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

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