East Lancashire Gazette - October 2008

Christmas Experience 2008

Back by popular demand, Father Christmas has once again agreed to base his North-West Headquarters at Bowley Campsite and Activity centre.

Bookings are now being taken, and as usual, places are being snapped up fast.

To avoid disappointment, see the Christmas Experience page on the County website, download a booking form, and book your places now.

http://www.eastlancashirescouts.org.uk/christmasexperience

Beavers Wild West Day

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the ADC`s Leaders and Helpers who worked very hard at the Beavers Wild West day on 20th September, and made it a great event.

I’d also like to thank Joanne and the team who manned the lane and the car parking. Leaders and parents said they did an excellent job.

Also thanks to Glen for bringing and showing the children the branding.

Thank to Barry and Denise for bringing and showing the Children the things they used in the Wild West, and Lisa and Jason for final getting their horse into its box and bringing it along to show the children.

Thank you, to Louise and Emma for helping Barry with the line dancing who was rather shy I think when it came to getting up in front of everyone.

Last but not least thanks the Bowley and County team for there help in setting up for the Event.

Once again thank you all

Burnley Beavers at the Wild West

On the 20th September 1st Briercliffe (St James) Burnley, Beavers spent the day at the Wild West Event at Bowley together with 100's of other little Cowboys Cowgirls, Indians and Squaws from the County.

The day involved the Beavers trying their hand at Branding - Making Leather Bracelets - Making Clappers - Having fun on the Side Shows and joining in The Line Dancing. If this was not enough excitement for them we then followed this busy day with a sleepover at Barley Village Hall where the theme of 'The West' continued with an Indian Camp. The Beavers on the sleepover made Lances - both a Large Teepee & a Miniature Teepee - Bead Bracelets - A Headress and completed the sleepover by Face Painting each others faces.

Jungle 09

Building on the success of last year's Centenary Camp Jungle '09 is the title, and theme, of your County Camp to be held at Bowley, 1st-3rd May 2009.

Only your help will ensure it's success. We are looking for teams of people to help plan now and take on specific responsibilities during the weekend. Amongst the many areas where your skills are required are:

• activities (on and off site),
• catering,
• communication,
• publicity,
• entertainment,
• site services,
• security,
• administration,
• skills bases...
• the list is endless, only limited by your imagination!

If you would like to get involved in Jungle '09, in any capacity, please email the Camp Chief, Jennifer Turner, now on jenniferturner.tetley@googlemail.com. Don't forget to include the area that you are interested in volunteering for, and remember to pass this on to all your Scouting (and maybe non-Scouting?) friends and colleagues.

Full details of Jungle'09 are available here

Beavers fun at Gullivers World

1st Briercliffe (St James) and Cliviger Beavers from the Burnley District spent a fun day out at Gullivers World Jamboree at Warrington on the 4th October 2008. The weather was kind and everyone enjoyed themselves.

Beavers visit Camelot

13th September 2008, During a joint visit to the Camelot Theme Park, Chorley by the 1st Briercliffe (St James) Beavers and several Beaver Colonies from the Pendle District, the opportunity was taken to enrol Joseph & Alfie, into the 1st Briercliffe (St James) Scout Group, Burnley.

The Beavers, Leaders & Helpers enjoyed themselves on all the rides (especially the wet ones), petted and fed the animals in the zoo and had their lunch whilst watching the Jousting Tournament in the main arena.

National Scout Shooting Championships

The 2008 National Scout Shooting Championships were held once again at the world renowned National Shooting Centre at Bisley in Surrey.

This year there were 757 young people entered from the Scout, Explorer and Network sections. In addition there were a number of Leaders competing.

The wide open grassy spaces of Bisley parkland were a sea of canvas marquees, store tents, fire shelters and tentage of all descriptions.

Supporting the young people were about 200 adult Leaders and helpers who acted as Range Officers, Instructors, administration assistants and general cooking duties. The administration team who were scoring the targets were using seven PCs and laptops to provide prompt competition results throughout the weekend.

Each of the 757 young people were shooting a minimum four competitions each, across a wide range of options that included air pistol, air rifle, smallbore cartridge rifle and fullbore cartridge rifle. There were separate classes for six yards and ten metres events and whether competitors were shooting two handed or one handed. Outdoors there were field target events where individuals had to shoot at knock down targets or 'spinners'. Indoors there were also reactive knock down targets in either pistol or rifle ompetitions.

The Hampshire County Archery Team were in attendance and had set up very entertaining five target lanes for anyone with a spare ten minutes to try and shoot arrows at unusual targets. Some of these ideas are being brought back to Bowley.

Competitors at this event travelled from Scotland and South Wales as well as many counties in England. While Hampshire are known to have very strong shooting activities the Burton on Trent contingent were very impressive with their special hooded shooting tops and badges.

Next year the Championships will be run again at Bisley in mid October and perhaps East Lancashire Scouts and Explorers might consider including target shooting as one of their activities through the spring and summer in readiness to participate in one of the major shooting events which occur at Bisley each year.

Moving On - Beavers into Cubs

I'm sure some of you read in the last Scouting magazine that we are now able to take youngsters into Cub Scouts at 7 and half. Before you do this you should talk with your ADC Cubs who will explain exactly what you can and cannot do.

You need to follow procedure to make sure you operate within Scouting guidelines. It may not be appropriate to take in some youngsters - as they may not be ready to take part in Cub activities. Please use your judgement before accepting youngsters at that age that they are mature enough. If you are in any doubt or have any queries please do not hestitate to contact either your ADC or myself for further discussion on this issue. On no account should any CSL be tempted to take in any youngster who is not yet 7 and half - no matter how mature they are. Just for the record, the Beaver Scout age range is still 6 to 8 years - all this ruling allows is for them to move to Cub Scouts between the ages of 7.5 and 8.25 - as long as all Leaders (Cubs and Beavers) are happy.

As always, keep up the excellent work happening at Pack level - you are doing a great job!

Cubs on the TV

3rd Padiham St John’s Falcon and Panther Cub packs went on a visit to the National Media Museum in Bradford during October. The cubs were able to use professional recording equipment including Cameras, lighting and computer consoles to produce their very own Soap opera, whilst other Cubs had a go at presenting the news and weather forecast on the ‘Blue Screen’.

After our morning of TV production we moved on to watch an archived film in the special custom built cinema. As well as visiting the gigantic IMAX cinema projection box.

The cubs had a great day at the Museum and managed to complete their entertainer badge.

The picture shows of some of the Cubs using a camera.

Young Leaders, Explorers & Network Activities Forum

A Chance To Have Your Say, all of you are welcome!!

On Tuesday 18th of November at 7.30pm. County is holding a forum to identify a Range of Adventurous Activities that Young Leaders, Explorers and Network Members would like to take part in and possibly receive training to lead. We want as many of you as possible to come along, take part and have a voice, in order that we can identify county training needs, costs and 'of course', what you want in the line of Adventure over the coming years.

• Rock & Wall Climbing
• Hill & Mountainwalking
• Mountainbiking
• Skiing
• Canoeing
• Kayaking
• Dinghy Sailing
• ...but YOU should be writing this list

Contact: Karl Mather (ACC Activities) mathermountain@gmail.com

Bowley Recycling Appeal

The Bowley Appeal is designed to make money by recycling mobile phones, PDAs and printer cartridges. The Bowley Recycling Appeal benefits so many people. The money we generate can be used to help run the site and buy much needed equipment to extend the range of facilities available. Not only that, our recycling efforts will have a positive impact on our environment.

The mobiles you donate will be refurbished and resold or fully recycled. Refurbished mobiles may be sent to developing countries where there are few landlines meaning the person who ends up with your phone might rely on it for their business or to keep in touch with family and friends. Your old mobile could really change someone's life.

The printer cartridges you collect will be refilled and returned to the consumer stream as an environmentally friendly product.

When mobiles and cartridges are binned they end up in landfill sites where they take hundreds of years to biodegrade. What's more, the toxic chemicals they contain will eventually leak into the soil and pollute the environment. Just think of the millions of mobile phones and cartridges which are binned every year and you'll begin to realise just how much damage they cause to the environment.

The main collection point is the blue wheelie bin outside reception at Bowley but feel free to arrange local collection points and transport to Bowley en mass.

There are some great resources to help you with your recycling efforts at http://www.scoutsappeal.com

Take a look at the top tips section to see what other groups have been doing to make their appeals successful and download the promotions pack which includes press releases, posters, letters to businesses and everything else you'll need to encourage your community to support our appeal.

And don't forget that Scouts Appeal can help you gain loads of badges as well as raise cash for Bowley.

Beavers visit to Pets at Home in Blackburn

In July St Georges Mill Hill and Mellor Brook Beavers got together for a visit to Pets at Home in Blackburn. Staff at the store set the beavers off on trail around the store to collect information about some of the animals.

After this the beavers had the opportunity to handle some of the pets including rabbits and guinea pigs whilst learning how to look after them.

At the end of the visit each Beaver received a goodie bag and balloon to take home.

Following the successful visit, staff from the stores headquarters are working to develop a package for all beaver colonies which will focus on the Animal friend badge.

Merseyside Scouts Feast of the Lanterns Competition

Congratulations to Hyndburn District Explorer Scout Unit who came 1st in the Novice class of the Merseyside Scouts Feast of the Lanterns Competition during the weekend 10th - 12th October 2008 at Tawd Vale Scout Camp, near Ormskirk.

The competition is held on an annual basis and groups take the weekend decorating their campsites with lanterns, candles etc. They are judged during the Saturday afternoon to see how groups work together as teams and then the finished product is judged again on the Saturday evening after the Campfire. Hyndburn chose the theme of Halloween and the Saturday was spent carving out Pumpkins and dressing the marquee and arranging the display. Everyone was in costume and the final display was quite impressive. Fortunately, the promised rain did not arrive.

There were 17 entrants and there were 4 different classes.

• Novice - for those who have not entered the competition previosly,
• Explorers,
• Traditional
• Fantasia

The standard was very high this year and the judges certainly had their work cut out. The Explorers are now busily planning their entry for next year.

Well Done!

Bowley Environmental Building

Work started on the 27th October to prepare the area in the training field for the environmental building.

The large excavator from S & B tippers will be moving tons of earth in preparation for the concrete pad and brick foundations, which are to be built over the next few weeks

In early spring or as soon as the weather changes for the better, the straw bales will arrive and work will start on the building.

The picture shows an outline of the building interior

Hopefully if we can secure enough funding work will carry on to complete the building, if not we will have a usable water tight barn to use for activities until the following year when more funds can be secured.

If anyone has any ideas about fundraising, sponsorship etc please contact Howard Alderson-Perkins howie-perco@ntlworld.com or 01254 583736

Youth Involvement in East Lancashire

There’s so much to say recently about Youth Involvement in the County, that I wanted to make one big article about as much of it as I can:

Opportunity to be part of the Scout delegation to the British Youth Council!

The Scout Association are looking for keen and enthusiastic people to join the British Youth Council (BYC) Delegation. This is your opportunity to get your voice heard and discuss lots of political issues – it also looks great on a CV.

I've just become Chair of the Scout Delegation to the BYC and I really want as many people as possible to know about, feel enthused about it, and want to get involved, so if you’re aged 16-25 this applies to you, whether you have experience in this sort of thing or not. I’m planning on getting the delegation some special training in how to present arguments and such like, so enthusiasm is more important when applying than skills or experience.

The main issues currently up for debate are equal minimum wage, votes at 16, volunteering, pricing of transport, climate change and higher education funding. As a member of the delegation you will have the opportunity to shape the policy of the BYC as well as lobby on these issues at the highest level.

For details on how you or one of your youth members can apply go to: http://www.scouts.org.uk/noticeboard.php and follow the link "Apply to join the Scout BYC Delegation"

Deadline for applications is 1 December 2008.

Scouting Sunday

Three people from East Lancashire attended 'Scouting Sundays' at the recent Labour and Conservative Party Political Conferences. These were discussion forums where MPs chose to attend in order to discuss with Scouts issues such as knife crime, education and volunteering. This year is the first time the Scouts have run an event in this way, when MPs choose to attend and then go and sit round a table with several young Scouts to discuss a particular issue. The feedback from many MPs was very positive and whilst most the Labour MPs attending were 'back benchers', several Shadow Cabinet Ministers made the effort to attend the event at the Conservative Party Conference which was promising.

After attending the Scouting Sunday on the fringe of the Conservative Conference in Birmigham, Network member Alaina Norris said, "It was quite a fun opportunity to discuss the issues I felt were important with the politicians because I think they were actually listening to us". This feeling was shared by many of the other Scouts; they were surprisingly impressed by the interest which the MPs who attended had in their opinions and what they had to say. Explorer Scout Matt Paiton added, "I liked the Scouting Sunday events as it gave Scouts the opportunity to actually talk to people who could make a difference".

Hopefully the Scouting Sunday events will be even more successful nest year and East Lancashire will be represented by even more Scouts.

For more information on this event please visit http://www.scouts.org.uk/cms.php?pageid=1796

All three participants managed to get onto the youtube video clip, so well done to Matt, Andrew, and Alaina.

10th World Scout Youth Forum

As you may already know, I was fortunate enough to be selected as one of two people to represent the UK at the 10th World Scout Youth Forum which was held in Korea this summer. This was an absolutely amazing experience.

The World Scout Youth Forum is held once every three years just before the World Scout Conference and gives young people (18-25) the opportunity to discuss global Scouting issues and make recommendations to help improve World Scouting for the future. This year’s event had roughly 300 participants from about 100 countries.

On the first night we just sat in the foyer area and played traditional games from each other’s countries. It was really spontaneous and I was totally rubbish at the games, but just playing them was really fun and it highlighted to me what is meant by 'international friendship'; not just making friends from other countries, but also learning about their cultures and traditions.

Throughout the week I used the philosophy 'work hard, play hard and don't sleep' and with this mentality I made lots of new friends (most of whom I'm still in contact with over the internet), as well as hopefully making a difference to some of the policy of the World Organisation of the Scout Movement (WOSM).

Much of the week was spent in 'Plenary' where we sat in a big hall and people made presentations about a whole range of things, from examples of best practice from their own countries (some of which was very inspiring) to the recent work of WOSM. However as this was a youth forum, people maintained an energetic atmosphere throughout and whenever there was a short gap in the programme, for example two minutes between presentations, a conga line would form round the hall or everyone would start singing and dancing. The energy in the hall was overwhelming and it was fantastic how this mixed fun with productive policy making.

When not in Plenary there were many smaller discussion groups which focussed on particular issues such as the Scouts of the World Award and co-educational Scouting. These were particularly good, because they allowed for more in-depth discussion and participants came away with a greater knowledge and therefore a greater capacity to make a difference.

In the evenings there was also a lot of entertainment provided by the hosts, the Korean Scout Association. For example, Sophie (the other person from the UK) and I dressed up in kilts for the Cultural Evening and sung 'Auld Lang Syne', which was a good laugh and the reason for many bad pictures of us with other participants also sporting their own national costumes.

At the end of the Forum we made some Recommendations which represent the opinions of the Forum and are then considered by the World Scout Committee who will hopefully instigate the desired changes to World Scouting. I personally wrote a Recommendation about the implementation of the Scouts of the World Award and hope that more young people will now be able to benefit from participation in this scheme.

After the 10th World Scout Youth Forum we then travelled to Jeju Island for the 38th World Scout Conference, where we were joined by the rest of the UK delegation. The Conference was much more political, but some big decisions were made here, most notably changes to the World Scout Constitution and decisions of where future World Scouting events will be held. These included the decisions that the World Scout Moot in 2010 will be held in Kenya, the following World Scout Moot will be hosted by the French Canadian Scout Association (in Canada) and the 23rd World Scout Jamboree will be held in Japan in 2015.

Some new National Scout Organisations also officially joined WOSM during the Conference. Just before the official ceremony, one of the other UK delegates said to me "I almost cried the first time I saw this" and I thought "ok, that's a bit soppy, it's only getting a certificate or something". However as the representatives from these countries walked forward carrying their national flags their facial expressions showed very clearly how much it meant to them to be a part of WOSM. I will never forget one girl's smile in particular, she was thrilled to be joining the worldwide family of Scouting and, yes, a tear dropped down my face as I realised how much it means to be part of this worldwide family, something which we take for granted.

Overall many clichés can be applied to my experiences in Korea ('once in a lifetime,' 'life changing') but no words can truly explain the event and how much I got out of it. So I'll leave it at 'it was fab'.

The way forward for Youth Participation in the County

As you can see from what is written here and from events across the County (for example, there's about to be a Youth Forum in Clitheroe District and Karl Mather is organising a County Activity Forum), East Lancashire is getting pretty good at 'Youth Participation'. However we have a long way to go and in order to become a truly 'youth led' County we are going to set up a Youth Participation Working Group. If you would be interested in getting involved with this working group please contact either Rachel Ruddock (Rachel.ruddock@gmail.com) or Glen Fendall (glen.fendall@bt.com). There will be a preliminary meeting on November 9th, however if you cannot attend this meeting please do not feel put off.

Dates for your Diary