September 2016

32^nd Chingford scout troop

"Being the best we can be"

September Newsletter 2016

Statistics: 38 scouts and 4 leaders

Hello

Hello, hope you had a good summer break and you have lots of good stories to take back to friends at school. I know the scouts who went to the Jamboree in July will have – it looked amazing (thank you Terry for the photos) and made me want to organize a parent’s jamboree next year, though we may have to settle for a night at Vinyl Revival at Bar One Twenty on Friday 16^th September courtesy of Dan Magill.

Programme

We have an exciting programme planned for this term based on what scouts have asked to do, some external events and a focus on gaining badges. I have attached the full term’s programme, which may be subject to change and I have also included the meets for September below, along with a few other dates for your diary.

· Saturday 4 Sep - bag packing at Sainsburys (thank you to everyone who helped!)

· 9 Sep - first night back in the hall for games night

· 16 Sep - athletics or badge activities in the hall

· 23 Sep - Danemead Fun camp

· 30^th Sep - fire lighting and 3D model making

Upcoming Programme Events

· Sat 1 October - Explorer and Scout cycle event

· Sat 15^th October - District Hike

· Sat 29^th October - Scarefest

· Tues 1 Nov - Fireworks at Gilwell Park

· Neon Disco

· Ten pin bowling

· Christmas party and hamper making

Parent helpers

With Lauren leaving us to go to University we now only have 4 leaders to run the troop. We are looking to recruit another leader but to keep the meetings going we will need parent helpers each week from the first meeting in September.

I have attached a programme with gaps for when we need parent help and would be grateful if you could let me know which week you will be able to help. With 38 scouts and support from other troop leaders it is likely that you will only have to help once during the year, unless of course you get the bug and want to do it more often.

Troop rules reminder

Unfortunately we had a number of incidents at the Jamboree which resulted in a few scouts being banned from the Danemead Fun Camp by the leader who is running the camp. The scouts at the Jamboree were representing the 32^nd troop and some of our scouts behaviour let the troop down very badly. When I arrived on the Saturday morning to pack up I had 2 or 3 leaders from other troops tell me that they thought our troop was the worst behaved of the Chingford troops. This is unfair on the rest of the scouts who were well behaved and made life very difficult for the leaders who attended Jamboree.

The troop leaders met after the Jamboree to discuss scouts behavior and we agreed to re-enforce our 3 rule and 3 strikes policy when we return in September. The three rules are:

· Respect the opening and closing ceremonies (with full uniform and no talking)

· Take part in activities)

· Respect the leaders (by listening to what they say) and each other

If a scout has to be spoken to three times during a meeting they will be banned from taking part in the next meeting and if they continue to misbehave they will be at risk of being suspended from scouts.

Our troop is already oversubscribed and having scouts that continuously misbehave makes it very hard for leaders to run activities. Please can I ask you to discuss these rules with your children and remind them of their responsibilities as scouts.

Hall floor

Over the summer the church has paid for the hall floor to be repaired and polished (so no more splinters) and they have asked if we can look after their expensive investment by

· using the trollies for moving chairs

· lifting tables rather than pushing them

· not using the fire extinguisher to prop open the fire door (it now has a chain).

· Don’t drag chairs and tables on the floor as this is what does the main damage to the floor

Website

Dan Magill has kindly helped create a better scout page on the 32 chingford scout group website, full details can be found atwww.32ndchingfordscoutgroup.co.uk/home

Generic scouting information is obtainable from: https://members.scouts.org.uk/supportresources

If you have any questions or concerns please speak with one of the leaders or email me at apladbury@btinternet.com or call me on 07561 532551

Patrick