County Newsletter May 2008

You can download a PDF version of the County Newsletter (which will include all the contact details, forms and images) from here; click the game title to expand the details, or expand all /collapse all. This edition includes:-

• From the County Commissioner
  • Dear everyone
    
  • Don’t you just love spring! Lighter evenings though darker mornings, blue skies among the grey, birds singing and waking you up, …. and snow. It all emphasises the need for the good old guiding idea of Be Prepared but also that we need to be flexible and adaptable. Back in February, the Commissioners and Advisors got together and discussed where Surrey East is in delivering Good Guiding and how we might do things better. We also explored some of those skills that we need to make us better able to do the jobs we do. Without being too complacent, we concluded that we are quite good at a lot of things, but, in the old style of school report, we could do better in some areas. We are all busy people, dedicated to giving the children and young women in our care the best programme we can, but we must not forget the bigger picture stuff that makes sure Guiding continues to thrive.
  • We are not very good at blowing our own trumpet – the publicity and public relations bit. We are all a bit inclined to be shy violets at times in this respect when we should be big and bold flowers. We are very lucky to have Hannah Rainford as County Public Relations Advisor as she is an expert in this field. But Hannah cannot do everything herself. It needs every unit in the County to take opportunities. Is your unit raising funds for a jolly good cause? Is your District throwing a great activity day? If so, try to get your pictures in the newspapers, on your notice boards or in a newsletter to parents.
  • Because by being seen as a vibrant, lively, fun organisation, we will find it easier to attract new Leaders. You may send in ten items and only get one published but that one may be the article which makes all the difference to the woman thinking about joining. So do not get downhearted but persevere.
  • Val Hickmott, Denise Kinrade and I attended a Project 50k weekend at Foxlease where we talked about trying to grow our membership and the particular problems we face. In addition, we have money from CHQ's Switch fund to look at recruitment. Over the next few months we will be putting in place ideas to support recruitment, flexible guiding and retention. Please put either 27 September or 18 October in your diaries. We plan recruitment workshops open to Surrey East and Surrey West Leaders; the first in Guildford, the second in Surrey East. There we hope to provide everyone with the confidence to go out and recruit the Leaders and helpers we all need. We are holding our own in Leaders at the moment but need to strengthen the teams. Thank you for all you do in recruitment already.
  • As we start the fun filled summer term and start planning camp and holiday activities, I hope you enjoy the summer term and find it rewarding.
  • Margaret Frosztega - County Commissioner
• Nights Away badges
  • Nights Away badges for 1, 5, 10 and 25 nights can be ordered from Janet.
  • If you need higher numbers, please let Margaret Frosztega know.
• A Camp idea
  • Are you fed up with having to find storage space for the tomato boxes or similar you use a couple of times a year to raise boxes and other equipment off the ground at camp ?
  • Last year we trialled strong plastic food containers such as those used for soups and sauces, and they worked really well. You can use the larger size (approx 600g) for heavier items and the smaller size (approx 350g) for lighter items – a minimum of 4 containers per item being raised.
  • We have now burnt all our old tomato boxes and are busy collecting more containers for this year’s camp. The containers can be used from year to year and are easily stored in a plastic crate.
  • Julie Woodland - 7th Caterham (St. John) Guide Unit
• Wanted - Jobs needing filling
  • The following tasks need eager people to lend a hand. The roles can be filled by Leaders, Young Leaders, parents, helpers, Unit Helpers, indeed anyone prepared to help. Your commitment is as much as you care to give. This is a great way to try something different in Guiding.
  • For the Centenary planning, we need people to volunteer to help organise the activities, for the site organisation, and some administrators to help with Newsletters, bookings etc. This is at all levels.
  • We are also looking for keen people who would be interested in helping on Public Relations, and on Project 50k activities to do with recruitment and retention.
  • Let your Division Commissioner know if you would like to help.
• New Appointments
  • Kathy Hylott and Lesley Bailey have agreed to job share as the Reigate Division Commissioner, taking over from Roo Harmer in the summer. Roo has done a great job in the role for the last few years so ‘Thank you Roo’ and enjoy the role Kathy and Lesley.
• Trefoil Guild
  • A group of Trefoil Guild members will be on the International selection panel for Guides going on overseas events, and also helping to serve food at Scoutabout in June.
  • Please let us know if your unit needs any help with events - we also have a selection of skills to be passed on. We have 12 Trefoil Guild groups in the County.
  • 27 members are travelling to Bruges for 5 days in May, and then a large party are visiting Foxlease for Friend's Day on 5th July, and are presenting a cross stitched wall hanging for the Surrey East Room. Do have a look at it if you are at Foxlease.
  • Your Trefoil Guild contact is Jenny Mihalop, Surrey East chairman
• Camping equipment
  • 1st Surrey East Trefoil Guild, formerly 1st Surrey East Rangers, no longer camp. We therefore have an amount of equipment, including tents and marquees, which we no longer need.
  • On Saturday 7 June this will be available to view and take away from our store at Oxted Guide HQ, Uvedale Road, Oxted between 10am and 12 noon. Nothing is for sale but a donation to our funds would be appreciated.
  • Please ring or e mail me if you require any details before 7 June.
  • Mary Newstead
• Scoutabout 2008 Central Catering
  • Central catering frees up Leaders to be more involved with their Guides and activities. The Scoutabout site committee wish to minimise risks associated with small catering sets-ups and fire hazards.  There were 5,200 people booked in for 2005 - figures are approaching 6,500 this year.
  • Scoutabout is a regular event falling every 3 years and unit programmes probably replicate planning and requirements.  The Catering Team had to provide a budget in December and set the £20 fee.  Since 2005 food prices have risen dramatically by 40%, as you may have noticed from your own shopping bill.  Fruit and cereal bars were provided by units in 2005 so we felt we haven’t moved the goalposts, and units forward planning would encompass previous experience.
  • The event is unusual in that the County wish to provide central catering for over 800 people in a limited set timescale.  We have had to provide a large marquee, industrial kitchen unit capable of feeding over 800, equipment to keep hot food in safe and correct temperatures, refrigerated lorry, washing-up stations plumbed-in, and food prep tents equipped with appropriate resources.  We have a team of seven people who worked tirelessly on the Catering Team committee in 2005 to cater for the County who are on aboard again.  We aim to improve upon some areas that could not cope with the volume in 2005.  We require a staff of approx 40 to run the facility.
  • With the help of the Division Reps during the Scoutabout weekend we hope everyone will see first-hand the extent of the set-up, and how much is involved to cater for units at this specialist event.  To this end we still require help from any Young Leaders who are not assigned to the Service Team, with serving the meals and other 'front of house' duties, this is an opportunity to meet everyone... and support the County.  May we request Unit Leaders to forward names of available Young Leaders not assigned to activities to join the Catering Team to become involved.
  • There will be further information re the Division Reps' rosters in our next Catering Team Newsletter which will be emailed to you.
  • Please email names of Young Leaders to Cathy Lillicrap
• Are you looking at me?
  • As a new DC who has been out of Guiding for a while, I have been trying to find out more about the latest ideas for all sections.
  • I was therefore intrigued when I heard about the ‘Looking at me’ programme for Guides; I had heard various reports from ‘totally inappropriate’ to ‘some bits are OK’ and I really wanted to see for myself what all the fuss was about. Therefore, I booked myself on to the ‘Looking at Me’ session at the last County Day.
  • I must admit that I was pleasantly surprised. Anne Collins led the session and was extremely balanced in explaining the thinking behind the programme and why the Guide Association advocate the ideas involved.
  • The basic purpose of ‘Looking at Me’ is to get the girls to think about/discuss the issues around body image which I am sure you will agree is a real concern for girls of Guide age. However, the activities suggested make the subject fun and mean that serious messages can be communicated in an enjoyable way.
  • We tried out some of the activities and found them both thought provoking and interesting, not threatening or toe curling as I had been led to believe. The initial activity is particularly good and ends in a running game, which is always popular.
  • Don’t get me wrong; we did look at 2 specific ideas that I think are difficult to justify at a Guide meeting. However, please don’t dismiss the whole package for the sake of these; you can take the 2 cards out and the rest of the pack gives you plenty of great ideas to use.
  • You don’t have to take my word for it, why not take another look at your pack then you can make up your mind for yourself.
  • Alison Thoburn - DC Epsom West
• Newly Qualified Leaders
  • Congratulations to the following new Leaders. Well done completing your modules and many thanks to all the mentors (in brackets).
  • Downs Heath - Patsy Wooldridge (DC, Jan Myers), Nicky Grey (Brownies, Jill Popham)
  • Epsom - Chris Sibthorp (Rainbows, Jill Popham)
  • Godstone - Steph Ely (Brownies, Jane Ede), Lindsey Cutler (Rainbows, Lorna Smith)
  • Leatherhead - Julie Bastopcu (Brownies, Jill Popham), Deborah Sceace (Brownies, George Ede)
  • Leith Hill - Anita Lala (Rainbows, Ann Goulder)
  • Reigate - Sandy Bowling (Brownies, Denise Kinrade), Lynn Vennard (Rainbows, Roo Harmer), Rosemarie Belcher (Brownies, Denise Kinrade)
  • Roo Harmer - County Leadership Assessor
• Friends of Blackland Farm
  • Come to our Ploughman's lunch and Craft Dabble on 14th August 2008. This event will be held in Larks field, Blackland Farm from 12.30 to 4:00pm, Tickets £5. plus a small donation per craft in which you participate. For Tickets, please apply before 19th July 2008 to: Miss Rosemary Heasman, Cheques payable to Friends of Blackland - sae please
  • If you have not visited Blackland recently this is a good chance to meet up with friends and have fun. We do look forward to seeing you on the 14th August. Please bring a small chair (and if you have one a picnic type small table)
  • Another date for your 2008 diary is 10th to 13th October when Friends hold their Social weekend and AGM. This will be held in Wagtail lodge with the short business meeting taking place at 11am on Saturday 11th October. This is followed by a Ploughman's lunch and in the afternoon the Speaker will be D Williams, author.
  • Come for the day or stay for the weekend. For further details and costs please apply to Miss Mavis Prince
  • Friends have been giving service to Blackland since 1958 when a group responded to an appeal in The Guider. This group eventually became Friends of Blackland Farm and several of that original group, including our Founder President, Cath Scott have given continuous service from that time.
  • If you have happy memories of Blackland why not join Friends. Life membership costs £35. Annual just £5. Once a member you will receive our annual Newsletter which gives details of all events. If you are a Leader, we do realise you are probably too busy to help with hands on service but your membership would give us moral support and keep you in touch.
  • For further information please see the Friends web site or contact Miss Prince, as above.
  • Jean Greenaway
• The Pond Access Project
  • In the last edition of the Newsletter, I had suggested there would be an 'Opening Ceremony' after Easter. Unfortunately I didn't think about the English weather !!
  • Yes, the path is going ahead, but work cannot start until the ground is dry enough for the heavy machinery to go onto the site without getting bogged down. Despite a dry February, the ground was very boggy at the beginning of March. End of March/beginning of April had been their estimated start date, but depending on the weather, realistically we are probably looking at May before the work can begin, which should take approximately a week to complete.
  • Watch this space !!
  • Julie Woodland
    
• Streamline Update
  • Below are some questions which were asked of the Region Streamline Pioneers together with their answers. I hope you will find this information useful.
  • Q. How does 'Join Us' get from the computer to the Division/District/Unit? At present a parent will call locally advertised contact number or call CHQ or County mobile.
  • A. Parents can continue to call their locally advertised contact number or call CHQ or the County mobile. The contact will then enter the parents' details into Go! The rest of the process will be part of the Portal configuration.
  • Q. Will there be 'Waiting to Join' lists and who will maintain them?
  • A Units are not encouraged to hold their own 'Waiting to Join' list. However, having a neighbourhood contact would allow flexibility at a local level without anyone specifying whether the neighbourhood is District, Division or anything else. This neighbourhood contact would maintain the list.
  • Q Starting Rainbow, Brownies, Guides, SS leaflets - how will Gift Aid be dealt with? Will the Gift Aid come from CHQ with payment? If not, then the Unit will need to keep the Starting… leaflets for parent permission to claim Gift Aid.
  • A All Leaders will be encouraged to use the Starting leaflets to collect young members' data. This information, including the relating to Gift Aid, will be entered by a Guide Leader or a Key User on to Go!. The Go! database will then enable the Unit Leader to make her Gift Aid claim.
  • Q. Is there any reason why the District/Division levy cannot be paid direct to District/Division rather than all being paid to CHQ and it being returned some time later?
  • A. Considerable discussions have taken place with regard to the collection of subscriptions from 2010 onwards. This is a very complex process. Although it may appear straightforward to deduct and retain the levies at each level spread across 32,000 units across the UK, all with different levies; it has been concluded that the process will be much more streamlined if all the levies due are paid direct to the Membership Support Network. Chief Commissioners were advised in 2006 that cash flow adjustments will need to be made in the financial year 2009-2010. However, we are committed to refunding the levies to each level within three months.
  • Q. What is the database?
  • A. The database is an industry standard database.Integra database has a good industry track record and robust system testing has and will be taking place.The data is held securely on a server at CHQ.
  • Q. How will this system operate?
  • A. The system will include a password entry and access will be role / appointment based.The security model is currently being prepared by CHQ staff and volunteers.They are working on entitlements for volunteers, ie who will have access to what.Girlguiding UK believe they are doing everything that they can to ensure safety of data and insist it will not go live until it has been thoroughly tested for security.
  • Q. Who will have access to the Database?
  • A. The details of girls can only be accessed by authorised members eg Unit Leader, Unit Administrator etc.Streamline changes the way the information is recorded (from paper to electronically) but no additional permission for this needs to be sought - information held about the girls will be just what is collected on the 'Starting' leaflets, which parents already sign giving their consent for this information to be stored in a database.
  • Q. What do others do?
  • A. There are many other organisations already holding data electronically about children that parents don't question - schools, NHS, doctor surgeries, child benefit agency, etc. etc. so we're really not doing anything new. CHQ.have also talked about providing a pro forma letter for parents, nearer the time, to explain the system changes and provide reassurance.
  • Q. Are any exceptions allowed?
  • A. There are some exceptional cases, where girls are in local authority care for instance, where, no matter how secure the system is, their information must not be recorded or only a very restricted amount of information can be recorded on the system.CHQ are consulting with the authorities to ascertain the best way of going about this.Hence, there will be a way of recording girl data 'anonymously' where parents do totally refuse to give permission for girl data to be held electronically. However, the parents/guardians of these girls will also have to accept that they may miss out on some opportunities if there is no way of being able to contact them through the system.
  • Q. Why do we need to hold girl data?
  • A There are a number of reasons for holding girl data:
    · to make census easy - both elements of it - collecting the subscription amounts and knowing how many members we've got,
    · being able to notify girls/guardians directly of events they may be interested in, especially if something becomes available at the last minute- I also heard the other day that one/some of the centenary events will either be advertised through the system, or tickets will be sold through it or something,
    · to ensure that girl data is held in one safe and secure database, not on a unit Leader's unsecure PC,
    · from the system the unit Leader (or nominated person) will be able to produce registers, letters for camps and holidays and all sorts, we'll be able to contact parents by e-mail or by text directly from the system too if we choose to.
  • Gill Utting - Streamline Coordinator
• Census
  • The census for 2008 shows that, over the whole County, we have more Rainbows than last year, more Brownies, more Senior Section and more Leaders. But we have fewer Guides. Overall, our membership is up.
  • For those of you who like the numbers, at 22 February 2208 (2007 figures in brackets) there were 757 Rainbows (734), 2168 Brownies (2133), 1290 Guides (1333), 216 Senior Section (199), 488 Leaders and Commissioners (474), and 48 other members (76). Thus total members are 4967 (4949), non members 307 (192).
• Other useful information from the Census
• We have 223 units.
• We have 233 girls eligible to join Rainbows ie already the right age.
• We have 171 girls eligible to join Brownies who are not in Rainbows.
• We have 34 girls eligible to join Guides who are not in Brownies.
• Only 133 units claim Gift Aid - those that are not - you may be missing out on about £10 - £15 per girl. Please ask your District Treasurer to set it up for your unit.
• We have 5 Rainbow units without access to the internet and 5 Brownie units without access. All Guide and Senior Section units have access.
• Brownie Outdoor Activity Day
  • Saturday, 27th September at Jordan Heights. Come along for a Venture Out day. Lots of fun with earth, air, fire and water.
  • Download the full newsletter for the application form.

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