2016 April update

What term two already? What happened to term 1 … Founders Day whole group activity bases  “under the bridge”, Kangaree at Lardner Park, Gippsland for 10 Joeys, Stradbroke Cup at Brucknell Scout Camp, Venturer mountain biking at Bogong Rover Chalet, and much more.

RAFFLE

You should now have received a separate email on the raffle with details on our plan for a short three (3) week period of selling with options to get more books if we sell our “round 1” allocation.

Change

The repeated theme through nearly every section is that Leaders lives and circumstances change  so we need parents and others to step forward and train as Leaders. Becoming a leader is great fun - yes truly - you, your family and youth members enjoy Scouting, while having four leaders in every formation keeps the load on each individual manageable.

New chum enquiries Joeys Cubs and Scouts

There has been a number of new Joeys, Cubs and a Scout enquiries already this term, and there is again a waiting list for Cubs and Scouts. Be sure if you know someone who is interested to ask them to give David Smith a call first! Currently our only vacancies are  for 5-7 year olds and we would love some more Joeys who happen to be female! Even if we can’t fit a new enquiry we are of course happy advise of options at other local groups.

Parents Committee

The parents committee is struggling at time of writing - are you willing to assist? We would love to have at least one representative from each formation on the committee to maintain balance and to improve our communication to all our members families. Would you like to volunteer for this role?

Some small jobs have again been  done by Robert Biro (Liam Cubs) to finish clearing the yard.   Greg Brown continues to mow keeping the yard looking smart. We are looking for someone who can weld for a new pedestrian door at Dean St shed, and someone who can set up a  cleaning roster for Rugby St or regularly clean the hall. Could you assist as a  Raffle ticket coordinators for Tuesday Joey/Scouts or on Thursday night for BIGHT Venturers?

The new shed now has lights but there are some other smaller electrical jobs to be done and still other things on the “to do” list which will help to make providing Scouting to the kids easier for our leaders, please talk to David or Scott.     

Fundraising

Our focus is on getting income from grants where practical and growing our passive income from additional bookings of our two halls. We are looking for regular user groups. The halls are both ideal for classes such as Yoga, pilates, art, cultural groups etc etc. Are you after a location for a kids party?  Keep spreading the word that we have many daytime/afternoon sessions available at both halls and also Monday night at Dean St.

“The Belmont” aged care next door to the Dean St hall is paying to use one of our storage sheds - thanks to the volunteers who worked to make the sheds usable again!

Our car parks on Sunday April 10th raised over $600 to finalise our Kangaree 2016 fund. Thanks to Greg, Dionne and Rochelle. We have given our April 30th car parks to Grovedale scout group as we hope to see many of  you at family camp.

Raffle tickets have started to be  given out. Why not get the kids involved, with supervision as needed, selling along your street ?

Joeys

Tuesday mob now has 4 girls - Yeah! We need to encourage more girls to join, including at least 4 for the Wednesday Joey Mob so in years to come both Cubs and Scouts will be gender balanced.

Tuesday Mob - 10 plus 6 new chums

Hany (Bilby) has taken some well earned “long service leave” after 8 years as a Joey leader, so will be away over terms 2 and 3. Thanks from us all Bilby and congrats on your Meritorious Service Award. Come 4th term Bilby plans to re assess her future role in Scouting. Dionne Hose (Ashlie) has been interviewed and is about to start her journey to become a leader. Welcome Dionne!

Tina has stayed on after her son Noah moved up to Cubs and is currently our only fully trained leader in this Mob, helping Sandra and Dan as they continue their training, BUT this is ONLY UNTIL THE END OF 2016 so now is the time for new leaders to come in and start training beside Dionne.

Wednesday Mob - 4 new Joey’s have been invested, 1 to go up end of term and 4 new chums.

Cathy (Platypus) is happy with the influx to bring the Mob up to critical mass, JUST, but all boys!

Two extra Joey Scout leaders may be needed, one now, as Mik has taken indefinite leave. Bring a friend night may help but MORE  5-7 year olds needed

Banksia Cub Pack (Monday) - 23 Cub Scouts including 3 Joeys linking and 4 new chums

Brad (Chil) is now waiting to start on the next stage of his medical journey for which we wish him well. Andy Marriott (Max and soon Chloe ) has been interviewed and will train to become an assistant Cub leader and we may even have another new leader to support Banksia Cub. Stand by for more news on this front!

Acacia Cub Pack (Wednesday) - 23 cub scouts including 1 new chum

Alison (Emily and Kathleen, Cubs; Ryan, Scouts) Alison came to the Wednesday team from 1st Puckapunyal. Welcome Alison!

Arlene farewells us at end of June so is stepping back prior to leaving. Arlene’s contribution is too big for words but Wednesday’s pack must keep planning for her departure.

Daniel McLean isn’t always available and sometimes late to arrive due to his workload and commuting from Melbourne. Tracey (Hathi) is continuing a long medical journey and is trying to participate to the best of her ability but her role is limited at the moment. Bev has just had some surgery and her future is also unclear.  We wish both Tracy and Bev all the best. So the call goes out again

ONE OR TWO  ASSISTANT CUB LEADERS FOR WEDNESDAY ARE DEFINITELY NEEDED

Remember in term two 2015 a number of nights with only 1 or even no Cub leaders - that was only temporary - we can’t operate the Pack without sufficient leaders - would you consider joining?

Tuesday Scouts -  28 Scouts including a few Cubs linking recently and more to come!

As mentioned all new enquiries are being redirected to our neighbouring groups.

Elizabeth (Murph) has been doing a wonderful job but is now in charge of 3 churches and the associated workload means she will be taking indefinite leave from end of term 2.

Linda (Tassie Devil) is on placement away from Geelong. Her availability for the rest of the year and beyond will be determined by her placement locations and future job opportunities.

Gordon (Bagheera) and Gayathri must have more help. Having parent helpers is great but the

Scout Troop needs at least 2 more Assistant Scout leaders and within 12 months 3 or 4 more to run a good program with a troop of this size and considering the number of 1st Belmont Cubs in the wings - including 22 nine year olds so parents of Cubs please consider joining your son or daughter by training as a Scout leader!

How big can the troop be? Should we be going out into the Belmont Community to discuss starting as second Scout Troop? Monday or Friday night? Rugby st or Dean St? Or not? And/or will the troop move to the larger hall at Dean St or not?  All this needs to be discussed - would you like to actively participate?

BIGHT Venturers - 23 Venturers plus 4  or more linking/visiting. Our teenage youth keep coming to BIGHT which is fantastic.

Welcome to Cam, an ex Yarimbak Rover who has joined the unit as an Assistant Venturer Leader (AVL - probationary). The big news is that Tim (Captain) is back in Australia on a more permanent basis. Graham (Grumpy Badger) leaves us at end of 2016 to circumnavigate this great country with Arlene, by which stage 1st Belmont may well have our first Queen's Scout awardees in over 40 years! This would be a huge achievement for the Venturers concerned and we all hope and are willing to help it happen. The Unit is large, vibrant and full of active teenagers who are using the Venturer Scouting way to become great young adults.

YARIMBAK Rovers

Did you know that Rovers (18 to 26 years of age) are often told that Rovering is for Life? I started my Scouting as a 18 year old Rover at Rugby St. It changed my life so much I want to keep giving back.

Our Scout Group has donated $1000 from our NAB Cup car parks, with more to come after the car park dividend is received in September, to the Hayes Family after the tragic loss of 10 month old Hamish(Anthony Hayes is a former Yarimbak Rover and Assistant Scout leader with 1st Belmont,

A closing note

Be sure to look out for news on fundraising options, small jobs that need to be done around the hall and ways to help our great leaders and the many fantastic Scouting activities that this fantastically busy group does. We have just had Cub and Scout sleep overs for ANZAC. Look out for a survey on how we use our Website

The adventure continues!

60+ youth members, siblings and parents will be away on the weekend, the last weekend of April at this year's only Family Camp. Visitors are welcome to call in on the Saturday - we have the whole of Treetops Scout camp (at Riddles Creek) booked. Again more fun!  

Looking well forward, we have started planning our first “All Section Camp” to be held on November 5th and 6th. Each of our sections - Joey’s, Cubs, Scouts, Venturers and Rovers will have the opportunity to camp at the same time and place, a bit like a mini district camp with around 150 1st Belmont youth members and leaders being invited to attend !