Key dates for the calendar

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Hello everyone!

Good news, we have grown by 4% across the Area. I received a lovely hand written card from Carl Hankinson, UK Chief Commissioner earlier this month that I thought I would share with you all.

I would like to thank everyone for their contribution to getting Census correct and submitted and for their hard work over the last year growing the Area by 4%. Next month I will provide a detailed breakdown for the Area stats so we can all see where we have had movement.

Big things are afoot in the Area and I am glad to report that the deployment of the virtual training has been going very well with excellent take up and demand. See below for more details.

We have managed to fill our vacant Area Training Manager role (more on this next month) and we possibly have some exciting news to share around a new Area Youth Lead (again, more on this in April). Watch this space!

We have Clwyd Area Reunion in the pipeline for early June so get booked in via the link above. It is shaping up to be a great weekend with lots of fun and useful activities just for the adults. Remember its free!

I am looking forward to seeing you there and putting names to faces! We have nearly 70 booked in already!

The three Area objectives for 2023 are:

1. Make the Area truly youth shaped by bringing youth into the Area Leadership Team and Trustee Board
2. Create a coordinated, transparent and easy-to-use adult learning and development capability in the Area so that we can run all of the core modules in-house
3. Restructure in line with changes that are being led by UK Scouts Headquarters across the UK (more on this below and in the very near future)

Transforming Executive Committees – David Morris

This month we are concentrating on changes to Group, District and the Area Executive Committee.

Some major changes are coming to governance – how we keep things legal, safe and on budget – in Scouts. All Executive Committees will become Trustee Boards and will need to make several changes to their constitutions.

We need to brief all Group Chairs, District Chairs and the Area Chair about these changes which come into effect from this April.

We’ve arranged two face to face meetings and a Zoom one to go through the changes, help you plan for the future and to answer any questions.

The meetings are on:

Please can all Chairs do their very best to attend one of these sessions and book your place so we know who’s attending? If you can’t make it, or for Groups which don’t have a Chairperson, we’d ask that the Group Scout Leader attends instead.

A new part of our Area update will be the recognition of any awards that have been issued (that I know of) to our Area volunteers and also the recognition of anything else that you get in touch with and make me aware of! In future, all volunteers that are recognised through the Scouts awards application will be given a shout-out on this update.

First of all, I would like to recognise all of the following for their achievements last year. As you know, I only started as the Area Commissioner last September so I missed out on most of the below that were recognised prior to my taking on the role. Well done (retrospectively!) to all of the below on their well-earned awards and recognition!

Floyd Haughton – Award for Merit

Susan Lister – Silver Wolf

Teresa Brummell – Bar to the Award for Merit

Andrew Cheesbrough – Award for Merit

Kelly  George – Award for Merit

Anne-Marie Roberts – Award for Merit

Janet Knight – Award for Merit

Rhian Roberts – Award for Meri

Jake Myatt – Award for Merit

Nicola Martin – Award for Merit

Karen Cheesbrough – Award for Merit

Jason Topliss – Chief Scout’s Commendation for Good Service

Vianneyte Malone – Chief Scout’s Commendation for Good Service

Alexandra Seton – Chief Scout’s Commendation for Good Service

Tracy Barraclough – Chief Scout’s Commendation for Good Service

Alexander Rogers – Chief Scout’s Commendation for Good Service

Caitlin Devin – Chief Scout’s Personal Award

Happily, I also had the opportunity last month to ambush a very well-known face in the Area at Gladstone and present a very well-deserved award. The unsuspecting victim was at the time elbows deep in making toasties to feed a very hungry working party on site and was totally surprised by the presentation. 

Well done Sue Lloyd for your Silver Acorn award! As I am sure everyone will agree, its thoroughly well-deserved!

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!

A good drive on first aid has helped greatly with compliance over the last month or so (it also helps that we are now recording it correctly on Compass…) so thank you to all that have engaged and completed your training/validation.

Scouts Cymru are delivering part A virtually on a regular basis and you should get yourselves booked in ASAP to do so. Use the link below to find the next event and book in. 

Part B can be delivered and signed off on the ground at one of the Area drop in sessions. The plan is to move these around the Area every three months and the first is in Abergele in the very near future. More information on these can be found on our Eventbrite page using the link below.

Find out more on our Eventbrite site
Scouts Cymru Calendar

Watch out for Scout Cymru membership emails (every few weeks) and check out the Scouts Cymru website for more information on upcoming events and activities to engage with. 

Like with the Area, if you are doing anything awesome Scouting in the local area and want to get national coverage, make sure you reach out directly to Scouts Cymru and they can help make this happen!

We also have a dedicated Scouting Support Officer in our local patch called Clem Wilson. Clem can help with all sorts of Scouting things, and if he can’t he will find someone who can. From recruitment to finance, governance to buildings, and everything in between, he is here to help support everyone in Scouts to ensure that we offer the best possible experience for our Young People

So please do make use of him.

His contact details are clem@scoutscymru.org.uk or 07825632500

The new training modules have been well received and a breakdown of feedback will be provided during the next update in April.

By that point, we will have delivered most of the new modules at least once and all of the training team will be getting to grips with their delivery of them in the second half of 2023.

Watch out for some face-to-face modules (practical scouting skills) being delivered later this year.

Also, watch out for face-to-face manager and supporter modules being delivered.

We are working hard in the background to figure out what is feasible in 2023 and beyond and we are conscious that a revision to learning will be coming with the transformation in 2024. Until then, we are cracking on and building up our training/learning team.

If you are interested in being part of this team and helping to deliver and shape the way the Area supports is volunteers development, get in touch by dropping me an email at acclwyd@scoutsccymru.org.uk and I will be happy to chat with you about your support. You don’t need prior experience, we are looking to grow our team (especially with new young blood) to ensure we have the best chance at helping everyone.

Thanks for taking the time to read this update and I hope you found it useful.

Kevin Field – Area Commisioner – Clwyd Scouts