The Big Help out!

As part of the King's Coronation a national day of volunteering was organised called The Big Help Out. The campaign was founded by the Shaping the future with Volunteering Group, which includes The Scouts Association. It was a day for people up and down the country to do some volunteering in their local community, and the response to the campaign was amazing with around six million people taking part.

At 6th Farnborough we decided to have a "grounds day" and organised a working party to help spruce up the area around the hut. It had sadly become overgrown, and badly needed some attention. The response from people was amazing and we had over 35 people come along on the day! We managed to get an incredible amount of work done, including weeding all along the raised flower beds, removal of all the encroaching grass between the hut and the fence. We were even able to cut back the weeds along the roadway leading up to the hut, and reclaim some of the hard standing grown to the right of the gates, which makes walking up to the hut a much nicer experience.

As well as all the gardening, we made a start on cleaning the fence in preparation for hopefully painting it in the future. The children were especially keen to help out - enjoying all the bubbles in the soapy water!

The committee is incredibly grateful to all those that came along, donating both your time, flowers, and even some cakes! It was a really heart warming site, and I'm sure you'll agree - the results are fantastic!

Trustee Board news

The Executive Committees in Scouting are having a rebranding to bring them in line with other charitable organisation, and will now be known as Trustee Boards.

6th Farnborough Scouts is a registered charity, and is required by law to have a Trustee Board to run it. The Board's main responsibilities are with the background administration - ensuring the group has a safe environment in which to operate and supporting the Leadership Team where we can. All charities are required to have an elected Chairman, Treasurer and Secretary, and we elect people to these roles at our annual AGM every year.

Treasurer needed!

Our current Treasurer, Olly, will be stepping down at our next AGM in July, so we are looking for a volunteer to join our friendly Trustee Board and help us manage the finances. This is a role that is required by law for a charity, so we will need to have someone in place by the forthcoming AGM (to be held on Sunday 9th July 2023).

You would need to be 18 or over, and would become a Trustee of our charity. Duties would include: management of the Scout group bank account; Using OSM to manage the collection of subs; Submitting our annual accounts to the Charities Commission (a previous treasurer wrote a lovely macro in Excel for this - so it's fairly easy!); Claiming Gift Aid from the government on behalf of the group; Setting up of payments to suppliers via online banking; Attendance of Trustee Board meetings (roughly once every 6-weeks or so).

Volunteering is a great way to try new experiences and maybe step outside your comfort zone in a friendly, encouraging space and can be extremely rewarding. Scouting is not just about meetings once a week for children to learn new skills - there are plenty of opportunities for adults to get involved and gain practical experience. Scouting is well regarded with employers, and so it's a great thing to have on your CV too!

If you, or someone you know would be interested in this opportunity to become our treasurer, please get in touch by emailing our secretary on secretary@6thfarnboroughscouts.org.uk.

Trustees needed!

As well as the required members to our Trustee Board, we also have an opportunity for others to join the Board. Ideally we are looking for at least one parent from each section to become a member of the Trustee Board. It's not just children that learn #skillsforlife - but you can too! Joining the Trustee board is a great way to learn new skills which you can take back to the workplace, from leadership and teamworking, to practical skills like organisation and business writing skills (such as application for grants etc).

This is a volunteer role which is very rewarding, and helps keep the "community" feeling to Scouting. Many hand make light work they say, and it would be great to have you join the team!

St George's Day

In April we took part in the district St. George's Day parade. St. George is the patron Saint of Scouting and as such this is an important day in the Scouting calendar. This was our first time taking part in the parade with our new Squirrel's section, and all our children did us proud!

It's a lovely chance to celebrate Scouting at a district level with all the groups taking part, giving children the opportunity to meet other scouts and share experiences.

It is also a chance to celebrate the achievements of our Leaders in the district, and our very own Akela (Fiona) was awarded her Wood Beads at the end of the church service.

It's always a lovely sight to see so many young people come together to celebrate Scouting. Many children take part in the church service, with one young scout even translating into British Sign Language for one part.

Many thanks to all those that came along. We are immensely proud of how the children behaved, and of the way parents came together to frantically sew on the King's Coronation badges to jumpers and shirts before the service started! #Beprepared!

Subscription fees from September 2023

While we are fortunate enough to have our own meeting hut, the land it is on is owned by Rushmoor Borough Council (RBC). We are in the process of negotiating the lease of this land - and thus the amount we pay in rent to RBC. The original lease was agreed when the group first moved to its current location over 50-years ago, and the value of the land has increased since then. The Trustee Board has been working with the RBC, but there will be a substantial increase in rent which we will need to pay.

We are still investigating the impact this will have on the group finances, and the effect this will have on our subs. However it is clear there will have to be an increase in subs from September 2023. We hope to have this resolved in time for the AGM on the 9th July, where we usually announce the increase in subs, so we will keep you posted.

Dates for your diary

Here are some upcoming dates for your diary to be aware of:

• Sun 25th Jun - North Camp summer fayre. We will be having a stall at this fayre to help promote Scouting and the group. We hope to sell some cakes to help with our fundraising goals so will be looking for contributions of cakes to sell on the day!
• Sun 9th Jul - AGM - Our annual AGM meeting we are required to have by law. All parents should attend!
• Sun 30th Jul - Sat 5th Aug - Joint Cub/Scout summer camp - Invites have been sent via OSM - please respond via the OSM parent portal