FROM THE COUNTY COMMISSIONER 

Cotswold Marathon I was pleased to be asked to present the trophies at this year’s Cotswold Marathon. It is a credit to the organising team that this annual event (now in its 35th year) runs so smoothly. Well done to all who took part, and to the supporting team. You can read more about the Cotswold Marathon in the 'Around the County' section of this month's Gazette. 

County Team ‘Movements’ I am pleased to announce the following appointments: 

Joan Goldsmith has agreed to take over the role of Development Project Manager from 1st April 2008 and also become a County Scout Leader – I am delighted that the County is not going to loose Joan's vital experience, skills and knowledge!

Gary Law accepted my invitation to become Deputy County Commissioner (Youth Programme) 

Robert Rowles (previously ACC Cub Scouts) has been appointed District Commissioner, Cotswold Vale. 

David L’Oste Brown, the previous DC in Cotswold Vale, has agreed to become a County Scout Leader.

Dave Hall has agreed to continue as Chairman of Cranham Management Group and line-manage the Centre Manager. 

Two of the current ACCs wish to have a change – Felicity Cleaves (ACC International) and Julian Swattridge (ACC Activities). Both have contributed much to Gloucestershire Scouting during their appointments for which I give my grateful thanks.This all means that we have some vacancies! 

Review of Support Structure 

Since being appointed County Commissioner, I have been giving much thought to the type of structure needed now to support DC's, District Teams and adults working with young people. Over the next few weeks, myself and Gary will be taking every opportunity to discuss with Leaders what type of support they want from a County Team that would benefit Scouting in their area. If you have any views, please let us know. E-mail: admin@gloucestershire-scouts.org.uk 

Finally .... I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a Happy Easter – and don’t eat too many Easter Eggs!!! 

Tom Harding, County Commissioner

Derek Yardley-Wright

It is with great sadness that I inform you that Derek Yardley-Wright passed away yesterday, 26 February 2008, aged eighty-one. Derek had been an active supporter of Scouting in many roles for over fifty-five years, and was respected across Gloucestershire in General and the Stroud and Tetbury District in particular.

Before joining Scouting he had been a Royal Marine, and he used the skills he learnt in this role to benefit many Scouts in later years. His first Scouting appointment was as a Scout Leader in the Truro Scout Scout Troop, Cornwall, from 1 February 1952. However, he moved to Wycliffe College, Gloucestershire, as a member of the teaching staff in 1955, where he was Scout Leader and later Group Scout Leader at the College’s Scout Troop for over twenty years.While remaining as Group Scout Leader at Wycliffe until 1977, Derek also supported Scouting across the district as Assistant District Commissioner from 1963 and then as Stroud and Tetbury District’s District Commissioner from 1965 until 1977. Derek had many achievements in Scouting, and was a great organiser, believing that the Movement needed to constantly evolve in order to remain relevant. His countless experiments and schemes for new ways of working, and improving the organisation and methods of Scouting would fill a small volume, but here are a few of the more notable examples.

His Scout Group was one of the Headquarters' pilot groups in the early initiatives to introduce girls into the Venture Scout section, and is daughter (Christine) was one of the first young ladies in Scouting to achieve the Queen's Scout Award.

In the 1970's Derek formed a mobile response unit of Venture Scouts to help the community in the case of incidence such as floods, heavy snow, etc., and travelled with this unit to a meeting of similar units held in London.

Always keen to grasp an opportunity and to embrace new ideas, Derek initiated the inclusion of one of the first artificial climbing walls to be built into the designs for Wycliffe College's new Gymnasium so that the Venture Scouts and older Scouts could be trained in climbing skills before going out to real rock faces.

Derek pioneered the idea of linking newly formed groups to well established ones to given them help and support until they became able to become independent. This method of expanding Scouting in the District proved successful and led to notable growth in Scouting across the District under his stewardship. 

After retiring from uniformed Scouting in 1977 Derek continued to provide wise guidance to the district as District Chairman for a further fifteen years from 1978 to 1993, after which it was to the delight of the District the he accepted the role of District President. Added to all of this Derek’s support of the County as a member of the County Executive Committee and his involvement in supporting adult leaders it is clear that Derek was a dedicated and life-long supporter of Scouting. It is no surprise that he was awarded, and greatly deserved, the Scout Association’s Medal of Merit in 1966, the Silver Acorn in 1976, the Bar to the Silver Acorn in 1985, and finally the Silver Wolf in 1997 in recognition of his outstanding service to Scouting.In recent years Derek has continued to take a great interest in District activities and events, attending many of the Centenary Celebrations, and providing much material and guidance for the District’s Centenary of Scouting Exhibition in Museum in the Park in April 2007. His presence in Scouting and his advice will be greatly missed.

KIDS OUTDOORS

There’s never been a better time to get outdoors! We often see and hear in the media that young people are spending too much time playing computer games or watching TV.They are spending less and less time outside. In Scouting, we believe that young people who discover the freedom of the great outdoors are better prepared for the challenges of life through the skills they develop.

The Government has also set a national target for 85% of school-age children to participate in two hours of PE and sport per week by the end of 2008 (2006/7 School Sport Survey).

The KidsOutdoors campaign sets out a clear call to action; an identifiable need for a change in policy and practice on a range of levels - from Government policy to local youth groups.

What is KidsOutdoors?

The KidsOutdoors campaign helps more kids across the UK experience the freedom of the outdoors. We want to encourage a million new outdoor adventures. KidsOutdoors is run by The Scout Association, which offers challenge and adventure to over 400,000 young people across the UK.

We want to encourage young people to embrace outdoor activities – it makes doing things outdoors a more attractive alternative to TV and computer games. KidsOutdoors hopes to change perceptions of today’s young people and challenge them to spend more time outdoors.Our aims

To get more people outside, living healthier lifestyles by encouraging parents and young people to engage in 1 million outdoor adventures across the UK

To get involved in youth organisations as a member or an adult volunteer

Provide more information for young people and parents on what is going on in their local area

To empower local youth Groups with the ability to run better programmes with better materials and equipment

To give young people a greater voice on an issue that we know matters to them

To develop ‘Urban Scouting’ further so that more children from socially deprived areas also have opportunities to get outdoorsTo highlight the skills developed through outdoor activities - self-reliance, self-awareness, teamwork, lateral thinking

To promote diversity, integration and understanding in our communities through outdoor activities

To call for a halt to the erosion of outdoor space for physical activity

To raise £10 million for investment into facilities and resources to encourage young people in the UK to experience outdoor adventure

Young people and children who spend time outdoors are healthier and less overweight and outdoor activities bring children and young people together from across different schools and social classes.

One of Kids Outdoors core principles is that it exists to help young people develop into future citizens through adventure, international friendship and the opportunity to change the world for good. Kids Outdoors is national initiative, integrated fully with current Government agendas on childhood obesity.

Ideas and resources

For more information and lots of ideas for outdoor activities that everyone can get involved with visit the Kids Outdoors web site at:

http://www.kidsoutdoors.com

For ideas see: http://www.kidsoutdoors.com/activity-ideas

Why the Scouts?

KidsOutdoors is a campaign led by The Scout Association. Founded 100 years ago, the Scout Movement has grown into a global fellowship of over 28 million Scouts who enjoy its benefits across 216 countries and territories.

The Scouting formula is simple. Using volunteer adult leaders and basic facilities, Scouting helps young people from all backgrounds to develop universally valued qualities of trust, empathy, confidence, integrity and a spirit of adventure. Life skills are learned to help young people become tomorrow’s happiest, healthiest and most productive citizens, some of whom will be tomorrow’s leaders.

EVENTS

Details of many Scouting events and opportunities run by the county or by neighbouring counties are advertised on the County Web Site's notice board page.

Please be sure to check the page frequently to see what new opportunities are on offer.

Another opportunities is detailed below

As sponsor of the Cub Scout Scientist Badge, Rolls-Royce is hosting an event especially for Cub Scouts during National Science & Engineering Week 2008.

The event – to be held at the Bristol and Derby sites – will provide an opportunity for Cubs to find out about Rolls-Royce and celebrate National Science & Engineering Week by getting started on their Scientist Badge.

Cub Packs in the local areas are invited to come along and complete two of the activities required to achieve the Cub Scout Scientist Badge.

BristolThursday 13th March 2008, 6.30 pm to 8.00 pm

Concorde Room, BAWA

Derby

Thursday 13th March 2008, 6.30 pm to 8.00 pm

Learning & Career Development Centre, Wilmore Road

Places are limited and will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis, so please request your Pack’s place as soon as possible. All requests will be acknowledged and places confirmed in writing.

If you are interested contact Gill Fennell gill.fennell@rolls-royce.com for more information.

AROUND THE COUNTY

MUSIC DAY

On 16 February twenty five Cub Scouts, Scouts and Explorer Scouts from across the Stroud and Tetbury District came together for the District's first Music Day. The range of musical instruments taking part in the day meant that they had to split the first part of the day across two venues, brass and saxophones met at Pennwood, while violins, clarinets,

 flutes, a recorder, two pianists, and an electric guitar met at Selsley. The morning was spent sharing musical experiences, demonstrating practice exercises and playing together in small groups of similar instruments. 

In the afternoon everyone came together to put together a short concert for the parents of those taking part. Each musician performed a piece they had prepared. The wide range of music perfomed can be illustrated by a few examples including James' wonderful jazz solos on the Saxophone, Jacob's playing of the Irish folk song, Road to Donagall, on his violin, Kieran's lively rendition of The Entertainer on the trumpet, Murray's rousing performance of Scoutland The Brave on the Clarinet, Huge's playing of tap dances on his Violin, Ben's playing of The Flintstones theme on the Tenor Horn and many more besides. 

In addition to the solo pieces Holly and Maddi played a duet on their flutes, and the seven violinists played Beethoven's Ode to Joy with a Scout playing the piano part. 

When the Cub Scouts, Scouts and Explorer Scouts arrived at the beginning of the day none of them had played together before, they were all of different levels of ability, and of different ages. During the day they worked with leaders, and music teachers, helping and supporting each other and by the end of the day they had all enjoyed making music together and performing for each other and for their parents. They were all very talented young people, and it was a pleasure to listen to them perform.

Have you ever considered staying in a Youth Hostel as a base for outdoor activities, maybe at times of the year less suitable for camping? That's exactly what a group of Scouts from Nailsworth did during the February half term in order to enjoy some hiking in the great outdoors.

During the four days that they were at the hostel in North Wales it rained, almost continuously every day, and there were strong winds and low cloud, so after a day out hiking the Scouts were glad to be able to come back to a warm shower, and a dry dining room in which to enjoy their evening meal 

Added to this a a common room in which to prepare their route cards for the next day and a drying room in which to dry off all their wet waterproofs and you'll begin to understand the attractions of a hostel over those of winter camping!

For more information on using youth hostels see factsheet 120072.

The 35th Cotswold Marathon took place overnight on Saturday/Sunday 9th./10th. February 2008.

The weather, for once, was very kind this year and we had a record number of 209 walkers finish the event. We only had 55 retirements which was very low.

It was amazing to see the determination of the young people to complete the event and they must be commended for their efforts. I am sure that they will remember the event for many years to come and will have a real feeling of achievement when they tell their parents and friends what they have done.

Approximately 90 walkers started the Bronze route. The fastest qualifying team for the second year running were from Blenheim Scouts completing in a fast time of 3 hours 36 mins.

The 18 mile Silver Marathon also attracted 90 walkers with 3 members of the Pioneer Explorer Scout Unit completing in the fastest time of just under 5 hours. The Keith Aston Cup was presented to the fastest qualifying team of Charlie, Edward, and George of the 44th Gloucester Explorer Scout Unit, completing in the time of 4 hours 59 minutes.

James, Michael and Dominic, representing Beaufort Explorers, were the overall winners of the Gold Marathon completing in a time of 8 hours 33 minutes. This section attracted over 100 walkers for the 36 mile route.

Congratulations to all those who entered and many thanks to all of the people who supported the event. A special thanks to a total of about 150 people who worked behind the scenes to ensure that the Marathon ran smoothly and safely as it does, manning checkpoints, radio stations, Murray Hall, first aid, rescue vehicles and minibus staff to name but a few.

Thanks also to everyone on the Committee for their hard work and support.

Next year, why not encourage your Scouts/Explorers/Network Scouts/Leaders to take part? People come from as far away as Bristol, Kent, West Midlands and mid Wales for the event, so why not take up the challenge and make sure that your Group is represented in the 2009 Marathon. The 36th. Cotswold Marathon will be held on the 7th./8th. February 2009.

Full results are published on our web site www.cotswoldmarathon.org.uk

Alan Faulkner, Marathon Co-ordinator

County Cooking Competition

Taste buds were tingling as Scouts from across the county competed in the County Cooking Competition held in Shurdington. This year there was five teams of Scouts competing.

The teams of four were challenged to cook a three-course meal based on the theme of one of their activity badges. For example 15th Cheltenham Scouts cooked chilli con carne, chicken fajitas and fruit kebabs - they chose the dishes based on the theme of the interpreters' badge.

The teams were limited in equipment to a gas cooker, frying pan and cooking utensils - and a budget of £18. 

Judges were impressed by the finished entries and the day ended with Scouts from Tetbury scooping first prize.

Richard Buxton, event organiser, said: "The competition went well. There was a variety of dishes including rabbit stew and mousse with jellied eels. It's important to get young people into cooking to help them later in life."

Teams from Tetbury Scouts came first and second, with 15th Cheltenham third, 10th Cheltenham fourth and Fairford fifth.