Wasn’t Awards Day a fantastic celebration of our young people’s success in Top Awards – 556 young people from 64 groups. Special thanks our Hosts Mark and Sophie, and the Events team for creating such a wonderful experience for young people and their family members.
Census numbers are now in and confirmed. As a county we had a growth of 1.4%, which in the current climate is an amazing result, and compares very favourably indeed with the national average.
We had growth in Squirrels and Cubs, with reductions in Beavers, Scouts and Explorers. The District Lead Volunteers and I will be looking closely at the detail and coming up with what our next steps are.
During February we reached out to Squirrel Team members and Group Lead Volunteers with a survey to consult on what our First Squirrel event should look like. We had 29 responses from a possible 92 squirrel volunteers and 85 Group lead Volunteers. From these responses we have been able understand what kind of event we need to create and have started putting together a small team to help the Events Team plan and create the Squirrels Birthday celebration.
I have also been meeting with District Volunteer Development team Leaders discussing what learning and support we need to be offering to Volunteers. Top topics seem to be basic scouting skills, use of digital tools ( OSM, Membership system etc ), support with nights away, more First Response learning opportunities. I hope to have more to report in this area next month.
As the nights get lighter and we all spend more time Scouting outdoors, please remember to be safe and look after yourselves and our young people
And finally, simply Thank You for all that you do…..
