Welcome to Ripon and District Scouts

Welcome to the new DC’s Newsletter, Aimée says: 

"I aim to produce one for all members of Ripon and District at the end of each term to keep you informed of the essential happenings in and around the District.

I will try to include a bit of news from everyone however, it is not a competition so please do not feel left out if you have not been mentioned and you feel you should have. I have had just less than two months in appointment and have not had chance to visit all groups and sections so most of the information in here has been gathered from AGMs, camps and social media.

Beaver Scouts - A big thank you to Spike, Joanne the Boroughbridge Young Leader/Explorer team who ran a successful Beaver day at a local farm. Colonies which attended were Boroughbridge, Thirsk, 4th Ripon, 6th Ripon and Masham.

Cub Scouts - County Cub Camp was a great success with a strong District representation from Boroughbridge, Masham, 6th Ripon, Thirsk and Hillside. Of the Packs who were unable to make the camp, many are taking part in individual Group Camps later in the Summer.

Scouts - The hotly anticipated District Team Challenge hosted by Sowerby Scouts was won by 6th Ripon Team I. Seventeen patrols from across the District including 6th Ripon, Boroughbridge, Sowerby, Topcliffe, Masham and Thirsk competed and in the end it was a close battle and test of Scouting skills. Thank you very much to Jon Goom for arranging the event.

Young Leaders and Explorers - We have some great Young Leaders within our sections and a big thank you to those who avoided their homework and exam revision to help out camps and District events this term. If any Young Leader would like to take their responsibilities further then please get in touch with me for more information on a new Young Adult Permit scheme being introduced over the Summer.

Explorer Scouts - The Explorers have also been busy too. Later this month a small group are taking part in a Jamboree in Sweden and we have 5 Scouts/Explorer Scouts selected to attend the World Scout Jamboree North America 2019. We also have 3 adults with links to the District attending as part of the International Service Team. Please keep an ear to the ground and support any fundraising events that our representatives will be running in the build up to the World Scout Jamboree.

District Active Support (DAS) - The DASQUEST, set up by the local DAS Unit around Boroughbridge has attracted Packs from around the District and it is always a great showcase for Scouting in the local area. I strongly urge you, if you have not already done so, to take part before it ends. Although many members are also section leaders, extra DAS members have been on hand to help out at every District event this year including the recent Beaver day, Cub Camp and Scout Team Challenge. Thank you to all who have helped make the smooth running of these events possible.

Finally…. Thank you for all of your help and support over this term. Have an enjoyable Summer and get ready for an exciting build up to Christmas.

We're loving the gorgeous weather at the moment, but we can't deny it's not taken us by surprise! Take a look at our tips for camping in the heat. 

Where possible, it's a good idea to pitch your tent wherever it's going to be shady in the morning so you're not woken too early by hot, bright sunlight (Beaver leaders, try not to laugh). 

Check the direction of prevailing wind and pitch your tent in the same direction so the wind flows through, providing cooling ventilation. During the day, open up the tent as much as possible.

Remember the rules of sun safety: slip on a top, pop on a hat and slop on some sun cream. Make sure everyone's following these rules, and suggest neckers also be worn with t-shirts to protect necks and shoulders from the sun. 

Have lots of high factor sun cream on hand and encourage your young people to apply this to themselves every 2-3 hours. It's not appropriate for an adult to do this (other than parents to their own child). Ensure that you're aware of any allergies to sun cream (ask the question on your Nights Away information form) and get young people with allergies to bring their own cream. 

Ensure a constant, freely available supply of water and/or squash, and have hourly breaks for cold drinks. You also need to give some thought to storing food appropriately on hikes or on camp so it doesn't go off. For example, if you don't have a fridge available, you can store bottles of milk in a bucket of cold water in the shade with a wet tea towel covering the top of the bottles. Refresh the water regularly to make sure it stays cold, and freeze a couple of bottles to keep things even colder and fresher for longer. 

Activities should, where possible, take place in the shade or indoors. You should also be prepared to stop, cancel or wind down physical activities as some people will get tired quickly in the heat. 

Hope these ideas (from the Scout Association) help!!!

Ripon & District Active Support Unit  can often be seen at scouting events throughout the District (and County) helping, supporting, leading, encouraging, guiding and generally 'providing active support' - but sometimes they have their own activities to rest, relax, and recharge their batteries.

Non more so at the annual Ripon & District DAS Family Barbeque, this year held at the home of Steve and Liz at Asenby. The sun was out, the barbeques lit and lively chatter could be heard in all parts of the gardens for a good four hours!

Mike, Anne, Brian, Heather, Steve, Liz, Eric, Shirley, David, Elaine, John, Roz, Ian, Wendy, Aimée, Alex and Andrew ALL enjoyed an afternoon relaxing (and eating!) Games of lawn crouquette, connect four etc. were provided, but the sun was so hot that 'shelter' was the main refuge for the afternoon.

All in all, EVERYONE enjoyed the event and thanks were give to Steve & Liz for their hospitality.

The whole Active Support Unit (including those not able to attend) are ready now for another year of 'Support' to Scouting locally.

Our District Commissioner, Aimée Dubiel, tells us that the recent District Beaver Activity Day at Brimham Rocks Adventure Farm, held on 16th June was a complete success. There were 64 Beavers from the District from 1st Boroughbridge, 1st Thirsk, 4th Ripon, 6th Ripon and Masham who attended.

Spike and Joanne's helpers were all Young Leaders/Explorers (Toni Diclemente, Oliver Mays, Samuel Spencer) and now here is 'Spike's Report' of the Day itself:

"After weeks of glorious sunshine, clear blue skies and soaring Yorkshire temperatures of 14 degrees C the Beaver day finally arrived, a grey, overcast, cool and with a 98% chance of rain this particular Saturday morning wasn't looking promising for 65 Beavers who were about to attend a day on a farm in the Yorkshire Dales. 

Thankfully the leaders and helpers involved were in high spirits and nothing was going to dampen them. Shelters were erected for the pending doom, cow pats were covered, tarpaulin sheets were laid out, water was boiled for the copious amounts of tea and coffee we were going to need to keep the many leaders warm.
1010hrs quickly arrived, key leaders were gathered together and the Health and Safety aspects of the day were carefully explained by the leader in charge, which to be fair mainly involved 'poo' and there was plenty of it.

Beavers started to arrive at 1015hrs wrapped in their waterproofs (parents clearly had no faith) all looking very excited about the day before them. The Beavers gathered themselves together in a huge circle where the Leader in charge told them about the dangers on a farm and not to jump in the poo, not because it's dangerous but the high possibility you could slip and end up on your bum. (Unbelievably there was a break in the clouds and we were treated to a sneaky peak of the sun, the breeze slipped away and Yorkshire, well, our little bit, warmed up).

Finally 1030hrs arrived and everyone got into their groups and off they went to their first activity, 8 activities, 7 groups, 2 juice breaks and a lunch break to fit in, the Beavers were in for a busy day. The day was made up of several (8) activities, mostly farm related, some fun and one, a trail involving the search for map symbols then having to match them up to the description on a sheet. 

Second, milking and butter making, the Beavers had the opportunity to milk a Goat (I can imagine your expressions as you read this "how on earth did they keep a Goat still long enough let alone have milk flowing long enough for 65 Beavers", read on), the poor Goats in question were (thankfully) plastic each with two realistic teats, there was no milk but water would squirt out as long as it was held and pulled properly. Butter making was made very simply by having a small amount of milk in a jar and shaking it vigorously for several minutes, lots more minutes if it wasn't shaken vigorously enough.

Thirdly, the animal hospital, here the Beavers learnt how to bandage an injured animal, eventually they turned on themselves and ended up bandaging each other up, great practice.

Fourthly, the farm visit, the Beavers were able to wander around and visit all the farm animals. Sheep, a sow and litter, Cows, Goats, Llamas, Ducks, Geese, chickens and they also had the chance to hold and play with Guinea pigs, Rabbits and Ducklings. The sow had recently given birth to 9 black and white piglets which were a big hit with everyone.

Fifth, Nerf gun target practice, awesome fun, two young leaders (Explorers) ran this base, the Beavers had to aim at targets around the shooting range, some would spin round if you hit them correctly others would gobble up the balls, some were even lucky enough to hit a young leader (accidently I'm sure).

Sixth, stock judging, in one of the barns there were two beef cattle and six bacon pigs and it was up to the Beavers to judge them and place them once they had had some expert advice on size, best meat cuts and who was the prettiest. To be fair the whole idea of this base was to demonstrate to the Beavers where meat at the supermarket comes from and where those particular cuts of meat are on an animal.

Seventh, sow and grow, growing stuff, Beavers planted seeds in a piece of rolled up paper with some peat, sounds simple but it's a great way of showing them how long plants take to grow before you can bake a cake from the wheat you have sown.

And last but not least, the play barn, an area of soft play with a huge slide where everyone could let off steam and leaders could enjoy a hot drink.

North Yorkshire Scouts Litter-Pick & Recruitment Week 2019

On Sunday 2 June 2019, the County plans a litter-pick across the entire Scouting County of North Yorkshire to mark the beginning of Volunteers' Week. It's hoped that Beavers, Cubs, Scouts, Explorers, adult helpers, supporters and leaders from every section in every Scouting District of the County will collect litter on this day showing Scouts cleaning up North Yorkshire and our community spirit at its very best. A uniformed badge will be given to all young members who take part, for which there will be a competition to design an appropriate badge. The impact we could have across the County is considerable and so all Districts and Groups are requested to engage fully with this exciting initiative and to avoid all local Scouting activities on Sunday 2 June 2019.

Following the litter-pick and throughout the following week, which is National Volunteers' Week, the County will embark on a dedicated recruitment campaign for young members and leaders. Once again, it's hoped that all Districts and Groups will take part in this campaign at the same time to maximise impact and to achieve some amazing results.

No excuses and plenty of time to plan these events into your programmes, so put these dates in your diary NOW!

The Annual General Meeting of the Ripon & District Scout Council was held at Community House in Ripon on 23rd May 2018 and was attended by well over 40 leaders, helpers, administrators, honoured guests and friends of Scouting. The Meeting was opened by Brian Hawthornthwaite, the District Vice-President, in the absence of Tim Jones, the District President, who was away on Rotary business.

We were gathered to elect an Executive Committee to run the District's affairs, on behalf of the District Scout Council, until the same time next year and business was conducted under the watchful eye of our Honoured Guests, Geoff Haldenby, Mayor of Boroughbridge, and Lesley Hunter, the local representative of GirlGuiding.

The District Chairman's report and the District Commissioner's report were given  before ALYS ALLARDYCE formally came to the end of her term as District Commissioner and AIMÉE DUBIEL formally 'took up the reigns' as the new District Commissioner. One of her first jobs was to nominate John McGrath for a further term as Honarary District Chairman. 

The Officers were then duly elected and approved unapposed and are: Honorary District Secretary: Mrs. Toni Vauvert - Honorary District Treasurer: Mr Peter Bardon - and Honorary District Badge Secretary: Mrs. Cath McMorland.

The next item was to nominate/elect a 'working' District Executive which consisted of: Joe Hart, John Goom, Stuart Carter, Ian Bardon, Anne Collins, Mike Collins and Fiona Warrington. ALL were approved by the meeting.

Those present also approved Claire Newcombe as Honorary Auditor for the year and Tim Jones as District President for a further 3 year term.

In 'Awards and Presentations', the Former DC mentioned and gave out 16 long Service Awards and some 'thanks' certificates and gifts of appreciation and was, herself, given a bouquet of flowers to mark the end of her term as DC. 

The David Burnett Community Award Silver Salver was presented to Explorer Scout Eilis Fitzgerald from the White Horse Explorer Unit for her extensive pro-social behaviour. Runners up certificates were given to Titus Baker 6th Ripon Young Leader and Antonia Di Clementi from the Black Stallion Explorer Unit.

The evening ended with a brilliant talk (with slides) by Major Stu Cunane, who is an active member of the Swaledale Mountain Rescue Team. He explained a lot of how the team works - and the type of jobs that they have to do in all weathers and terrains.

Thanks were give to the local District Active Support Unit for providing tea/coffee and cakes and a raffle raised nearly £50 towards local young members going to the the 24th World Scout Jamboree which is to be held in West Virginia, USA, in August 2019.

John Helliwell says that the following Courses/Modules will be available locally in 2018:

19  May   0930-1300 Modules 7, 8, & 9 
  9 June   0930-1300 Modules 13, 14 & 15
16 June  1000-1300 Modules 11 & 12B
  8 July   1000-1600 First Response (6 Hours)
15 Sep   1000-1300 Modules 16 & 17
  6 Oct    1000-1300 Modules 5, 6, & 19
13 Oct    1000-1300 First Response Refresher
  3 Nov   1000-1230 Modules 7, 8, & 9
10/11 Nov (2 days) Activity First Aid (16 Hours)
17 Nov    0930-1300 Modules 13, 14, & 15
1 Dec      1000-1230 Pre-Nights Away Assessment

NOTE WELL - and speak to JOHN for more info and detail

1. The above courses are open to all adults in Scouting in the County
2. Bookings can only be made through John Helliwell, johnhelliwell604@gmail.com, 01432 320731
3. In addition to the courses above, ad hoc arrangements will be made for validation of "Getting Started" (modules 1 2 & 3) and support of new members of Ripon District Scouts through the "provisional" stage (first 5 months)
4. Additional training, if required, may be added to the above schedule from time to time, including training for prospective Nights Away Advisers
5. Courses will only run if there is sufficient demand (5 participants)
6. Most courses will be held in Boroughbridge, either at Coronation Hall or in the Jubilee Room at the Library
7. Successful completion of courses will be posted on COMPASS by JH for members of Ripon District. Otherwise course completion will be notified to LTMs/DCs in other Districts, as appropriate

REMEMBER - COURSES WILL ONLY RUN IF THERE IS SUFFICIENT DEMAND!!

The County Creative Activities Team is running another photographic competition of all members of Scouting within North Yorkshire.

The theme of the competition is incredibly broad and is "Reflections". This can be interpreted in many ways; physical reflections in water, glass etc. or memories and recollections.

Entries will be judged in 5 sections: Beavers, Cub Scouts, Scouts, Explorers, and 18+ (Network and Leaders).

Each person may enter one photograph which must have been taken by the entrant to the competition. Submissions must be in digital jpg format, with the original camera Exif data attached.

All photographs must be submitted with the name of the photographer, date of birth, Scout Group and District details. The images will be judged in the age range that the photographer was when the photograph was taken.

The competition will be open for submission between 15th August 2018 and 16th October 2018. Any entries outside these dates will not be judged. Photographs must be submitted to the following email address only: creative@nys.org.uk

The decisions of the judges will be final. All judging will be anonymous. Any photographs submitted to the competition may be used by the County Scout Council for any purpose of Scouting. All other rights are retained by the photographer.

If any Group would like to borrow digital cameras to run a photography evening etc. they are available from the North Yorkshire Creative Team.

Further information or for any queries please contact; John A Ives - Assistant County Commissioner, Creative Arts for North Yorkshire Scouts at creative@nys.org.uk