The Woggle

The newsletter of the 3rd Hayling Scout Group
December 2008

GSL's Update

Lots of Top Awards
Ian Stott the new District Commissioner for Havant made 3 visits in 6 days to present top awards to members of the Group.

His first visit was to Lion Troop to present Chief Scout's Gold Awards to 5 Scouts. On presenting the awards to Michael Kenny, Joshua Haines, Stephen Way, Joshua Hunter and Matthew Kenny, Ian asked the Scouts what was the most memorable part of their awards. He heard about Community Service at the Lifeboat Station (Michael and Joshua Haines), helping young people develop their Fencing skills (Stephen), taking part in the Paris to Hayling Cycle Ride (Joshua Hunter) and organising and completing the Expedition badge (Matthew).

 

 

Three days later it was the turn of Charles Reneaux-Gallant and Connor Wingate of Aspen Beaver colony who were presented with their Chief Scout's Bronze Award.

 

The following evening he was back again to present more Chief Scout's Bronze Awards to Redwood Beavers. To complete this top award, Beavers have to achieve the Outdoor Challenge, Friendship Challenge, Creative Challenge, Fitness Challenge, Global Challenge and Promise Challenge badges.

The photograph shows George Pickering, Craig Cooper and Jack Beaton all proudly holding their awards.

 

At each visit, Ian congratulated the Beavers and Scouts on gaining their top awards and thanked the Leaders and Parents for their help and support in these achievements.

Irene Day
We were very saddened to hear of the passing of Irene Day on Sunday 7th December. Irene has been a tremendous supporter of Hayling Scouts over many years and made a significant contribution to our success. We will update the website "news section" with details of the funeral arrangements when known.

Xmas Post
Have you booked your roads yet? Details are in the HQ or click on the Stamp on our website. Please help us by signing up now!

100 Club Results
Congratulations to Kim Sparling, Tom Deans and James Perfett who each won £25 in our November Draw.

We have also completed the December draw before Xmas with the winners of the £25 prize being Brian Smith, Roger Knight and Minnie Deans. Ina Smith won the quarterly £50 prize and Val Blosse the annual £100 prize. Congratulations to all of you.

100 Club 2009
We will be running our 100 Club again in 2009, but have decided to align the Club with the financial year to simplify the accounting. Therefore early in the New Year we will be sending out details and inviting everyone to join.

Record Book Sale
Wow - Thank you to everyone who helped at our Book Sale which had total sales of over £850, which is our best ever total. This means that in 2008, the sale of books has raised nearly £1500 for the Group.

Birthday Badge

Next year we will be providing every member of the Group with one of our special 80th Birthday badges. These will be worn on our uniform throughout 2009.

Thanks to Graham Chapman a member of our Group Development Team (GDT) for the design, to Phil Blosse for his help with the computer graphics and Nigel Kenny also part of our GDT for arranging the production.

Hampshire County Council Grant
We are very grateful to Ted Gale our County Councillor and to Hampshire County Council for their support with a grant of £212. towards the cost of some of the specialist equipment that will be required by our Explorers for their expedition to Switzerland in 2009.

Xmas Post 25th Year
Just a reminder that for the 25th consecutive year we are again running our Xmas Postal Service. Stamps are now available at various locations across the Island and for 20p we will deliver every correctly addressed card posted by Saturday 20th December in one of our green and yellow boxes.

The profits from this year's Service will be used to provide additional activities at our Group 80th Birthday Camp taking place in June 2009.

Subscriptions
Each year, we review the level of subscriptions required to support the Group. The last increase was in April 2004 since which time we seen significant increases in all of our costs.

From April 2009, our Subs will increase to £72 per year (£24 termly). In the New Year you will receive a detailed description of what happens to Subs and also new Standing Order forms for those of you who pay by this method.

Payment for January 2009 will remain at £22 and is due in the first week of term.

Happy Xmas
I would like to wish all of our readers a very merry Xmas and the very best for 2009. Thank you for your support throughout 2008.

Did you gain a top award with Hayling Scouts?
Since 1992 we have recorded every top award presented to members of Hayling Scouts. We also have the names of some recipients from 1980, but it would be great if we could complete the history of top award holders in the Group. If you gained the top award as a Beaver, Cub, Scout, Explorer, Senior, Rover or Venture Scout then please let us know. You can complete a form on our website or call me on 02392462786 with details. If you know of anyone who achieved this please pass on the contact information.

You can see our current Roll of Honour on our website under badges and awards

80th Birthday Family Camp
Our activities team have held two meetings and by the end of the year will have an outline of our programme for this special event. The site offers climbing, an assault course, archery plus plenty of space! The event will be a family camp, so not only will the Cubs, Scouts, Explorers and Leaders camp all weekend, but we invite all families to join us. This means that providing they have at least one parent camping, Beavers will also be able to take part in the whole weekend of fun. Dates for your Diary are Friday 26th-28th June 2009

Diary Dates

December
21st Xmas Post Delivery
22nd Leaders / GDT Mtg