Ricky Week with Carnival Parade and May Fair Tomorrow

A reminder that entry to the May Fair on the Bury is free and everyone is welcome, there are small rides for children, a BBQ, tea tent and beer tent, something for all ages. The event is formally opened at 2pm with the crowning of Miss Ricky but most of the stalls and entertainment are open from 1:30pm.

The predicted weather for tomorrow looks fabulous!

Beavers wishing to take part in the main parade should meet in the car park opposite the Coach and Horses on the High Street at 12:45 in full uniform - turquoise sweatshirt top, smart trousers and black shoes.

Cubs who wish to take part in the tug-o-war should be at the Bury with their green Cub tops on at 2:30pm.

We need help with moving equipment from our headquarters on Riverside Dive to the Bury from 9am. We also need help with setting up the stalls at the Bury, manning the tents and help to clear away when everything finishes between 4pm and 5pm.

See you all tomorrow.

First Aid training brings competition success

This Spring, the scouts at Batchworth undertook two s
essions of First Aid training, giving them important skills and leading to the award of the Scout Emergency Aid level 3 badge.

Shortly afterwards, two of our members further volunteered to put this knowledge to test at a local Youth Group First Aid Competition, organised by St John Ambulance.

During the course of an eventful day, our team scored top marks on a simulated first aid incident and were awarded a trophy for their efforts.

Congratulations to David and Laura! 

May Fair 2011 - Saturday 12th May 2011

For many years, Batchworth Sea Scouts, in conjunction with the Rickmansworth Society, have arranged the May Fair, on the Bury (behind St. Marys Church off Bury Lane) in partnership with the Rickmansworth Society. The May Fair is traditionally the opening event of Rickmansworth Week when a procession of floats makes its way through Rickmansworth to the Bury where stalls selling l
ocal goods, refreshments and music are available as the carnival princess is crowned.

This year we are celebrating the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and we’re hoping some of the floats and exhibits may be able to adopt this as a theme.

Entry to the May Fair on the Bury is free and everyone is welcome, there are small rides for children, a BBQ, tea tent and beer tent, something for all ages. The event is formally opened at 2pm with the crowning of Miss Ricky but most of the stalls and entertainment are open from 1:30pm.

We will need help with making cakes for the tea tent – Sponge cakes, chocolate cakes and fairy cakes.

Additionally, we need help with moving equipment from our headquarters on Riverside Dive to the Bury from 9am. We also need help with setting up the stalls at the Bury, manning the tents and help to clear away when everything finishes between 4pm and 5pm.

If you are able to help, please contact Narinder on batchworth@narinder.org or 07595 617598. 

Time Keeping

Can everyone make sure they turn up for meetings on time. People arriving late cause disruption to the rest of the group and means we don’t always manage to get through the programme of activates as planned.
Scouts should always come to Saturday meeting prepared for outdoors. This means warm layers and spare clothing in case we get wet and suitable foot wear.

Beavers start meet on Thursdays 6 to 7:15pm, Cubs Wednesdays 6:30 to 8pm, Scouts Saturdays 2-5:30pm and Explorers 7:30 to 10pm on Thursdays.

Shipshape

Many thanks to all those who attended shipshape morning on Saturday 14th April. Once again an enthusiastic and exceptionally hard working group of parents, leaders and committee members completed many important tasks around the headquarters which will benefit all the sections which meet at Batchworth.


Amongst the many tasks that were completed were; the drains were unblocked and cleared, the area behind the boathouse cleared, the HQ alarm upgraded, a new manhole cover replaced, ivy removed from multiple trees, a new whiteboard installed in main hall, boats moved from garage to boathouse, fire escape steps painted, galley cupboards labelled and many other tasks completed – well done and a huge thank you to all.

St George’s Day 2012 Celebration This Sunday

This year the District St George’s day celebration will take place on Sunday 22nd April 2012 at The Royal Masonic School for Girls, Rickmansworth.

It will be led by the young people who made up the Rickmansworth and Chorleywood Jamboree Contingent in 2011. The theme this year is based on the ‘Simply Scouting’ theme of the 22nd World Scout Jamboree in Sweden.

All uniformed members of the District are expected to attend this event as it is an important opportunity for Groups to meet as a District and renew our Promise. Section Assistants, Group Executives and parents are invited to attend and would be very welcome.

We will be using the main school hall and seating arrangements will be as in previous years. The Beavers with their leaders will sit in the front rows, with the Cub section sitting behind and then the Scouts with Explorers and Network sitting at the back.

Arrival

Please be at the school, in full smartly presented uniform, by 2.40pm for a 3.00pm start. The entrance to the school site is along the A404. Take the A404 (Chorleywood Road) towards Chorleywood. The main school gates are on the right; shortly before the first set of traffic lights. Groups will assemble by the entrance to the hall unless it is raining in which case please make your way into the School Hall.

The celebration is planned to end with the dismissal by approx 4.00pm. There will be a retiring collection for the Hertfordshire Scouts Capital Appeal taken on the way out of the hall. Please remind your young people to bring a small contribution.

Departure

Please follow the directions out of the car park, note there is no right turn onto the A404 when leaving the site.

Batchworth Sea Scout banner

We now have a high quality PVC Batchworth Sea Scout banner with our traditional logo on it. Sized at 80x120cm, it comes with six eyelets and it can be used for both indoor and outdoor activities.

The banner was printed by Discount Banner Printing (www.discountbannerprinting.co.uk) who offered us a cheap, easy to use, high quality service with free delivery. 

Very pleased with the results.

Grand Jumble Sale – 31st March

Our Jumble Sale regularly attracts over 300 customers. It has been a great success and given us plenty of happy times. It’s a perfect day out for Jumblers and raises much needed money for the group.

The sale features clothes, books, comics, jewellery, bric-a-brac, toys, electrical items and much much more. We welcome contributions but no video tapes or old televisions please. Upholstered furniture must have a fire safety label. A BBQ will be serving food throughout to provide much needed refreshments.

Volunteers are needed to help with the collection of Jumble, sorting and manning the stalls on the day of the sale. We will also need help with clearing up after the event.

• Leaflet Distribution – 17th March
• Emptying the Boat House – 22nd March
• Organising Tables in the main hall – 23rd March
• Jumble Collection – 24th March
• Sorting – 26th, 28th, 30th March
• Jumble Sale Day – 31st March

If you are able to help or need additional information please contact the Jumble Sale organizer, Deirdre Edwards on 01923 77162 or 07957 788402. For the collection of larger items please telephone before Friday 23rd March.

Valentine's Day Treat for the Scouts.

On the 14th February 2012, 15 brave Scouts took to the water to gain their Water Sports activity badge by completing the skills required for PADI Discover SCUBA Diving, at the London School of Diving’s purpose built facility in Chiswick.

Following an initial briefing, by qualified instructors, on how all the equipment worked and safe diving procedures they were split into 3 groups and took it in turns to kit up and experience breathing under water. A number of them were able to swim down to 3.2m and practice handstands and somersaults, experiencing weightlessness similar to that felt by astronauts in space, all under the watchful eye of an instructor and a Dive Master.

All of the Scouts involved enjoyed the experience and we hope to be able to offer it as an activity again in the future.

Jubilee Big Lunch

St Mary’s Church will be celebrating the Queen's Diamond Jubilee on Tuesday 5th June with a Big Lunch on the meadow behind The Bury.

There will be entertainment and activities for all the family. Batchworth Sea Scouts are pleased to support this external event. Anyone who would like to become more personally involved should contact Roger Willett (roger.willett@ntlworld.com).

Scouts Go Cycling in Whippendell Woods

Not only does the ancient woodland in Whippendell feature in Star Wars Episode One, but its also a site of special scientific interest and more recently it played host to the annual Scouts cycling event.

On Saturday 25th February the Scouts took to their bikes and went on an orienteering challenge in the woods. The afternoon consisted to having to find several bases in the woodland using maps. They finished off by enjoying some of the other facilities the woods have to offer.

Group Subscriptions Overdue

The 2012 subscriptions are now overdue. If you have not received your subscription notice or have any queries regarding subscriptions please telephone Deirdre Edwards on 01923 771626.

From the subscriptions we pay a 'capitation fee' to our District for each Beaver, Cub, Scout, Leader, Assistant Leader, Skills Instructor, Helper and Committee member to cover insurances etc and our membership of the Scout Association. The balance of the subscription pays for all maintenance and bills of our building, equipment and boats and many of the activities for our members.

If you are a UK taxpayer please Gift Aid your subscription if you have not already done so.

Cubs go Origami

The Cub pack celebrated leap year on Wednesday 29th February by practicing the art of Origami and making paper frogs that could actually leap when petted. A compliment of 24 cubs spend the evening making the frogs and then seeing who’s frog could leap the furthest.

The Cubs also took part in a leap the river competition over a simulated river using two rope lines in the main hall at HQ. The Cubs had to leap over the imaginary river from a standing start with both feet together. The width of the river was gradually increased until a winner was found!

Dymo Labeller Missing

We haven’t been able to find our Dymo Labeller, similar to the one pictured, at HQ for some time now.

It is being dearly missed by its loving family as there is work for it to do. If anyone has seen it or put it safe somewhere please let Quentin (07712 193849) know where it is.

Feedback

Whether you've got a question, complaint, suggestion, criticism or idea, we'd love to hear about it! The leadership team thrive on your feedback, and take it very seriously.

Group Scout Leader	Simon Theobald	SimonTheobald@compuserve.com	07850 337903
Chairman	Keith Wall	batchworth.chairman@ntlworld.com	01923 777340
Assistant Group Scout Leader - Programmes	Michael Read	seascoutleader@hotmail.com	07811 159632
Assistant Group Scout Leader - Communications	Narinder Sian	batchworth@narinder.org	07595 617598
Explorer Scout Leader – Bograts	Jon Wall	bograts.explorers@googlemail.com
Scout Leader	Ben Taunt	BMTaunt@hotmail.com	07736 936305
Beaver Scout Leader	Claire Ramsay	clairejaneramsay@yahoo.co.uk
Cub Scout Leader	Brian Hansford	brian.hansford@ntlworld.com
Scouts Parent Representative	Sally Marriott	marriott140@btinternet.com
Cubs Parent Representative	Helen Webb	hwebbhome@gmail.com
Beavers Parent Representative	Claire Perera	clperera@aol.com

All the above are very approachable and will treat any comments in confidence.

Parent Representatives

We are now fortunate to have parent representatives for all the sections. The parent representatives are a vital link between the leadership team and all our parents. Not only do they encourage your support and provide information on events where you can get involved but they also provide a mechanism of feeding your ideas into the leadership team. The idea being that the leaders can then concentrate on delivering exciting and fun activities to the Scouts week to week.

Our Parent Representatives are:

Claire Perera

Beavers Parent Representatives

clperera@aol.com

Helen Webb

Cubs Parent Representatives

hwebbhome@gmail.com

Sally Marriott

Scouts Parent Representatives

marriott140@btinternet.com

Please help Batchworth become even more successful by giving Claire, Helen and Sally all the help and support you can.

Vacancies

We’re on the lookout for a Quartermaster to look after our equipment required for non water activities.

The Quartermaster job description can be found here.

If you’d like to get involved and are able to help please contact Simon on simontheobald@compuserve.com or 07850 337903.

Scouts cook up a storm

Following our own selection event, the Scout Troop recently entered two teams into the District Cooking Competition. Appropriately enough, this year’s theme was the ‘Queens Jubilee’, inspiring menus with plenty of coronation chicken and cucumber sandwiches! This is the first of several events during 2012 that will help to commemorate the anniversary of Elizabeth’s crowning in 1952. Both team’s performed very well and we bought home 2nd and 3rd place certificates.

Batchworth renews alliance with BLYM

Batchworth Sea Scouts enjoy a long running partnership with the Bury Lake Young Mariners (BLYM) sailing club based at the Rickmansworth Aquadrome. The sections make use of the great facilities provided by BLYM and any member of Batchworth can do the same in their own time if they are pre-registered. This includes general sailing sessions on Saturdays, Wednesday evenings, Bank Holidays and Summer Holidays. To pre-register for this opportunity, please email BMTaunt@hotmail.com, subject ‘BLYM sailing’.

BLYM also run RYA accredited training courses throughout the year, with beginner and intermediate programmes during School Holidays which are ideal for our youth members. I would highly recommend that anyone wishing to get into or improve their sailing check out the latest information at www.blym.org.uk.

Your HQ needs you!

There is always a long list of ongoing maintenance jobs to keep the Scout HQ in a decent state for our Scouts / meetings. As you can see from the current list here, the jobs range from regular tidying and cleaning to more meaty projects. We may never get to all of them, but the more of these jobs we can do ourselves, the better - paying people to do them would mean either more fundraising or higher subs.

Our next Shipshape Day is on 4th Feb and we'll get through as many jobs as we can in the morning. We therefore really need as many helpers as possible - the past few Shipshape Days have been poorly attended and it's been hard even to keep the cleaning / tidying ticking over. We'll provide tea / coffee biscuits and although it might not sound fun, there's usually a good atmosphere, plenty of chat and a great sense of satisfaction at the end. The more, the merrier is certainly true for Shipshape Days.

Please sign up on this spreadsheet here for an hour (more if you can, but even an hour is much appreciated).

Many thanks for your support in helping to maintain Batchworth's fantastic facilities for our children.