First Response

Below you will find a list of dates for County Events over the next few months. I am delighted to include booking details for Chiller and Lincs Fest and we hope to see many of you at these events. The bookings links are below. Trustee Support Webinar - 17 July 7.30pm As part of the transformation process we have developed a webinar open to all current and potential Trustees (Previously Executive Committee Members) in Lincolnshire, it will take you through best practice and current AGM procedure. There will be the opportunity to ask questions and we’ll record the meeting for anyone who can’t attend. https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/6ff1e4ce-dba6-4d8c-a041 3d2ee898c139@b1442143-1e27-41aa-974f-f902688050de Nights Away Advisor Update Meeting - 21 July at 3rd Sleaford (St Deny's HQ) from 10 12noon or 1-3pm Book in at https://forms.office.com/e/u8qM6zQapG to confirm attendance. Lincoln Pride - 17 Aug 2024 For further information relating to the event/timings of the day please contact Ellie Broome ( ellie.broome@lincolnshirescouts.org.uk ) or Claire Burt ( claire.burt@lincolnscouts.org.uk ) Gilwell Reunion - 30 Aug -1 Sep Booking detail at https://www.scouts.org.uk/national- events/gilwell-reunion Skills of Management (Weekend Course) - Sat, 7 Sept 2024 Sun 8 Sept 2024 The Hub (National Centre for Art and Design), Navigation Wharf, Carre Street, Sleaford, NG34 7DW. Book at https://bookwhen.com/emrt/e/ev-sv4r-20240907093000 9:30am – 4:30pm each day. Lincs Fest - 20-22 Sept 2024 Details and Booking form at https://www.lincolnshirescouts.org.uk/lincs-fest-2024 County AGM - Sudbrooke Park 21 Sept 2024 Nights Away training at Sudbrooke - 27-29 Sept 2024 Open to all Leaders Bookings secretary@lincolnshirescouts.org.uk . East Midlands regional assessor's day at Leicester Outdoor Pursuits Centre Saturday - 5th October PL Camp, Sudbrooke - 4–6 October 2024 Chiller - 16 November 2024 Details and Booking form at https://www.lincolnshirescouts.org.uk/bookings-open-for-chiller24 RYA Safety boat training (Explorers, Network, Leaders) - 7 & 14 December 2024

Rabbit Run is a challenge hike, where you plan your own route to complete in a set time, in the dark and answer questions on the way. The twist is the chasers who cause you to lose points. Anybody aged 13 or over, so it can be used as a linking activity for Scouts to Explorers, Explorers, Network and leaders. You just need to be competent in navigation and walking! Participant – Take part in a team of between 4 and 7 people to plan and walk your route, gain as many points as possible and win the trophy. The team with the least points will win the toilet seat! Chaser – Small teams of over 18’s walking, hiding and trying to catch participants. This year there is a chasers competition for the first time. Chasers chose a start location in the playing area, they have the same time as participants to get back to the site, while hunting for teams of participants, which will cost points for the team and gain points for the chasers. Leader – Bring your young people along, enjoy good food and company, drink coffee, support your teams. The event is being held at Dunham on Trent Village Hall, NG22 0FJ Booking https://www.tickettailor.com/events/egxsexplorerscouts/1315711?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR04JuWj1oNdOccKzqrw_4DKWmayxWva5_uj7xGiSxPyfALpNXagHYQgbP8_aem_THNUNbTDQRQpAjtmMudqow

My mate Nick, who said one day “Come on we are going sailing for the day”. He had a laser dinghy in a local sailing club. “Sailing?” I said, “why do you want to go sailing?”. I went along and was hooked within a couple of trips out! Nick has cost me a small fortune (on boats) over the years but hey what a journey! That’s the point…. The journey, with you, the boat and the wind and nothing else to power you round the lake. It really gave me a chance to clear my head of all the rubbish, enjoy the freedom, the thrills but learning a skill and if you don’t concentrate then you are upside down! After a considerable amount of time being spent upside down and bailing out the boat again and again, I started to get more competent and progressed to a reasonable standard, sailed in a few different places, and spent many a happy hour messing about in boats! I have been a Scout skills instructor for some 15 years now, helping Scouts learn to sail at 15th Lincoln group. We push them quite hard…. but it is a joy to see a fleet of toppers sailing round the lake after just 6 weeks of training. It is just them, the boat, and the wind now! How to take Scouts a step further? Scouting is about trying new things, making and taking opportunities. I felt that the journey was important, not just to go around a lake, with their new skill. With the support of our group leaders, we planned a coastal yacht sailing trip with some of our Scouts that showed a talent for sailing, or tried hard, and those that were clearly enjoying it! Not enough room for everyone but a full boat of eight Scout places was immediately snapped up! Adventures Offshore take groups out on 2 boats with highly trained Skippers and crew on short weekend trips and also longer passages and tall ships races. https://www.offshore.org.uk/ We arrived at Ipswich Beacon Marina on a Friday afternoon and after the initial safety briefing off we went through the lock and into the River Orwell to spend the night at anchor. All scouts helped with everything on board….. the ropes and lines, steering, fenders and sails on deck. Cooking, cleaning and the washing up! There was also plenty of time to enjoy the experience, the views and take in the sea air! There were also opportunities to look at navigation and filling the ships log. We travelled 60 nautical miles over the weekend taking a trip out to Roughs Tower, off Felixstowe and a short tour into Hamford Water to do some seal spotting followed by an overnight stay in Titchmarsh Marina. We returned to Ipswich on Sunday afternoon having tacked up the River Orwell giving the whole crew a good workout! The boat was then cleaned, and sails stowed away leaving it as we had found it. A thoroughly interesting and enjoyable weekend! Our team particularly enjoyed being up front looking over the bow of the boat whilst at sea, steering, and it was “cool” to be on board and watching the waves hitting the boat….(it wasn’t that rough by the way…..but much rougher than a lake!) The boat had plenty of space for everyone to move around and take part in all activities. Leaders Whilst it is not necessary to have any experience, the crew do enjoy having people on board that contribute and have a little knowledge of some basic knots, an interest in sailing and good volunteering skills! Basic knowledge of buoyage and a bit of home work about onboard safety gave our Scouts the chance to get so much more out of the trip than if we had just walked on board with no knowledge at all. This is a very hands-on trip with no deck chairs to catch the rays! To Tim, Chris and Sally, (Adventures Offshore Team) Thank you for making the trip such a pleasure. Very well organised and thoroughly enjoyed by all our team….. Can we come again next year please?

A huge thank you to everyone who helped deliver a brilliant Lincolnshire Scouts Cubs on the Water event at North Hykeham and to 15th Lincoln (North Hykeham) for allowing us to use their HQ. Lots of happy cubs!

As we move towards the new digital system and team-based volunteering (yes, it will happen before the end of the year!) we need to prepare. Compass will close and we will move to a new digital membership system. To ensure that all details are transferred correctly and that we can all log on to the new system, all members need to log on to their Compass records and ensure that emails and telephone numbers are correct. The link for this information and guidance can be found here - Everyone | Scouts All learning that has been completed and validated must be shown as validated - please speak to your GSL/GLV or LTM if you need any help with this. Going forward all Districts and Groups will be working as Volunteer Teams; the link below will give you some more information on how this works. The Transformation Team will be doing some work with Groups in the autumn. Setting up and building new teams

With the start of the summer holidays, there will be some groups attending the Essex Jamboree and Larkin. Remember to take plenty of photos of your camp adventures of young people and leaders trying out new activities and crafts. Please share your photos and stories with me, along with a short story about what you have been up to, including any quotes from your camping team.

We are proud to take part in the parade and hold a stall at this event. If you are interested in join the parade or helping on the stand please complete this form ASAP as we will be closing applications soon. https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=QyFEsSceqkGXT_kCaIBQ3l_z5r9vTwtKnAKsJXuW _E1UREwyT0RWMlFGODBRSTdONFpNRVgxWEtSWS4u&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR2 x95HxpdBnTBqWYNcxqkZ-zkyacbmarArvsGdYc6WeJk0NtPPbcZs-ro_aem_V6Wauh27vHzGGVFIEEkYUw Under 18s are welcome to join us but MUST be accompanied by a sensible adult. Others attending will not be able to take responsibility for younger members. For further information relating to the event/timings of the day please contact Ellie Broome ( ellie.broome@lincolnshirescouts.org.uk ) or Claire Burt ( claire.burt@lincolnscouts.org.uk )

We’ve been made aware of a product recall on two models of Vango Folding Stoves. The stoves affected are Folding Gas Stove ACXSTOVE DAKZ36 and Folding Stove with Windshield and Piezo ACXSTOVE DEWZ36. The products have been recalled due to risk of fire, explosion and burns. It has also been identified that the gas hose may degrade over time, leading to a gas leak and possible hose ignition. With camping season now in full flow, safety should be at the forefront of your planning. Please check your equipment before your nights away activity to make sure you’re not using one of these models. If you own one of these models, please stop using it immediately and follow government advice .

Do you have a large building which will be vacant for a week during the summer months? If so, could you get in touch with Carolyn.greig@lincolnshirescouts.org.uk as the Global Adventure Activity team are looking for somewhere to leave their pool to dry cure after repair. It would need to be left out for 7 days. The pool is 50ft by 40ft.

You may already be aware, but over the last 6 months the IT Support Team have been doing a great deal of work in the background. Thank you for your patience and support whilst they have worked to resolve several IT related issues. We know it has not been an easy time and that the changes have caused some frustration and inconvenience. Below is just some of what they have been up to: Migrated approx. 200 users to another Microsoft Tenant and transferred as much data and historic e-mail as possible or given access to the data. We are extremely grateful to the volunteers and external professional support we have received to achieve all of this, with challenging timescales. Without their invaluable support with their time, resources, and knowledge we would have been facing an annual cost more than £25K for the Microsoft licensing alone. Monitored all mail delivery failures to capture any issues caused by the changes as early as possible to reduce the impact. Reviewed all e-mail addresses on the County managed systems to ensure they are up to date and that any inactive users have been archived. Worked to update all County owned Domain Names and cancel any that are not used, or we have been unable to update contact information for. Recovered access information for old district Microsoft Tenants and cancelled any chargeable licenses, removing any liabilities their Trustees were potentially unaware of. Acted against multiple brute force cyber-attacks on Lincolnshire Scouts users. Improved integration with Districts with their own Microsoft tenants to improve collaboration.

To improve the support for volunteers, we have also developed some new self-service processes to better support you in your Scouting roles and make it easier and quicker for things to be done. We have updated the IT Hub on the website to include request forms and further information about the services we offer. Enabled the ability for District Lead Volunteers (District Commissioner) (or their nominee) to self manage Aliases and Distribution Lists. Enabled the County/District Lead Volunteers (District/County Commissioners) to self-manage access the Microsoft 365 services in the event of restrictions being required. https://www.lincolnshirescouts.org.uk/ITHub If you can’t find what you’re looking for on the IT Hub? Raise a Support Ticket on the Service Desk - https://scouts.cc

The kit of approx. 55 headsets belongs to Girlguiding Lincolnshire South and is available to hire by local Scout & Guide groups for a fraction of the commercial prices. Collection Cherry Willingham (or previous group if they're nearby and it's a tight turnaround). Plenty of capacity for June if anyone still needs to fill a fun night. For questions and booking, email me at LWalker_GGLS@outlook.com

We are proud to take part in the parade and hold a stall at this event. If you are interested in join the parade or helping on the stand please complete this form ASAP as we will be closing applications soon. https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=QyFEsSceqkGXT_kCaIBQ3l_z5r9vTwtKnAKsJXuW _E1UREwyT0RWMlFGODBRSTdONFpNRVgxWEtSWS4u&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR2 x95HxpdBnTBqWYNcxqkZ-zkyacbmarArvsGdYc6WeJk0NtPPbcZs-ro_aem_V6Wauh27vHzGGVFIEEkYUw Under 18s are welcome to join us but MUST be accompanied by a sensible adult. Others attending will not be able to take responsibility for younger members. For further information relating to the event/timings of the day please contact Ellie Broome ( ellie.broome@lincolnshirescouts.org.uk ) or Claire Burt ( claire.burt@lincolnscouts.org.uk )

For Scout Patrol Leaders and their APL’s we have our PL leadership camp taking place at Sudbrooke on 4 – 6th October. This details for this camp can be found by any member of Lincolnshire scouting at County PL Camp – Boston District Scouts ( bostonscouts.org.uk ) and scouts do not need to attend with a leader, although you are more than welcome to come and join in and support all the young people to improve their leadership skills and the way your troop works in future.

Following a release from HQ after reviewing the findings of Great Orme, the new Growing Roots training (Getting Started Post Transformation) has been expanded to include the content from the Modules 7, 12A, 12B, and 17. If a person has already completed these modules, then they will not need to complete the new Growing Roots equivalent post-transformation.  We wanted to let you know about this change first before we email all Section Assistants with the full details. If you have any questions or concerns, then please do let us know.

I am pleased to announce the appointment of James and Lisa Walker to the role of Manager of the Activity Permit Scheme. Their role is to support our assessors in the delivery of the permit scheme. Thanks to Wayne Barrett who was recently doing the role. If you are looking for an assessor or advice please get in touch with James or Lisa.