Welcome to Ripon and District Scouts

The DISTRICT KNOCKOUT ROUND of the COUNTY CUB SCOUT QUIZ was held on 8th November at 6.30pm at the Hillside Scout Headquarters at Knayton, near Thirsk.  

Four Packs from around the District took part in this round, having had a Pack round locally before coming together for the District Round.

Cub Scouts from 6th Ripon, 1st Bishop Monkton, 1st Boroughbridge and Hillside all enjoyed battling, using ‘Knowledge & Teamwork’ to work out the answers in the six rounds of the Quiz.
The SIX rounds, each consisted of TEN questions, were about Scouting Knowledge, General Knowledge, Sport, Science & the Natural World, Observation and lastly, Identification. The observation round asked the sixes to identify 10 objects that were not easy to identify and the Identification round asked sixes to identify 10 pictures of people and places.

After a good Quiz that was enjoyed by all who took part (parents and helpers teams also did the quiz - non competitively!) the winners were announced as 1st Bishop Monkton with 51 points (out of a possible 60), closely followed by 1st Boroughbridge with 48 points. These two sixes will now go forward to represent the District at the County Final of the Cub Quiz on Sunday 24th November, which is to be held at the same Hillside Scout Group HQ, Knayton, Thirsk, YO7 4AT from 1.00pm to 4.30pm

The other two Packs who took part were also congratulated by Iris on being so close behind the others, the 6th Ripon having earned 46 points and Hillside having earned 45 points. Well done to ALL who took part, all who brought and transported the Cub Scouts to Knayton on the night.

A special mention should be made to Iris De Wet and Leaders of the Hillside Group who hosted the event, Linda who did sterling work doing the refreshments for all, Eric who was asking the questions, Shirley who collected in the answer sheets, and last but no means least, Leah who kept the all the scores.

And finally….GOOD LUCK TO OUR REPRESENTATIVES IN THE COUNTY FINAL!

Scouting is one of the greatest movements the world has ever known. Scouts have walked on the moon, rowed across oceans, scaled the highest mountains. They have been Prime Ministers and Oscar winners, authors and inventors, World Cup heroes and scientists.

Scouting is for everyone, and there are all kinds of famous people who were once Scouts, some of whom might surprise you. Scouts have been presidents, prime ministers, entrepreneurs and pop stars. They have climbed Everest, stood at the South Pole and walked on the moon. Scouts are also teachers, social workers – the people who make society work. They are all united by common values of integrity, respect, trust cooperation, and their promise to help other people.

Here are just a few examples.

Sir David Attenborough, naturalist
David Beckham, footballer
Tony Blair, former prime minister
Russell Brand, comedian
Sir Richard Branson, entrepreneur
Jarvis Cocker, musician
Billy Connolly, comedian
Richard Hammond, tv presenter
(Note...Richard was once a member of Ripon & District!)
Lucie Jones, singer and actress
James Martin, chef
Andrew Murray, tennis player
Sir Paul McCartney, musician
Barack Obama, US president
Joe Pasquale, comedian
Jeremy Paxman, journalist
Keith Richards, musician
Steven Spielberg, film director
David Walliams, comedian

This, from Anne Collins who is our DAS Manager and also a leader with the 1st Boroughbridge Group who were running and hosting the event:

"We all know Cubs can be helpful, useful, resourceful young people but what do we expect them to learn in their time in Cubs? Boroughbridge Leaders decided to make the District Cub Activity Day an opportunity to acquire or refresh some of these varied skills – hence the invitation to join in with ‘Ten Things Every Cub Should Know’. 

Once the leaders, helpers and DAS members were briefed on the activity they would each be running for the day,79 Cubs were let loose with their escorts to begin their hectic day. With all 10 bases to get round between 11.45 and 4.30 there was no time to waste, so it was off to find where their first activity was sited within Coronation Hall. Woggle making with paracord was a tricky skill to master but wonderful woggles were soon being worn. 

What to pack for camp was a busy base with lots of tips from an experienced leader and international Scouting provided an opportunity to learn more about other countries. ‘What to do in an Emergency’ provided sound training and the chance to resuscitate poor Annie whilst the next base not only taught new fire lighting methods but the chance to cook a smoky S’more as well.
     
Knotting is always associated with Scouting and so a chance to tie knots, not only in rope but also in spaghetti, and to master tying shoelaces - with edible shoelaces of course – was well received. Translating two dimensional maps into 3D sand trays was very popular as was solving various coded messages, something all budding spies enjoy. Scouting is renowned for encouraging people to work together so Team Lego required cooperation to solve the problem of rebuilding the Lego house – with time to make their own creations once the task was complete!
     
In such a busy day, refuelling is essential and the gallant DAS members on catering duty provided hotdogs and a filling lunch as well as regular drink-and-biscuit stops for Cubs and adults alike. Hopefully, by the end of the day, each Cub had learnt something new and a big Thank You was due to all the adults and Young Leaders who had helped.  By 5 o’clock peace reigned once more, the Hall was clean and tidy and all those Cubs had discovered the secret of a good night’s sleep is to have enjoyed a very busy day."

Well done to ALL who took part and ALL who helped to make the event the evident success that it was!

We are saddened to report the death, recently, of KATH ADDY who had been a staunch supporter of Scouting in Ripon & District for many years.

Those of you who knew KATH, and perhaps used her services as our Former District Badge Secretary for some 10 plus years, between 2004 and 2010, will also be saddened to hear of her passing last week. 

She was always happy to help in providing badges to busy leaders and only took on the role in answer to a plea at W.I. for someone to help the young people of the area by doing this job.

She had no prior experience of Scouting other than as a Grandmother of a keen Scout, but as a mother of six she was always willing to do anything to help youngsters.

Kath's efficiency and helpfulness in getting badges to the Groups and Units was always much appreciated by busy leaders and, although she was not currently in post in the District, she will stilll be missed by all in the District who knew her.

The Annual General Meeting of the Ripon & District Scout Council was held at Thirsk Town Hall on 25th September 2019 and was attended by over 36 leaders, helpers, administrators, honoured guests and friends of Scouting. The Meeting was opened by the County Commissioner, Mark Edwards who is at present also acting as our District Commissioner.

Mark congratulated the District on its 100th Anniversary and told the meeting that the 'Youth' numbers were down in the last Census but 'Leader' numbers were up. He asked everyone to get involvbed with the 'Just One More' campaign in the next 6 months. If every section got one more member there would be a rise of 375 extra members in the County!!

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, the Deputy Mayor & Mayoress of Ripon and our County Secretary, Mr David Forster.

Mark Edwards first job was to nominate John Lockwood as District Chairman and hand the meeting over to him. The previous minutes were then agreed, apologies given, the District Annual report circulated, and the accounts were received and considered. 

The Officers were then duly elected and approved 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 the above Officers and the following members: Mike Collins, Anne Collins, Ian Bardon, John Goom, Joe Hart, Tessa Danby and David Day. ALL were approved by the meeting. Adam Dickson was then nominated and approved as the Youth Commissioner to the Executive.

Those present also approved Claire Newcombe as Honorary Auditor for another year, John McGrath as District President for a 3 year term, and Iris De Wet as the District's representative on the County Scout Council for the year.

In 'Awards and Presentations' the acting DC mentioned several long Service Awards which would be presented shortly in 'Group' settings. 

The David Burnett Community Award Silver Salver had been presented at the start of the meeting (due to his young age) to Isaac from the 6th Ripon Group for his extensive pro-social behaviour. Isaac was a Beaver Scout when nominated but has now moved up into Cub Scouts.

The evening ended with a brilliant talk (with power point show) by Jonathan Bennington and Eilis Fitzgerald, two Explorer Scouts who had recently returned from the 24th World Scout Jamboree in West Virginia, USA, after travelling there as part of the UK's 4,000 strong Contingent to a total Jamboree of 40,000 Scouts!

Finally, thanks were give to the local 'District Active Support Unit' for providing tea/coffee and biscuits and it is worth mentioning there were 15 members of DAS present in one guise or another!

At its meeting on 17 September, the County Executive Committee agreed that the County Membership Fee for 2020 (payable for all young members in all Scouting sections from Beaver Scouts to Explorer Scouts) will be £13.80 gross (£13.50 for prompt payment), an increase of 30p from 2019  - Leaders should have already received advice from The Scout Association that the 2020 UK Membership Fee will be £29.00 gross (£28.50 for prompt payment), an increase of £1.00 from last year.

Advising all District Commissioners, Mark Edwards, the County Commissioner, said: “The small increase in the County Membership Fee is to help us to develop further as a County, meet our running costs and improve our support to Districts. Some 89.9% of sections across the County are now registered with Online Scout Manager via the County Subscription and this will continue. We also aim to deliver even better activities and improve the support that we give to Districts on a wide range of issues from recruiting to training.”

Our District Executive Committee should now consider their own District Fees or Levy for next year, before advising all of our Scout Groups and Explorer Scout Units of the total fees due and payment deadlines.

So expect some important news very soon!

Have you found the "Find your Group here" words on the front page of this website? You can click it to go to the map. You can also access the Map via the District Information Tab.

This Map shows where ALL NINE of our Scout Groups and BOTH of our Explorer Scout Units meet.

Click on one of the blue Icons and find the address of the meeting place and on which days they meet.

It also gives a 'contact' number for members and non-members to be able to find out more about the Groups!