Spring Clean of the Hall – Weekend of 6/7 April

Our Winnall HQ is looking a little tired and shabby after many years of intensive use. It needs some TLC. It needs YOU !

We’re organising a Spring Clean weekend on 6 and 7 April.  We’d like as many volunteers as possible (adults and accompanied children) to turn up and lend a hand. There’ll be sweeping and cleaning, painting and general DIY, a little light gardening, and a myriad of other jobs to suit all ages and preferences.

Whether you have an hour to spare or a whole day, we’ll welcome you with open arms (and biscuits). Please put the date in your diary and come along to support your child’s Scout Group.  If you have any gardening gloves or tools you think might be useful, chuck them in the car in case they come in handy !

St George’s Day Parade – 28th April 2019

This is an important annual event for all of Winchester’s Scout groups and one that we expect all our young people to attend. Flags aloft, we march through the city centre to the Cathedral, where the event culminates with a short service. If you haven’t seen it before, it’s an impressive spectacle to watch and catch on camera.

Your leaders will give you more details closer to the time, but keep the middle part of that day free !

AGM and BBQ at the Scout Hall – Saturday 18th May 2019

The 12th Winchester Scout Group is a charity. This means we have a legal obligation to hold an Annual General Meeting (AGM) to provide information to you as our members on the financial running of the group and to elect volunteers onto the Executive Committee to act as trustees for the charity.  If you think you might be interested in helping out in one of our committee roles, then do reply to this email before the meeting.

While we really want as many of you as possible to attend, we know that attending the AGM doesn’t always fill everyone’s hearts with gladness. As a result, we usually try to sweeten the occasion with a barbeque, a few drinks and some cake. (Also, we quite like a party.)

Family Camp – 8th June 2019

Fancy a night under canvas?

Before you shudder, huddle under your duvet and close this email, don’t worry – we don’t mean now. We’ll at least wait for the frosts to pass and the heating has been turned off for the Summer !  Please do read on to find out more.

We’re planning another overnight family camp for 2019 – and this year we’d like even more of you to straighten your tent poles, dig out your sleeping bags and join us.  Siblings are welcome too, but all children must bring along a parent or carer to stay with them for this camp, so you’ll need to have completed a DBS check with us but, as the camp isn’t until June, you have plenty of time. Please email us at info@12thwinchesterscouts.org.uk  about organising your DBS check if you haven’t already done so.

Needless to say, the food last year was excellent, the beer (from the local Red Cat brewery) flowed freely, the camp fire burned well and everyone had a great evening. Around 18 of us stayed overnight to enjoy a night under canvas and, courtesy of Ladybird, a breakfast of eggs and bacon.

We have arranged First Bite to cater the event again this year.

** Unfortunately June is a very busy month, and we know that our Scouts will be away on District Camp that weekend, but we couldn’t find a weekend to suit everyone this year – so it will just be Beavers and Cubs on the Family Camp this year !

We will be holding our Carol Service on Tuesday 19th December at 7pm. 

All parents, guardians and families are invited to attend this special event.

Christine Smith the Curate, has kindly invited us to join her at the St John The Baptist Church of England Church, which is in St Johns Street near the Scout Hall.

Beavers, Cubs and Scouts, we will be joining the veterans again this year at the Kings Royal Rifle’s Company memorial outside the Cathedral on Sunday 12th November.  We will be parading with our flags at 8.45am, and at 9am there will be a short prayer by the army chaplain, followed by a two minutes silence and then an army bugler will play the last post.

A representative from our Beavers, Cubs and Scouts sections will lay a wreath alongside the veterans.  It is a small and moving ceremony, and we are the only Scout Group invited to attend.

As you may be aware, our Scout Group has had a long association with the Green Jackets, going back to the Second World War, when our Scout Troop raised money for the Regimental Prisoners of War Fund.

In recognition of the efforts of our Scouts, towards the end of 1943 our Group was granted an honorary affiliation with the Rifle Depot, and we changed our necker colours and insignia to model those of the Rifle Brigade.   We still use those colours and insignia today, and have continued to proudly turn out to lay a wreath at the war memorial every year since then.

This means a lot to the young people who attend, and the veterans, and it is really important that as many of us attend this as possible to show our respect and to keep this tradition alive, and we look forward to seeing you there.

Winchester has a small but thriving Network Scout section (18 to 25 year olds).

They need someone to help co-ordinate their programme of activities and to help grow Network Scouts within our District, so our young people can continue Scouting after they leave Explorers at 18.

If you think that you might be interested in this, then please do let us know, using the contact page !