Report from Phil Heard (Group Scout Leader and Scout Leader (acting))

Dear Parents, families, young people and supporters of our group

Writing this from the comfort of my kitchen in the midst of a pandemic is a very odd feeling. 8 months ago many of us had never used Zoom. 8 months on and some love it and others hate it. I know Facetime, Whatsapp, Zoom and GoogleMeet are better than social isolation but for many this form of contact is artificial, intrusive or technically unavailable.

We have tried meeting remotely as a scout group but typically only had about 35% of the troop are with us at best and some prefer to have the video off for the session. For those who feel at ease with this type of setup it has been very positive with a wide range of activities, quizzes, origami sessions, food based evenings as well as the opportunity for young people to introduce the leaders to the delights of Scribblio and Among Us!

I must pay tribute to the way families have embraced these times even though they have the inconvenience of having their child at scouts but sadly not out of the house! And that really is why I decided we would not collect subs until the child was at least out of the house for the evening!

We have been delighted to see parents acting as tech crew and sound team for their child while they delight us with detailed origami viewed from above and live cooking from the family kitchen with an anxious parent in attendance. We have enjoyed quizzes with breakout rooms for each team and then the fun of getting back together (virtually) to hear the answers. Brilliant! Those questions were very hard!

I am very concerned about those young people who after 8 months have drifted quietly away and found other things to do on a Tuesday evening. Many of these young people have been loyal members through Beavers, Cubs and Scouts and their families have a long tradition of scouting.

I think we need to be creative in the way we keep these young people connected to their peers and scouting community. Perhaps social chat groups in friendship blocks would help. Not for all. Those happy to attend socially distanced face2face scouting seem very relieved to be back.

And then the next problem: shortly after we have started back on a strange and limited basis we have seen the infection rate rising rapidly and lots of school children being told to isolate. So for the time-being we will be doing weekly Zoom and face2face when we can – perhaps on a Saturday afternoon now and again.

Our most recent challenge is to see how we can build and use a pizza oven in the church car park (not on the tarmac!). It will be able to be taken apart so we can take it on camp but how effective it is will depend on learning new skills – and new terms! I never realised the wooden or metal paddle used for putting a pizza in an oven is called a peel! We have some on order! We are very grateful to Iain Goad (a past exec chair) for the generous gift of 2ft square sheets of steel and stainless steel that we will use with special fire bricks to build the oven. Next phase is to learn how to make the pizza base from scratch! Watch this space.

I am indebted to a large team of leaders, parents and young people who really make the roles of GSL and section leader possible. It is gratifying to see the way we all are able to offer mutual care and support which is more necessary than ever in these challenging times.

As ever we are always on the lookout for extra adult help. This is most pressing in the Beaver section where leaders have given notice that their personal circumstances will be changing over the next few months and they will not be available anymore! Any involvement you can offer will be really gratefully received. You don’t have to sign a blank cheque and commit for years! Just offer what is possible. You might have a skill/hobby/line of work that our young people may find fascinating. If so, offer to run an evening (with leader support!). Always remember that your child can move up the waiting list if a parent offers to come along and help.