TALKABOUT1ST & 4TH Offerton

Scout & Guide Group

2014

Meetings in the Albany

Monday Rainbows 4th Offerton 5.00-6.00 p.m.

Brownies 4th Offerton 6.00-7.30 p.m.

Guides 1st Offerton 7.30-0.00 p.m.

Tuesday Cubs Kipling 6.30-8.00 p.m.

Wednesday Beavers Saturn 5.15-6.30 p.m.

Cubs Rudyard 6.45-8.15 p.m.

Thursday Beavers Thor 6.00-7.15 p.m.

Scouts 7.30-9.30 p.m.

Website:

http://the-albany.btck.co.uk/

Parents and supporters facebook group:

www.facebook.com/groups/1stand4thoffertonscoutsandguides/

1st & 4th Offerton Scout and Guide Group

Chairman’s Report

Welcome to this years talkabout magazine everyone.

Many thanks to all who contributed to another successful year of fundraising throughout 2013 by helping collect, organise, and most importantly give up their valuable time to enable us to grow as a group.

To everyone who make and sell cakes, organise bacon butties at 6.30 in the morning during the ever popular plant sale and to those who arranged tea and coffee etc. at the various fundraisers.

All the groups for making gifts, and all the leaders for their constant support.

To Phil for helping deal with the ongoing 5 year plan for the upkeep of the buildings

To the shops and businesses that helped us by displaying posters advertising events.

All the parents & friends of the group for supporting the fundraising events across the year.

And to everyone who contributes their time and efforts to the monthly executive committee meetings. Without this help and guidance the whole 1st and 4th Offerton scout and guides group would be not be possible to maintain.

Plus anyone else I have missed, so many people helped along the way.

It has been a year of change for us also here at the Albany; we welcome in a new GSL Peter Higginbotham and say a fond farewell to Dennis Hinks. Dennis performed wondrous tasks whilst acting as GSL and helped to provide impetus which will hopefully be carried on long into the future. Many thanks Dennis!

On a sad note I feel it is important to express a great sense of loss at the passing away of Norman Haskell (1929-2014). Norman AKA “Skip” was a man who has been at the heart of this scout & guides troop for many years.

I was only privileged to know Norman for the past ten years when my eldest son joined as a beaver scout but it was obvious from my first meeting and beyond that Skip was a man held dear to so many people and an inspiration to many others myself included.

Everyone should be immensely proud of what we achieved as a group over the past 12 months.

Jim (Chair of executive committee)

Group Scout Leaders Report

I have only recently taken over the role of Group Scout Leader from Dennis prior to Christmas. It has been about 30 years since I was last a leader within the Albany and it does feel good to be back.

The group is lucky to have such a strong dedicated team of experienced leaders and I hope that we can build on this as we evolve to face the challenges of the future.

The Albany itself looks good after last year’s re decoration. My primary concern has been to oversee the ongoing essential repairs to the building which hopefully are nearly done, but still leaving a list of more non-essential work to be completed. Hopefully by the time you are reading this the roof repairs will have been completed.

I am glad to report that after a quiet winter the new group minibus is now getting plenty of usage.

The 50th anniversary celebrations, Christmas market and group carol service demonstrated to me that the group is more than capable of putting together a ‘quality’ event. Furthermore, it was evident that event’s such as these are well attended by both parents and supporters, which is nice to see. In the future we will be staging more events to increase parent’s participation and involvement within the group.

Many thanks go to all those people involved in helping and supporting the group. If you feel you could help the group, or a particular section, in any way please feel free to contact us as we welcome any new ideas and assistance.

Over the last few months we have seen a big increase in the use of the group’s Facebook page and website. Both are great ways of staying in contact with the latest group events.

The group now enjoys a very good, improved, working relationship with the church as our sponsoring authority. Many thanks go to our vicar Father Andrew Lythall. Together I hope that we can further build on this.

Thanks

Peter Higginbotham

( Group Scout Leader)

1ST & 4TH OFFERTON SCOUT AND GUIDE GROUP

Annual General Meeting

21st June 2014

Executive Committee report to the Group Council

• Group fundraising continues with particular success in the Plant Sales and the Christmas Market. The change in format to the Christmas Market worked well and saw an increase in fund raising for the first time in a number of years.

• The Executive Committee continues with its programme of repair and modernisation of the Albany.

• Redecoration works were carried out during the summer break of 2013. Some external repair works are still necessary (reroofing of the store room and the entrance lobby as well as well as some work to the external walls ).

• For the future we are considering

1. Install new racking to the store

2. Concrete slab to mini bus area

3. The installation of emergency lighting

• A 5 year maintenance programme for the Group is in place – see attached

• The Executive Committee has continued with its agreement to hire out the Albany field for use by the Christopher Robin Nursery. Again, this will bring in much needed funds.

Maintenance and refurbishment 5 Year Plan

Item Approx. cost

Priority

1 Install deep gutter to Church Hall elevation to prevent blockages and overflowing

£250 1

2 Replace roof panels to Ravens room £1,200 1

3 Investigate and replace/repair wall plate at Ravens Room £100 1

4 Render repair external wall to Ravens room (both sides). Expemet may be required at wall plate.

£250 1

5 Repair/replace gutter to lobby £300 1

6 Repair to concrete panels at field elevation/main door corner £150 1

7 Repair rainwater hopper & pipe to field elevation/main door corner to prevent further damage to concrete panels

£200 1

8 Repair/reconnect vent axia £250 2

9 Repair external lights to field £100 2

10 Install new racking to stores £500 2

11 Investigate/replace guttering around garage (by Christopher Robin’s shed)

£50 2

12 Concrete to slab – minibus parking area £250 3

13 Redecorate Ravens Room once repairs carried out £300 3

14 Close/seal to trop of dividing wall to Ravens Room £500 3

15 Install emergency lighting £1,500 3

16 Replace and upgrade heating system £5,000 3

17 Patch tarmac in footpath to Albany £50 4

18 Remodel and decorate lobby £1,500 4

4th Offerton Rainbows

Talkabout 2014

We currently have a full pack of 16 rainbows and a waiting list of girls keen to join us when space becomes available. We meet on a Monday evening 5-6pm.

During 2013 we have been very busy! During our weekly meetings at the start of the year we celebrated Chinese New Year, had a joint meeting with the Brownies and Guides for Thinking Day and had a Games Night.

For Easter we had an Easter Egg Hunt and made an Easter Card, we also celebrated Mothers Day by making our Mum’s a card and gift.

In the summer of this year we joined with Reddish Rainbows and had a Winnie the Pooh themed sleepover! We stayed in a lovely building up in Disley, which is on a guide campsite. During the sleepover we made crafts such as decorating our own umbrella, decorated our own Photo Frames and made our very own Chocolate bar holder. We also had a campfire, sang songs and had a go on a bouncy castle!

We visited the Community Farm in Romiley, where we got to see a lot of animals and learn about all the things they eat! There was a baby goat, ducks and chickens, a pig and a grumpy but very handsome pony!

Later on in the year we celebrated Halloween by having our faces painted and made some Halloween themed spooky crafts! For Christmas, as is the tradition, we joined in the group Carol Service by presenting the Nativity Scene. We also went to the Pantomime at Romiley Forum and had a good old fashioned party with lots of food!

2014 is set to be a busy one too! We are celebrating 40 years of guiding in Stockport so there are a lot of things going on! We are hoping to have lots of trips out to the fire station, visits from the police and maybe a few surprises too!

Yours in Guiding

Badger, Fox, Hedgehog and Rabbit

4th Offerton Brownie Pack 2013 Report

2013 started off well with a full unit of 24 brownies and a steady supply of Rainbows waiting to fill any spaces.

We started the year earning badges and doing book work. In February we had two Rainbows join us and we celebrated Thinking Day with a joint evening with the Rainbows and Guides in the Parish Hall.

At the end of 2012 the dad of one of our Brownies, who is a Fireman (Fireman Simon) came to talk to the Brownies about fire safety, he gave the girls leaflets and demonstrated how to be safe in the home and out and about to enable them to gain their Fire Safety badge. In March we visited Offerton Fire Station got to see a real Fire Engine and could show the Firemen of Offerton their knowledge of fire safety and they thoroughly enjoyed their visit.

We iced biscuits for mother's day gifts and made cards we also made Easter cards and Easter baskets filled with chocolate eggs.

In May we did the Crime Prevention badge, which involved the Community Policemen attending the meetings, this proved a little tricky as they are very difficult to pin down but eventually they turned up to talk and test the girls knowledge for the badge.

In September we had 8 new Rainbows come up all at once which took our total up to 34, fortunately we have enough leaders to cope but it means we are a very large pack at the moment.

We had a Halloween themed evening where the girls made banana ghosts and orange pumpkin.

In November we organised the raffle at the groups Christmas Market and the Brownies made chocolate tree decorations to sell.

December is always a very busy time the Brownies made chocolate tree decorations, Christmas cards and gifts. We went to see Aladdin at Romiley Forum followed by tea at McDonalds and then we all attended the group's Carol Service which rounded off a thoroughly enjoyable day. We finished the year off with a Christmas Party.

We would like to thank everyone who has helped us during the year and if anyone would like to volunteer to join us please do come in to see us, you will be very much appreciated.

2014 is a very special year for the Brownies - we are 100 years old and we are all looking forward to a sleep over with a difference in Blackpool Tower - more about this in the next report.

Carole Wilcox, Lesley Gichero, Jackie Allen and Beryl Normansell

[Guides, unfortunately no report received.]

GROUP FUNDRAISER

Cash for clothing collection

We want your unwanted useable clothes, paired shoes, belts, handbags and

books

Sorry we cannot use bad quality/wet items, duvets, pillows, bedding, heavy curtains

Collection @ Albany

Start sat 14th june

Finish sat 21st june

Sat 14th June, 9th August, 11th October

Baby and children’s table top sales

Albany 10am-1pm

For further details see website or facebook

Saturn Beavers Talk About 1013

This year we worked towards our faith, healthy eating, creative, hobbies, imagination, explore badges and our global, outdoor and creative challenge badges

We started the year off with a games night and finding out what our friends mean to us and how we can be a better friend to others.

We thought about how lies and truth can affect us and how it is important to always tell the truth.

The beavers enjoyed making mother’s and father’s day cards and enjoyed doing an Easter egg hunt around the garden in the Albany.

We all tried new foods and made a healthy sandwich for our healthy eating badge.

We learnt about packing a backpack and we all went for a local walk around Stockport. We also went to the park to play games.

For our global challenge we found out about fair trade and did a litter pick around the church and the Albany.

We enjoyed lots of arts and crafts, games and ‘bring our friends to beavers’ and hopefully next year our members will increase. Saturn Beavers are looking forward to a new leader joining us next year.

Thank you to everyone for their help and support throughout the year.

Cherry, Red and Oak

THOR BEAVERS ANNUAL REPORT 2013

It is with great sadness that I am writing this shortly after the death of Skip, our much beloved Norman Haskell, who was a regular presence at Thor Beavers, keeping up with the admin and finances, meeting and greeting our parents and children at the start of the sessions and generally just being good old Skip, quick to stop the Beavers from being too boisterous and misbehaving with a bellow. He taught me a great deal about running Beavers just by watching him. I only hope we do him proud now and in the future.

As always Thor has had an action filled year with highlights including our second overnight camp, which had a wildlife theme and some fabulous fancy dress and also an evening of water fun before the long summer break.

We celebrated 50 years of the group and also learnt about the history of Beavers and Ash our Young Leader told the boys about his time at the Jamboree in Japan and they learnt enough to get the Global Challenge badge.

The Christmas market saw us overflowing with cakes to sell including some decorated by the Beavers

For the Carol service we all had fun jumping up and down as 6 geese a laying in the 12 days of Christmas.

We joined with Kipling Cubs to watch the Pantomime Aladdin at Romiley Forum

Many thanks go to Leaders for all their help in carrying out activities and planning fun programmes.

Willow (especially with baby Phoebe, born in May 2013), Chestnut, Ash, Skip and also to all parents who have helped us throughout the year.

We look forward to another successful year at Beavers, sadly without the great force that is Skip!

Beech

Kipling Cubs Report 2013

January 29th. Two cubs, Ryan McCarthy and Mathew Howe, achieved the Silver Award

February 12th pancakes

The frying pan came out and Shere Khan and Baloo made pancakes with treacle.

March

Local Interest Badge—a heritage walk around Stockport and started First Aid Badge with Shere Khan

April

First Aid Badges presented and St. George’s Day Parade…Just made it into church as the rain started!

May

Started Map Reading Badgeand District day out to beach at St. Anne’s. Very cold, very windy but we all enjoyed digging! (Inc. Baloo) Thanks to Shere Khan and Hathi for their support.

June 11th

Map Reading Badges presented.

July 26th-28th District Camp (theme: “Space”)

10 cubs and 2 leaders attended a “Space” camp at Linnet Clough. During the two meetings prior to camp we made and coloured small spaceships which were laminated and put up on our tents. There was fancy dress (inc. leaders). A good time was had by all.

September 17th.Started Air Activities Badge.

October

Finished Air Activities Badge and started the Community Challenge Badge and Halloween party

Scary snacks and dressing up.

9th November Badge Day

Five cubs took part from Kipling. Badges won included astronomer, artist, book reader, musician and IT.

December

Community Challenge Badges presented and Pantomime at Romiley Forum! Noisy and Good Fun!

I would like to thank all the leaders for their continuing support! It is most appreciated.

Baloo

Rudyard Talk About Report 2013

2013 saw the start of our 50th anniversary year, we all had new Necker badges and a special 50th year badge to celebrate this special event.

We have had many achievements during the year the biggest being Baghera awarded the Chief Scouts Commendation for Meritorious Service.

The boys have been working towards 3 of their Challenge Badges – Outdoor, Promise and Global and we are very proud to have had 10 cubs get their Silver Challenge Award before moving into Scouts.

We went to Linnet Clough in July for our annual camp on the hottest weekend of the year, (NO RAIN!!) where we went pond dipping at the Roman Lakes, learnt about the different trees and ducks towards our naturalist badge and archery.

We had a visit from our local Community Police Officer to explain keeping safe with all technology.

As always we took part in the District Chess Competition and Badge Day where we gained over 50 badges! Well Done Cubs.

We have attended Church Parades, St Georges Day Parade and the Group Carol Service and ran a very successful Chocolate Tombola at the Group’s Christmas Market and a big thank you to all the parents for the donations of chocolate.

We ended our year with a Christmas outing to Roller Skating at Hazel Grove and survived the night, the leaders just.

Thank you to all the parents for their help and support over the last year.

We have a few places available if any new cubs wish to join please email Rudyardcubs@gmail.com

Akela, Rikki, Bagheera, Mang, Keego and Nagg

Scouts report 2013

Over the last 12 months the Scout Troop has grown in size, too long since we have seen 28 Scouts. As ever we have packed a lot into the year.

January started with the district indoor climbing day at awesome walls.

February saw a very sticky evening making Toffee apples to celebrate the end of sweet rationing 60 years ago.

In March the bravest of the scouts went caving in Derbyshire.

April came with some knotting and St Georges day parade.

With May arriving it was time to go camping; the annual David Slater competition saw us enter 2 patrols, The fitness Challenge was started this month too.

June arrived and a trip to the park and bleep tests completed the fitness challenge, Water fun day and a hike.

In July, we started work on the Astronautics badge which culminated in firing rockets at the district camp and for a change it didn’t rain, we even had scouts sleeping under the stars.

August is a quiet month, a wide game and tracking.

September started with Geocashing, a walk, first aid and another camp ( deep heat hiking competition ).

October had a Halloween night as well as backwoods night ,a night hike, the district night activity, paper planes and Remembrance Day parade took up November

And so to December; knots, an obstacle course and an ill-fated trip to Hyde leisure pool, diverted to grand central to be turned away and finish up in McDonalds!

That sums up our very full and active scouts year.

Nigel, Simon, Rick and Chris

SPONSORING AUTHORITY REPORT

Upon my arrival back in April 2013, I found myself in the privileged position of being the Sponsoring Authority of the Albany. St. Alban’s is very blessed indeed to have such a good relationship with the group, and I have been delighted by the ways in which the relationship between the church and the group has flourished over the past year.

It was certainly a privilege for me to preside at the funeral of Norman Haskell (Skip) in January, and spending time with leaders and children over the past 12 months, it’s clear that the obvious affection and respect shown for Skip extends throughout the rest of the group; the Albany feels very much like a family. Indeed, seeing the fantastic range of activities that the Cubs get up to, I rather regret ever having left!

Thanks are due to all those who work so hard to ensure that the work of the Albany is able to continue; leaders, the exec, helpers and of course the children themselves. Special thanks are perhaps due to all those who work tirelessly behind the scenes, doing the very many small tasks which are essential to the smooth running of the group. I would also like to personally thank all those members of the group (leaders, children and parents) who have contributed to the various parade services over the last 12 months; it’s always a pleasure to welcome you into the church.

It has been a joy to be a part of the work and life of the Albany over the past year, and on behalf of St. Alban’s, I wish all of the groups every success in 2014.

Yours

Fr. Andrew Lythall

Vicar of Offerton

Rector of St. Thomas’, Stockport

Forthcoming events

21st June. Church Fun Day 12-4 followed by

Group A.G.M. 4.30pm

9th August. Baby & children’s table top sale 10-1

11th October Baby & children’s table top sale 10-1

29th November Xmas Market

14th December Carol service 5pm.

Updates on all above events via our website

http://the-albany.btck.co.uk/

or our facebook group

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1stand4thoffertonscoutsandguides/