So here we are 70 days into the new Oakhanger and District and I wanted to share some of the exciting things we are doing. Some of these are new, others form a part of established programmes. Its a bit of a snap shot of where we are, and of course I’d like to add to this as we go along. If any of you would like to be famous on the internet then let me know!
Firstly I’ve had a special day out. One of you lovely people had nominated me to attend a Royal Garden Party at Buckingham Palace, so my wife Jackie (Chair at 1st Headley) and Daughter (SquirrelTeam Leader at 1st Blackmoor, Bordon and Whitehill), were able to join me for this once in a lifetime event. It was a long but eventful day full of travel, humor, and above all meeting people. It was fantastic to see a large number of Scout Leaders there. We seemed to all bump into each other on a regular basis. Its a good feeling to be nominated for something, and one of the working features of the new membership system is to be able to nominate someone for an award. It’s really easy and the link to find out how to do it is here. Please make full use of this.
Anyway, enough about me! Time for the real action!
Eid al-Fitr dinner
Members of the newly formed Oakhanger and District were welcomed to the local Eid al-Fitr, also known as Ifat in some regions, celebration. Jannette Upfield (District Suport Team Leader) and Lee Lewis (District Lead Volunteer), were delighted to be included in this year’s local celebration in Bordon. An evening filled with a very warm welcome, education, great food and making and renewing local connections!
The evening began with a welcome to the approximately 100 local people. We were then taken through the meaning of Ramadan by a young member of the Muslim community, who has recently joined Headley Scout Troop.All of the presentations, were informative and gave the community a better understanding of Ramadan and how it is celebrated personally and how it is an opportunity to support the local community.At the end of the presentations, there was the call to prayer, on the screen the English translation was displayed, again another opportunity for us to learn and gain a better understanding.
The link below takes you to official video of the evening. We strongly encourage you to take a look. https://youtu.be/9ztX2GWPUd0?si=sTBgZLajPiFXE5QO
The fast was broken at 6.19pm (sunset) in the traditional way, with guests and members invited to eat a date before joining the main feast, which was delicious. We very much look forward to forging stronger ties with the local Muslim community and hope to be welcoming them to Group evenings and District events.
Monopoly Run
For those of us not aware of this we are very fortunate to have the team behind the Monopoly Run here in the District. This event is a national event involving Scouts, Explorers and Network Teams travelling around London on public transport as well as on foot playing real time Monopoly by visiting actual places in real life. The day event is the same as the monopoly run you may have played before with ‘properties’ grouped to make ‘streets’, visiting teams paying you rent and the favourtes of the Chance and Community Chest. With 8000 people involved its massively oversubscribed, but incredibly well managed and run by the team at 3rd Alton with assistance from other Groups including 1st Medsted, and of course our Active Support Team. It was of sufficient size and stature to be mentioned at the National District Lead Volunteers ‘fun’ day. It’s a massive undertaking and the team there are always on the look out for helpers leading up to the event, and on the day. Next year’s event is already up on their website. Why not enter a leaders team next year?
Weyfarers Explorers
Thanks to an amazing grant from the Scouts Outdoor Adventure Fund Weyfarers Explorers took part in a day out to Portsmouth. It seemed a really busy day out. Being Explorers, there was a lot of food and adventure going on with activities such as a RIB ride across the Solent, a high rise trip to the glass floor at Spinnaker tower, and of course cake on the beach.
This ^ photo is significant. It shows how much behind the scenes work goes on to organise a day out. Thanks to a revised outlook on safety, and the Leadership team at Weyfarers, and the District Team it shows what we can do together. The rules about our Young people literally dipping their toes into the water are very complex but after a range of e-mails and phone calls we managed to get that important dip in the sea. Well done to Caz and the team for arranging this fantastic day out.
3rd Alton Beaver Camp
The team at 3rd Alton, amongst many others too part in The Great Beaver Sleepover at Alton Assembly rooms. It’s been great to hear back about how some of the Beavers tackled their first night away. This is a huge milestone in a young person’s time in Scouting, that very first night away is the real start of a lifetime of adventure. More on this to follow
Four Marks and Ropley Scouts Hike
I had the absolute pleasure in joining the Scouts from Four Marks and Ropley on an evening hike this week. It was a great change from battling with a screen in this role, and good to get back to the sharp end. We spent 2 hours going across the hills around Medsted, with the Scouts navigating using map and compass from grid references supplied by the Leadership team. Part of our #EverydayAdventure is the Scouts making their own decisions, including whether hills go up or down on a map, how to walk at the pace of the slowest member, and relieving the stress of exam season. I’d like to thank all the volunteer leaders who gave up their time to organise the event.
Come Join Us!
We currently don’t have anything planned as a District which I’m hugely disappointed about. Part of the problem here is we are all really busy people and I appreciate the time the volunteer leaders give up to put on some truly amazing age related activities. Every Group has a expression of interest list. We want to get more young people and adults into Scouting.
We are on the look out for a Programme Team Leader. This person will be the one to head District Events. That doesn’t mean run them, it means they would be the one overseeing them. I’m not going to lie, it’s a big job, but it’s one that can be split down into bite sized chunks for two or even three people. If you might be interested in taking this on, or any other roles available in the Oakhanger and District patch you can see the 29 roles we currently have available across the District at our vacancy board.