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    At a recent County Executive Committee Meeting, it was agreed to reduce the County Membership Fee for 2021 from £13.30 to £10.00 to be funded from County reserves. This will be the County membership fee payable for all young members.  You will have already received advice from The Scout Association that the 2021 UK membership fee will rise substantially to £36 and the reduction in the County fee will help offset this increase. 

The annual fee of £46 (£36 + £10) will therefore be the fee payable for all young members; there will be no rebate arrangements (to ease administration for the County and the District).

The District Treasurer will be invoiced as soon as membership numbers are confirmed following the January 2021 census and the deadline for payment of the 2021 membership subscriptions to the County will be no later than Friday 9 April 2021.

                                                                                          News | Big Bang

                 
Book NOW for the 'Virtual AGM' which is to be held On-Line on Wednesday 21st October at 8pm - will YOU be watching?

To take part you will need to 'register' by sending an email with your name and email address to:   attend.agm@riponscouting.com   
You will get a 'confirmation of receipt' and relevant documentation and then a 'ZOOM LINK' 24 hours before the AGM itself (which is on 21st October starting at 8pm).

The Acting District Chair, JON GOOM, is also looking for nominations for the following posts on the Executive Committee, if you would like to pass a nomination/s on to him (or a name/contact so he can discuss the position with them) please email us at; nominations.2020@riponscouting.com for:

• District Treasurer
• District Secretary
• Elected Members to the District Executive 2020-2021

Please remember any nominations do not need to be from within Scouting itself, they just need to have some enthusiasm to help us maintain & manage the future of the District. Please email nominations for posts by 14th October 2020

                         


All leaders should take a look at the changes to the Amber Readiness Level recently announced (3rd September 2020).

Whilst we remain at Amber, these are significant changes which permit indoor activities to resume following the approval of risk assessments.

For full details, take a look HERE.

Keep you eyes on this website for FURTHER changes in the near future!

         
This from Peter MacNamara: 

It is with sadness that I have to tell you that Joel Bastow, who was the First Group Scout Leader for 9th Ripon, and the Deputy Hornblower for Ripon, died on Thursday 20th August in Wayland, Massachusetts.

Joel was a really strong member of Ripon Scouting in the 1970s and 80s before his return home to the USA.

His work brought him from the USA to North Yorkshire and it was his time in Ripon, North Yorkshire in England where he discovered his true passion,  "Blowing someone else's horn" and maintaining a centuries old tradition. He loved telling the story of Ripon's horn blowing history in his booming American accent after blowing the Wakeman's horn at 9pm each night on Ripon's Market Square. 
At a recent meeting of the District Executive Committee (on-line), the Executive decided to put the scheduled District AGM (scheduled for 1st June 2020) on hold due to the present World Pandemic of Covid-19 (Coronavirus) that is disrupting all face-to-face meetings in the UK at the present time.

The NEW date is to be WEDNESDAY 21st OCTOBER 2020 when, hopefully, things may have got a little better and it WILL be an On-Line meeting via ZOOM.

Please change this date in your Diaries and we look forward to seeing you all there (Virtually!). More details to follow - keep your eyes here on this Website's Notice Board or on your own email in-box.
MESSAGE FROM THE SCOUT ASSOCIATION:
Before the COVID-19 crisis, we told you that we were planning to stop publishing Scouting magazine, not just to remove the cost of production and postage but to respond to new ways to communicate in a digital age. The current situation has accelerated this change.  

August’s Scouting magazine will be the last ever issue, and it will be delivered digitally (by email) to members. We know that stopping the magazine may come as a disappointment to some. While it’s the end of an era, our society is rapidly changing, demanding quicker responses, more sustainable choices and flexibility in the way we communicate.

This change reflects that shift, making sure that we continue to support our movement in a digital world through our website, emails, online calls and videos, social media and any other new opportunities we want to explore so that we continue to provide you with ideas and support so that you can run inspiring programmes for young people. 

As stated, Scouting Magazine for Autumn 2020 is now only available online and not in hard copy via the post.  So, to download and read the Autumn 2020 edition visit The Scout Association website - you can click HERE.
Lockdown, what lockdown? says Alexander.  

While coronavirus might be making 2020 memorable for all the wrong reasons, however, this hasn't stopped all the activities and all the fun.

One 13-year-old Scout in our District who is a Ripon Grammar School student has taken on a number of long-distance challenges, including joining in the  "collective" 240,000 mile Hike to the Moon (which is supported by Chief Scout Bear Grylls and Astronaut Tim Peake) - but he still finds time to regularly mow his elderly neighbour's lawn

Alexander Pickering has been enjoying a range of ambitious walking, cycling and orienteering challenges throughout lockdown.

This energetic young person has also kept himself busy designing fire escape plans for his family home and setting up a campsite in his back garden, where he sleeps out under canvas and cooks his own breakfast.

During this time, the 13-year-old Scout, who hopes for a career in medicine or engineering, also finds time amongst all his activities to mow his 92-year-old neighbour’s lawn.

As a member of the 6th Ripon Scout Group, Alexander has joined the 'Scout Hike to the Moon Challenge', with a target of collectively walking the 240,000-mile approximate distance from the Earth to the Moon. So far, he has clocked up an impressive 272 miles. He has also undertaken cycling and walking orienteering challenges, involving distances of up to 30 miles.

Alexander said: “Doing these challenges, which will go towards my Chief Scout Gold Award, has helped me keep fit during lockdown. I have also explored various parts of Ripon and the surrounding villages, some of which I have never been to before. It’s given me the opportunity to see lots of wildlife too, including red kites, hares, dragonflies and kestrels.”

His advice to others is: “Enjoy getting outdoors and exploring new places and keep yourself going with lots of determination, resilience and drinks and snacks!”

Alex1
COUNTY COMPETITIONS – all details on the County Website (www.nys.org.uk) or on our County Facebook page.
(please let your leaders know if you enter as they may go towards badges):

Photography Theme ‘Making the Ordinary Extraordinary!’ – runs every month until 31st October and you can enter one photo a month if you wish.

Gardening ‘Fabulous Flowers? Vicious Veg’ runs until 30th September 2020.

Campfire 'Singalong' Competition- open to ALL - runs until 31st July 2020

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

As we are currently living in extraordinary times the theme of this year’s competition is Making the Ordinary Extraordinary! This can be interpreted in many ways; ordinary objects or scenes or events photographed in an extraordinary way, used for extraordinary purposes, from unusual angles or just plain odd!

Entries will be judged in the various sections from Rainbows and Beavers through to Leaders and Active Support/Trefoil Guild.

As a change from previous years we will be happy to receive entries each month (with the first entries at the end of May), we will publish the best from each month on the relevant County website and then hold them over for eventual winners in October. Each person may enter one photograph per month, which must have been taken by the entrant, to the competition. Submissions must be in digital jpg format, entries taken on camera phones will be accepted.

All photographs must be submitted with the name of the photographer, section (Beaver, Brownie etc), Scout or Guide Group, District plus Guide County details, an email or postal contact and confirmation that the photograph is all the entrant’s own work. 

The entries will be judged in the appropriate section, all judging will be anonymous and the decisions of the judges will be final.

The competition will be open for submission between 1 May 2020 and 31 October 2020. Any entries after this date will not be judged. Photographs must be submitted to the following email address only: creative@nys.org.uk

Any photographs submitted to the competition may be used by the Scout or Guide Counties for any Scouting or Guiding purposes. All other rights are retained by the photographer

Find out all you need to know about Scouting
in North Yorkshire on the County Website

Did You Know?

Ripon and District Scouts operate NINE scout groups around the district:
  • ONE in Bishop Monkton
  • ONE in Boroughbridge
  • ONE in Masham
  • ONE in Knayton
  • ONE in Sowerby
  • ONE in Thirsk
  • ONE in Topcliffe
  • TWO in Ripon City itself
  • PLUS THREE District Explorer Units
  • PLUS a District Active Support Unit

FIND YOUR GROUP HERE!!

THE SCOUT ASSOCIATION offers adventure and activity to almost 400,000 young people across the UK.

THE MOVEMENT is the largest co-educational youth organisation in the world, with over 28 million Members in 216 countries and territories.

Scouting has opportunities for almost ALL age ranges

Ripon and District Scouts 2020