Monthly Newsletter

March Newsletter

General Information:
BP Centre

A Consultation questionnaire has recently been sent to all leaders and should be completed and returned to Dave Riley by Friday, 5th March. This is your opportunity to let the District Executive know what action you think they should take with regard to the future of the District Headquarters.

Long Service

Congratulations to the following leader who completed 5 years service in the latter part of 2009.

Kenneth Hulme - CSL 3rd

Car Parking - BP Centre

Maxine recently wrote an e-mail to Cllr's Ali and Shaw about the problem leaders have had when they parked at night & on Sunday outside St Mark's Church. It looks as though we were in the right all along and I have copied the reply Maxine got quoting the result of Andrew Cowell's investigation below.

I have had a look on site and I can confirm that there is a traffic order in place for this section of restricted waiting. The restrictions are - Mon - Fri, 7.30am - 9.30am, 4.00 - 6.30pm, which would allow parking in the evening and on Sundays. This should be marked with a single yellow line, which it is, but there may be some confusion as a recent utility reinstatement has been marked out with a short section (2m) of double yellows. This is in-correct so I will send an order to burn this off. It also looks like there used to be double yellow lines in place here as there is some faint evidence of second line having been burnt off in the past. There are also no restriction plates in place to inform motorists of the day or time the lines are enforceable. I will therefore send an order to install two new signs mounted on new posts in the footway.

Census

Mary received the last group return on Tuesday evening, 23rd February despite this being one of the smallest groups in Oldham.

Although HQ are constantly reporting that membership of the Scout Movement is growing, that is not true here in Oldham. The youth membership has fallen by 23 plus a further 8 adult's when comparing 2010 with 2009 (excluding the new 6th Thinkers Forum group) and comes on top of a fall in 2009 of 29 youths.

Recent Events:

Scouts Freezer Camp

The Freezer camp for scouts has just been completed at Hesley Wood with Scouts from Knolls Lane, St Pauls and the District ESU. There was fun and thrills for all and with the lowest temperature of the camp being recorded at -5 and a good 4inch covering of snow on the Sunday this made it a real freezer camp.

Other events in summary

79th complete their Cyclist Badge

Several member of the Troop have completed their Cyclist Badge after several weeks of planning a route and undertaking workshops on essential maintenance and repairs of their bikes.

The route they planed was from Castleshaw to Greenfield then a call back in Uppermill to raid the local sweet shops. The route took them along Bridleways and some village roads to finish back at Castleshaw. A big thank you to leaders and parent helpers who took part.

Opening of the Jamboree Selection Camp

The opening ceremony at the selection camp for those who want to attend the next World Scout Jamboree. Several Scouts from Oldham were amongst those taking part.

Cub Activity Badge Workshop

Cubs from several groups came together to gain an Activity Badge. Here some Cubs can be seen preparing a tasty meal.

6th Oldham receive their Registration Certificate

John Woolley (Acting District Commissioner) presents Sidrah Sajad (GSL) with the certificate of registration for the newly formed 6th Oldham, Thinkers Forum.

Francis (Young Spokesperson) represents Oldham

Francis Taylor is Oldham's Young Spokeperson and is shown here along with other YSP's from Bolton at a Young Citizens Action Agenda that was held at the Opera House in Manchester.

This was about involving young young people in political decision making and having their voice heard.

More pictures from these events will appear later this month in the 2010 Photo Gallery page.

Future Events:
Oldham District Centenary

Planning is now well under way for the District Centenary events.

A successful site visit has taken place and an initial planning meeting has been held for the District Camp which is being held at Linnet Clough in June.

The St George's day parade is taking shape with a parade from Grange school to Latics football stadium followed by a fun event on the Clayton playing fields changing room area, all welcome.

Orders have now been placed for the District's Centenary Badge.

Circulation:

If you have any new leaders who not receive their own copy of this newsletter or if you are no longer involved with Oldham Scouts and do not want to receive any more copies of this newsletter then please send an e-mail to Mike at the address shown at the top of this e-mail or as shown in the Contact Us tab on the website.