Our sections have all had their final meeting of term, so another successful term has come to an end. Thank you to all of our volunteers who put so much time and effort into providing an excellent programme for our Young People.

Scouting doesn’t fully stop over summer though, a number of our sections will be going away on summer camps over the next two months. Our volunteers will also be starting to plan ahead of another exciting term of Scouting.

Alyssa Ranasinghe, Callum Hall, and George Miles will also be representing the group at the 25th World Scout Jamboree in South Korea. You can keep up to date with their adventure by following their Unit Facebook Page: GLSE- Unit 34 WSJ 2023. We hope you all have a fantastic time, and we can’t wait to hear all about it when you return.

With the summer holidays fast approaching a lot of local children will be without their daily hot meal at school so if you are able to donate to our food hampers it will be greatly appreciated. The collection box is in the Scout Hut. Thank you for all your support.

In late June a number of Scouts and Explorers from the group took part in the Bromley District Moonwalk event. It takes place every two years and is an overnight incident hike – teams set off around 9pm on the Saturday night and had to find over 20 different bases spread out across the vast expanse of Broadstone Warren Campsite. Each base had its own challenge to complete, and teams were scored for their success, teamwork and attitude. The teams had to return to the main camp by 4am – then after a few hours sleep the teams were back up for breakfast, to strike camp and travel home.

Well done to everyone who took part – its a tough challenge to take part in. Congratulations in particular to the Edward, Duncan, Matthew and Henry from the Explorer Unit who were crowned Explorer Moonwalk Champions!

The Second Hand Uniform Sale that a couple of our parents organised was a great success, so much so that most of the items were sold at the Coronation on the Green event.

If you have any second hand items that you would like to donate to the group for resale then please leave them in the box at the HQ. The resale of unwanted uniform and camping gear raises money for the group, and helps do our bit for the environment.

Scouting really is for people of all ages, and the fun doesn’t have to stop when you leave Network aged 25. The Scout Group have a ‘Fellowship’ made up of people of all ages who have an interest in Scouting – it includes existing leaders, former leaders, former members and parents of our previous members.

They organise a variety of different activities – for example they enjoyed an evening stroll through Hawkwood and Petts Wood ending up at the Tiger’s Head in Chislehurst. Below are a few photos.

If you are interested in joining the ‘Fellowship’ then please do get in touch.

The stage we use for our Pantomime and Gang Show performances every year is in need of some tender loving care. The carpet in particular has had its fair share of feet walking over it and is starting to look a bit sorry for itself.

We were on the look out for a new carpet that we can lay later in the year when we put the stage up and reached out to a number of companies to see if they could provide us what we needed. Huge thank you must go to Sommer Event Flooring who have kindly donated us a new carpet for our stage absolutely free of charge, including delivery from their Midlands warehouse!

The Scout Group and the Pantomime Society are really grateful to Sommer Event Flooring for their very kind donation – it has saved us hundreds of pounds.

More details about Sommer Event Flooring can be found online at: https://www.sommer-eventflooring.com/en/

The 23rd Bromley were delighted that a number of our volunteers were chosen to support the Coronation celebrations for King Charles III.

They were part of 540 Scout members across the UK, overseas territories and commonwealth Scouts who helped ensure everything ran smoothly. They were nominated and then selected from 1000 Scouts.

They spent a few days spent at Giwell Park (the home of Scouting) for training and meeting other team members, before helping at a variety of events in London over the weekend.

Matthew Higginbottom, aged 20 said: “As a Scout, I promise to do my duty to the King, therefore I was privileged to have had an opportunity to fulfill that promise during such a momentous and historic occasion. My duties were to provide assistance and wayfinding to the public during the screening of the concert in St James’s Park on Sunday evening. I was able to contribute to the smooth running of the event and ensured that everyone was able to enjoy the celebrations. This opportunity also allowed me to make new friendships with Scouts from across the UK and Commonwealth as we celebrated together at Gilwell Park over the course of the weekend with a variety of activities.”

Charlotte Miles aged 19: said “I had the amazing opportunity to attend the Kings Coronation in London and volunteer at St James’ Park for the Coronation Concert screening. I was stationed at an information point to help the public with directions and providing information about the event. I also gave out flags and emergency contact wristbands to families. I feel extremely grateful and privileged to have been selected to represent Scouts at this historical event, as it was such an incredible opportunity that I will never forget! As well as the Coronation, I also really enjoyed staying at Gilwell Park for the weekend and meeting all the other Scouts from the UK and Commonwealth. It was great to learn about others experiences of Scouting across the world and come together to share stories and songs!”

Next Monday we are putting on an event to celebrate the Coronation – all are welcome to come along between 2pm and 4pm for a variety of activities.

Unfortunately due to unforeseen circumstances the Race Night planned for next month has been postponed. In due course a new date will be confirmed for later in the year.

There wasn’t a spare seat in the HQ (literally!) for the Fundraising Committee Quiz Night on Friday – with just under 100 people in attendance.

Our expert quiz master Paul Gubby arranged a fantastic set of questions which was great entertainment for all taking part. Well done to all who took part – and in particular well done to the winning team!

The event raised over £600 for the Scout Group – which will help us to continue to provide affordable Scouting for our Young People. We want to thank everybody who supported us at the Quiz Night – we appreciate how difficult times are at the moment, so are grateful for every penny we receive.

Finally, thank you to the Fundraising Committee, in particular David Wilcox and Paul Gubby for putting on a fantastic event.