This report is part of a series from members across the district for the Annual General Meeting to be held online on 8th July 2020.
Hello and welcome. This is the first report that the new Team DC have produced since our appointment on the 1st September 2019. The team is made up of Lynn Tatavossian, Ian Sims and Robin Mair.
Firstly, we need to record our thanks to Kerie Wallace as the previous District Commissioner of 10 years, for all the hard work and incredible opportunities he gave to the District during his term in office.
We are the first Team DC in Hampshire so there was a presentation to prepare. We showcased our thoughts to convince the County management team that this would be a good way to go forward. We are delighted to report that they were impressed with our presentation.
We continue to support and improve the delivery of Scouting within the District, supporting the Group Scout Leaders and Assistant District Commissioners to deliver their roles effectively and efficiently. With Ian and Robin changing roles we have appointed 2 new ADCs – Richard White for Cubs and Simon Down for Scouts. We have also created 2 further posts to improve our contact, development and retention opportunities. The first is District Youth Commissioner – Jake Beach and the second is District Scout Network Commissioner – Steven Osborn. We welcome all of these members to the District team and thank them for taking on the additional roles.
The Group Scout Leaders continue to manage and support their Groups with support and assistance from Team DC and we are very thankful for their support too. The GSL from the 3rd New Forest North Ashurst & Colbury, Cyril Allen retired at Christmas time after over 20 years of loyal service to the Group and the District. We thank him for all his hard work. In the short-term Tara Paul has taken on an Assistant Group Scout Leader role to cover the GSL role until we find a replacement.
All the section ADCs continue to provide wonderful opportunities through District based events (these should be mentioned in their reports) for their section members to develop their skills further. For this we thank them. As a District we run over 15 different events supporting the sections during the year.
In October 2019 the District ran its second District Expedition to the Lake District. This event was so well supported that we ended up hiring a second building for accommodation. To all the adult volunteers who gave of their time, thank you very much. To all the participants thank you for making it such an enjoyable and fulfilling week. There is definitely a certain inner peace and calm that one feels from having spent a day walking in such a beautiful environment.
In January our annual Census was completed. This year our membership numbers were down as a total over the District. As Team DC we are supporting the GSLs, and in some cases new team members, to develop and grow the sections where we had recorded a drop in numbers.
This period has certainly been a time of finding our feet and trying to assist in improving efficiencies for the Groups. We continue to present Long Service Awards, Wood Badges and certificates for ongoing training as received. Many of the leaders continue to pursue new, and update, their activity permits. These allow safe delivery of activities against nationally approved standards across the District. For this we thank them all.
On the 16th March due to the pandemic face to face delivery of Scouting across the UK was stopped. We are pleased to say that since that point virtual delivery of meetings has become the trend, whether it be through Facebook live, Zoom, Teams, Skype or other methods. Guidance and support has been forthcoming from HQ to assist in this. Various District events have had to either be cancelled or postponed due to the pandemic.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank all members of our District Executive Committee, especially its Chair, Chris Hughes, who has skilfully guided us forwards over the last 13 years. We would like to thank the very much unseen, but in the background making it all happen, the District Scout Active Support Unit. Many of our District events would not run so well without their support.
For all our adult volunteers we thank you for all the time you give to support our members develop “skills for life”. For all our youth members we thank you for making Scouting in New Forest North so inclusive and supportive.
THANK YOU
Lynn, Ian & Robin