Looking back on my first term with 9th Warwick

As years go, 2020 has easily been the strangest I’ve ever experienced. There have been all sorts of changes to the way we all live our lives and interact with one another, and it’s been a good opportunity to reflect on many of the things that we have all taken for granted over the years.

Collectively, we’ve been doing everything we can to make sure that our young people have had something positive to look forward to, even when we weren’t able to meet. Our leaders have been putting challenges together, safely and securely delivering programme materials to homes, and preparing amazing digital sessions for all of our members to take part in, and the responses have been amazing.

We’ve been really fortunate at 9th, insofar that we’ve had leaders who have risen to the challenge and embraced using remote tools such as Zoom, WhatsApp, and the OSM Badges at Home platform, to keep everyone interested, and we’ll continue to look at ways in which we can keep some aspects of these things going into the future.

Thank you

As any of you who attended our AGM will have already heard, I’m grateful to all of you who have welcomed me into my new role. Taking on the Group Scout Leader role for any group can be a challenge, but the welcome I’ve had from our amazing volunteers, parents and youth members has honestly blown me away.

The volunteers at 9th Warwick really are a fantastic bunch, and I’m incredibly lucky to have inherited such an amazing team. The Group simply wouldn’t exist without the hard work and dedication that the section leadership team and executive committee both put in. They make sure we have the resources to allow us to put together an amazing programme, which they then deliver to our young people enthusiastically. It’s been great getting to know everyone, and I’m looking forward to spending more time with everyone to make sure they have everything they need.

Looking forward to 2021 and beyond

News on the vaccination programmes, some of which have already kicked off, is massively positive and offers us all a glimmer of hope that we will all be able to return to some level of normality in the coming months. While it is likely to take some time before we can get safely back to how things used to be, we hope to be able to start planning what a move to the Yellow readiness level will look like soon.

We’ll be looking to plan single-day activities over weekends, and some “everything-but-the-tent” non-camping weekends with local activity centres in the local vicinity in the new year. This will help our young people work towards their outdoor and adventurous activity challenge awards and will further reinforce how we’re doing our best to ensure that there’s a varied, interesting and adventurous outdoor programme, as soon as we can.

I’m hopeful that, in the coming months, we’ll have guidance from Scouts relating to camping activities under the Yellow readiness level. While it’s doubtful that we’ll be able to have any indoor residential nights away experiences (sleepovers indoors and in cabins, etc.) before the summer, outdoor camping may be permitted as soon as Scouts, NYA and the government reach consensus over the level at which such activities can recommence, and what the safety measures and controls we’ll need to put in place will look like.

I know many of you can’t wait to return to camping, and as soon as it is safe and possible for us to do so, I promise that we’ll all be pitching tents as a group again as quickly as we can!

9th Warwick’s 9th birthday on 9th March

It’s been nearly 10 years since the group was founded by Kate, Matt, Jo and the other amazing volunteers who decided to bring Scouting to this part of Warwick. 9th Warwick’s official 9th birthday will happen on the 9th of March next year! (That’s a lot of 9ths!)

As part of our upcoming birthday celebrations, we’ll be launching a badge design challenge so that every member of the group – not just young people – can give us some inspiration so that we can celebrate our 10th birthday in style in 2022 with a birthday badge for our uniforms. Keep an eye out for more details in the new year.

Wrapping up and closing the year

So that’s it for 2020, from a Scouting perspective. We’re doing all of our administration to move our youth members who have completed their Moving On awards and will be moving into their new sections in the new year. Don’t forget to keep an eye out in your email inboxes for the OSM links to activate your accounts in the new sections.

We’re looking forward to seeing you back for our meetings in January, starting back on Monday 11 January with Scouts. Our section leadership team will be preparing a fun, outdoor, activity-packed programme – as well as a few online backup sessions so that we’re prepared for any eventuality – and we can’t wait to get started.

All that’s left is for me to thank you all for your support this year, and to wish you a very happy Christmas and a safer, healthier and more prosperous 2021!

Thank you,
Anthony