A Different Approach

Well we just about made it, ahead of the original target of 1^st April!

I’m so grateful to all our volunteers, in whatever and every role they fulfil, for their continued enthusiasm and commitment to providing fantastic Scouting opportunities for the young people in our District.

I felt I needed to summarise the changes effective from 1^st April as some of our members move into new or additional roles to move our District forward.  As you will remember, with our target areas identified, we needed to reorganise to give us the best chance to meet those desired outcomes.  Broadly this is to provide quality programmes across the Youth sections, which in turn will lead to growth in our membership, provide quality District events to ensure all of our young people enjoy the adventure that Scouting offers and importantly to continue to offer support to our adult volunteers.

As Sectional District Scouters – Sue Elmes (Beavers), Carole Graves (Cubs) and Jenni Arnull (Scouts) will be representing the Section Leaders.  They will lead the Section meeting as part of the Full District meeting for Beavers and Scouts, with Cubs now holding their own schedule of Section meetings.   Jenni, Carole and Sue will report to the District Team on behalf of the Section Leaders.

Taking the lead on Programme will be Peter Fish.  There is some great Scouting taking place in the District and we need to share these experiences and ideas as widely as possible.  GSL’s manage their leadership teams and if any support is required at Group level they can get in touch with Peter and have a chat.  Anything identified through the Sectional meetings can also be referred to Peter by the Sectional District Scouters, also ensuring that the GSL’s are kept in the loop.

Providing consistent quality District events, as a means of celebrating Scouting on a larger scale, gives our members different experiences and it is important that all our young people have opportunities to enjoy these occasions.  Steve Reynolds, in addition to continuing in his current role as District Assistant Commissioner (Activities), has agreed to take on the role of facilitating District events for the Scout Section.  I’m sure Jenni (DS – Scouts) and Kieran (DYC) will be in touch Steve.  Events for the Beaver and Cub Sections will be facilitated by the District Team for the foreseeable future.

To ensure that our scouting continues to be safe and that our youth members have quality residential experiences, David Gostling has kindly agreed to continue in his role of Nights Away Advisor and as also as the H&S Advisor for the District.  David’s wealth of experience in these areas and the support he gives to our volunteers in the District is invaluable and much appreciated.

Making sure that our adult volunteers feel supported is extremely important and having Judith Pryke on the team in the role of District Scouter primarily with Adult Support as her focus will be a real benefit for the District.  Judith enjoys dropping in at Group and seeing how things are going and this will give leaders opportunities to ask for support face to face.  Working as a team, especially with our LTM Jane Wolsey and our GSL’s together we can improve the quality of our adult volunteers’ experiences in Scouting.

Providing quality programmes through the sections will naturally attract young people to Scouting and our enquiries through our ‘Want to Join’ on the website are testament to that. Graham Don as District Scouter will be managing these enquiries from 1^st April and, of course, will be working with any enquiries from adults looking to get involved in Scouting.  The joining experience for our new adult volunteers is so important to ensure they have a positive experience, feel welcomed and supported from the outset.

Marc Stacey, often seen at many events across the District and County supporting the promotion of Scouting to improve the public perception and attract new members young and not so young! is an ideal person to lead on our growth focus.  He will be forming a virtual team of volunteers to support Groups locally with any recruitment events – if you enjoy this aspect of Scouting then drop him a line so he can call on you as and when!

Linked with promotion of scouting and public perception is, of course, the use of media in Scouting.  Stuart Daley has a wealth of experience in this area and as well as supporting District events with IT, he will be taking on a more active role regarding the website and the maintenance of a current, vibrant and informative webpage for the District.  Please do drop him a line with any articles, information and photos of your Scouting experiences.

As our volunteers settle into the roles, these will develop further.  I know I can count on your support in helping them especially in the initial weeks as we find our feet.

Thank you.

Lisa

30th March 2018     Members News