The Scouts are back on Friday 3rd September, and Beavers and Cubs are back on Monday 6th September – and a brand new term of scouting begins, jam packed with fun and adventures!

But we’ll be back in just a few short weeks and straight back into providing Scouting for all of our Beavers, Cubs, and Scouts.

9th North Watford (Woodside)

GSL Annual Report

Another successful year at the 9th, numbers have held firm and since the census in January, numbers have increased in all sections, well done to all.

The year started with St George’s Day parade, this time we led the parade and organised the church service, our theme was St George and the growth of the Scout Movement since the beginning. The service was very well received and we had very favourable comments on its content. Thanks to the leadership team for all their efforts in making it the success it was. The parade marched to the sounds of a pipe and drum band, which we will have for the foreseeable future.

We had a very enjoyable group day out to the sea life centre and Cadbury’s World. The sea life centre is a very good day out but along with a tour of Cadbury’s it made for a very good day, a fun time for all.

June saw the cubs and scouts out of the hut on various activities at Lees Wood and Phasels Wood, shooting, archery pot holing, crate stacking, cresta run etc.

Herts 100 camp. What a fantastic weekend, very well attended by our group, a great success. There was so much for the young people to try and enjoy. Our Beavers came for the day and had a great time with us. We all joined in with the spirit of it and dressed up for the big parade, in very colourful costumes. Including me!

A big thank you to all the Leaders and those parents that helped with transporting all the equipment and setting up and breaking camp. We can only do these big camps with your help.

We had a very successful District Sports Day. We came second overall, and only missed out by a couple of points. Still everyone enjoyed it, which is all we hope for.

The summer saw us re-organising the storage of our camping equipment and starting a stock take (not much of a break this year).

September saw the start of another busy programme for all sections.

I enjoyed a day at Lees Wood, helping with “Beaver Banger”s competition, although it had nothing to do with bangers. It was the annual craft competition for Beavers. Our group’s activity was rocket making (only static ones) a very tiring day, I was busy all day only had a breather when we stopped for lunch.

Scouts were busy with scoutcraft and preparing for various competitions and a local expedition.

Cubs were busy with craftwork, completing the Stage 1 Emergency Aid badge and working on tracking, fire lighting and knots.

The group attended the Remembrance Day service at Watford Town Hall and supplied some of the District flag bearers.

I was again camp cook for the cubs at their November camp Lees Wood. The theme was the cyclist and science badges. All the Cubs that camped gained the cyclist badge and went some way towards the science badge. A very good camp

The scout section entered a very young team in the county Triathlon competition; they gave a very good account of themselves and completed the course. Well done.

With Christmas approaching we had a very well attended carol concert. All the sections took an active part in it and again the District Chaplain, Rev. Dick Lewis, led the service. We had a collection for mission direct, a charity that helps build schools in Africa, and we raised £151.51.

The District Pantomime trip was excellent. We all enjoyed a brilliant show, even the kids!! Some of you may already know but I had an admirer on the night, one of the ugly sisters took a shine to me and picked me out for special attention, much to the delight of the other adults there, I even received a signed photo, telling me to keep my woggle shiny!!!

In the start of this year we had a team in the District Swimming Gala. We competed in all events except one, the ladies Leaders race. We tried our best but did not win with the exception of our chairman, Jonathan, who won the male leaders race for us, well done to him. A good night was had by all.

And finally thank you to our leadership team for all their hard work during the past year.

A special, thank you, to Jonathan and his little team of helpers, for their very hard work in completing the concreting around the hut. We now have a very valuable outdoor space for the sections to use. I have had a donation of nine bulkhead lights, when these are installed we will be able to use this space most of the year.

If you shop in Tesco’s, or know someone who does, you can bring in the Schools and Clubs vouchers and we can use them to help us improve the quality of Scouting that we provide.

This is the first year that we have collected these vouchers – let’s see how well we can do!

The three Scouts which took part were new Scouts and took part as a training team (with the help of some Explorer Scouts). Out of the fourteen teams which took part in the competition, the number of points they earned placed them fifth – a great result!

If you shop in Sainsbury’s, or know someone who does, you can bring in the Active Kids vouchers and we can use them to help us improve the quality of Scouting that we provide. We have done very well the last two years, but let’s see if this year can be a record breaker!

• Beavers: 6th
• Cubs: 6th
• Scouts: 5th
• Group: 4th

Well done to all the Beavers, Cubs and Scouts who took part – including our Group Chairman Jonathan Hawes who won the Male Scouters race.

The service was again led by Canon Dick Lewis with musical accompaniment from Andrew Saunders – our thanks go to them both.

This year, the carol concert was attended by local councillors and we also got a write up in the Watford Observer!