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News
- Tree planting event at Beaudesert
- 1st Stoke-on-Trent & Newcastle St Andrews Porthill Group Centenary
- County Membership grows by 6%
- ADCs, DESCs, Fellowship and Network Conference
- County Leaders Weekend
- Royal Doulton Launch new Scout figures
- Lichfield Scouts Celebrate in Style
- Newcastle Cub Leaders Race for life
- 74th Silverdale Scout Group hold a Founders Day Service
- Scouts on Target with Success at the start of Centenary Year
Tree planting event at Beaudesert
100 Trees for 100 Years of Sea Scouting
On Saturday 28th March over 80 Sea Scouts, Explorers, Cubs and Beavers from 1st Blackfords and
Wheaton Aston Sea Scout Groups planted 100 Oak trees at Beaudesert Trust Camp site, to
commemorate 100 years of Sea Scouting.
The first 3 trees were planted by Pat Ansell the Chair of Cannock Chase District Council, Captain John Sail MNI, National Chairman of The Merchant Navy Association and Mr Jeremy Cotton the Scouting Associations County Commissioner for Staffordshire. Following this the youngsters, aged 6 to 18 enthusiastically dug their own holes and planted the remaining 97 trees, kindly donated by The Forestry Commission, in an area of land provided by The Beaudesert Trust. Further fun ensued hammering in stakes for the tree guards (donated by Arbor Vitae on behalf of Tubex) to protect the trees from local wildlife.
Despite bouts of hail and rain, which didn't dampen the groups high spirits the event was rounded off in a traditional scouting way with a BBQ.
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1st Stoke-on-Trent & Newcastle St Andrews Porthill Group Centenary
This year marks the centenary of North Staffordshire's oldest Scout Group. 1st Stoke-on-Trent & Newcastle St. Andrews Porthill Group was formed in 1908 and is still going strong. The Scout Troop was formed, we believe, in the late summer or early autumn of 1908. We weren't the first Troop in North Staffordshire however, that was Hanley YMCA. But due to some long forgotten administrative mix up, we were designated 1st and unhappily Hanley YMCA closed in the late 1980s.
Although we are the oldest Group in North Staffordshire and possibly the whole of Staffordshire, we are not quite the oldest in the Scout County of Staffordshire. The 1st Alsager Group, although geographically in Cheshire, is the oldest Group in the Scout County. So happy birthday to them as well!
We have spent some time researching our past, and the results of this can be seen here - http://history.porthillscouts.org.uk
We started the year by holding a party and talent show on Founders Day. We held a family camp at Kibblestone in May as a celebration of our 100 years. All our members have been given a special badge and we have also sent this badge out to as many of our old members as we can locate. This is the badge attached.
We will also be having a Group photograph taken to commemorate the members of the Group in 2008 and early next year we are looking into holding a celebration meal. Finally on 5th December 1908 there was a report in the Evening Sentinel that Porthill Scouts had played football against May Bank Boys and won 4 - 1. We are hoping to recreate the match on the same date this year with some special guests filling in for the long forgotten May Bank Boys.
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County Membership grows by 6%
Jeremy Coton, County Commissioner, was pleased to announce to the County Executive members on Wednesday, 16th April, that our Annual Return of Membership for the County had grown by 6% over the previous year.
He wished to congratulate all Leaders and members who had contributed to this excellent response to recruitment efforts, and our abilities to retain people within this great movement called Scouting.
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ADCs, DESCs, Fellowship and Network Conference
Sunday, February 24th, saw a busy day for our leaders at Coors Conference Centre in Burton, examining their roles, their training and the provision of activities and how best to get the message across to our young people.
Individual section breakouts enabled each section to get down to an action plan for the way into the future and to find ways of securing the vision of a day out on the water and into the hills for every member of every section. Programme planning was examined, leader and member recruitment, and much coffee was drunk.
A thoughtful and challenging day made poignant by Jeremy Coton's re-examination of how the vision would be executed at the end and the challenge to everyone present to make it happen.
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County Leaders Weekend
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As part of the Counties celebrations to mark the 100th anniversary of the Scout Association 80 leaders from all over the County came to Kibblestone Scout Camp to take part in a fun activity weekend on the 22/23rd September 2007.
The organisers had arranged a programme of activites including Abseiling, Canoeing, Archery, Morris Dancing, Pioneering and Outdoor Cooking so that the leaders could try al of the things that our Scouts love to do.. They celebrated in style on the Saturday evening with an Irish night and a great time was had by all.
Everyone admitted it was a good idea to hold such a weekend and another one is being arranged for September 2008 so look out for the dates and more information
John Barker
County Public Relations Manager
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Royal Doulton Launch new Scout figures
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On Sunday 10th June 2007 Royal Doulton launched a new range of Scout figures in their Peter Rabbit range. The new figures feature Peter Rabbit as a boy scout and as a scout master and have been produced to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Scout Association.
The figures were launched at a Collectors fair held on the Staffordshire County Showground where the new figures were an instant hit with collectors and the general public alike.
Shown in the photographs are Helen Wilson the County Secretary for Staffordshire Scouts and John Barker the County Public Relations Manager.
John Barker
County Public Relations Manager
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Lichfield Scouts Celebrate in Style
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On Saturday 13th October the Scouts of Lichfield District celebrate the 100th centenary of the Scout Association by staging an exhibition of Scouting archives and photographs in the Lichfield Heritage Centre in the town.
The exhibition which features Scouting life in the area from 1908 until the present day has been arranged by Adrian Robinson and his team from the Lichield Scout Fellowhip. The exhibition will be open to the general public every day until the end of the year and is well worth a visit.
Featured in the photographs are Scouts Jodi, Anthony and Libby from the 1st Shenstone Scout Group who performed the opening ceremony by cutting the tape to allow visitors to see the displays.
John Barker
County Public Relations Manager
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Newcastle Cub Leaders Race for life
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Sharon Whittlestone, Laura Alcock, Barbara Davies, Adele Higginbottom, Janet Hammond, Rachel Gray and Karen Timmis and Emma Searl, all Cub Leaders in Newcastle District, Completed the Stafford Run for Life on 9 September, after the event had twice been postponed over the summer due to heavy rain.
The CSLs undertook the challenge over 5 Kms in memory of Mandy Buxton, long serving CSL and AGSL from 77th Audley, who sadly died of cancer in April 2007. She was consoled during the final weeks of her illness by the notification that she had been awarded the Medal of Merit for her outstanding services to Scouting; the award was accepted at her funeral by her daughter Mrs Lucy Prince, CSL at 77th Audley.
The Cub Leaders anticipate that when all the promised sponsorship money has been paid, they will have met their target of raising £1000 for Cancer Research in memory of Mandy, who is sadly missed by her many Scouting friends in Newcastle District.
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74th Silverdale Scout Group hold a Founders Day Service
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74 th Silverdale Scout Group held a Founders Day Service on Sunday 25th February 2007 as part of the Group's 2007 Celebrations. The Service was aimed at the youngsters and involved them taking an active part with the readings and Prayers.
At the end of the Service a Cake was cut by members of the Group and St Luke's Church.
The Photo Shows on the left Mr Harrison a former Scout and longstanding member of the Church with Mr Deakin (in Uniform) former GSL and longstanding member of the group standing behind his former Cub Mistress and member of the Church Choir Mrs Harvey who was married to another former GSL Cyril who held that post for approximately 40 years. Cutting the Cake is one of the current Beavers whose Grandfather was a long standing leader in the Group (George Fowles) and on the right is Churchwarden Mrs Smith who is a member of the Fellowship and married to a former Cub Leader with the Group.
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Scouts on Target with Success at the start of Centenary Year
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Silverdale Scout Group is hoping to continue to have a successful year during the Scout's Centenary year following success by both the Cubs and Scouts in the District 5-a-side football competitions on Saturday 6th January.
The group started the day by wining the Cubs competition in style. The youngsters aged 8-10 ½ only lost one match, to Madeley Cubs, and scored a large number of goals during the competition including 7 in one match.
The afternoon saw the success continue with the Scout Section finishing in second place in their competition. Like the Cubs the 10-14 year olds also only lost one match during the competition, due to a last minute penalty scored by St Giles Scouts.
Group Scout Leader Vicky Mountford said that her heart was in her mouth during the final matches in both competitions and was so pleased for the youngsters who all had an enjoyable day. "It was a wonderful way to start the celebrations for the 100th Birthday of the Scout Association and I hope that the Group will continue to have a lot to celebrate in this special year for Scouts across the country". The Group thanked everyone who had taken part in the two competitions and made it an enjoyable day.
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