hotliner - april 2008

AREA TEAM

Are

a C

om

mis

sio

ner

David Jones

ar

eaco

mm

issi

on

er@

clw

ydsc

ou

ts.o

rg.u

k

Are

a T

rain

ing

Man

ager

Pat Royle

tr

ain

ing@

clw

ydsc

ou

ts.o

rg.u

k

AA

C C

ub

Sco

uts

Nicola Gamlen

cu

bs@

clw

ydsc

ou

ts.o

rg.u

k

Net

wo

rk C

om

mis

sio

ner

Anne-M

arie Roberts

n

etw

ork

@cl

wyd

sco

uts

.org

.uk

AA

C C

om

mu

nic

atio

ns

David Morris (Moz)

co

mm

un

icat

ions@

clw

ydsc

ou

ts.o

rg.u

k

AA

C I

nte

rnat

ion

al

David Morris (Moz)

in

tern

atio

nal

@cl

wyd

sco

uts

.org

.uk

AA

C A

ctiv

itie

s Dave Chapman

ac

tivi

ties

@cl

wyd

sco

uts

.org

.uk

Are

a C

hai

rman

Russell Jackson

ch

airm

an@

clw

ydsc

ou

ts.o

rg.u

k

Are

a Se

cret

ary

Dorothy Jackson

se

cret

ary@

clw

ydsc

ou

ts.o

rg.u

k

Are

a T

reas

ure

r Yvette Bracewell

(nu

mb

er f

or

Yve

tte

only

ple

ase)

Fie

ld C

om

mis

sio

ner

Clive Bracewell

cliv

e.bra

cew

ell@

sco

uts

wal

es.o

rg.u

k

CAMPSITE BOOKIN

GS

Gla

dst

on

e Eric Gardner

01

24

4 5

330

46

G

lad

sto

ne

Cen

tre,

Ches

ter

Ro

ad,

Large C

amping field and woodland area. Kitchen, showers & toile

ts

Haw

ard

en, Fl

ints

Co

xw

oo

d

Malcolm

Seller

01

97

8 3

649

53

C

ox

wo

od C

ampsi

te, C

ox’s

Lan

e, R

oss

ett,

Woodland campsite. Kitchen, showers & toile

ts. Kids’ play area

Wre

xh

am

Cae

Llw

yd

Gerry Kellet

07

93

0 1

030

90

C

ae L

lwyd

Cam

psi

te, B

ron

wyl

fa,

Back to basics site next to reservoir and Terrain Zero m

ountainous area

Rh

osl

lan

erch

rugo

g, W

rexham

Ro

wal

lan

Tracey Johnston

0

135

2 7

352

69

R

ow

alla

n S

cou

t H

Q, R

hyd

dyn

Hill

,

Small camping field, building, kitchen & toilets. Easy access by train

C

aerg

wrl

e, W

rexham

DISTRICT COMMISSIO

NERS

Flin

tsh

ire

Pat Royle

flin

tsh

ire@

clw

ydsc

ou

ts.o

rg.u

k

Lla

ngo

llen

Roger Cragg

llango

llen@

clw

ydsc

ou

ts.o

rg.u

k

Val

e o

f C

lwyd

Lesley Bordoli

vale

ofc

lwyd

@cl

wyd

sco

uts

.org

.uk

Wre

xh

am

Jan George

wre

xham

@cl

wyd

sco

uts

.org

.uk

RESOURCES

Scout Inform

ation Centre

0

845

300

18

18

in

fo.c

entr

e@sc

ou

t.o

rg.u

k

Wrexham Scout Shop

Sh

op o

pen

Wed

nes

day

s 6

.30

-9p

m,

Res

ourc

e C

entr

e 6.3

0-8

.30p

m,

sho

p n

o l

onge

r & Resource Centre o

pen

on

Sat

urd

ays

du

e to

lac

k o

f st

aff

. W

rex

ham

Sco

ut

HQ

, St

atio

n A

ppro

ach

, Wxm

Please contact the person concerned, or the AAC Communications for postal addresses

Ch

irk

Bu

nkh

ou

se

Ch

irk

Sco

ut

& G

uid

e H

Q, Sh

ephar

d’s

Bunkhouse sleeping 22 people with kitchen, lounge, main hall and showers

Lan

e, C

hir

k, W

rex

ham

Denise

01

69

1 7

779

16

Area Website: www.clwydscouts.org.uk

Area Directory Hotliner

© Clwyd Area Scouts 2008

Hotliner is edited by Moz, AAC (Communications)

Issue 21 - April 2008 For the very latest see www.clwydscouts.org.uk

Hotliner

News and information for everyone involved in Scouting in Clwyd Area

Clwyd Scouts are inviting EVERY adult

in the Area, Leader, Commissioner, or

non-uniformed Committee member or

supporter, to attend MOTIV8 - a day

where you can meet other Leaders,

take part in workshops, ask the Area

Team questions and even have a free

lunch! The day will take place on

Saturday 12th July 2008 at the Northop

Horticultural College, and is free to all

attending. Further details and a booking

form will be available soon, but at this

stage we’d ask everyone just to put the

date in their diary & listen for more info.

Come to

Training is now free

David Jones in his own words - page 2 �

Great news - Groups no longer have to find the cash to send new

Leaders on Adult Training courses. Due to funding obtained by the

Welsh Scout Council, everyone can now just turn up and enjoy the

training without having to open their Group cheque books!

Not only will new Leaders benefit, but existing adults who feel

that they may want to brush up on a certain aspect of Scouting

can attend a course and get ideas and information to help run

their Section meetings.

See pages 10 and 11 for course dates and details on how to get involved

Clwyd Area Scouts Hotliner April 2008

Since taking over effectively from early last

Autumn, my job in Scouting has quite simply

been bringing myself up to date with what is

happening in the Scout Districts in North East

Wales.

As to a little background to myself - this is the

second time around for

me as Area

Commissioner as I briefly held the role about

10 years ago. To start with I joined Scouting

as a boy 50 years ago and then on into

Scouts at 1st Gresford, leaving after a couple

of years, but not until I discovered that Scouts

and Guides worked together! I was drawn

back into Scouting as a young adult leader,

then before I knew it everyone around was

calling me Akela! This remained my horizon

in Scouting for the next 20 years. Eventually

people retired and a new window opened for

me and I was asked to become GSL. Then

again before I knew it I agreed to become

District

Commissioner

and the story

continued in various jobs until today when I

resume my role as Area Commissioner.

Throughout this time I have had one objective

- to ensure the children are safe and have fun

in Scouting. This remains the case today. I

still help out at my local Group almost every

week and so fully understand and see the

issues that face the Adult volunteers on a day

by day basis.

We all appreciate that the world is a very

different place these days with significant

change happening in our lives almost on a

weekly basis and everyone competing for a

slice of our time and the pressures that flow

out from a competitive lifestyle.

So why do parents continue wishing to enrol

their child into Scouting? What is it about

Scouting that is so attractive? I think and I

know that Scouting provides through its

Leaders a set of values that is almost unique

in today’s society. Also it provides a platform

for learning and a safe environment for

playing, providing an opportunity to develop

and understand and use these new skills.

Well how then do we keep this tradition

flowing for the next 100 years? We obviously

need more resources and that, in my opinion,

simply means more volunteers.

What are we doing about it? Firstly the Welsh

Scout Council has allocated significant funds

and matched

funding

to

allow

the

employment of a full time local development

officer in North W

ales . In the current phase

of his role he has a rolling, two pronged

attack, based upon tried and tested methods,

i.e. to start or restart Sections of a new Scout

Group, supporting and underpinning an

existing Section of a Group. The scheme has

very aggressive targets and as of today am I

pleased to say we are seeing significant

successes in the first part year of a three year

project. If you would like to find out more

about this project, please contact your District

Commissioner or a member of their team.

Secondly, the Area is trying to build a team of

people that

bring together

as much

experience as practically possible, to focus

our efforts in supporting adults in Scouting

over the next several years. As part of this

process we are holding ‘MOTIV8’ - a day at

Northop Horticultural College on July 12th,

starting at 10.30 pm and concluding at approx

3pm. Everyone is invited to attend. Please

see separate item on this in this issue of

Hotliner.

But for now, from me and the Area Team

many, many thanks for all your hard work and

efforts in Scouting.

David Jones

areacommissioner@

clwydscouts.org.uk

David Jones in

his own words

Dates for your Diary

Why not get your highlighters out and m

ark all the dates that apply to you!

APRIL 2008

13 Modules 4 & 12 Gladstone

T

16 Module 25 Gladstone

T

18-19 Connah’s Quay Exhibition

F

19 Wrexham Cub Factor

C

20 Vale of Clwyd St George’s Activity Day

V

21/22 Network: First Aid

N

21 Flintshire Scouts Quiz

F

25-27 Mountain Leader Training 3

T

25-27 Wrexham District St George’s Day Camp/Funday

W

26-27 RAF Valley training weekend

T

27 Flintshire District St George’s Parade

F

MAY 2008

02-05 River Wye Canoe Cruise

06 Wrexham YL Training

W

10 Jamboree on the Trail


T

17 Wrexham Sports Day

W

20 Flintshire District AGM

F


T

20 Network International Night

N

22 Flintshire District AGM

F

23 Vikki’s Vacation

N

28 Module 16 prep night Gladstone (for Scouts and Explorers)

T

30 - June 01 Module 16 Gladstone (for Beavers and Cubs)

T

31 - June 01 Llyn Brenig Sailing

JUNE 2008

04 Module 16 prep night Gladstone (for Scouts and Explorers)

T


T

13-15 Module 16 Gladstone (for Scouts and Explorers)

T

14 Wales Cub Fun Day

C


T

20-21 Wrexham Cubs night hike/bivvy

W

20-22 All Wales Scout Camp

S

20-22 Network Walking Weekend

N


T

27 Wrexham District Explorer Scout Meeting

W

JULY 2008

12 M

OTIV8 - ALL ADULTS IN CLWYD SCOUTING PLEASE TRY TO ATTEND - SEE PAGE 1

B=Beavers C=Cubs S=Scouts E=Explorer N=Network T=Training W=Wxm F=Flints L=Llan V=Vale of Clwyd

If you have events/meetings to be listed contact Moz - see overleaf for contact details


T


T


Page 11


Page 10

How Training Works

Here’s a quick guide to how the Adult Training Scheme works…

1. Recruitment A new adult is recruited into Scouting and agrees a Job Description. The job

description will underline that there is a commitment to training. They will initially be given a

provisional appointment.

2. Training Advisor The new adult will be allocated a Training Advisor (TA). This person will

guide the new adult through the process of training.

3. Stages of Training Within 5 months of provisional appointment, the new adult should com-

plete ‘Getting Started’ which consists of Modules 1, 2 and 3, and attend an Appointments Com-

mittee interview. They will then receive their full appointment. Within 3 years they should have

completed the next stage of their training and e awarded the Wood Badge. There then follows

a commitment to Ongoing Training of five hours a year.

4. Modules and Validation Module 2 is the Personal Learning Plan. The new adult will sit

down with their TA and put together a plan of what training they need to do. There may be

some Modules where the new adult can move straight to validation without attending a course.

Validation checks that the adult has the knowledge covered by the Module. The TA will com-

plete the validation with the new adult and the Module will be signed off.

5. Courses There will be several Modules which the new adult will need to attend a course for.

Dates of courses already planned are on the facing page, and also on the Clwyd website. TAs

will inform the Area Training Manager of which courses are needed so they can be put on.

Once the adult has attended the course, they can be validated by their TA.

6. Booking If the new adult needs to come on one of the courses, they should contact Pat

Royle, the Area Training Manager, in plenty of time. Email [email protected] or

phone Pat.

7. Payment All Adult Training courses are now free of charge due to funding obtained by the

Welsh Scout Council.

8. Regular Modules will be repeated throughout the year on different days and times

9. What to Bring Bring pen and paper to take notes. Uniform is not necessary, but activity

wear is usual, and something warm is needed in cold weather. Ladies, please don’t wear

heeled shoes. Bring a packed lunch if the course is all day. Refreshments are provided.

10. Questions Contact Pat if you have any questions.

Remember, all Leaders are now required to undertake a m

inim

um of 5 hours training a

year, and hold a First Aid certificate (the m

inim

um being First Response). First Aid train-

ing can count towards the 5 hours. All Leaders can do the training courses, even if they

have a W

ood Badge.


Gladstone

needs

your help

again!

Everyone was over the moon late last year

when the Gladstone Centre successfully

won a Big Lottery grant of £64,860.

Part of the ‘deal’ was that there was an in-

put from Clwyd Scouts to implement the

proposal and this was included in the bid.

Six weekends have been identified when a

major impact can be made and so we’re

calling on all Scouts in Clwyd to come and

give a hand at Gladstone.

The dates that work parties will be held are:

5/6th April, 12/13th April, 19/20th April,

26/27th April, 3/4th May, 10/11th May

You may recall that the major work will be a

professionally built agility course, refur-

bished John Clarke building with much bet-

ter bunkhouse facilities, new furniture for

the main hall and improved landscaping.

It would be really great if there could be an

input from every Group in the Area. There

will be some way of recording all contribu-

tions to the project. All groups are stake-

holders in Gladstone and we want to en-

courage ownership.

Offers of help and dates can be sent to

[email protected]


Developing Scouting

The Welsh Scout Council (WSC) has

recently attracted significant funding to

enable it to employ three full time

Development Officers working across Wales.

This funding has been secured on the basis

of achieving certain targets. Scouting offers a

great programme but is not always able to

deliver it in communities due to a shortage of

adult volunteers. The Development Officer

programme is one positive way in which to

address this difficult issue.

Each Development Officer is required to

enable the opening of two new sections each

school term. This could be the start of a new

Scout Group or a new section within an

existing Group. In addition they are required

to work with two existing sections that are

looking to increase the number of adults

involved. Each term the Development Officer

is required to recruit a minimum of 20 new

adults (Leaders, Helpers or Committee

Members). This is highly focussed work over

a limited period but the Welsh Scout Council

has good evidence that the programme

works and is successful in attracting new

adults into Scouting. Once recruited it is

essential they are properly welcomed and

then supported over the longer term.

WSC has developed a highly successful

programme to enable the start up of new

Beaver and Cub sections either in new

locations or to supplement an already

existing Group. This initiative involves

working with schools and requires some

support from existing Leaders for a short

period of time. The Development Officer

undertakes the majority of the work but does

require some support during the initial few

weeks to ensure that the new Leadership

team feel appropriately supported. The more

people who volunteer to help in this limited

period the less time each one will have to

commit. In an ideal world there would be

sufficient people to limit the involvement to

just one or two extra evenings.

Obviously there is more development work to

be done than there are available Officers and

hours. Currently Clwyd has the support of

Mark Winson who has worked in each

District so will already be known to some of

you.

The Development Team is tasked with

working at Scout Group level to provide

direct support to hard pressed existing

volunteers. Your District Commissioner,

working with the Area Commissioner and

Field Commissioner will determine which

Scout Groups or new locations the

Development Officer will be assigned to.

However we all want to work in co-operation

with you so it is important that you take

ownership for a project – you must want the

support of a Development Officer if the

process is to work effectively and benefit

your Group. Talk to your District

Commissioner about your development

needs. It will not be possible to respond to

everyone’s needs and requirements so there

will inevitably be some who will not receive

help and assistance – not because their

need is less than anybody else’s but simply

because the Development Officer resource is

limited.

The world of work has changed and with it

has come the need for us to be more flexible

in our recruitment. Some newly recruited

adult volunteers will be prepared to give the

amount of time many long standing Leaders

have given to the Movement. However it is

more likely that many will only stay whilst

their children are involved. This means that

the need to recruit is a continuing and

ongoing process. Some new volunteers will

not be able to come along every week but

are able to commit to say every alternate

week. Groups need to be flexible and

capable of handling the different ways in

which volunteers will commit their time.

Being flexible means more opportunities for

everyone.

Clive Bracewell

clive.bracewell@

scoutswales.org.uk


Page 9

The Queen’s Scout Award is

the highest youth award you

can achieve in Scouting.

Once the award has been

achieved many opportunities

will open up to you, including

being able to take part in the

National St George's Day

Parade at Windsor Castle as

well as having the opportunity

to join the Queen's Scout

Working party. You will also

be invited to receive your

award at a National Queen's

Scout Reception. Potential

employers also look for the

Queen's Scout Award on

CV’s as it displays qualities

such as teamwork and

personal initiative.

We have already

congratulated Chris Smith,

James Graham and Helen

Smith for gaining this award.

I’m very pleased to announce

that three more Network

members have just had

confirmation that they will be

receiving theirs very soon too

so congratulations to Hannah

Dooley, Chris Williams and

Dan Campbell.

Lets see who can be the next

Queen’s Scout!

Anne-M

arie Roberts

[email protected]

Dorothy Jackson, the Clwyd Area Secre-

tary, is undertaking her own adventure by

trekking to Everest base camp at Easter to

raise money for the brick school in Nepal.

Dorothy is joined by her Flint High School

colleague Marjorie. Both are not keen on

flying, which should make the long haul

flight to Kathmandu interesting. Marjorie is

terrified of heights and has to be forced to

walk across anything that is six feet or

more off the ground. Dorothy cannot cope

with cows, yaks and bulls without breaking

out in a panic stricken sweat.

Despite all this they are determined to

make it to Everest and support their cho-

sen charity, the Brick School, with as

much determination and effort that they

put into everything that they attempt.

As Hotliner goes to print, the intrepid two

are in Nepal. To find out how they got on

and to contribute to their fundraising for

the Brick School visit their website:

http://www.freewebs.com/everest2008

Area Secretary

heads for Nepal

Last year was a very

special year for us all when

Scouts around the globe celeb-

rated the Centenary of Scouting.

2008 is going to be just as special for

the members of the 1st Connah’s Quay

Scout Group, who will be celebrating

their Centenary. The Group was one of

the first, if not the first Scout Group to be

founded in the Area, way back in 1908.

The Group will be holding lots of

celebrations this year to mark the

occasion, including an exhibition on the

18th and 19th of April

All members of the Group will also be

wearing a special badge.

The badge designing process

was run as a competition, and

each Section had a winner, then an

overall winner was chosen to have

their design made into the badge. The

winner was Lewis Jones who is a

member of the Mohawk Cub Pack.

Are any other Groups out there

celebrating their Centenaries? If so

please contact Moz, AAC

Communications on 0777

xxxxxxx or via email:

[email protected]

We’d love to hear your stories and

celebrate with you!


Page 8


Clockwise from top left: Tamsin Harrison-R

oyle,

Pat Royle, May Castrey and Nicola G

amlen

New Appointments

for Clwyd

Area Commissioner David Jones has made

several new Appointments to the Area team.

Nicola Gamlen has been appointed Assistant

Area Commissioner (Cub Scouts), Pat Royle

takes over from May Castrey as District

Commissioner for Flintshire, with May

becoming chair of the Area Appointments

Sub committee.. Another new appointment is

Tamsin Harrison-Royle as Assistant District

Commissioner (Cub Scouts) for Flintshire.

Speaking of her appointment as DC for

Flintshire Pat Royle said, “I'm very happy to

be moving back to 'my home' District of

Flintshire in the challenging role of District

Commissioner. I feel that my role in training

will enhance and compliment that of DC and

I look forward to carrying on where May

Castrey has left off.”

Group Details

I’m trying to update details of which nights

Groups meet and what colour necker they

wear for the Clwyd Area website.

We’ve got most details thanks to people

emailing in, but there’s a few blanks.

Some of the Groups we need details for are:

Halkyn M

ountain

Hawarden

Mynydd Isa

Sandycroft & M

ancot

Shotton

Sychdyn

Trefynnon Cyntaf

But we’d appreciate it if everyone could

check that their details at

www.clwydscouts.org.uk//local/groups.html

Moz

[email protected]


CRB checks

for all

At a recent meeting of the Clwyd Area Team

it was agreed that it should be the aim for all

adults in Scouting in Clwyd to complete CRB

checks by the end of 2008.

Until now only new adults have done the

checks, but it is now considered best practice

for those who had joined before the CRB

system came in to undergo the checks. This

includes all trustees and officers eg Group

Chairmen, Secretaries and Treasurers etc.

Calling all

Calling all

Calling all

Calling all

Explorers

Explorers

Explorers

Explorers

Last year we held a very successful meeting

of Leaders and Commissioners with the Ex-

plorer Scout Section. 16 people attended

with representatives from every Scout Dis-

trict. It was the first time we’d actually got all

of the DESCs to sit down together!

Things like the Jamboree got in the way of

holding another meeting, but we’re going to

try to hold another meeting sometime in

April.

In a slight change of format that will see Ex-

plorer Scouts themselves attending the

meeting, we now want 2 reps from every

Explorer Scout Unit in the Area to attend - at

least one should be an Explorer Scout.

If your details are listed in MyBackpack as

being an ESL, AESL, DESC or DESL then

you’ll be posted details of the meeting when

a date and venue has been agreed. Details

will also be posted on the Clwyd website.

If you don’t hear anything about the meeting

and don’t have access to the internet, but

would still like to be involved, give Moz a ring

on xxxxxxx.

The idea of

the meeting

will be to get

all in Ex-

plorer

Scouts in

Clwyd to-

gether twice

a year to look at whether we need Area Ex-

plorer Scout events, to discuss issues effect-

ing Explorer Scouting, and also to be a link

between Clwyd and the Wales Explorer

Scout Team and Wales Explorer Scout Fo-

rum.

Team X

Team X is a Wales-wide Young Leaders Unit

that puts on YL training all over Wales as

well as providing a service team for the All

Wales Scout Camp and Wales Cub Fun Day.

It’s also a great way for Explorer Scouts in

rural areas to meet other Explorers from

across Wales.

To find out more and to be put on the mailing

list (Explorer Scouts themselves can be

added too) contact the Welsh Scout Council

on 01446 795277, or visit

www.scoutswales.org.uk

Quiz Corner

Have a go at these few questions:

1. have you gained your Wood Badge?

2. Have you got new Leaders in your Group or Leaders who haven’t

finished their training?

3. Are your new Leaders still trying to find out what it’s all about?

4. Do you often help and encourage your new Leaders or your Assistant

Leaders?

5. Do you find yourself teaching your Leaders new skills?

6. Would you like a new challenge?

7. Would you like a new “buzz”?

If you’ve answered “yes” to at least one of these questions, t

his may be for you. Read on…

There are lots of exciting roles to fill in the training-learning dimension.

These are just a few:

Presenter

Facilitator

Training Advisor

Local (District) Training Manager

Local (District) Training Administrator

Area Training Administrator

Area Training Manager

To find out more about any of these roles please contact Pat Royle,

Area Training Manager, for an informal chat - no obligation - no

tricks - no traps, just suss it out!

Pat Royle

[email protected]


Page 7

hotliner - april 2008

Documents

woodland area

area website

clwyd area clwyd scouts

area team questions

wrexham scout hq

area chairman russell

area secretary dorothy

rowallan scout hq