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County of Greater London South West
Annual Reports and Accounts 2002
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Scout Report
As we enter the final period of change for the Scout Section I can look back over the last twelve months and smile at some of the success that we have enjoyed, whilst recognising that there is still much to be done.
County Scout Leader Andrew Harris has continued to refine the events that the County offers and with the Teams he has working on each activity we have seen an increase in numbers participating at all our events, culminating in the Night Exercise that saw approximately two hundred and fifty Scouts from Greater London South West taking part. This is due entirely to the high quality of the experiences that we are now providing and the ability to promote these opportunities quicker and more widely using predominantly e-mail but also by post. Another success this year was the running of a County led Summer Camp to Tolmers Campsite near Potters Bar. By using the activities offered by the site and pooling equipment and manpower, one hundred and twenty four people were able to enjoy a weeks camping. Which in turn has helped to boost the Troop programme with the result that many of those Troops involved will be able to support their own Summer Camps this year.
There is another trend that is not so encouraging and that is of some District's inability to run events for the Section. The reasons are varied and are obvious to those active within the Scout Section, but suffice it to say that I feel that it is inevitable that the importance of the activities that can be offered by the County pulling together will increase as time passes.
Most of my time this year, as it has been since my appointment nearly five years ago, has been spent "fire fighting". I have been engaged in trying to provide support to Troops in Districts where there is no effective Scout Section Support Team. The recent mergers have gone some way to alleviating some of these problems, but there are still several areas where many Troop Scouters feel out on their own and unsupported. That is where I see the bulk of my work continuing to lie, and my intention is to continue to concentrate on these areas of most need.
We have now had the details of the new programme revealed to us and all of the one hundred and fifty plus Scout Section people who came to the County launches have received it with enthusiasm. Many are pleased that the programme Review Team have taken on board what is actually happening in troops up and down the Country and produced a training scheme that is practical, simple to run and administer and reflects the shifting pattern of young peoples lives today.
Looking forward, the Scout Team are ever reviewing the needs of Scouts in Greater London South West and part of this process is communicating with our neighbours to share ideas and solutions to common problems. The production of a Scout Section County Activities Book, detailing all that we currently offer, has met with general approval. The response to the attached questionnaire was quite overwhelming with over a third being completed and returned. This will help us to plan future events and the means that we employ in communicating to the Section.
I am pleased to welcome two new people to the Scout Section team. Christopher Sowden has come on board to help us to develop the Scout Pages on the County website. The fruits of his labour have already been seen with results for events being posted on the same day and full reports with pictures available within three days. Of course we hope to expand on this with details of future events and possibly a chat room for Scouts to "Ask the ACC". Richard Holmes has agreed to taking a County Scout Leaders warrant and he will be involved in producing the events and one or two other areas we have wanted to develop for some time.
Finally, I would like to take this public opportunity to thank all those who make Scout scouting happen in Greater London South West and particularly to Andrew Harris for his continued enthusiasm and drive. Here's to the next twelve months, let us embrace the challenges and opportunities that PRI will present us, and most of all let's enjoy what we do.
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