The group will be holding their Annual General Meeting virtually on Wednesday 21st October 2020 at 8pm. Full details can be found in the below poster:

Click here for 2020 AGM Agenda

Click here for 2019 AGM Minutes

Although we are all looking forward to being able to return to face to face Scouting, unfortunately we are still not sure when this will be. At a recent meeting with all section leaders, it was agreed to reassess the situation at half-term in October but we wanted to provide an update on how we will approach a restart.

Our restart plans will follow all government rules and guidance from Scouts’ UK HQ. As always, our priority is to keep all young people and adults safe.

Returning to Scouting will happen in phases and in small groups, the guidance at the moment says up to 15 young people with an additional 5 adults but everyone will have to follow the 2-metre social distancing and cleaning/hygiene rules.

An outline of how we will operate, following the Scouts’ ‘COVID Code’:

• New control measures will be in place for all activities
• Additional hygiene measures will be put in place
• Social distancing will be observed and Leaders, Scouts and Explorers will wear masks when inside
• Adjustments will be made for vulnerable young people or others affected by COVID
• Returning to face-to-face Scouts is voluntary for all young people, parents/carers and volunteers.

The section leaders and the Group Executive are working hard to make sure we have all the new COVID safety measures in place to enable us to offer safe scouting.

We are a youth led organisation so we wanted to get the views from our members and their parents before making any final decisions. Below is a link to a questionnaire that we would be grateful if each family could fill out when they have a moment: https://forms.gle/LMGqwQhcE9NYWJGT8.

Best Wishes

Jenny Owens, Group Scout Leader

The 23rd Bromley Scout Group is run by an army of 30 volunteers, and between us we provide Scouting experiences for around 150 Young People every year.

We currently have a number of volunteer vacancies, ranging from helping at section meetings on a weekly basis, helping with maintenance / gardening at our HQ, to joining one of the committees that support the Scout Group.

For more details visit our new Volunteer page.

Our friends over at Harambee for Kenya are planning an event at the end of this month to raise funds for the great work that they are doing in Kenya. Did you know that every night an estimated 300,000 children sleep on the streets of Kenya.

Camp for Kenya is taking place on 28th August 2020. By donating £5 and camping out you will be helping children to have a safe loving home so that they no longer need to sleep in the streets. An additional challenge will be to budget no more than £5 on food for that evening and all of the next day!

They are asking us all to challenge 5 other friends to do the same. With your group of friends, whether miles apart or socially distancing, why not do fancy dress to make it more fun and give your gang a name. (Gangs are known as a “bases” among street boys in Kenya).

Take part and make a donation by following this link.

You will also be able to upload photographs of your camp onto their @campforkenya Instagram page.

Now that the summer holidays are here, we would like our young people, and their families, to get out and about and explore their local area.

There are 11 walks / hikes that you might like to consider doing whilst we aren’t able to have Face to Face Scouting. They can be found below:

• Walk 1 – Crofton Woods Circular Trail
• Walk 2 – Darrick and Newstead Woods Trail
• Walk 3 – High Elms Trail
• Walk 4 – Jubilee Country Park Trail
• Walk 5 – Scadbury Acorn Trail
• Walk 6 – Scadbury Easy Access Trail
• Walk 7 – Ravensbourne Trail
• Walk 8 – Darwins Footsteps – High Elms Trail
• Walk 9 – Darwins Footsteps – Downe Valley Trail
• Walk 10 – Darwins Footsteps – Keston and Holwood Trail
• Walk 11 – Lubbocks Landscape at High Elms

If you let your leaders know which ones you have done, and take pictures, it can count towards your Hike Away activities badges. These are staged badges and so can be completed by all our young people, regardless of what section they are in. The requirements for the hikes badge can be found at: https://members.scouts.org.uk/supportresources/4293/hikes-away-staged-activity-badge/?cat=7,64,780&moduleID=10.

Please also add your photos to Facebook or Twitter with the hashtag #23rdBromleyScoutsAtHome

Joe Tregent (one of our Spitfire Beaver Leaders) and his friend are are cycling from John O’Groats to Lands End to help raise money to buy essential items for our local hospital, Princess Royal University Hospital.

They have seen first hand how the effects of coronavirus can change a families life forever, and so are collecting donations for this amazing cause. They are aiming to do the 1100 mile journey throughout next month.

You can donate online by visiting: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/luke-mcguire

Although we can’t meet as normal at the moment, the group are really proud to see that a number of our Young People are using their spare time to help others.

The Ballard family, who have children in Cubs, Scouts and Explorers, are aiming to complete Samarathon this year. They hope to rack up 26.2 miles walking or cycling over the course of July to raise vital funds for the Bromley and Orpington branch of Samaritans.

Samaritans know that life can sometimes be incredibly tough. Thanks to the dedication of over 20,000 volunteers, Samaritans can be there for anyone, whatever they are going through and whenever they are struggling to cope.

During the recent pandemic life has been even tougher for many; Samaritans volunteers have been taking increasing numbers of calls and emails over the past few months. The Samaritans organisation has also launched a dedicated line for NHS and social care workers as they appreciate the particular pressures that these lovely, hard-working people are under.

If you would like to support the Ballard’s in their fundraising then you can do so by visiting: https://samarathon2020.everydayhero.com/uk/claire-20

Claire Ballard said “Samaritans’ work is literally life-saving and wouldn’t be possible without the amazing generosity of people like you supporting people like us. Even a few pennies will help. Thank you.”

Huge well done to Jessica Dobbs from Spitfire Beavers who managed to complete her Chief Scout’s Bronze Award whilst in lockdown – becoming the first member of the group to do so virtually!

The Chief Scout’s Bronze Award is the highest award that can be achieved in Beaver Scouts, and is requires Beavers to complete 4 activity badges or staged activity badges and all 6 of the challenge awards which are:
– My World Challenge Award
– My Skills Challenge Award
– My Outdoors Challenge Award
– My Adventure Challenge Award
– Teamwork Challenge Award
– Personal Challenge Award

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

As with many things, Scouting has changed over the last couple of months. We have traded section meetings in the Scout HQ, for virtual meetings and activities via Zoom.

The group were delighted to be able to invest two new members into the Spitfire Beavers earlier this week – congratulations to Xander and Leo who become the first members of the group to be invested into the group via Zoom. We would like to welcome you both to the group and hope you have an excellent time with us.