An Impressive evening full of laughter
Report Date 26/05/16
The above comment was made by Faith Ponsenby, the Mayor of Havant who joined about 80 others for our Annual Awards and Presentations evening.
Following the formal business, the following presentations were made:-
The David Baker Award is presented annually by Jane and Tony Baker in memory oftheir son David who was a Cub, Scout and Venture Scout in the group. It is presented to an individual who best demonstrates their commitment to the Scout Laws and Promise. This years recipient is Hannah Kirby who is a member of our Explorer unit.
The Fred Rook award is presented for Service to the Community and this years recipient is Alan Scutt a member of our general Leadership team. In addition to his invaluable work for us, Alan will normally be found doing a range of jobs at St Patrick's Church, transporting Islanders on shopping trips or gardening / odd jobs around the Island.
Mandy Hawke was prsented with a gardening voucher by Young Leaders Hannah Kirby, Charlotte Saunders (not pictured) and Dominic Allgood as a thank you for her tremendous contribution to the development of lots of our 14-18 year olds through the Young Leader training scheme. Mandy is taking a break from her Leadership roles, but will continue to support the Group, for example with our Scout Quiz. (8th October this year).
Richard Merefield, the District Commissioner for Scouting in Havant then presented "Wood Badges" to Linda Hunter and Jordan Reed. (See separate news item for details).
This was a very special meeting for our Chairman Phil Blosse who after 30 years in this role is standing down. During his time as Chairman, Phil and the Group received lots of support from his wife Val, from running the Webb Ivory Xmas Card service, spending hours at our various photocopiers and making sure that our thousands of letters made sense!!
As a thank you Val was presented with a bouquet by Ian Hawke.
Recapping 30 years contribution is almost impossible, but some of the highlights of Phil's time include:-
- 3 Major Extensions
- 2 New Roof projects
- 3 Kitchens
- Always looking to introduce new ideas and move away from less effective ones, (e.g. From Jumble Sales, Xmas Fayres, Webb Ivory to 100 Clubs, book sales, duck races, xmas post).
- establishing contacts with many Hayling organisations and businesses.
Throughout the 30 years however, Phil maintained two principles in all he said and did:-
- Our job is to ensure the Leaders have the equipment anf facilities required to deliver fun and active scouting.
- It is our role (and not the Leaders) to find the funding to achieve this.
It really was my privaledge to work with Phil over this period and especially to see him being recognised by the Scout Association with the award of the "Bar to th Silver Acorn" in 2015.
It was also my pleasure to present him with a rose with the name of "Carefree Days".
Thank you Phil for your magnificant contribution to so many young people and Leaders.
We then welcomed Aaron Pycroft into the role of Chairman.
Following the awards and presentations, we were all entertained by a presentation by Dominic Allgood on his expedition to the World Scout Jamboree in Japan.