News from Berkshire Scouting Number 43 for 18 December 2005

Photo of the Week

The photo selected this week - Escouts awards the 3rd Newbury Scout Group website their top Platinum award - one of only four websites to have received the top award.

Escouts awards 3rd Newbury Platinum

The 3rd Newbury Scout Group website www.3rdnewbury.org.uk has been awarded a Platinum Award by Escouts. Escouts (www.escouts.org.uk) is an organisation run by Scouting enthusiasts providing a website and free website hosting for Scout Groups. They invite websites to seek either a Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze Award and some 80 awards have been but only 4 platinum. Congratulations to the 3rd Newbury Scout Group and especially the web team led by Danny Scroggins. more

New Scouting in Action

The Scouting in Action store of adventures now contains a report on a Loddon Cub Scouts Adventure in Portsmouth, Purley Beaver Scouts help plan the future, Taceham Hundred Scouts on an incident, a scary photo from Pinkneys Green Scouts and Sweet Making at East Reading Explorer Scouts. more

It could be you winning the Berkshire Scouts Quiz 2005 

Entries continue to flood in to this years world famous Berkshire Scouts Quiz.  The top score remains at 8 out of a possible 10. So with two weeks remaining there is everything to play for; that fabulous prize could be yours. 

The Berkshire Scouts Quiz 2005 is free to enter and simple to play. It is all on-line, all you need to do is click away.  Click here to open the Quiz page and you can get started.  And Yes you can enter as many times as you would like to - but can you beat 8?. more

New for 2006 - The Leader Zone

The Leader Zone will be launched on the Berkshire Scouts Website in early 2006 and will provide access to specific resources for adult volunteers involved with Scouting across Berkshire.

This will be a protected part of the Berkshire Scouts Website. If you have not registered on the website please do so to ensure that you will have immediate access to this valuable resource. Click here to register.

Southern 50 Challenge Hike

Explorer Scouts and Scout Network members are invited to take on the Southern 50 Challenge Hike on Saturday 11th February 2006. This annual event takes place in a different area of the Chiltern Hills. This event is a navigation hike, with a choice of distances, 50 miles, 50 kms, plus a 30 kms for Explorers. Teams of 4 have to complete the course in 24 hours. It is a snip at £9 or £17 per person (depends on the distance) and you get indoor accommodation on Friday and Saturday nights, Saturday breakfast, evening meal and Sunday breakfast, drinks and snacks at most checkpoints, first aid and rescue facilities (including transport) and communications and administration. Check out the event website for more info. more

National Conference for all Adults in Scouting

A National Conference for all adults in Scouting will take place at Warwick University on 23/24 September 2006. With a strong focus on adult recruitment and retention, as well as our 2012 vision, the conference will offer practical workshops, inspirational guest speakers and opportunities for sharing best practice. The aim is encourage us all to reflect on how we can use 2007 as a year to achieve real growth for Scouting.

All adults in Scouting, whether warranted or not, are warmly invited to attend the conference. District, County and Area Teams are especially welcome - together you could follow up actions on your return home. more

Adventurous Activity Permit Scheme

A new Permit Scheme has been launched to replace the authorisation scheme for adventurous activities. This has been as a result of two years of consultation with a large number of people within the Movement and with external organisations.  The Permit Scheme aims to unblock barriers to applications, provides  checklists for Applicants and Assessors to work to, and gives flexibility by allowing restrictive Permits. The focus on technical competence will be at the assessment stage and recognises that training can be obtained  through different methods, including experience. To ensure that we have a robust scheme, clearer guidelines are set out for responsible Commissioners who grant the Permit, and standards have been set for Assessors.

Until the implementation timetable for the new scheme within Berkshire has been announced  the existing authorisation scheme should continue to be used. more

From the Scout Association

 

Partnerships with the Arab Region

 

The Month Ahead - Training and Programme Dates in the County Diary

Click here for the full Diary.

That's all for this week

Next weeks News from Berkshire Scouting will be the last for 2005. A bumper issue is under development to celebrate yet another fabulous year of Scouting across Berkshire - lets keep the adventure rolling.

This message is also available on the website 

That's all for this week

The Web Team

News from Berkshire Scouting

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