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Greetings From The Editor So much has been written of 2007, our Centenary Year, a year when Scouting in Portsmouth attracted great praise and rightly so. Keeping Scouting on the agenda in people’s minds and getting the awareness to continue is the challenge into the future. We have attracted the attention of the local press so we must keep feeding them details of our outstanding activities. We have been on the radio, so let us keep up the contacts. Has your group got somebody who could pass on details to your contacts? Nominate him or her as your publicity agent. Get them to send in photos to The News. Let’s keep Scouting firmly in the public eye . . . It is onwards and upwards from here only if we make it so ! Membership Fees For 2008 It has now been confirmed that the joint Headquarters and County fees will be £25.10 next year. Again The City will make no charge to the membership (unlike many other Districts). I let you know this so you can budget as early as possible. The City Secretary will be writing to Groups and Units requesting your membership numbers and will be giving you the date when payment must reach the City Treasurer. The figure quoted includes a 50p per head reduction for payment being made on time, so if you do not get your funds in by the due date this figure will increase by 50p per head. New County Treasurer Wanted Due to illness the County Treasurer has had to stand down. The County Commissioner is seeking a replacement urgently. A job spec is available from Joe Harbour email: joharo@ntlworld.com so if you are interested please get further details. City Directory The Directory is updated each month on our web site and amendments are published in this newsletter for those of you without computers. The web site directory is only available with a password and only The City Team and one person in each Group has been allocated with a password. To ensure the security of personal data this practice will continue, however, this does not stop the Group contact in printing off a directory for use by his or her leaders. Our aim is to ensure that the people who need this information do have it, but, what could be seen as sensitive information is not fully in the public domain. I do hope this helps clarify our need for some sensible security on data. Thank you. Our Web Master has advised me that he has now set up a ‘forum’, so those of you with passwords can now leave messages . . . why not try it out? City Card Competition Due to our web site being out of action for a great part of this month because of a problem with our ‘host’ our Beavers, Cubs and Scouts have not been able to get in to enter this month’s competition. In the circumstances therefore the competition will continue into next month. Next month’s competition will see a double roll over, with double prizes for the winners. So please inform your young people now and get them entering. City Equipment List Our annual report next year should contain details of equipment the City own and its replacement value. I would ask everyone who holds City equipment to make an inventory and approximate replacement value of items held. To then email this detail to the City Treasurer (mike.burford@ntlworld.com) as soon as possible. This saving a great deal of running around at the end of the financial year. Lotteries Act Some Groups in the past have used the City’s registration, which is fine. However very few returns to The City Council from Groups have been made. If therefore you have run a lottery in 2007 please obtain the return form from Joe Harbour and ensure it is lodged by the year end. If you unsure of what to do please speak to Joe. Solent Scout Training Centre At the recent SSTC AGM a presentation was made to the retiring booking secretaries Jill & Les Sutton. Roger Freemantle and his wife will take over the role in the new year. Their details will be sent out shortly, in the meantime you can still book via Jill and Les until 2008. The next SSTC Exec Meeting is scheduled for 17th January at Lyons Copse and all of our representatives must attend to vote on the future of the site. Remembrance Parade Scouts from the 64th Group and The Pirate Explorers represented the City in Portsmouth’s Guildhall Square on 11th November in a service to remember those who have given their lives for this country in both past and present conflicts. Fortunately they were marched inside the Guildhall for refreshments just before it poured with rain. Hampshire Scout Expedition Older Scouts and Explorers can join the Easter trip to the Lake District, this between 20th to 24th March 2008 with activities including hill walking and climbing. Hampshire Scout Expeditions is a County Scout Group which has members from Groups all over Hampshire and it needs more. It has run many expeditions abroad over the years helping many of the world’s communities and has even put three Hampshire Scouts on the summit of Mount Everest. It is a great group for anyone who wants to be more involved with Scouting and would like to develop personal and leadership skills, with the possibility that you can one day lead your own expedition overseas and use these skills to the advantage of your own Group. If you want more information on Hampshire Scout Expeditions, or, on Easter 2008 then contact Alex Porter email alex_d_porter@hotmail.com. In Memoriam It is with great regret that I have to inform you that Norman Sparrow died on 14th November 2007. Norman spent most of his life connected to Scouting in Portsmouth. He was the Senior Scout Leader with the 23rd Group, then ADC Senior Scouts, before being the first ADC Venture Scouts in Kingston District. Norman was also the Site Warden for the camp site at Frith Farm at Wickham. Our sympathy goes to his wife Betty who for many years was a cub leader before she retired and also to his extended family. Full Time Scouting Hampshire County Scout Council has two posts available at Ferny Crofts in the New Forest. Centre Manager (salary circa £25,000) and Campsite Manager (salary circa £18,000). For an application pack and details please phone the County Office. Tel: 023 8084 7847. City Of Portsmouth Swimming Gala 10th November 2007 Although this year’s programme was smaller than usual, the spectators were just as enthusiastic, and it was nice to see the 62nd Cubs enter for the first time. Well done to all the swimmers, and I hope all who came enjoyed themselves. The raffle raised £127 which is forwarded to the City Treasurer along with entrance fees etc. (The City sponsor this event for any shortfall of income and expenditure.) Many thanks yet again to the Fellowship team who help me make this programme work. The Leaders and parents who supported their entrants, and of course the 'swimmers' as without them we would be wasting our time!! Results Cub Scout Trophy
Scout Trophy
Group Trophy (Points on descending scale from 11 as 11 Groups entered)
# = didn’t swim on night Well Done to the 72nd Cubs and 54th Scouts on winning their section trophies, and the 73rd for winning the Group Trophy. Marilyn Nancarrow Swimming Gala Organiser Hilsea Scout Centre Shop The Staff of Hilsea Scout Shop would like to thank all Leaders, Parents and fellow Scouters, who have supported them over the past year. We would like to wish you a Happy and Peaceful Christmas and New Year 2008. The Shop will be closed Saturday December 15th at 12 noon and reopen Tuesday January 8th 2008 at 18:15 hours. Many thanks. Hazel Paice - Shop Manager Next Month’s Newsletter Copy date for items to appear in the February 2008 issue should be with the editor by 20th January 2008 at the latest. This is due to holidays. Martin Phillips:- email scoutnewsletter@gmail.com or details as City Directory.
Centenary Event All members of the City of Portsmouth Scout District, parents and friends are invited to this celebration gathering involving songs, memories and thanksgiving at St Mary’s Church, Fratton on 6th December at 6:30 pm. We would like each section to bring their flags with them, which will be displayed and if you have them, your own campfire blankets. During the event, we would like a representative from each group and explorer unit to light a candle on behalf of the group / unit. If you choose a beaver for this, you may select a leader to come with them for safety. For this activity we need every group represented! For some of you, this will be your meeting night so you could all come together! Afterwards, refreshments will be available before you go home. We do hope to see as many of you as possible. Parking is available in the graveyard or in the streets to the rear of the church. Don’t forget to bring your parents and group helpers with you, as they are an important part of the evening. They may sit with you as a group, colony, pack or troop. If you have any questions please contact Richard Spearing; e-mail him at Richard.spearing@virgin.net. Cross Country Report Saturday 3rd of November dawned bright but crispy and members of the Scout Fellowship were at Hilsea Lido to lay out this year’s course through Foxes Forest and the moat. It was pleasing to see more teams entered and some from groups who have not participated before. Nearly seventy runners took part representing the 8th, 28th, 48th, 54th, 61st, 64th, 68th, and 73rd groups. A total of 8 cub teams and 7 Scout teams. Sadly this year no Explorers entered although Alex did turn up and run with the scouts as a “fun run”. He had come second last year to his brother. First Cub home was Patrick Cregan of the 64th in a time of just over 13 minutes and the first Scout home was Robbie Stillwell of the 73rd in a time of 22 minutes. The Scout course this year was run as a figure of eight crossing over at the start from the forest to the moat. The Cubs faced one difficulty when some local “hoodlums” removed some of the signs put out and so they ran part of the Scout course but all managed to complete the course including young Luke Brindley from the 48th who walked back with a leader having pulled up. It was great to see that the spectators gave him as big a cheer as the first home. That was one of the most pleasant parts of the day, the sportsmanship shown by both runners and spectators to all competitors. RESULTS: POS CUBS SCOUTS 1st 54th (41 points) 73rd “B” (18 points) 2nd 73rd (42 points) 28th (34 points) 3rd 8th (45 points) 73rd “A” (50 points) 4th 61st (65 points) 8th (66 points) 5th 64th (74 points) 61st (86 points) 6th 68th (84 points) 68th (88 points) 7th 28th (100 points) 48th (123 points) 8th 48th (115 points)
As can be seen from the scoring, the Cub race was very close with only 4 points separating the first three teams. Well done to all the runners and thanks to the Fellowship for the event and the refreshments. See you again next year.
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