BRITISH SCOUTING OVERSEAS “REST of the WORLD”• Learn 10 key events of another RoW countrys...

BRITISH SCOUTING OVERSEAS

“REST of the WORLD” DISTRICT

District contacts:

• District Commissioner:

• Deputy DC-UK Twinning & Group Support:

• Deputy DC-Adult Support & Training:

“Rest of the World” District encompasses Groups in:

Ascension Island <> China <> Falkland Islands <> Indonesia <> Japan <> Kenya <> Malaysia <> Russia <> Singapore <> St. Helena <> Thailand

Jon Gill. 9, Grange Park, Albrighton, Shropshire WV7 3EN

David Mitchell. 46 High Park Crescent, Sedgley, West Midland DY1 1QV. UK.

Ben Balaam. 9 Pipit Place, Upper Horsebridge, Hellingly, East Sussex BN27 1FT . UK.

T:0044(0)7577579009 e:[email protected]

m: +44(0)7745773 e: [email protected]

t +44(0)1323 842580 m: +44(0)7917 091868 e: [email protected]

August 2018

Hello from the District Commissioner!

I am delighted to hand over this month’s bulletin to Victoria. Therefore, I will keep my bit very brief!

District AGM – I was really pleased with the turn out, and how smoothly it went. Thank you to everyone

who participated, and for your positive comments. Also, thank you to the newly elected Committee and

especially John for running such an efficient meeting. I am looking forward to working with the District

Executive and District Team in the coming months to further strengthen support for you. The Exec. and

team are not meant to work in isolation and welcome any items you would like raised at their meetings.

These can be fed either through myself for the team or John for the executive committee.

Chamboree – an absolute privilege to visit the BSO contingent and Jamboree Unit. It was especially

pleasing to meet our ROW scouts from St. Helena, Ascension and Kuala Lumpur and leaders from KL and

The Falkland Islands.

Reunion – Lynn and I will be at Reunion and look forward to linking up fellow scouters from the BSO

world.

Visits - We are actively looking at ways we can fund team visits to enable training, validations, advice and

support.

District Youth Commissioner’s Challenge - Please do all you can to support Victoria’s initiative. I hope you

will accept that this is also a real effort from the District to give Groups something tangible and a benefit

to our young people at nil cost to you.

District Media and Communications manager - You should be aware by now that Kevin Price has been

appointed to this position, linking in with similar appointments in our other BSO Districts and the Area

Comms team. I have had some concerns for a while how we can best filter information down to our grass

roots and especially our young people in Beavers, Cubs and Scouts and make us a really Youth Shaped

District. This will be one of Kevin’s key aims and tasks and we have already had a couple of very fruitful

discussions. I know he would be pleased to hear from you with any of your own suggestions

Thanks all

Jon

mailto:[email protected]




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Congratulations!

I had the pleasure of meeting Jan and Tim Miller from 1st Falkland Islands - Admiral Sturdees Own, in

Ludlow this week and handed over 100 District Youth Commissioner's Award badges to Jan for our 2

Groups there.

I also had the pleasure of presenting to Tim a well-deserved Commissioner's Award! Bravo Tim!

I am also delighted to tell you that in addition to everything else that she has been busy with, Victoria

has managed to find time to complete her Queen's Scout Award. The QSA is our highest award for young

people and truly represents a great personal challenge to achieve it.

The Award will be formally presented very shortly, and there will be pictures in the next bulletin and our

Facebook page. Victoria can also look forward to a wonderful day at Windsor Castle next April with her

family.

On behalf of the whole ROW / BSO family, many congratulations Victoria!





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Hello from the Youth Commissioner!

Thank you, Jon, for your kind words about my QSA Award - I hope you all enjoy my presentation below!

I hope everyone is having a fabulous summer break! It has been great to get in touch with some of you

due to having the pleasure of putting the bulletin together for this term. I have thoroughly enjoyed my

first few months as RoW’s Youth Commissioner and hope to get to know many more of you very soon.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me ([email protected]) if you would like any support or if you

have any ideas we could implement to encourage youth led scouting. I am happy to be skyped during

your meetings, either during your time with your young people or otherwise, to promote more youth

involvement.

I will be at Reunion this year as well and I am looking forward to meeting many in our RoW and BSO

family in person! I am also planning a trip to the far east early to mid-October to visit some of the groups,

Jon and myself will be in touch about me meeting up with some of you whilst I am over.

Following the launch of my District Youth Commissioner’s challenge badge (see below), my next project

to encourage youth led scouting is to try and link up some Explorers of the district, so watch this space!

Yours in Scouting,

Victoria

District Youth Commissioner Challenge Badge

I hope this will give you some great programme ideas for the coming term! The aim is to allow the young

people to learn more about the cultures of other RoW countries. The cost of the badge is completely

covered by the district, including the postage and packaging of the badges.

When your young people have completed the badge, load photos of the challenges onto the RoW

Facebook page, caption/comment under each photo with the challenge it shows and tag me in to the

post. Once I receive this I can post you the badges!

Additionally, thank you to Cheryl Dickinson for sharing some of her fabulous ideas with me which helped

immensely in creating this badge.

Requirements:

• Beavers – pick 2 countries in RoW, do 3 challenges for each (6 in total)

• Cubs – pick 2 countries in RoW, do 4 challenges for each (8 in total)






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• Scouts – pick 2 countries in RoW, do 5 challenges for each (10 in total)

• Explorers – pick 2 countries in RoW, do 6 challenges for each (12 in total)

• You can mix and match challenges and countries (for example Beavers could do 3 countries, 2

challenges for each) as long as you do the minimum number of challenges for your section, pick at

least 2 different countries and do at least 2 challenges for each country.

• YP must be able to point to the countries chosen on a world map

Challenges (Beavers and Cubs):

• Create the flag of another RoW country – be creative, can be any material!

• Learn how to say hello, goodbye, please and thank you in another RoW language

• Eat a traditional meal/food of anther RoW country

• Learn 5 key facts about another RoW country’s religion

• Learn 5 key events of another RoW country’s history

• Play a game traditional in another RoW country, e.g. Sepak Takraw for Thailand (rules can be

found online)

• Know what currency another RoW country uses (look at/handle some if possible) and how it is

split up

• Discuss 3 ways another RoW country’s culture is different from the one you live in

• Talk about and/or colour in pictures of another RoW country’s national dress

• Send a written letter to another RoW group in one of your chosen countries (each YP should write

their own letter)

Challenges (Scouts and Explorers):

• Create the flag of another RoW country – be creative, can be any material!

• Learn how to say hello, goodbye, please, thank you, my name is and order a traditional meal in

another RoW language – use these words if relevant during the evening!

• Cook a traditional meal of another RoW country

• Learn 10 facts about another RoW country’s religion

• Learn 10 key events of another RoW country’s history

• Play a game traditional in another RoW country, e.g. Sepak Takraw for Thailand (rules can be

found online)

• Know what currency another RoW country uses (look at/handle some if possible), how it is split

up, how it has developed over time and what the exchange rate is

• Discuss 5 ways another RoW country’s culture is different from the one you live in

• Practice one of these cultural differences for the evening

• Find out five facts about the most famous geographical landmark of another RoW country

• Send a written letter to another RoW group in one of your chosen countries (each YP should write

their own letter), make sure to name your favourite Scouting activity!

• Create a 3D model of another RoW country’s most famous building out of newspaper, tape,

cardboard tubes etc. – make sure it can stand unaided!





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Queen’s Scout Award Presentation!

The QSA is something that I have always wanted to complete from a young age, mainly because I wanted

to meet the Queen at the Windsor parade! Whether or not she will be there in April, I will be very proud

to attend and celebrate Scouting.

Nights Away

My 18 nights away, 12 must be under canvas, which I logged for the award were varied, from taking part

in the Gilwell Freezer, to doing an overnight sponsored bike ride around Ledbury and Malvern, to

successfully Bivouacking in the rain as we didn’t get wet!

I have done many, many more than 18 nights away since registering for the award but filling in the form

made me realise that not all of them were easy (as I am sure many of you will know, getting back on a

bike the second day is not the most pleasant experience!). Those experiences taught me determination,

resilience, problem solving, and of course I had a lot of fun with good friends along the way.

International, Community and Values

As part of the ICV section of the award, again, my activities were varied, from being a participant in the

West Mercia Unit for the WSJ 2011 in Sweden, to

helping the Beavers as a young leader complete

their Environmental Conservation and Faith

Activity badges, to creating the DYC challenge

badge for RoW!

I truly believe that a major aim in Scouting is to

give young people a diverse range of

opportunities to develop well-rounded individuals, and the QSA award certainly makes you consider the

world around you and encourage you to leave the world a little better than you found it.

Five Challenges

This section coincided with my Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award, for which I volunteered as a young leader

at Beavers, joined the Snow sports society at university for

the physical section and developed my piano playing for

the skills section.

Our final expedition was on Dartmoor, which again was a

lesson in determination, resilience and problem solving,

particularly when I fell into a swamp – although luckily, I

didn’t lose a shoe! My high-level map reading certainly

improved over the four days as we all pulled together as a

team and more effectively pooled our resources.

I have thoroughly enjoyed all of elements of my QSA award, learnt a lot and I am very pleased and proud

to have completed it!

Myself, Abi, Paige and Alex on the finish line!

Unit 99 WSJ Sweden 2011

Victoria





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Hello from the Deputy DC – Programme and Activity Support!

Just a reminder about JOTA/JOTI which takes place on 19th – 21st October 2018. It would be great for lots

of RoW groups to get involved as it will be great way of spreading communication across the district!

Hopefully we will put together a specific plan for RoW groups e.g. a GoTo meeting so we can

communicate with each other specifically as well as lots of other groups across the world!

We are also thinking about a district camp sometime in the near future, so watch this space!

Yours in Scouting,

Dave

Introducing our new District Media and Communications Manager!

7th Tipton Scout Group West Mercia in the mid-seventies was the

place to be! I was soon hooked with all things Scouting in Tipton;

troop night activities, badge work, weekends at Kinver Scout Camp

and the legendary Scout Band.

I was a Patrol Leader (Hawks), became a Venture Scout Leader and

carried out other Scout Fellowship duties. Many friendships forged

from that era have continued throughout my adult life.

My earlier career as an Electronics Engineer frequently took me

away from home and reluctantly I gave up my official scouting post.

Later, West Mercia County team adopted me as ‘County Tekkie’

helping with the performances of many shows and training events

throughout the eighties and nineties.

For the latter half of my career I have been a Teacher of Technology at a large Secondary school in the

West Midlands where I also assist in the running of our successful Duke of Edinburgh Award programme.

My former involvement in Scouting and love of ‘The Great Outdoors’ has provided me with the necessary

skill set to be the school D of E Expeditions Leader.

So, to the future - I look forward to working with the ROW District Team and Executive Committee, as

well as the wider Area BSO Media and Communications team, supporting and developing Scouting across

the District.

Kevin Price





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Introducing our new District Secretary!

We are delighted that Rob Willis has agreed to take on the important role

of District Secretary. Jon has known Rob many years, from their time in

Germany where he was the School Administrator and I.T. support.

Rob was also a great supporter of the Scout Group there along with his

wife Kim, who was the Group Treasurer.

Since returning to Stafford, Rob and Kim have continued scouting where

they run a great Troop, and where Lynn and Jon recently had the

pleasure of introducing their scouts to the wonders of BSO and Rest of

the World District.

For Jon particularly, it is great to have on board a fellow huge Rolling Stones fan and golfer! Over time,

Rob will take on more of the administrative roles to ease the burden on our Area Secretary /

Administrator, David Bull.

Welcome to the District Rob!





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Chamboree, 28th July – 4th August 2018

Just a few pictures from Chamboree – it was fabulous to have such a large BSO contingent and for the

Jamboree contingent to be able to get together! Continue reading for an account of their training day.

You all represented BSO so well and looks like you had a great time!

Trevor of 1st Ascension with DC Jon

Luke Bowers of 1st St. Helena

James Johnson of 1st Falkland Islands





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Jamboree Contingent Training Day at Chamboree, 31st July 2018

Ahoy me hearties!

Let me tell you about the scouts swashbuckling adventure at The Port of Tortuga. The Dunk Tank! Silent

cursing and screams rent the air as well as sharp intakes of breath. My patrol went first to the dunk tank

where scouts sat on the plank and their crew (their patrol) threw balls at the target until the target was

hit and the scout fell in. We all got dunked except for me because I am a scaredy cat and a rotten

landlubber and would be given the job of scrubbing the decks if we were on-board a ship.

Next, we went on the swashbuckling inflatable obstacle course race which was a lot of fun. With fair

winds behind us we expected to fly over the course. Buccaneer George was the fastest, his long lanky legs

led him to the treasure of victory. However, after hauling myself up the rigging three times I was

exhausted. The slide down was amazing for my tired arms. Ahhhh!

After that most of my group went to the escape room but I wanted to continue the challenge. Therefore,

I went down the vertical slide seven times, climbing up the cobwebs to the crow’s nest then sliding down

the plank and into the water.

The final activity I did was the big red balls and I did it in Total Wipeout style. It was one of the most

challenging and difficult obstacles to do. I got on to the first ball, wobbled a bit but maintained my

balance then jumped onto the second leap frog style then, the third and fourth and leapt like a kangaroo

finally on to the platform on the other side. Success! Perhaps I could make a pirate after all…

Lexi Lawrence

Unit 99 (The Voyagers) WSJ 2019 Contingent member





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Hello from 1st Lanna (Chiang Mai)!

1st Lanna (Chiang Mai) Cub Scouts had a fantastic scouting day, learning life skills and enjoying new experiences with a scout leader from the UK who has been in the scouts for over 30 years. They learnt how to safely use saws, axes, cook on a campfire that they had made themselves, put up tents, lashings, knots, pioneering and tracks & trails. Such a busy but fun day and a great experience for the group.

Leanne Allen

Cub Scout Leader





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Hello from 1st Singapore!

Tanglin Trust School Cubs

For our last Cubs Session of the Year we needed an adventure, so we went hiking! A lovely cool, slightly

wet hike from Keppel Bay to Labrador Park! The Cubs breezed the 2km walk with their friends.

After a quick s’more, 14 Cubs were awarded their Chief Scout Silver Award! We are so very proud of all

the Cubs for their fantastic achievements.

Becca Taylor

Assistant GSL





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Dulwich College Cubs

Given that this was a new start for the leadership of Cubs at Dulwich, with Emma and Sarah taking over as

the new Akela’s for Tuesday and Friday’s respectively, this term’s theme was Back to Basics.

Many of the traditions of Scouting, were not in place and we were both keen to go back to basics. Firstly,

we introduced the Jungle Book names for all leaders and started using the Grand Howl ceremony to

initiate all our gatherings. We also took the opportunity to re-organise the Sixes and formally re-appoint

Sixers and Seconders. This also allowed us to participate in the Plastic Woggle Amnesty by pledging all the

old plastic woggles and exchanging them for leather ones – we just need to find a creative way now of

recycling or re-using the old ones!

We have created three new guidebooks for cubs at Dulwich. A New Starters Guide, obviously given to all

new cubs who join, explaining the fundamentals of Cubs. A Log Book, given to all cubs who get Invested in

order that they can log their badges and document their nights away, trips, hikes etc. And a

Sixer/Seconder Handbook, given to those who get promoted into these leadership roles, in order that

they know what is expected of them in addition to the basic scouting principles.

Our program this term saw us cover 8 Activity badges, 6 Challenge badges and 7 Staged Activity badges,

including the Community Impact, Chef, Astronomer and Hikes Away badges.

A Bukit Batok Camp badge was given to all those who attended camp. Each leader also chose a cub who

had displayed excellent teamwork, kindness and skill during camp and they were awarded with various

prizes such as Scouting Top Trumps and compasses.

Sarah Webber, Akela Friday

and

Emma Perrin, Akela Tuesday





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Hello from 2nd Kuala Lumpur!

Beaver Damboree - organised by Andy Sissons (and others) in the UK to highlight to all that Beavers can

sleep under canvas and are not limited to one night. We camped out in our tents for 2 nights at Radiant

Retreat. Amongst other things, they cooked and washed up: gaining their Cook badge, and did a river

walk which took 2 members way outside their comfort zone, but they did it!

The Cubs have completed many teamwork challenge activities this term including human conveyor belt,

balloon balancing act, transporting bananas by foot, amongst many others. We also went on an 'Ideal

Camp' voted on last term by our Cubs: 5-star hotel (as close as we could get!), river walk, obstacle course

and movie night. It also included a 2nd KL Commonwealth Games with a few chocolate races...hence the

chocolate faces :D

This term, our Scouts completed a survival camp - I will hand over to two of the survivors to tell you all

about it!

‘I’m a survivor’ Scout camp, Eva Banyard What were you feeling before you got to camp? I was feeling scared about sleeping in the jungle and how many mosquito bites I would get. How did you work out the best way to build the shelters? We had an idea that it would be a right-angled triangle and would need





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clove hitches and square lashing to join the bamboo together. We used rope to attach the banana leaves to the bamboo. How many were there to one shelter? Two each for the girls, and three boys in theirs. Were you worried about the weather? I wanted it to rain but I also didn’t want it to rain! I wanted it to rain because then we would sleep in the villa with the Cubs, but I didn’t want it to rain so we could sleep in our cosy shelters :-) How did you feel when you finished building your shelter? I felt happy and proud of myself, and my partner Sophia.

Did you survive the night in your shelter? Yes, I did and I slept really well. I did have 49 mosquito bites but I survived! I felt really good about myself for having done it even though I was scared at the start. Did you win any prizes? Yes, Sophia and I won the prize for ‘Best made shelter’. Are you pleased you did it? Most definitely, YES!

Scout Survival Camp, Survived by Aaron Banyard

We arrived around 9:00am and started rehearsing for the play that we were going

to do later for the Cubs. The play was written by 2 Scouts, Rupert and Xinghan as

part of our Creative Challenge. After rehearsals we started to build our shelters in

order for us to have a place to sleep, the hardest bit was it kept on falling but the

challenge was still fun.

While William and Rupert made lunch (fried rice), we

continued on to finish our shelters, with only minor collapses (knowing without them

we couldn’t sleep!). During this time it started to rain and after a while we realised

we would have to stop so we headed to where the Cubs were and showed them the

play we had been rehearsing. Some of us forgot our lines but it was still fun and the

Cubs enjoyed it.





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Then when we finished we fired up the campfire and started to make dinner: baked potato with sour

cream and cheese and then marshmallows; it was quite fun sitting around the campfire.

When we woke up we packed up as well as starting to take our shelters apart. Then we all went to a river

where we built rock sculptures and knocked them down with arrows. After getting changed we went on

to finally make lunch (cheese sandwiches and chips) then took down the shelters leaving minimal mess

and went home. Those of use whose parents got there late for pick-up had leftover chocolate spread

sandwiches :-)

We have had a fun filled term at 2nd Kuala Lumpur and are looking forward to September!

Mairi Clare,

GSL





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Hello from 1st Ascension Islands!

Congratulations to Jedi, Thomas, Devon and Craig in gaining their Chief Scout Gold Awards, presented by the Administrator yesterday at the Queen`s Birthday Party at the Residency. They finished the last part of their award last month when they completed a 3 day, 2 nights away, expedition walking around the Island. Also well done to the 7 (next generation!) Scout helpers yesterday, Liam, Jeremiah, Reece, Cain, Stefan and Josh (in the photo) and especially Corey (gone by photo) who worked especially hard. You all looked really smart and were a great help.

Johnny Hobson

GSL





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Hello from 1st Falkland Islands -Admiral Sturdees Own!

April - Beavers and Cubs enjoyed a meeting at swimming pool, all Beavers gained Stage 1 and the Cubs

gained either Stage 1,2,3 and one worked hard and gained Stage 4.

We all attended Queens Birthday Parade on 21st April and 2nd FI joined us too!

May - Beavers and Cubs learnt ball room dancing ready for the Mini May Ball, they can now dance a

foxtrot, Samba, March of the Mods plus lots more! The Mini May Ball is part of our May Ball weekend

which is our biggest fundraiser of the year. We run a kid’s tombola, this year we raised just over £100

which went to the East African playgrounds appeal.

The Beavers started the International Badge and learnt about countries with links to the Falklands;

Zimbabwe, Philippines, Nepal, Chile.

Cubs held a skills evening, where they learnt to play table tennis, light a

candle, peal vegetables, lay a table and iron a neckerchief. This all went

towards their Skills Challenge.

June - We joined in with the RAF 100 baton relay when it arrived in the Falklands.

The Cubs climbed Tumbledown Mountain in the snow to remember the Scots Guards who bravely fought for our freedom in 1982 and the whole Group attended the Liberation Day Parade. Beavers and Cubs were invited to explore Government House, which they thoroughly enjoyed and have been invited back in the Spring to explore outside too. During the meeting 6 Beavers and 6 Cubs were presented with the Chief Scouts Bronze and Silver Awards.

July - Cubs worked for the Disability Awareness Badge, which included a sign language and braille evening, and the Beavers had fun being creative with the new Builders Badge. We rounded off our end of term outdoors, with torch games and a campfire Cook out, all the Beavers gained their Professional Marshmallow toasting badge.

Jan Miller GSL





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I hope you have found the bulletin interesting and informative! Personally, I have loved finding out about all

the exciting things you get up to and the amazing achievements of young people and leaders.

Don’t hesitate to get in touch with any of the district team if you need any help, support or advice. Here is a

short guide if you have a question and are wondering who to contact:

District Commissioner, Jon Gill - NAN forms, safeguarding, risk assessments for activities, HQ stuff

District Team: ADCs Dave Mitchell and Ben Balaam, DYC Victoria Mitchell - advice on programme, activities,

adult support and training

District Executive: John Tranter, Chairman; Alan Christie, Treasurer; Rob Willis, Secretary - advice on

administration, GDPR, governance, finance and forming your own Group Executive Committees

Yours in Scouting,

Victoria

District Youth Commissioner



BRITISH SCOUTING OVERSEAS “REST of the WORLD”• Learn 10 key events of another RoW countrys...

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