ROYAL AIR FORCE RECOGNISED GROUP
http://www.2ndbraintree.com/
Jon Hinchliffe, 19 Mountbatten Road, Braintree, CM7 9EY
01376 346198 / 07811 326226 e-mail jon@praying-mantis.com
2 November 2011
Group News
Dear Parent/Beaver/Cub/Scout/Explorer
There are several things to cover in this letter so in no particular order here they are:
Group Bar-B-Q
On May 19th we are planning to have a group Bar-B-Q. This will be held at Panfield Scout Hut,
Thistledown, Panfield, BRAINTREE, CM7 5AB between 4pm and 8pm. This is a “bring an adult”
event for the young people and apart from the Bar-B-Q itself we plan to have fun and games with
challenges between the Beavers, Cubs, Scouts, Explorers, Leaders and Parents.
There is no cost for attendance but we will be selling Burgers and Hot Dogs so it would be helpful
if we could have an idea of numbers for catering purposes. See form overleaf.
Tabor Not available on 15th June 2007/Annual General Meeting
We have been informed by Tabor that the School is not available on 15th June 2007. The group was
planning to hold its AGM on this night and we are currently contemplating holding it at Panfield in
a marquee. We will be deciding this shortly but whatever happens please keep an eye on the website
and/or watch out for a letter about what your section is doing this night.
Photos DVD
A DVD has now been compiled with all the photos from all sections activities since December
2005. The disc was mainly compiled for the Kandersteg expedition. It contains about 600
Kandersteg photos and 4hrs of Kandersteg video (playable on PC or Divx supporting DVD
players). Since there was spare room on the disc we then added in all the Beaver, Cub and Scout
photos going as far back as possible. In all there are about 4,100 photos. If you would like a copy of
the DVD please give your section leader a named envelope marked "Group photo's" containing £2.
We will endeavour to write your DVD as soon as possible but if demand is high it might take a
couple of weeks.
Group Website
The information about the Photos DVD has been on the group website under the group section for a
few weeks and so far only one person has asked for the DVD. This surprises me a little so I wonder
if people are not checking the website. If someone misses a group night it is always worth double
checking the website and the pages for a young person’s section to see if there are any new letters.
The website should also be checked the night before an activity just in case there are any last minute
notices.
We are interested in your views of the website so if you have any comments please e-mail Jon on
the address above or put them in a note to a section leader. Thanks
Leader Update
Those of you who have been in the group for a year or so will know that the Beaver section was
being run temporarily by the Scout Leaders. Ken and Linda Chapman then kindly agreed to help
run it and finally Lynne Culham agreed to become section leader despite also being section leader at
7th Braintree Brownies. At the end of last term Lynne announced that she was finding it too much
to be leader of two sections and since Brownies is her first love she was going to step down from
Beavers. She has become Assistant Beavers Leader for this term and then she will cease attending
Beavers after the Summer Holidays. Lynne will still help out at the group when she can but in the
meantime we would like to thank her for all her efforts over the last year or so. Ken Chapman has
agreed to move up to Beaver leader and we now need to review where things go from here.
All the sections are currently short of leaders. I am sure any parent looking on will think the group
is well staffed. Sadly this is not the case. Stephen Newman helps Keri King in Cubs. He also helps
at Scouts and has been helping Explorers too. Also recently the 18-25 year old section which is
called Network has started in the District and Steve also goes to this. Keri and Lynne often stay on
for personal reasons after Cubs and Beavers and therefore they sometimes help in Scouts.
John Denegri the Scout Leader normally arrives early and therefore helps out in Cubs or Beavers if
asked. I tend to be around most of the night but I don’t normally do anything directly with the
sections as a) my role as Group Scout Leader means I don’t work with any specific section b) I
suffer from M.E. (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) and therefore try to keep my role as background
support to the leaders.
Neil Hilton whose main section recently has been Scouts is currently heading up the new Explorer
section and he too often arrives during Cubs or Beavers so can lead a hand if required.
I therefore need to ask all parents to consider if they themselves or anyone they know might be
interested in helping a section. It does not have to be a regular commitment and it is something you
can try out without obligation. All the leaders are leaders because they enjoy Scouting. They have
lots of fun and it is very rewarding. We were all inexperienced before getting a uniform but the
group pays for training and is very supportive. Scouting is a leading edge trainer of people. It helps
people expand their horizons and employers tend to look on it really favourably when they see it on
a CV.
All the sections put on a great program for the young people and this can only continue to happen if
our team continues to grow. Please give this area some thought and feel free to talk to me or any of
the other leaders at any time.
Many thanks Jon Hinchliffe
"
Please return by 5th May 2007 in an envelope marked Bar-B-Q
Name of young person
Telephone Mobile
Number of likely attendees
Adults Number likely to Eat
Young People Number likely to Eat
How many are Vegatarian?
Signed Date
Relationship to young person