Annual Report 2021-2022

At last we are gradually returning to some sort of normality , with our AGM for the first time since 2019 being a F2F event in the month of June.

The Group is in a very healthy position with more and more young people wanting to join Scouting in our area , But with this comes more pressure on our limited resources especially on the volunteer front with the requirement for additional leaders , assistants and helpers for the sections and more volunteers for the general running and maintenance of the group and our hall.

Therefore , please do not hesitate to come forward to volunteer with your time to assist us in maintaining Scouting at the 87 th and any approach would be greatly appreciated.

Once again on behalf of the group executive and all the young people and parents involved in the group a big thank you all leaders and supporters for there continuing support.

Best regards and your in Scouting

Andrew

It is a great pleasure to be able to have our annual meeting face-to-face this year. The past 2 years have been challenging and difficult for many families, and we are so pleased that the Beavers, Cubs, Scouts and Explorers stuck with Scouting through these times.

With a volunteer team of around 20, Granton Scouts is the biggest volunteer-led organisation in the area!

As we return to normal after the pandemic, we are delighted to say that the Group has now grown to the point that the Beaver Colony, Cub Pack and Scout Troop are running at full capacity. Every week we help over 85 young people aged 6-18 develop skills for life. We also have around over 60 on the waiting list – some are unlikely to get a place until they are old enough for Explorers at age 14 – so we could do so much more with more leaders!

Are you ready to join the adventure?

Running a group like this, with our own hall, equipment and boats, is a massive job, so we’ll not beat about the bush – we are looking for your help.

• Whether you have loads of free time or can only spare an hour a month – there’s something that you can do to help.
• Whether you can come to the Scout Hut or are stuck at home – there’s something you can do to help
• Whether you would like to work with young people, with stuff, or with admin – there’s something you can do to help.

Please don’t wait to be asked personally – just drop either or us an email and we can arrange a chat – or speak to any of the leaders on Monday or Tuesday nights – no strings attached (really – if you end up not volunteering that’s fine – it will be good to chat anyway).

The Team
We have a dedicated leader team who provide great opportunities for our young people to enjoy new adventures; to experience the outdoors; interact with others, gain confidence and have the opportunity to reach their full potential.

Over the year there have been some changes to the team:

Beavers – we said goodbye to Tracey and Fraser who left Edinburgh to live near Loch Lomond, and Nicola is taking a break for a while. However we are delighted to have welcomed Rebecca who has moved to Edinburgh from London and brings with her lots of Scouting experience.

Cubs – Dylan is taking a break, and Colette has stepped back to be an occassional helper while she is working at Loch Tay – a bit far to travel on Mondays! Joining the Cub team is Laura, who, although new to Scouting, brings so many skills that are helping her become an excellent leader. We are also pleased to welcome Alice to the team, fresh from her travels in the Channel Islands, she comes to us from a Group in Kirriemuir.

Scouts – after 4 years at the helm, Paul is stepping back from being leader in charge, and the Troop will now be jointly run by all of the assistant leaders – including Paul. We are also grateful to Jennifer who has joined the team as Assistant Scout Leader.

Explorers – David has moved away from Edinburgh so is no longer able to be at Granton explorers, and Lucas has stepped back due to work pressures.

While all the new leaders and Group Exec members get cracking with their training (the training is excellent by the way), we want to say a big thank you to those who have left the team over the year. And of course we couldn’t run the Group without the leaders that have been around for ages – Scott, Anne, Katie, Chloe, Leisha, Kyle, Jamie, Paul, Katy, David, Carrie, Derek, Roy, David, Stuart, Caroline and Luana.

Busy Programme
I’m sure that you’ll agree when you read the Section reports that every section has had an adventurous, varied and fun programme over the year – when Covid allowed.

On behalf of all the leaders we’d like to express our grateful thanks to all the adult team ‘behind the scenes’ – Andy the Group Chairman, Alan the Treasurer, Natalie who looks after hall bookings and other parents and committee members.

Finally, I’d like to mention a couple of admin things that would make the leaders’ lives a bit easier.

Payments – it would be helpful if payments that are requested – for events of the termly membership fees – are paid on time. This saves the leaders having to chase late payers. If you are likely to have difficulty in paying, there shouldn’t be a problem, just speak to one of the leaders or get in touch with me directly.

Contact and personal details – it’s really important that parents make sure contact and personal details – such as allergies and medical information – are complete and up-to-date. This means that at a minimum we need to hold details of 2 adults that can be contacted in case of emergencies, and that we are able to pass relevant details onto emergency services if needed.

Thanks for reading this far!

Although still very challenging, 2021 demonstrated that brighter times were on the horizon. The group were allowed to re-start face-to-face meetings &, with the hall available again for hire to external groups, this once again began to bring in the much needed income required to maintain the services provided to all our young people by all the group sections.

Along with covering running costs, some of the monies from the grant we received from the City of Edinburgh Council has been used to purchase new camp & activities equipment to further enhance the young people’s scouting experience

We have 20 enthusiastic Beaver Scouts at the moment. Several members have transferred to Cubs over the last 12 months and we have welcomed several new members from our extensive waiting list. We have also had to say goodbye to Fraser and Tracey who have now relocated to Balloch with their son and dog. Very recently, we have welcomed Rebecca who has joined us as an Assistant Beaver Scout Leader. She was previously a Cub Leader in South London and has now moved to Granton. We are very grateful for the continued help from our 2 Young Leaders (Katie and Chloe) who are members of our Explorer Section.

This has of course been another challenging year for everyone relating to Covid and we thank Beavers, leaders and parents for understanding the various restrictions and following the protocols that we have implemented. Thankfully it looks like we are now coming out of the pandemic and we have relaxed our Covid requirements in line with Government advice. We did however have to cancel one meeting as Anne was positive for Covid – but we held a virtual meeting by Zoom instead on the subject of “sleep”.

As always the Beaver Scouts have a say in choosing the programme themes at the start of each term. At the end of 2021, our themes covered Chocolate, Minibeasts and 3 evenings relating to the senses (touch, sight, hearing, smell and taste). We made some Christmas gifts and then we had to bring our own food the Christmas Party as the risk assessment for our hut at that time didn’t allow us to use the kitchen. However it was really successful and the rest of the party was full of games, music and noise!

January to March also saw a variety of very different themes including Parachutes, Feeding the Birds, Winter Olympics and Detectives. We also followed in the footsteps of 4 famous Explorers with themes about Marco Polo, Christopher Columbus, Captain Cook and Captain Scott (Can you match these up with where they explored: Australia, South Pole, America and The Orient). Beavers also had a quick visit from “Amber” (Anne and Scott’s dog) with three of her 7 puppies. Beavers thought they were lovely. Two of the puppies are now owned by other leaders in the scout group so we are sure to see them again.

We put the “OUT” in ScOUTing in April. Firstly with Boat Trips on a very rainy Tuesday in Granton Harbour on Sparkie (our motor boat) with parents and then a Wellie Walk to Cramond Island. We had a snack on the beach after looking at the ruined buildings then we all had a turn in the emergency shelter tent – that we had taken just in case! Our trip to Cramond Island included a first for us with our oldest Beaver being “Pulled up” to Cubs on the beach.

With the lighter nights in May, we have used the Scout Hut grounds a few times for our Scouting Skills themes where we introduce Beavers to the skills they will need when they go camping. These have included Maps, Orienteering, Tracking, First Aid, Hygiene, Ropes & Knots and Tents. Pitching a tent is great fun but finding out about the ‘latrine tent’ can come as a bit of a shock.
We will finish our term with a celebration of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee and then hopefully the weather will be kind to us for our end-of-term Sports Night.

We must give a huge “Thank you” to the other leaders of the group who give us help and support when we need it. We have a great leadership team across the group who all help each other. Also a big “Thank You” to the parents for their continued support and encouragement.

Please have a look at our display board and slideshow at the AGM and feel free to ask the leaders any questions.

We regularly post photos of our weekly meetings on our closed Scout Group Facebook page. Follow the link on our Scout Website to request to join.

Anne, Scott, Rebecca, Chloe and Katie.
87th Beaver Leaders

Currently we have 21 Cubs, a few ready to move on to Scouts after summer but we are ready to welcome some Beavers which will take us back to a full pack.

Been great to get back to “normal”. Cubs as always have been involved in the planning of their programme and which badges they would like to work towards. We’ve had a busy time which has included some of the following: Team building activities, Archery, Climbing wall, scavenger hunts, map reading, building/testing rockets!

Last Christmas the Cubs chose Bowling instead of a party, we had a fun/noisy night at Glow Bowl in our Christmas Jumpers, lots of Christmas songs being sung on the way there and back.

Throughout the year we’ve celebrated/learnt about various day inc Burns Day, Chinese New Year, Easter which has seen us tasting various food, making origami Tiger Bookmarks, completing the Egg drop challenge.
Most recently we celebrated the Queens Jubilee, Cubs were busy decorating Crowns, re-creating the Union Jack, corgi drive game, more food! (Always a favourite with Cubs). We learnt some interesting/fun facts about the Royal family traditions.

Unfortunately we’ve not made it to camp again this year but this is something the leaders are all keen to make happen next year.

Leadership team is myself, Kyle, Laura and Jamie (YL). Laura has joined us in January and has been a great addition. Jamie our Young Leader from district is currently working towards his Silver DOE award. We wish him every luck as he reaches near completion and has his expedition to go on soon.

Finally a big Thanks to all Parents, Grandparents etc, other section leaders for their continued support and helping us out when needed. Also my husband for all the extra running about, driving the minibus for us!

It is with great delight that I am able to write an update for the previous year that is more positive and less restrictive than during the pandemic times.

The support received from Scouts, Parents, the Leadership Team, the Executive and The Scouts Association over the last two years has been overwhelming, and it’s great to be part of a movement that doesn’t just turn its back on the face of adversity. We have come through the other side with almost a whole new troop who are now starting to experience what Scouting is all about.

We currently have a group of 24 Scouts, which feels like a more manageable number for the size of our hall and leader numbers when trying to arrange transport for doing activities out and about. With that said, please let us know if you’re willing and able to help with transporting to/from activities as this will massively help us deliver a programme that is based more outdoors.

Scouts is all about providing a ‘Skills for Life’ experience to the young people – which has manifested itself in the likes of walks to Cramond Island and up Corstorphine Hill, first aid, rope access and how learning to tie knots can translate into a job in the real world, firelighting, and practicing putting tents up.

In terms of putting tents up, this is important given that we now have dates set for our Summer Camp after not camping during COVID times. We will be camping between 22-24 July, everyone should have had an invite but if you want any more details then please just ask and we’ll be more than happy to tell you all about it. We LOVE camping, especially on Sandy Island, and we cannot wait to share this gem of a place with our new Scouts.

Finally, the time has come for me to step back from my position as Scout Leader and join the others as an Assistant Scout Leader. This means that going forward, you will see more contact from all leaders and we will each have responsibility for different aspect of delivering Scouting. It has been an absolute pleasure leading the troop for the last 4 years and I couldn’t have done it without the other leaders around me.

Don’t forget that the other leaders involved in Scouting are: Carrie, David, Derek, Grant, Katy & Roy. We also have occasional support until the start of next year from Alice and Jennifer has also come on board to assist between Cubs & Scouts when her shifts allow!

All the best!

Paul
Scout Leader

Granton Explorers are for boys and girls aged between 14 and 18 years old. We normally meet on a Tuesday evening at the Scout Hall 7:30 to 9:15pm.

In the last year we have taken part in a number of indoor and outdoor activities including Climbing, Rope and knot work, Trampoline Centre, Archery, Canoeing on Union Canal, Kayaking in Granton Harbour, Cramond Island (BBQ), Burns Supper, Creating a budget 3-course, Quiz nights, tent and Hammock challenge.

Despite the issues surrounding Covid-19 the Explorers managed to organise and a Summer camp in July 2021 on Sandy Island (Killin). A great 6 days was had by all and with the weather was fantastic.

For Summer Camp this year (16th to 22nd July) we are planning on going back to Sandy Island on Loch Tay again.

At present our activities are limited due to a shortage of Explorer Leaders. If you know of anyone that may be interested in helping then please speak to one of the leaders.

Teamwork is at the heart of Scouting, we build it in young people, and it takes teams of adults to make it happen.

This year we are planning on having absolutely loads of fun and to make it one of our best years ever!

To make the most of all the opportunities in the Group we want as many children and parents as possible to take part.

If you can help the group, please let us know how you could support our events and camps, or maintain our kit and building, by ticking some of the boxes below

(By the way – none of these roles are paid!! They are all voluntary in the same way as Leaders are volunteers).

Got a minute? Let us know how you can help out