL / 19th B&D

Apologies for Absence:

Mary Mcleod 6th, Steve Wakeling, Jan Mead, Nicola Bates, Reece Frazer 10th / 18th, 16th, Olive Howard 15th , Michelle Wells, Danny Cunningham 21st

Groups not represented – 3rd, 7th, 17th

Meeting opened at 8:20pm

Past District Events:

District Football Competition held in May – All those present said that this event went well and the children seemed to enjoy themselves. Unfortunately there was a poor turn out across the board which caused some challenges with the Beavers having to hang round after their competition had finished early, waiting for parents or older siblings. Ken praised the referees who gave their time to play more games as time fillers.

Joint Sleepover, Lambourne End, July – This was attended by the 8th, 10th/18th, 15th, 16th & 21st. Jill said that the children had a fantastic time and all mixed together as one group really well. She added that the Beavers managed to complete a 3 mile hike through HainaultForest and although there were some tired legs, all had great fun.

Future District Events

District AGM – Thursday the 10th July, Dagenham & Redbridge Football Club

Buffet 7.00pm, AGM start 7.30. Uniform to be worn. The bar will be closed during the AGM itself. Please ensure that trophies are returned for re-presentation and if possible the children who won them in your section are available to receive it.

Joint Sleepover 13/14th September, Chigwell Row. - The 6th and the 9th B&D are going to run a joint camp this year as they are both large groups and want to make sure that the District Sleepover is kept free for other groups who may not have the chance of getting away. The camp theme this year is ‘Space Camp’ and will be based around the new Space and Camp Craft Activity Badges for Beavers. There will be Moon Buggy races, star gazing, Rocket launching and lots of wet weather craft ideas to make and test. We’re even going to let the Beavers have a go at making a successful camp gadget. Watch this ‘space!’ (See what I did there!)

District Beaver Scout Sleepover – Will be held on the 11th and 12th October at Chigwell Row. The theme is the same as the 6th & 9th joint camp. Sleepover forms were distributed at the meeting. Please ensure that those who received them get deposits and forms back to Ken or Leigh no later than the 5th of September and balances by the 26th September. Thank you.

District Welly Walk – 17th October, Hargreaves Scout Campsite, 7-9pm.

As always this event will be fancy dress and will involve various bases, where the Beavers have lots of fun with games and challenges. The evening is then rounded off with a night hike around Hargreaves with torches. Cost is the same as last year, £3 per Beaver Scout and £1 per Leader/ Helper please. Letters will be given out at the September meeting or emailed soon. When we meet in September groups are to state which base they are going to run please. If you attend this event, you will be expected to run a base. Many thanks.

CountyNews:

Buddy Badge – New cards were circulated at the meeting and Leigh informed those present that at the last County meeting it was suggested that the badge maybe changing colour to stand out on the Beaver uniform. This is to be confirmed so do please carry on using the badges that you already have.

The next Chief Scout awards are on the 17th November. Names need to be in by the end of August please. Leigh gave a general list of all Beavers across all Districts who have received awards in the last year to Ken. Please ask him if you would like to take a look.

Challenge Day 21st June. This went well. The weather was great. Around 114 Beavers attended and had loads of fun on the various bases, working towards challenge badges. Leigh expressed concern about the blind trail base as it did seem to over run a bit, which resulted in children having to wait around or rush over to their next base. All enjoyed the campfire and sing along. Leigh asked for those leaders who attended the day to feed back their comments to her so that she can take them to the next CountyMeeting in September.

Kubadoo – 4th October. £10 per child. Email to be sent around with details as no flyers this year as it’s not cost effective. If children are attending could they donate an old but not torn book as there will be a charity present to collect these for children in Cambodia. The charity is called BookBridge and they have their own website.

County Events 2015

  • PossibleCounty swimming gala may be taking place next year. Watch this space.
  • ParadisePark Outing either 13th or 27th of June 2015. Last time the county went it was £6 per Beaver Scout as a huge deal was made. We would have to add on to that cost to provide coaches.
  • CountyQuiz provisionally booked for Oct 10th 2015 but could change.
  • A suggested Leader’s sleepover was spoken about where fun activities would be put on, but for the grown ups! No date set.

HQ Updates

  • New kids outdoor safety fun code is available online. Unfortunately Leigh was not given an address at the meeting; therefore a general Google search was her best advice. If she can get further information then she will circulate it to leaders.
  • The CC is meeting with DCs to see what each District needs.
  • CountyTraining, Jackie Geary will be running an ongoing safety one day course in 2015. Details to be set. Ongoing safety must be carried out every 5 years by all leaders.

FinalCounty News:A group present at the meeting who are based in the East London District are taking their beavers as a district (108 beavers) to Disney land Paris and Bear Grylls is going along too.

Compass should be up and running and ready to use for August.

District Training:

The next Safe Guarding Training is on the 17th of July at the Gladstone Hall, Newham. Please see Jill for further details. A second will be run at the 21st HQ on the 24th of June.

Jill reminded all those present to ensure that they were on top of their training. There are a few leaders who have held their appointment for some time and either haven’t completed their training modules or updated them in a while. It is important to do this as appointments will be reviewed if training isn’t carried out.

Nights Away Training. If leaders book themselves onto the Nights Away Training Module and don’t turn up they will unfortunately be sent a charge as obviously things need to be paid for, such as catering costs and hall fees.

Any Other Business

Group Info – Trevor wanted to thank one of his leaders, Rikki, for helping out at the Lord Mayor’s Parade with their children as she had the entire group marching and looking very smart along the way. They were commended on how well they did and so as a reward they were invited for a meal!Trevor also wanted to congratulate one of his Beaver Scouts who has been picked to play for the Arsenal Junior Football Squad. Well done.

Use of Children’s Photos – Jill asked those present not to upload general event photos of children in their groups onto facebook or their own websites. This is because, although our children may have signed photograph permission forms, there maybe children in the background of photos who have not or who may be under some known protection scheme. Barking & Dagenham has a lot of children in the borough who have been sent there for safe haven, therefore, without meaning to, they could be put in danger if their pictures have been uploaded. Please be very vigilant. Thank you.

Woodsmoke – Please ensure that all reports are sent to Dodds and Steve May by the 20th of each month. Let’s keep Woodsmoke full of great news for the District to see.

With no other matters arising the meeting concluded at 9:25pm.

Next meeting is on Monday the 1st September at the 6th HQ, St Mary’s Hall, Grafton Road, Dagenham. 8pm.

Have a great summer everyone. Hope to see you at the AGM!