Another Year is Over
Looking over the programmes for this year, it has been pleasing to see the increase in numbers taking part in the events organised. Our numbers have increased from 14 to 19 despite 10 moving on to the Network and leadership roles. There has also been a greater number of events away from the hut, which is how it should be. This year, six camping events have occurred: Two Silver DofE expeditions, Wey canoe expedition, Gilwell Wintercamp, Gilwell 24 and our Medway canoeing expedition. Unfortunately our summer camp failed to get off the ground for a variety of reasons. Many thanks to those who did research for this. Congratulations also go to our Explorers who won the district treasure hunt in June. Another great point has been the events organised and run by Explorers themselves. A particular thanks to Drew who kicked off this improvement. Hopefully, next year, more and more of the events will be organised by Explorers. The Explorer unit also got an excellent report at our RN inspection. We also are very pleased to welcome Gemma as a new leader to our unit. We would also like to congratulate members of our new intake, who rounded off their time in the troop where they worked towards, and earned their Chief Scout Gold Award. Congratulations. And finally, unless we have missed out something else, congratulations to our 7 Explorers who completed their silver D of E Award, and received this award at the area meeting. These Explorers have now moved on and it was great to see that six of them are now leaders with our group.
Talking of next year, we are going for a summer camp again, this time we have decided that it will take place on the first week of the 2012 school summer holidays. We will be deciding where in September, so if you have any ideas relating to where and activities, let one of the leaders know. We will be researching this during the summer. We also want to look at ways of raising money for the camp to keep costs to parents down.
In addition to the summer camp, we will also be putting a team in for the RN 7 football tournament, taking a contingent to Gilwell in January and July, plus hopefully we will be organising D of E bronze expeditions. We do not expect everyone to take part in all the activities, but if we organise a selection, Explorers can pick and choose. We will also be training for a number of badges so we need to know which ones are most popular. It would be quite possible for at least 12 to get their Platinum Chief Scout Award by next July!!
After such a successful year, we are sure that all will want to carry on this progress, and make 2011/2012 an even greater one.
We wish everone a great summer, and will see you all on Monday 5th September at the hut.
Matt, Gemma and Jack