Happy New Year to all of our Young People, Parents/Guardians, Leaders and Supporters.

What a year its been for the 23rd Bromley! It started off well in January with another entertaining Pantomime which raised £2,600 and a very kind donation from Sir Robert McAlpine which allowed us to purchase a wide range of new camping equipment. February saw Spitfire Beavers hold an awesome Hogwarts themed sleepover at Wilberforce, before the Explorers become Scouts of Steel champions in early March.

In the middle of March we were faced with the suspension of face-to-face Scouting for the first time in the groups history, but despite this we have still been busy. From April onwards we have:

• Held over 50 virtual section meetings
• Awarded over 200 badges to our Young People
• Assisted vulnerable local residents with food shopping
• Camped from our homes/gardens with Camp at Home and Camp Out for Kenya
• Raised over £530 for BBC Children in Need and Comic Relief by Hiking to the Moon
• Carried out our first ever virtual investiture
• Held our first ever virtual AGM
• Supported a virtual Remembrance Day service
• Collected over 30 bags of donations for the Bromley Brighter Beginnings’ Christmas Hamper Appeal

We would like to thank everyone who has supported us over the last 12 months, in what has been one of the most challenging years for the group. We expect there are still a number of challenges ahead of us, but we are hoping to get back to some form of normality in 2021.

Well what a year 2020 has been, it started well with lots of great things happening in the group and then in March face to face scouting stopped and that is where we still are unfortunately.

Although we haven’t been able to meet up as we would normally all the sections have been keeping in touch with all their young people and there has been some great things happening on Zoom.

We are preparing our risk assessments and although it will be different we hope to be returning to face to face scouting sometime in the new year, obviously Government guidance, Scout Association rules and local risk levels permitting.

Lastly, Sandra and I would like to say thank you to all the leaders for carrying on through these very difficult times and to thank all the parents and supporters for your continued support.

We wish everyone a happy Christmas and hope 2021 brings more normality.

Best Wishes
Jenny Owens
Group Scout Leader

Our friends over at Harambee for Kenya are making a number of festive figures as part of a Christmas fundraising campaign for the charity. The large reindeers cost £12 and are about 13 inches tall, and the small snowmen cost £6 and are about 7 inches tall.

To place an order, please send us a message on Facebook, or email admin@23rdbromleyscouts.org, with your name, an email address and details of what you would like to order. We will then email you with details of how to arrange payment.

If you would like to order one then please place an order with us by Saturday 12th December – the items will be ready for collection from around Saturday 19th December.

The proceeds from the sales will go towards supporting the boys at the safe houses in Kenya. More details about the charity can be found at: https://harambeeforkenya.org/

Do you have 30 seconds to nominate the group for a £1,000 donation?

We have been given the opportunity to enter the Group into a prize draw to win a donation of £1,000. The last year has been challenging for the group, so funding opportunities like this are now more important than ever.

To help our chances of getting a donation, please click the button below and complete some basic personal information:

The more nominations our Group gets, the greater our chance of winning, so please spread the word…

Huge thank you to all our supporters who donated items to the fantastic Christmas Hamper Appeal this week for Bromley Brighter Beginnings – we collected over 30 bags of donations!

The charity have asked us to pass on their thanks to everybody for their kind and generous donations.

Despite not being able to hold our usual Remembrance Day Parade today – we still wanted to take a moment to remember all those who paid the ultimate sacrifice

#WeWillRememberThem

#LestWeForget

#RemembranceDay

Congratulations to the winners of our Bromley Brighter Beginnings Christmas Hamper Appeal Poster Competition.

Jessica from Spitfires was crowned winner for the Beaver section, whilst Rachael from Kim Pack picked up the award for the Cubs section.

Thanks also to the volunteers from Bromley Brighter Beginnings who looked at all the submissions and chose the winning entries for each section.

We are still planning on collecting donations next week for their Christmas Hamper Appeal – keep an eye out for further details next week…

Please see below a letter from Jenny Owens, our Group Scout Leader, about the return to face-to-face scouting at the 23rd Bromley.

The group are pleased to publish our Trustees’ Annual Report & Accounts Year Ending 31 March 2020.

This Annual Report is issued by the trustees of the 23rd Bromley (St Augustine’s) Scout Group in conformity with requirements of relevant Charities Acts and the Policy, Organisation and Rules of the Scout Association. It covers the financial year ended 31st March 2020 and the census year ending 31st January 2020.

The 23^rd Bromley Scout Group are delighted to be supporting Bromley Brighter Beginnings’ Christmas Hamper Appeal.

Bromley Brighter Beginnings are a local charity who distribute prams, clothes, highchairs, nappies and toiletries to families in need living in the London Borough of Bromley. Christmas is an incredibly tough time for many families, and especially for those struggling financially or living in very difficult circumstances. Christmas hampers, packed full of cosy nightwear, basic food supplies, books, toys, gifts and Christmas treats, are designed to help take away some of that strain.

We are asking our Young People and their families to help us donate items that can be put into the Christmas Hampers. The charity is in particular need of toiletries for adults, such as shower gel and shampoo.

We ask that any donations are brought along to the Scout HQ at your section meeting time below:

• Mon 9^th Nov – Spitfire Beavers (5.30pm-6.15pm) & Baloo Pack Cubs (6.45pm-7.30pm)
• Tue 10^th Nov – Hurricane Beavers (5.30pm-6.15pm) & Kim Pack Cubs (6.45pm-7.30pm)
• Thu 12^th Nov – Scout Troop (6.45pm-7.30pm) & Explorer Unit (7.45pm-8.30pm)

For more details about the charity you can visit: www.bromleybrighterbeginnings.org.uk