It is with great sadness that Her Majesty The Queen has announced the death of her beloved husband, His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.
He has been a great inspiration for some many young people during his lifetime, and especially within Scouting through his Duke of Edinburgh award programme, which gives young people the chance to make friends, have fun and build confidence in an empowering, exciting and non-competitive learning environment.
In the UK alone, a phenomenal 6.7 million young people have benefitted from taking on the personal challenge of a DofE Award so far.
Today, the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award charity is calling for anyone involved in the DofE over the decades – including alumni and volunteers – to get in touch and share their DofE stories and memories at DofE.org.
It doesn’t look like COVID-19 is going anywhere anytime soon, and the threat of holiday get togethers being canceled like everything else is becoming very real. But as the year is winding down, it seems like there is nowhere to go but up. Please remember all the things we have collectively overcome this year and send wishes for a better 2021.
Throughout the year we have been involved in a wide variety of activities, even though most of these have taken place via Zoom. There have been an incredible amount of badges earned whilst working on them at home, and we are very proud of each and every one who achieved their goals.
We have no clear idea of when we are able to meet face-to-face again in the new year, but we will do our best to create a programme that can at least be done from wherever you might be. The year ahead will be challenging, but we will get through this.
From all of us here at 78th Kingswood Scout Group, see you next year!
Following the announcement of a four-week lockdown in England from Thursday 5 November, the National Youth Agency (NYA) has now issued guidance about what this means for all youth sector activity. From tomorrow, Scouts and all other youth activities will move to Red readiness level.
This decision by the Government means that there can be no face-to-face activity with young people or adult volunteers.
We expect these restrictions to last until 2 December, when the lockdown is currently scheduled to end in England.
COVID-19 is the biggest crisis we’ve faced in a generation
Now, over 500 Scout groups – many of them based in communities that were already made vulnerable before the virus hit – are struggling to make ends meet.
If they close their doors, thousands of young people will miss out on all the life-changing skills and experiences being a Scout can bring, precisely when they need us most.
That’s why we’re calling on all Scouts – and the people who care about them – to join us in a sponsored #RaceRoundTheWorld, to raise vital funds at this vital moment in our history.
Scouts UK have introduced The Great Indoors Occasional badges. These badges are a great way to recognise young people taking part in our activities at home.
And what is great about these, members can proudly display this staged badge on the top left of their uniform in the occasional section.
Most of the activities have featured in the past 10 weeks, but now they have been collected in one place and split into three stages. And as ever, the activities listed are only suggestions, there are lots of other things you can do that also counts towards these stages.
Check out the special page on the Scouts UK website.
Hike a mile at home. Make a donation. Take a giant leap to support the people who need it most.
On 23 April, BBC Children in Need and Comic Relief are getting together for their Big Day In on Radio and their Big Night In on TV, a massive fundraising special to celebrate the incredible people making a difference in communities across the UK and to support people who need it most during the corona crisis.
We want Scouts to go the extra mile too. Together, young people, volunteers, parents and carers are going to Hike to the Moon. If we all hike just one mile each – about 2,000 steps or 20 minutes walking on the spot – then together, we can complete the incredible 240,000 mile journey. To hit your one mile target, you can hike around your home or your garden (if you’ve got one) but please be safe and stick within government advice – you don’t need to leave your homes to be part of this.
A message from Bear
How will this help people? We’ll turn our miles into money by getting friends and family to sponsor us to take part and making a donation to this great cause.
You don’t have to wait for 23 April to hike your miles. Get started now by pulling on your walking boots (or more likely, your slippers), recording your miles and making your donation. It took the Apollo XI crew three days to reach the Moon — let’s see how long it takes Scouts!
We want to make this as accessible and inclusive as possible, so if walking’s a challenge for you, we’ve got some great alternative ways to do your miles below. If you can do more than a mile, that’s great (we might even be able to hike back to Earth again). You don’t have to do your steps all at once – you could record them over a day or a number of days.
For this Easter weekend one of our partners, Go Outdoors, is encouraging people to take part in the GREAT BRITISH CAMP OUT FOR THE NHS.
It sounds like an amazing thing to take part in and be able to raise money for the NHS whilst doing it.
If you have the space, why don’t you consider having a CAMP OUT at home? You can setup camp anywhere you like, create a den in your bedroom, camp under the dining room table, or if you have a garden have a camp out.
Make sure that if you take part to let us know, we would love to see how you setup your camp. Photo’s and video’s are much appreciated, and we would love to share this adventure on our social media channels.
To send us your pictures please use our special upload form (only available for this weekend):
We are writing to share critical pieces of information relating to the developing Coronavirus (COVID-19) situation.
Late this afternoon, Monday 16th March, the Prime Minister has said that everyone in the UK should now avoid non-essential travel and contact with others.
Given this guidance, all face-to-face Scout meetings, activities and events must be suspended from tomorrow, Tuesday, 17 March 2020. This suspension applies to young people and adults, and will be until further notice.
We must continue to respond to the developing situation in a calm, measured and appropriate way. We will continue to follow official guidance. The safety of everyone involved in Scouts, both young people and adults, is our number one priority. That is always at the heart of our decision making.
Keeping you updated
It is likely that this will impact us for the rest of this term, but we will keep you informed as best as we can.
The Government have now committed to daily briefings. To keep us up to date, Scouts UK have created a webpage: scouts.org.uk/coronavirus which will be updated from tomorrow.
Further to the recent UK Gov announcement about the move from Contain to Delay in regard to the growing pandemic of Covid-19, and the advice from Tim Kidd, UK Scout Commissioner for local areas to review and make the best decisions in a calm, measured and appropriate way.
I have discussed with Isabelle Mills, Camp Chief & Simon Crowden, Deputy Camp Chief, and agreed that due to the impact for Health & Safety on our young people, volunteers, contractors, wider family members, visitors to the event, as well as our financial commitment, to make the difficult decision to postpone Avon Adventure until 2021.
We are very fortunate to have excellent relationships with the North Somerset Show Ground Committee as well as supporting contractors, many of whom have confirmed that they will honour our booking when we will be holding the event between 28 May 2021 and 31 May 2021.
Refunds Any group that has paid a deposit or paid in full will be refunded the full amount paid.
Lastly, thank you all, for your continued support, keep safe and well, follow all Public Health Guidance and we look forward to seeing you in 2021,
