Key dates for the calendar

Hello everyone! This update goes out just a little late, it’s for April but being sent in early May, sorry about that!

First of all, the Clwyd Area Reunion is almost upon us and the ticket sales have now closed. If you are still wishing to attend and want to book in over the next few days please contact me directly at acclywd@scoutscymru.org.uk

I am very excited to announce the recent appointment of two new members (albeit, one many of you know very well already!) to the Area Leadership Team. The first is Esme Jones.

Esme has taken on the role of Area Youth Commissioner and I will be working closely with Esme going forward to ensure that we keep youth-shaped Scouting at the forefront of how we plan at Area and that youth-shaped Scouting isn’t just seen as an afterthought. We intend to lead by example.

The second appointment is Sue Lloyd to the position of Area Training Manager. This probably doesn’t come as a surprise to anyone Sue has been performing this role and supporting volunteers, and the District leadership teams, for many years. Sue will now help me ensure that we have the finger on the pulse of compliance, training and volunteer development.

A HEARTY WELCOME TO YOU BOTH!

The new Area organisation chart and contact details for all Area team members can be found here on the Clwyd Scouts website:

Our Volunteers – Clwyd Scouts

Esme Jones joins us as our new Area Youth Commissioner and will be a key to our Area Leadership team, making sure we live and breathe the ‘Youth Shaped’ focus

Sue Lloyd joins us as the Area Training Manager and will keep oversight of training, validation and volunteer development over the Area, helping me ensure we are doing the best by our volunteers

Earlier this month I hosted the Area Pulse Check via Zoom and was happy to see a few faces on there. You will find the recording of this pulse check below if you wish to watch it. In the video, I explain where we are up to against the plan and what impact this has on the Area. I also go into more detail about the census figures, especially around Equality, Diversity and Inclusion and Inclusive Growth.

I recently attended a Scouts Cymru leadership event where we talked a great deal about the inclusivity of our Scouting provision and the census data that has come back from the January census tells me very clearly that we have a long way to go to improve the Scouting provision in North Wales to make it more reflective of the demographics. 

I will be working with the Area Leadership Team over the coming days to develop an Inclusive Growth plan for the Area and ensure that the Districts have their own plans to discuss with the Group Leadership Teams. 

The Transformation Team has also been really hard at work engaging with the Area, District and Group Executive Committees (now Trustee Boards) to explain what has changed as of April to the structure, roles and responsibilities of our Trustees. These workshops were an eye-opener for many and generate a lot of discussion and reflection on how to improve the effectiveness of the Trustee Boards and their support of the Groups and Districts. The team has now booked multiple awareness sessions in June to run briefings across the Districts on what is coming, what the change to the volunteer experience will be and the impact it will have in delivering a more effective, cohesive, supportive and streamlined onboarding process of new volunteers and in ensuring that every volunteer, regardless of their role, receives a better Scouting experience.

I look forward to meeting many of you at the Reunion.

Kevin.

Transforming Our Teams – David Morris


In April we concentrated on the changes to Group, District and the Area Executive Committee and ran three workshops to bring everyone up to speed who attended. Thank you to those that took the time to attend and I hope that you all took some positive actions away from the workshops, and are now more clued up as to the changes and how it impacts you and your Groups.

This month we now switch focus to the Area and District structures and how we ensure that we have the right teams, with the right people, at the right level of the structure to best support each other and prevent any duplication of effort or frustration. Those of you who have an understanding of how the new structure of Areas, Districts and Groups is planned will likely already have noticed that we don’t need the same teams at all levels of the structure and we may be better pooling resources to cover multiple Districts and Groups more effectively. 

There is an Area and District teams meeting on Tuesday 23rd May @ Gladstone where all of the Area and District teams will be in attendance so we can try to coordinate to make us fit for the future. If you are on an Area or District team, please book in and attend. You can find the link on our Eventbrite page here: Area & District Teams meeting Tickets, Tue 23 May 2023 at 19:00 | Eventbrite

Any actions or decisions made at these meetings will be communicated in the next Area update to all members.

If you want to find out more about the Transformation and how Clwyd Scouts are engaging with it, please visit our website Clwyd Scouts Transformation

Scouts Roll of Honour 2023

Each member featured in the 2023 Roll of Honour has achieved amazing things within the last calendar year and deserves to be celebrated.

A huge congratulations to all of the Clwyd leaders featured here:2023 Roll of honour (scouts.org.uk)
Silver WolfSusan Lucy ListerBar to the Award for MeritTeresa Jane BrummellAward for MeritJake MyattRhian RobertsChief Scout’s Commendation for Good ServiceAlexander Dylan RogersAlexandra Jane SetonJason Dwain ToplissVianneyte Helene MaloneLlangollen & DistrictAward for MeritJanet Rachel KnightNicola Frances MartinWrexhamAward for MeritAndrew David CheesbroughAnne-Marie RobertsFloyd Carlton Trevor HaughtonKaren Leigh CheesbroughKelly Marie GeorgeChief Scout’s Commendation for Good ServiceTracy Jane Barraclough

The ScoutsCymru Celebration of Scouting Awards are back for their 7th year!

Each year the awards aim to celebrate the amazing volunteers and groups we have in ScoutsCymru. #SkillsForLife

You can read more & start nominating here 👇🏻
https://scoutscymru.org.uk/…/celebration-of-scouting…/

What have you said and what have we done?

‘Communication is so very important and has been lacking in the past.  Continue with the emails, please’ – communication is super difficult and can easily fail, we are trying to make sure that regular communication comes out at least monthly. We will keep trying to do better!

‘So pleased to see that training is back now’ – So are we, its really making a difference. See below for feedback!

‘Would like to see the AC/RC Chat, Coffee & Training meetings to be held in Gladstone sometimes, as I don’t drive very far nowadays’ – Totally agree. Check Eventbrite and you will see that there is now one in each District. We are taking it on the road!

‘An easy way to get training for the permits’ – We are looking at this in the next 6 months.

‘More area events for our members to attend’ – Reunion 2023 is on. More will be coming and can be found on our Eventbrite page.

‘I would like more help and support in trying to recruit new volunteers’ – We are looking at getting Scouts Cymru to assist with workshops. More on this in the near future.

As I hope you can see, we are listening. Keep giving us your feedback and we will keep trying!