I hope this finds you all well, I am taking advantage of the rubbish weather to send this out today and share a few things with you.
The District Commissioners held a Teams meeting with the Group Scout Leaders, and Andy as the Explorer rep, this week and had an update on all the activity taking place across the District. We are really grateful for all you are doing to keep Scouting active. Is it me, but I think everything seems to take three times as long to do recently? So a huge thank you for managing to keep our young people engaged.
Chief Scout Awards Day
Due to not knowing when we can return to face-to-face Scouting, we have made the decision to further postpone the Chief Scout Awards day from September this year to 21st March 2021. Ferny Crofts have agreed the date change for us, so thank you Ferny Crofts!
The day is a special event to celebrate any young person who has achieved a top award in any section recently with fun activities. Even more reason to aim for the top!
Scout’s Key Heroes
Do you have a key hero in your Group, section or unit?
If so please head to this link and nominate them, they will receive a certificate and badge through the post thanks to Hampshire Scouts’ programme team.
This is not just for key workers like emergency services, NHS workers, carers, shop workers and teachers. You can also nominate our young people if you have any that are going above and beyond during this pandemic.
So far we have had a number of volunteers in our district nominated for their efforts. You can see their names, along with the others nominated on the web page.
Care for Care Homes
It can be a hard time for residents of care homes at the moment with loneliness a massive issue.
To help tackle this, Scouts across the UK are being asked to collectively carry out 10,000 small acts of kindness to raise a smile.
You can find out more on the Scouts website, where you can also record what you have been up to.
Helping new volunteers: Appointments Advisory Committee
We are in urgent need of some new members for the Appointments Advisory Committee when we can hold meetings again. They meet with new volunteers to make sure they are ready and supported for their new role and are suitable to work with young people.
The role is perfect for those who can’t volunteer on a regular basis as the commitment is a maximum of one evening a month. If you are interested please let the district team know and we can put you in touch with the current chair of the committee to talk though the process.
Young Leaders
I have spoken to Kevin Harmer, Young Leader leader, and he is happy to make reasonable adjustments to the Missions criteria so our Young Leaders can still work towards getting their Buckle.
Section leaders, please help them to continue to be involved as much as they can with the online sessions, maybe even task them with organising an online event? Either Kevin, Steven Osborn or Lynn are happy to support and validate Missions. Kevin is going to email the Young Leaders and let them know that we can adjust the criteria.
Online Webinars and Events
Did anyone join the virtual county campfire? It was great to see so many people take part, apparently over 2,000 members viewed it. If you missed it you can watch it below. Many thanks to the County Media & Communications Team for pulling this together.
That’s it for this week. Best wishes from Lynn. PS My sunflower is now 80 cm high ????