K.SCOUT Derbyshire Scout County Newsletter—Summer 2012

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5th - 7th October at Drum Hill Campsite

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Hello again and thanks to Stephen for a different view on the Counties Scouting in the last K. I know Nick the news will call this edition the Summer special even though it has hardly appeared so far. A really big thanks to all for showing true Scouting spirit in making sure your programmes and camps have gone ahead as planned despite some pretty appalling weather. It is quite a while since I last wrote and what a lot has been happening. I think I am right in saying most if not all districts have had their AGM’s and whilst I could not make all of them each one has had representation from the County and in many cases the Cty Executive as well. Several also have had our Nominated youth representative Kiron speaking about the youth council. What a great job he has done too. As ever I am always amazed at what has been going off in Derbyshire Scouting such a rich variety of activities, events and underpinning it all the creative use of our programme all of which is reflected in the growth across the county. Please Please keep it up . The County AGM was also deemed a success judging by the letters and comments made again thanks to all for supporting. We have Wayne Bullpit the UK Chief Commissioner as our guest speaker in 2013.. I continue to hear great things about our active support units three more of which will soon be available look elsewhere for further information they will be centred on helping leaders gain experience in walking (i.Walk)and getting Scouts out in the hills and moors.. Help with communications, from PA to Radio’s ,(i.Comm’s?) (i.Talk?) and Sailing (I.Sail) all on the agenda. I am also being asked by several people if there if there is any interest in a unit that would offer First aid cover at District and

Tom’s Turn

County Commissioner, Derbyshire County Scout Council

County events a bit similar to the Notts nest team. Finally at the recent Shiree there was abit of interest in forming a unit around Craft activities. If you think I ought to get them up and running then please get in touch. If you would like to be the co-ordinator of either again please get in touch. I hope word has spread to all about the forthcoming Young leaders weekend in October this is being organised by James Stafford , you will know James he was one of the Jamboree contingent leaders last year he also has some good experiences with Explorers and Young leaders in York. The County the Development grants board (we hope) Districts and Drum Hill are all supporting the week end so please make sure your Young Leader s reply and book in. Whilst they may not appreciate it Wayne Bullpit UK Chief Commissioner will be coming to meet talk and listen to them. A real coup. Whilst on about young leaders it was both heartening and disappointing a couple of weeks ago at the youth council’s 1st meeting. Heartening that there are so many young people who are keen to have a say in their Scouting as well as so many young facilitators giving inspiration to them just in the general chat of the day about what they have done where they have been as Scouts already. (see Mels article elsewhere) Please when you have read this ask your DC if you were represented and if not let them know you have with a voice you would like to be heard. Kiron did a brilliant job of organising lots of praise for an excellent day. The disappointment obviously that not all districts were represented I hope this can be rectified at the next meeting. It will be

K.Scout is the Newsletter of the Derbyshire County Scout Council. All contributions and

photos gratefully received and should be sent to news@derbyshirescouts.org for inclusion.

Deadline for next issue: 20th September 2012! S

Tom’s Turn County Commissioner, Derbyshire

County Scout Council

October /November they were fixing the date also designing their own Neckerchief , and deciding what they would like to be known as. I hope all leaders who have recently started a new group or section are aware of K. dot and K.Plus and are recommending K.plus to all parents. I also hope anyone starting a new section has applied for both the county and the HQ start up grants. It is £100 per section. Contact your DC for further information . 2013 is already on the agenda and by way of advanced notice there will be further training supported by the county for GSL’s around the region and Further Training around the region for Trustees again supported financially by the County. It seems lot of us are are not very good at revisiting the roles we take on and appear to think there is not a lot that we could learn from another day away. Overwhelming from GSL’s who have been on the excellent GSL course and the same for those trustees who have been on the exec training day are the, well I never knew that , whish someone had told me that yeas ago, comments . So please take advantage of what I am told are excellent days . It is worth remembering that the

content has been developed by amongst others Derbyshire GSL’s I have asked all DC’s to arrange an evening in the district to talk with ADC’s and GSL’s safety /risk assessments . There is some information from HQ that I think will be better discussed than E mailed. October 15th already booked by one district how’s that for speed . It is not very often the County take out the Derbyshire mobile display unit but we did so at the County Show a few weeks ago we had a lot of interest and took a lot of names that were being loaded onto the system by Sally, one of the visitors being Briony Balen the ex Melbourne scout who recently became the youngest person to walk to the South Pole. She is about to join Phoenix active support unit and will resume Scouting in the Network on her return from Newcastle Uni. Thanks to Jean Roulinson , Sally Eccles, Dave Capel, Stephen Parker and Sue Harris who supported the day also to the unnamed tractor driver who towed myself and the trailer out on the Monday morning. I hope you all have a brilliant summer whatever the weather be it Scouting , your own holidays or just time with your family. Finally I am sure you will all join me in congratulating Nick ( Acc Activities) and Jayne on the birth last week of Victoria Grace (mum & daughter doing well)

The Pleasure of being County Commissioner Nigel Hailey, International Commissioner called me back in March to ask if I thought Mel Grant Assistant scout Leader at the 86th Derby East would make a good participant in the then forthcoming Commonwealth conference. I did not know Mel well but had heard of her and knew she was a recent Queens guide a quick chat with her DC and a call back to Nigel and she was invited to be one of the 2 uk representatives. She has put together a few words on the week-end for you and I hope to inspire others. Over the Windsor Queen Scout weekend in April I visited National Headquarters at Gilwell Park to represent the UK at the first ever Youth Commonwealth Scout Forum, an event with the intention of implementing scout partnerships in the Commonwealth, coinciding with Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. Arriving on Thursday we had a campfire evening, sharing songs and games from our countries and getting to know one another in preparation for Friday, the day of the forum: After a brief ice-breaker and sessions to learn about each other’s cultures, presentations of scouting in the commonwealth countries were given by each country’s representatives, ’In Bangladesh,

Youth Commonwealth Scout Forum

Mel Grant, Represents The UK and talks about her experience

the President’s Scout Award is our equivalent of the Queen’s Scout Award’. All speakers were keen to share what scouting means to them where they’re from, ‘We are involving MPs in our community art project in Kenya with the aim of uniting people’. Programme exchanging then followed with games and activities being shared in small groups; Such as “Ninja”, a game shared in my group from Singapore in which each person must freeze and make one swift movement in turn, trying to touch another player’s limb. This player can dodge, also in one swift movement, but if they are touched then that limb is lost. Finally, pledges were made by all participants detailing how they promised to develop scout partnerships further, with a Commonwealth Badge attainable across all member countries emerging from discussions. Over the weekend we ventured into London with highlights including lunch with the UN Secretary General and a trip on the London

Eye. On Sunday the group paraded with the UK Queen Scouts at Windsor, with Daniel (the other UK representative) and me joining other award holders of our own districts. Meeting Bear Grylls topped of a fantastic day, although the weather could have been better! All that remains now is to keep in touch and work t o wa rds a m o re un i t ed commonwealth in scouting, as has begun on the Facebook group.

1st Newhall Family Camp

“They have closed the camp site due to the weather”. That was how the Friday we were due to go to camp started, followed by “what are we going to do now?” Our Family Camp was planned to start on Friday the 6th July, at Willesley Camp Site (Leicestershire), where a whole host of exciting activities had been planned along with a themed party on the Saturday night. The Marquee had been pitched the night before and the shopping was underway when the phone call came. After some brief phone calls between the team we decided we should do all we could to continue. Drum Hill was approached to see if they were still planning on being open and, if so, could we come there instead. Up sticks and move a camp 30 miles away with less than 6 hours before people arrive, are you mad? Err if you know any of the team from Newhall then you can answer that question yourselves. Drum Hill had space so the race began to move the camp. Luckily the Mini Bus was available so of this went with the trailer, well it did on the 2nd attempt once the trailer had been attached to the bus, to move as much of the gear as possible to the new location. By 7.30 all of the kit and campers were on site and the camp began to take

shape, Drum Hill were able to furnish us with a couple of smaller marquees to use as main area. The ones already pitched were too wet to even think about taking down and moving let alone getting them from the top of the field to the vehicle. Strangely the minute we set about moving the camp the weather turned from rain of biblical proportions to a pleasant summers evening allowing for the camp to be made without the need for a rain coat. By 11.30pm we were all set and ready for the games to commence. Rain was not an issue throughout the Saturday but lack of sun cream, and hair, was for myself as the sun was beating down all day. Word came that a thunder storm was heading our way so we started planning for the worst. Handily its arrival coincided with the evening buffet being served so after a 30 min downpour we were back on track and the rain left us alone. The Sunday morning looked like we were going to be packing up wet, big black clouds hanging around, and trying to work out where we could dry all of the gear when the sun forced its way out to help. With only the briefest of rain we got all packed up and on our way, even missing the downpour between Derby and Newhall on the way back. With the hard work of the camp leaders and after all the weather threw at us we were able to have out family camp all be it

with a different view from the tent, would we do it again…… Oh yes!

News & Updates!

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British Antarctic Record Breaker Bryony Balen is all

set to join Derbyshire’s Phoenix Scout active support unit

“I am happy t o a n n o u n c e that as of January the 20th 2012, B r y o n y B a l e n became the y o u n g e s t Briton to reach the South Pole from the H e r c u l e s

Inlet, having turned 21 on the 21st of December 2011. The incredible trek took a total of 56 days, a total distance of 1135km (705 miles) over the coldest environment on our planet” “I feel that I have gained basic skills in teamwork and expedition organisation from my Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award (I am currently completing my Queens Scout)and have continued to develop these attributes as I have matured and gained confidence” Bryony is still at University but is looking to take an active part in Derbyshire Scouting on her return

Compliments Recevied On the youth Council day Thanks for your email. Im delighted with how the day went. The day ran smoothly, everyone turned up and I have been

inundated with emails saying how much people enjoyed it. I am really h a pp y ( an d W e l l done relieved!) with how it went. About the Cavers Mick hia. Thank you to you and your team for today . It was great fun. I'm sure everyone had a good time a great caving experience with all the laughter & giggles in amongst the wet, the water and the mud…….!!! Dear Mik Richard and Ashley came to our Cubs last night and gave a wonderful presentation to the Cubs. I am sure that they really enjoyed the evening and Richard and Ashley pitched it just at the right level for this age group. I have thanked them but I would like to pass on my thanks to you for organizing the evening in the first place Drum Hill & Staff I am writing on behalf of Ilkeston District SAS who catered at our District Camp last weekend for our Century Celebrations to say not 100 THANKS but a million million THANKS to Lesley and all the crew at Drum Hill that gave us so much support before and over the weekend to make the Camp the success it was. All the crew including (what looked like to me very young staff) were always polite, helpful and smiled at all times and nothing was too much trouble. lesley & Doddy with the help of three of our team helped to serve I believe it was all 350 campers at the shop on Saturday Night and they were so patient and understanding while serving the kids. I would recommend any District to use the facilities of the site for any such like celabrations, the County must be very pleased with such a great Camp Site Again a million million thanks from all from the Ilkeston SAS Catering Team

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Flying High 2012 Jean Roulinson

Derby East Scout and Guide Gang Show took place at the Derby Theatre in March and turned out to be one of the most successful yet. Ticket sales were phenomenal with all performances being nearly sold out. A cast of 139 of all ages endured six months of rehearsals working

very hard and all enjoyed a fantastic time during the week of the show. The Derby Theatre under the banner of Derby Live were very supportive to us and now that the theatre is being run by its owners, the University of Derby, all indications are that they are happy for us to return for Flying High 2014.

We had over forty distinguished guests at the show including the Deputy Mayor of Derby and the Lord Lieutenant of Derbyshire, Scouting a n d G u i d i n g Commissioners from the District, County, Region and even nationally, as well as gang show

representatives from other shows. The show was entered for the Derby Amateur Theatre Eagle Awards for which five judges attended and the awards ceremony took place in July at the Derby Theatre. John Miles, stage manager won the prestigious Crown Derby Eagle, the Award for Outstanding Achievement for the show at the Oscar style awards. Angela Arter, assistant producer was also nominated. The show has also won this Award on three occasions previously. John is the SAS manager for Derby East and Angela is the Guide leader of 1st West Hallam Guides and congratulations go to them both for their hard work and achievement.

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www.derbyshire-exfest.org.uk/

#July 6…

#Dragnet Base Camp…

#Location…

#Unknown…

#Destination…

#Unknown…

after a few last minute kit checks and a good while stood in the rain -contemplating our soggy fate- we began a coach journey to the beginning. We began at 0100Hrs Saturday morning, the weather had cleared and we were “ready” to go. The idea behind Operation Dragnet (Cumbria) is to travel by foot approximately 35 miles in 35 hours with the additional obstacle of the team of 40 catchers out to take away one of a team’s three life cards. If a team loses all three of their life cards then they are knocked out of t h e c o m p e t i t i o n . After a fairly solid eight hours walking we had our first run in with a pair of catchers; one life down and on an hours grace period, we stopped for a breakfast, of sorts, with a team of scots we had ran into. We parted ways and continued walking until 1430Hrs where we stopped for an early dinner, of sorts and a two h o u r s l e e p . Continuing on until 2000Hrs we turned a corner where we met a familiar set of faces. For the second time in 24 hours we had met the Scottish group, this time we stuck with them for a good while longer. Almost immediately after the meeting we lost our second life to a particularly sneaky catcher who had hid in wait behind a wall and jumped out to catch us. This put us on our third and final life causing us to consider how reckless we had been up

to that point; far too much road walking and we had hardly been quiet. We knew that taking the main road would be safe during the night while the catchers gave the participants a chance to have a final bit of sleep before the real stealth began on the Sunday morning aiming to hit the end point for t h e 1 1 0 0 H r s t a r g e t . Taking the fastest route toward the end we decided on a place to sleep and headed for it. After a few hours we decided on a closer place to sleep and got in another two hours. Another five hours walking took us to the car park where we left our bags, a practice allowed after 0800Hrs Sunday morning. Setting of for the final three hours of walking the light brought with it a very real threat of capture and to be eliminated this close to the end would be devastating. We carried only the essentials; water, phones and a first aid kit. Staying off the roads and following some of the rougher tracks we s l o w l y a p p r o a c h e d t h e f i n i s h . The banner topped hill was in sight when we were stopped by the sight of a team of four network competitors running towards us. Realising catchers were ahead we moved off the path and up into the bracken where an ambush awaited. We made our final sprint round the back of the main building, “jumped” over a wall, and sprinted across the f i n a l f i e l d . Finishing 18 minutes early gave us a place of 5 th out of the 11 explorer teams to make it… a total of 38 exp lo rer t eams had s ta r ted . A presentation with Chris Bonnington and some long anticipated pasties later, the gentle sway of the M6 made the journey home very much faster than the one we had just undertaken.

The tac t ics fo r 2013 remain classified…

DRAGNET

AQUILA Explorer Scou

ts

Media Getting there slow but sure still needed in some districts. These do not need to be adults who fill these roles. Dan has put is look-ing for people to support him in his media role as ever success breeds success and Dan now needs some help from within the Districts. Ideal for people looking to support A levels , media or someone with a little time on there hands to follow up write up Scouting news. We have the op-portunity to spread into papers other than the Derby & Chester-field local papers but it does need your help Contact Jacquie if inter-e s t e d

District Commissioners.

We need two District Commissioners

one for Derby South & one for Long

Eaton district. Both have been adver-

tised a couple of times in a variety of

media as well as direct mailing. As yet

nojoy. So if you know of someone who

would make a good DC even if they

have not thought about it themselves

please let me know.

Youth Council Members Check with your Dc to see if you are represented.

Development support

As mentioned elsewhere a team of people willing to sup-port Development by way of helping out with the Derbyshire mobile display unit. As ever the more people on the list the fewer times you will be needed. Give Rita a call for more info. 01623-746122