Ormskirk District Scouts

Winter Camp

2009-10-21T19:28:34Z

Cold and frosty morning

Closing date for Winter Camp is 1st November, Great Tower, Windermere, get your group booked in.

Next Young Leader Meeting

2009-10-15T19:52:07Z

The next Young Leaders meeting is on Sunday 25th October 7-9pm at District HQ. At this meeting we will be running the Module A training (this is the essential child protection module). All Young Leaders should carry out this training as soon as possible but it will be repeated throughout the year.

The Young Leader Unit will meet on the last Sunday of the month from 7-9pm at District HQ. The plan is to eventually move around the district.

Explorer Leaders – minutes of meeting held 22.09.09

2009-10-08T21:23:44Z

Minutes of District Explorer Scout Leaders Meeting

22^nd September 2009

PRESENT

Les Davies Martin Freeman

Ian Gadsden Michael Nolan

Steve Allsop Ash Green

Mike Nelson Kevin Day

Mike Phillips Dave White

Richard Charnock Pam Tompsett

Margaret Lomas Emma Liversidge

Phil Shotton

APOLOGIES

Jenny Barrett Cathy Charnock

Chris Prior Chris Phillips

Maria Mawtus Lee Furber

Mike Bullman Kurt Gagan

Introductions

Minutes of the last meeting – matters arising

Following the meeting with Ian Goldstraw the linking at the Gathering seemed to go well, lots of scouts came to the lunchtime meeting.

The meeting on 18^th November at District HQ. This will allow leaders to meet with the feeder troop leaders.

LD met with Ste Daniels about linking Explorers with Network. SD is no longer keen to implement the buddy system and instead wants subsidised events for Explorers to attend. Two suggestions were made about possible linking opportunities. One is for Network to run an Explorer night for different units. The other was to invite Explorers to the Alternative drinks on a Sunday night.

Leaders will be contacted by County about any of their unit being invited to attend the Young Spokesperson course being run shortly.
LD WILL contact County Development team for help with Explorers in our District.

UNIT UPDATES

Eclipse – The unit is homeless until possibly Christmas time as the new hut is under construction. Mike Bullman is now going along as an AESL with the unit, as are Kerry ?????, James Speakman and Gemma Wade. The programme until December is out. Big events coming up are the District Quiz Night on 23^rd September at District HQ and a joint District meeting on Monday 16^th November the exact details to be decided later. RC will need plenty of leaders to help on this night! There will be a mini moonlight on 2^nd December 2009.
Ferrets – had four Explorers on the Gathering. Low turnout at meetings recently as they have met on different nights over the last few weeks. Programme is sorted til Christmas.
Yeti – they have nine regular attendees. Over the summer they went to the marine lake in Southport to do kayaking and canoeing. Programme planning is an issue due to a variety of issues. Six Explorers attended the Gathering. Maria Jakulis is helping there for a while.
Nomads – Dave needs help as he is running the unit single-handedly while Colin is poorly. He particularly needs help with nights when he is required to work late. LD will go down on 30^th to help. Phil Shotton offered to cover 7^th October for him. May do a joint visit to Blackpool lights with Eclipse. He has nine girls and three boys in his unit. They did a summer camp for thirteen at Low Wray and it was very successful. Five attended the Gathering. Programme is sorted to Christmas.
Bubbles – no report.
Spartans – have leadership issues. Simon Dean is working away and can’t do much at present. Had five members at the Gathering. Programme is pencilled in.
Paladins – Had a summer camp at Moor Crag. They have had a grant from Sport England to teach the Explorers to ski. They are going to Farmaggeddon at Halloween and are planning a night hike.
Equinox – good leadership team in place there with lots of new ideas. The Green Box challenge worked really well. (Ask Mike P for further info about Tate Gallery visit). Held a parents evening and told parents of plans to do D of E. One consequence of doing D of E was that at the Gathering they were good at cooking for themselves and the menus were sound. The programme up to Christmas is sorted. Five Explorers are close to Network age. They want to stay on until Red Rose 2010. They will be encouraged to apply as staff instead. There is a lack of enthusiasm among the Explorers for Environment weekend and the Crew Challenge.
Young Leaders – the inaugural meeting will be on Sunday 27^th September 2 – 4 pm at District HQ where they will be doing archery and then having a general discussion about programme planning and what the unit will do plus any other issues. The unit will meet on the last Sunday in every month; the time will depend on what activity is taking place. All YLs must do Child Protection training and that will be one of the first areas covered. As YLs do not pay subs, funding needs to be sorted out with District Exec.
***If any unit is doing mountain biking, please report any injuries to Paul Prescott at LCC Young People’s Service as they are currently undertaking a H and S review of the sport. Contact details are paul.prescott2@lancashire.gov.uk

Gathering feedback – very positive!

Had a very good response from the Explorers except for the water activities and there were problems with the kayaks.
There was a great atmosphere round the fire each evening.
Behaviour was good and there was no major issue with any camp rules.
The staff at Bibby Farm were very helpful.
It was noted that some of the tents could have been put up better than they were.
A few Explorers did not have uniform with them.

Explorer Scout Awards – LD encouraged leaders to try to do more badge work and in particular to try to go beyond the Stage 1 awards. Leaders asked for more help as many awards need to have 1:1 time spent with Explorers to identify what they can do and what they need to cover. Tick charts to put up would be useful. The team will visit units (starting with Ferrets on 12^th October) to help with this.
The new website was demonstrated by Mike Nolan and Ash who explained how it is set up and how people can upload information to the site. Two further training sessions will take place. The 1^st will be on 8^th October 7.30pm at 169 Wigan Road Ormskirk (you can park outside on the yellow line after 6pm) This will be geared towards the non technical people who would like standard English to be the main language used. The 2^nd will be on 15^th October, same time and place, for the people fluent in gobbledegook and technese.

Anyone who wishes to attend either of these should let Ash or Mike N

know please. You can attend even if you have been to any of those held previously.

D of E report back. 27 Explorers have completed the expedition section of the award, five did silver and the others did bronze. They now need to crack on with the other areas. The videos and reports are ‘work in progress’. Richard thanked Les and said how it was greatly appreciated that he had planned, organised and carried through on this work. It would not have been done without him leading it.
Future Events

Lifts to County meeting – we need to sort out a District Forum and then we can sort out lifts to County forum meetings.
Explorers going to Environment camp will need to have a leader with them.

Date and time of future meeting:

18^th November 7.30 pm at District HQ. All are welcome

Explorer June Mins

2009-10-08T19:29:20Z

District Explorer Forum Meeting Minutes

Tuesday 16^th June

Units present: Eclipse, Equinox, Bubble Factor, Nomad

What units have been up to

Equinox – Outdoor climbing, very good – Paper aeroplanes tournament, competition consisted of the fastest, biggest, who could make the most, which went the furthest.
Nomads – Making a video for county camp
Bubble Factor – Games in the woods, cricket/hockey in the park
Eclipse – Outdoor Climbing – search for the mystical orbs at the Beacon

What units have planned?

Equinox – Backwards cooking at the Tawd?
Bubble Factor – Pam’s Leaving do, 16^th July
Eclipse – Rafting at Cliff Farm

Ardennes Trip

Went well
Positive feedback
Great weather

Alcatraz

Weekend of 11^th July
Forms on website at the moment – contact Ash if can’t find a the form
Check the rules as well, some have changed this year. ASAP to apply! Get sourcing them teams.

Young Leaders

Last month – planned for work and then archery
Poor attendance at the Young Leaders Meetings.
Future – camps? District Team are looking at how to organise the YLU better for everyone.

County

Meeting – new secretary, Chloe Fogg, Chorley
County camp – Old People Theme (fancy dress)

International

Red Rose – July/August 2010 at Great Tower – festival atmosphere – 1500 people approx – Cost around £135. It’s going to be a fantastic event, with countries attending from all over the place. Loads of events, loads of new people to meet. These are always superb things to attend, and if you’re going to be over 18 next summer then you can go as staff at a reduced rate (though you DO have to work for it!) www.redrose.org.uk
Sweden Jambouree – 2011 – Applications will be being sought soon, watch this space. If you’re over 18, or will be by then, then why not look to go as International Support Team (IST). Either way, a Jamboree is the BEST Scouting experience you can imagine – just ask anyone who has been to one before. Definitely NOT something to miss out on if you can get away with it! http://www.worldscoutjamboree.se/
Kenya Moot – Network – 200 spaces for UK – cost around £2000 –International Cooking Competition – event is back on – at Waddecar Scout Camp – August http://www.scouts.org.uk/wsm2010

Malaysia 2009

Recently had the last training weekend
Changed activity – been declined by Elephants sanctuary – working with Sun bears and orang-utans – building fences
Activities – visiting temples, quad biking, scuba diving

Monthly Get Together

1^st July – Beach Fun – Sandcastle Competition, Volleyball, Frisbee, BBQ
6^th July – Rounders Tournament – At Burscough, St John’s, bouncy castle? – Challenge Cup?

Les’ Orienteering Challenge is no longer on!

2009-10-08T19:17:53Z

Les has had to pull his challenge to the District for Orienteering, as Tawd is no longer available for the weekend. Keep an eye out for a new challenge!!!

Gathering – Bibby’s Farm, 18th – 20th September

2009-10-01T10:45:24Z

Well we weren’t disappointed, full marks for another fantastic Gathering.
It was good to go back to Bibby’s Farm, we held the District camp there 2 years ago and it was amazing, to see just how the site had developed in such a short time. It was an excellent venue, they just need an on/off button for the motorway noise!! All the Cubs seemed to be having a whale of a time, lots of happy smiling faces and the weather didn’t let us down either… Thank you to everyone who volunteered or were ‘coerced’ into helping out with the Market Place on Saturday morning, we couldn’t have run it without you. To Mike, Ricko, Ash and team, many thanks for all your hard work over the past 4 years – you’ve done a fantastic job. Any feedback re the Market Place would be helpful for next year.

That’s all for 2009

2009-09-21T11:30:34Z

The Gathering 2009 has been and gone. I hope you had a fantastic weekend and are now suitably knackered back at school, work or college!

The final task for me as Chair of the Gathering organising team is to hold a feedback meeting and we need your help to tell us what you liked, and more importantly how the Gathering can be improved next year. The comments we receive each year are immensely useful and I know whoever heads up next year’s Gathering will be listening to you!

We have created online and printable versions of the feedback form:

If you’re a leader it would be great if you could take some forms to your next meeting and ask your Beavers, Cubs, Scouts or Explorers to fill in copies. Please try to send back your feedback by Sunday 4th October 2009.

Thanks once again for making the last four years of The Gathering an enjoyable experience and I’ll see you at an event soon!

Mike Nolan
Chair, Gathering Organising Committee

Getting to Bibbys Farm

2009-09-09T17:01:37Z

One comment we’ve heard a couple of times is that not everyone knows how to get to Bibbys Farm. So to help, we’ve produced this map showing easy to follow directions:

Bibbys Farm Location (148)

If you’re following a satnav the address is:

Charnock Back Lane
Heath Charnock
Chorley
PR6 9DL

Or use your fantastic navigation skills with the grid reference SD 603168.

Remember, if possible try to share transport to and from the site! It would also be really, really useful if Groups could arrange to meet cars as parents are dropping off to allow a smooth flow of traffic.

The Show : Entertainment needed!

2009-09-08T08:30:25Z

Ricko and his team are looking for acts for the Saturday night of the Gathering. Songs, dances, sketches, performances – all are welcome! From Cubs right through to Leaders, (which includes the Scouts and Explorers!), we’re looking for as many acts as possible.
Please pass any ideas to your leaders who can update Ricko on the Friday night of the Gathering.

September update

2009-09-04T11:49:25Z

Hope everyone is having a good summer break. There isn’t any new news this month as most people have been on holiday during the month but I will just give a few reminders as to what is happening soon

The Gathering
18th to 20th September at Bibby’s Farm. Hope everyone who is going has booked on the event I’m sure everyone will have a great time!

Leaders Meeting
Wednesday the 9th September at 7.30pm at HQ. Could all troops please make sure a representative attends as we are planning an outline of the 6 next 12 months programme of District events and we need your input,
all assistants and helpers are welcome.

Winter camp
December 4th – 6th keep it in your diary info will be published soon

That’s all for now. Please try and get someone to represent your Troop
at the leaders meeting.
Your District Scout team
Garry, Ian G and Ian F

Project Malaysia 2009

2009-09-03T19:32:50Z

On the 29th July 2009 myself, Rebekah Sinton, 25 other participants and 4 leaders departed from Manchester airport for desintation Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. Here the team spent a few days visiting attractions such as the Patronas towers and china town and the Malaysian scout HQ, whilst acclimatising to the heat and humidity. On the evening of the 1st august we were invited as guests to the local scout’s centenary meal where were surprised when the song and dance they performed for us was ‘the birdie song’.

The next day we boarded the short flight to Kota Kinabalu, Borneo, where we spent one night before travelling to Sepilok orang-utan sanctuary the following day. The first night here wasn’t very comfortable for me when an army of biting ants decided to try and eat their way into my tent, at which point I fled for the safety of the cabin. At the sanctuary our project was to clear a large area of jungle where the board walk to the new sun bear sanctuary will be built. Also we built a mock bridge over the river which will be replaced by the bridge that we designed, to be built by professionals in the future. We were slightly slowed at the start of the project by a lack of tools but once that issue was resolved the team worked hard in the heat and we managed to complete the project just in time.

One of the most surreal moments of the trip has to be when we met Tony Blair, in the middle of the Borneo jungle, for some pictures and a chat. Whilst at the sanctuary we also got the opportunity to visit the tourist attractions of the orang-utan feeding and the rainforest discovery centre.

The next stage of the trip was the project at the orphanage in Kudat where the contingent split into smaller teams to do specific jobs such as concreting, plumbing and the group I was in; fencing. Over the week we had working at the orphanage we removed the 2 existing fences and replaced them with new 6 foot high security fences. The atmosphere was so friendly and the children in the homes were always willing to help with the work. The most touching part of this part of the project for me was when we visited the church that the orphanage is linked to. The service was inspiring, how these children who have so little in life could be so passionate and joyful in their performances. For our last night in Kudat we went to the tip of Borneo for a dip in the sea at sunset; one of the most beautiful moments of the trip. After the two weeks of hard work was complete the final part of the trip, reward and relaxation, was spent in Kota Kinabalu. Here I spent time shopping for souvenirs, an afternoon jet skiing, a full day scuba diving and snorkelling as well as many hours in the Irish bar.

For me the worst part of the trip was waking up on the last day knowing we were about to begin the 31 hour journey home and our family of 30 people, who had become such a close team, would be split up. Looking back at it, fifteen months ago I was debating whether or not to apply for this project until eventually after some persuasion I decided that it would be worth the effort of the training weekends and raising the money. Thank god some people knocked some sense into me otherwise I’d be regretting it now! Defiantly a once in a lifetime trip, full of incredible experiences shared with some amazing people.

Countdown to Gathering 2009

2009-08-31T20:54:41Z

We’re less than three weeks away from the Ormskirk District Gathering. This weekend we’ve sent out final information packs to Group Scout Leaders or other contacts we have with each group or unit. The contents of the pack is available to download from this website.

There’s a few things we need to know as soon as possible. Send confirmed numbers to Ash Green before Friday 11th September.

Secondly, this year we’re introducing the option of transport to Bibbys Farm for day visitors. Full details are available from the downloads page but if you intend to use this we need an updated estimate of number of day visitors by 6th September. This is to allow us to start planning coach pickups.

Dolomites 2009

2009-08-23T16:27:26Z

Several members of Ormskirk Scouts, including two Explorer Scouts, were on the International Trip to the Italian Alps (the Dolomites) this Summer.

Run over two weeks, the participants enjoyed climbing at single pitch and multi pitch venues on fantastic rock, took part in mountaineering trips around the area and experienced the rather mad (but REALLY fun) sport of Via Ferrata.

One of the members of Ormkirk Network (Matt Forshaw) managed to notch up over 50 pitches of climbing in the trip, and instructued novice climbers on most of these. It has been a heartening experience to see how young members learn new skills, put them into practise and then get permits and qualifications to take younger members out themselves.

Six of the members from Ormskirk managed to summit Marmolada – the highest peak in the Dolomites, by several routes involving Via Ferrata and Glacier crossings.

The trip was run by West Lancs Scouts Mountaineering Group, a collection of people dedicated to offering all aspects of mountaineering (including walking and climbing) to Scouters throughout the County. Past events have included two trips to Greenland (http://greenland.westlancashirescouts.org.uk ), Norway, the Swiss Alps and many places besides. The group also run the Snow and Ice scheme each year, and two climbing meets. These are open to any member of the County aged over 14, and full details are on http://mountain.westlancashirescouts.org.uk

Map and Compass Activity

2009-08-23T15:18:41Z

Ian Berkley has created an activitiy to help teach some basic navigation skills. See the attached files for the details.

Map and Compass worksheet

Map and Compass answersheet

Hello world!

2009-08-23T14:56:13Z

Welcome to Ormskirk District Scouts. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

Hello world!

2009-08-23T14:56:42Z

Welcome to Ormskirk District Scouts. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

Hello world!

2009-08-23T11:59:53Z

Welcome to Ormskirk District Scouts. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

Moonlight 2009 Report and Results

2009-01-31T10:13:16Z

Congratulations to those teams that completed Moonlight 2009, I believe it was one of the most difficult Moonlight Course’s in recent years, and to have completed it makes your achievement most impressive. Well Done!

However … “A Scout is to be Trusted” – The Scout Law

I would like to point out just how disappointed I am in a lot of teams this year. I have been made aware of 6 different teams that cheated during this years Moonlight. I have dealt with teams I have been able to prove and teams that have admitted to me that they have cheated. Cheating is unacceptable in anyone’s book and it will certainly not be tolerated in Moonlight or any other District walking event.

The results have been published later than planned because of this. I would also like to apologize for mistakes made by the organising team on Saturday Night and to those teams that where affected. We are taking steps to make sure that this never happens again.

Chris Phillips (Crew Chair & Organiser of Moonlight)

Moonlight 2007 Results

2007-03-12T10:12:00Z

Scout Teams			Explorer Teams

Place	Team	Lives lost	Place	Team	Lives Lost
1	45th A	2	1	Eclipse A	1
2	30th A	2	2	Emeralds	1
3	37th B	2	3	Yeti B	1
4	5th SE A	2	4	Columbus A	2
5	41st A	3	5	Lynx A	2
6	51st B	3	6	Eclipse D	3
7	37th D	3	7	Everest B	3
8	44th C	3	8	Lynx B	3
9	40th C	3	9	Equinox A	3
10	5th SE B	3	10	2nd SE	3
11	4th A	4	11	Eclipse B	4
12	17th B	4	12	Bubbles	4
13	42nd A	5	13	Eclipse C	5
14	30th C	5	14	Trogz	5
15	37th C	5	15	Yeti C	5
16	9th B	6	16	Nomads	6
17	29th B	6	17	Equinox B	6
18	9th A	6	18	Doghouse B	7
19	11th SE	6
20	44th D	6	Teams out of time
21	14th A	6
22	42nd B	6	12th SE B
23	56th B	6	1st Houghton
24	14th B	6	Doghouse A
25	37th A	6	Ferrets
26	29th A	6	Lydiate A
27	37th E	6	Lydiate B
28	1st Hindley	7	Paladines
29	4th B	7
30	44th B	8
31	44th A	8
32	12th SE A	9

Teams out of time window
1st B
17th A
30th B
40th B
41st B
45th B
51st A
51st C
3rd SE
5th SE C

Ormskirk District Scouts

Winter Camp

Next Young Leader Meeting

Explorer Leaders – minutes of meeting held 22.09.09

Explorer June Mins

Les’ Orienteering Challenge is no longer on!

Gathering – Bibby’s Farm, 18th – 20th September

Sponsored Activity Badge Resources

That’s all for 2009

Getting to Bibbys Farm

The Show : Entertainment needed!

September update

Project Malaysia 2009

Countdown to Gathering 2009

Dolomites 2009

Map and Compass Activity

Hello world!

Hello world!

Hello world!

Moonlight 2009 Report and Results

Moonlight 2007 Results