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During the winter months, over 150 people have joined the National Commissioner (Development) and members of the Development Team in a series of networking days to receive an update and to share issues and good practice on growing and developing out Movement. The feedback has been extremely positive and the Team were able to hear about many of the positive initiatives taking place around the country.

In this newsletter is a whole range of initiatives that were noteworthy, that you may wish to replicate or learn from in your local Scouting. On behalf of the National Commissioner and the team, very many thanks to everyone who came along for the days and for sharing their thoughts and projects.

From Bristol meeting...

From Gilwell meeting...

From Preston meeting...

From Middlesborough meeting...

From Birmingham meeting...

This document is also available as an Adobe Acrobat (PDF) file: dp-2005-03.pdf

Avon County are developing a strategy to promote the benefits of volunteering in Scouting to adults across the whole County. Adverts are to be placed on buses and other prominent places to support local Scout Districts to engage in discussion with adults.

Have appointed a Recruitment Manager in each District, with one Manager recruiting 12 adults in first month. The Manager not only recruits, but also follows up the initial contact and supports the initial induction process. It is hoped that with the raised profile of Scouting, adult recruitment will increase thus enabling the 1000 young people on waiting lists, to have the opportunity to join Scouting. The project is being supported financially by the County and is seen as a long-term project.

The Hospital Scout Group based at Bristol Children's Hospital recently celebrated their 3rd birthday. The Leadership team operate on a weekly basis, with an ever-changing number of young people. The young people who come to Scouts are provided with a local contact for them to take home after their stay in hospital, in an effort to encourage them to join Scouting in their own local community. The hospital Play Workers have provided a lot of support and training to the local District Team in ways of working with the young people in this unusual environment. The Group hosted a Special Needs Carol Service this Christmas in the hospital itself.

Hampshire Scouts in the Ringwood area recently received a £20,000 grant from the Connexions Service to develop a drop-in centre in conjunction with a number of other youth organisations.

1st Cheltenham (Highbury) Scout Group meets once a month on a Saturday morning for two hours and the response from parents and children is very good. This is helped by contact by many of the team at church and other activities in between meetings.

A monthly meeting on a Saturday may prove to be the best way forward for new adults involved, with both mums and dads involved. The Group also find the children less hyperactive, more alert and responsive, than might be after a long day at school.

Timing of receiving information about special events can sometimes be a problem, thus requiring longer lead in times for groups who work in a more flexible way. A bonus of meeting in the morning, which the Group look forward to, is to be able to take the Beaver Scouts outdoors even in the winter.

Essex Scouts recently opened a County Section in Chelmsford, in conjunction with Essex Children's Deaf Society. The need for such a group was developed after a number of children with hearing difficulties attended the Essex Experience. Parents have come on board as leaders, with the group meeting monthly for young people from across the county.

After two years of hard work, Neptune Scouts have opened in Southend Children's Hospital, as an extension to a local Special Needs Group. The section currently meets once a week, with a flexible leadership team and meeting times. The hospital authorities are making requests, that the group is open more times during the week.

Greater London South East celebrated 3 years of their County Development Project in December 2004. Despite a long struggle, the County have been able to secure continued funding for a further 3 years, enabling them to continue to employ a County Development Officer. During the same time, the County has undergone a major restructure; reducing the number of Districts from 13 to 5 Borough based Districts.

The future 3-year development plan has been based on the HQ Vision 2012, including adult recruitment, working with BME communities and increasing youth membership.

Ilford NE District, GLNE

The District has opened 5 new Sections in the past year and instigated a programme of quarterly Census monitoring with the GSL's. It has been accepted that Scouting needs to allow people to have a break at times in order not to burn people out. To complement this, the District has been reviewing who has left Scouting in the past 10 years (adult leaders), and contacting them again to see if they would wish to come back into the Movement.

Various methods have been used to say 'Thank You ' to leaders - from the DC writing to all Leaders and Helpers, to a large County event for Leaders.

Norfolk County

Contact has been made with the Portuguese community in part of the County. This has proved to be challenging despite identifying a young Portuguese Leader in a local university to be part of the project, to act as a link between Scouting and the community.

The County has a major development project underway, employing a paid Development Officer who is able to make links with schools, local businesses and work with the ADC (Development) team. District and County Development conferences are making a positive difference, with the County membership increasing.

The Project has been opening new Groups, using as a guide, the factsheet, 'Opening a new Scout Group'. A review of the factsheet guidance will be made a report sent to the HQ Development Team.

New sections have continued to be opened, meeting at weekends, rather than mid-week evenings, when volunteers are available. One of the other main benefits is that the sections are able to get outside in the wintertime, making use of the available daylight.

Part of the role of the new Training Adviser's has been to accompany new leaders on visits to other sections - a great way to provide personal support to these new volunteers.

One Scout Group held a very successful Carnival Day, where the targeted many people and asked them to come along and try out different aspects of Scouting. They followed this up with partnership agreements about what the individuals would gain from being involved in Scouting, as a result of what they brought to the Movement.

A Scout Group held a 'Group Development planning meeting' in an informal setting (Cheese & Wine), focussing on 6 key areas over a 3 year period. The Leaders felt that this was a good approach as there was flexibility in timing and also not overloaded on them.

The new DC was keen to have a District Development Plan. At a District Leader's conference, a vast list of what they might like to do was generated. This was pruned to a list of 10 priorities that was more achievable.

In East Lancashire, the County is looking at the role of the GSL and moving towards a GSL having responsibility fro up to 4 small Groups - Groups where there may only be one or two sections coupled with Groups that have a full compliment of sections.

In Greater Manchester North, youth engagement is starting to work, although there is still a huge amount to do. Young Leader's are properly recruited for their skills and given specific remits that matches their availability. This works well when a 'contract' is agreed about role, job and length of time individuals are signed up for.

North Tameside District, Manchester East, employ a Local Development Officer who takes away much of the paperwork from Sectional Leaders. The LDO also has a remit to recruit more young people and adults, undertake presentations at schools, develop the District Magazine and runs local surgeries for Leaders

In Cumbria, the County Council & National Lottery funds the LDO jointly. Alternative forms of Scouting have been developed, particularly in the more rural areas, e.g. Saturday Scouting. Leaders often work across all sections, with little emphasis on Leader titles.

In Central Yorkshire, links have been made with the local Mosque to develop an interest in Scouting with the Muslim community.

In new housing developments, satellite sections to existing Groups are being established, helping to overcome the difficulty in finding new meeting places and Group Executive members.

Moves are being made for GSL's and Group Executives to take responsibility for more than one Group.

Work is being undertaken to try to recruit leaders from local businesses. Following a local Fresher Fayre at University, 30 expressions of interests were generated. These contacts are being followed up, with 8 now placed in local Groups.

Quarterly censuses are being undertaken by ADC's, which highlights potential problems early on. During the first year of operation, a 13% increase in recorded membership was made.

The meeting discussed a number of methods used to recruit new adult volunteers:

• Family camp

• Group Open day targeted at recruiting adults

• At the end of a section meeting, a parent was allocated the responsibility to find parents, who were waiting to collect their offspring, for the parents rota.

• Hard sell approach - got parents together under false pretences, then gave them all forms and told them that the Group would close if they did not do something positive to stop it.

Kidderminster - Going into local schools using a recruitment tool supplied by the local FDO. Aimed at recruiting for Beaver and Cub sections, 3pm presentations at the end of the school day are preferable as they also attract some parents. The presentation can also include parachute games and a video, with the youngsters provided with a goodie bag to take home. The first meeting recruited 5 new Cubs. Now feel more confident to go into more schools later this year.

Solihull

Looking at restructuring of the County, from 4 Districts to 2. Have identified areas that have potential for development, both rural and urban. A GSL forum has been established to help with the restructuring and renaming. This was an important element in involving people at many different levels. This level of consultation will continue in the County, with the next GSL Forum in the autumn. Census is showing an increase in Leadership numbers and Beaver Colonies.

Berkshire

County constructing a framework for a County Plan. This includes looking at developing provision in some deprived areas, with little or no youth provision. Also considering Scouting in hospitals.

Wolverhampton

Looking at ways of getting Leaders to work closer together, including simple activities as leader work parties that help to build team working. The aim is ultimately build stronger Leadership teams, that pool ideas and resources together for recruiting young people.

West Bromwich

The County has a population that is predominately a population that is non-white/Christian. A Cultural Awareness Training Day was run by the County to help people think and talk about the whole concept of Ethnic Minority - what different religions can/can't do. Visited a Mosque as part of the course.

Have built up the District Scout Fellowship (30), mainly of retired Leaders, willing to help at one off activities.

Have a Shouting for Scouting message of "Getting Seen, Getting Known, Getting Around!" - breaking the typical Scout image. This is about being pro-active in promoting Scouting and its benefits, to young people, adults and the community.

Another District reported on a review process they had undertaken, basing everything on the notion of what is a successful group. Some of the headlines showed that successful Groups had good parental and leader support - one Group had a total of 35 Leaders to draw from.

An interesting debate was on-going with one large Group about whether to have its own meeting place. Current meeting hall needs a lot of money to complete repairs, which is a challenge - so should the Group move into the local school and save on time, effort and fundraising? A dilemma many Groups must face.

In Northampton, Explorer Scouts are beginning to develop after some delay. There continues to be some opposition from some Leaders, but membership has increased by 10%, far more than Venture Scouts. As a way of introducing Explorer Scouting to older Scouts, a Welcome Pack has been developed which is sent instead of a birthday card. The Young Leader scheme is proving very popular, providing the opportunity for young people to feel important in that they have a positive role within the Movement. Good training is provided, proving to be pitched at the right level.

In the County, the Scout Fellowship has taken on the active role in providing the administrative support to this section, with this working well.

Birmingham (East) has like many other places, has undergone a re-organisation, moving from 8 Districts to 6 in the County. The District Team is now made up of the DC, a Development Manager, a Programme Manager and an Administrator. The re-organisation has invigorated the District with new Leaders and others encouraged staying. The District is looking into the possibility of weekend Scouting.

In Sutton Coalfield (East) District, the change over from Venture Scouts to Explorer Scouts has gone extremely well with an Explorer Scout membership of about 90. Birthday cards to young people are utilised well, where the Explorer Leaders have the appropriate information from Scout Troops. The Duke of Edinburgh award scheme and Young Leaders scheme are also developing well.

Birmingham County have produced a booklet giving a short introduction to many different religions, called ' Developing faces of Scouting.' This is part of a wider scheme to develop Scouting with BME communities across the city, acknowledging that current Scout volunteers need easy accessible information about different faiths.

The County also runs a series of Cultural Awareness training courses for interested adult volunteers. Over recent years, the County has been providing a programme during the summer months for young people from the Muslim community in conjunction with Birmingham Central Mosque. Activities are held both at one of the County activity centres and in the Mosque.

Recently, a Muslim Scout Group was opened with over 70 young people and Leaders attending.

Also, after a long wait, the County is looking forward to a new Hospital Group opening in Birmingham Children's Hospital.

In Warwickshire, attention has been given to areas of new housing developments. In one of these areas in Central District, the whole estate was leafleted. Interest from this exercise grew from both new adult volunteers and young people, resulting in a new Scout Group being opened.

In Derbyshire, due to the geography of the County, they have reverted to a divisional structure with the CC and 3 DCC (Divisional Commissioners), each supporting 6 Districts. County meetings have been changed so that the CC meets the DC's twice a year (bi-annual), with Divisional meetings also bi-annually. Much more use is being made of email communication, with DCC's emailing DC's and ADC's a weekly newsletter.

West Mercia reports that they are also looking at some District boundary restructuring, developing new links with the local youth service and developing Taster Days for young people in Sandwell.

Well, such a lot of positive things are happening and this is probably only the tip of the iceberg! We hope that in future months we will be able to report on items from other parts of the UK, as the Team goes on its travels and speaks to many more people.

At time of writing (mid March), most of the 2005 census is in, showing a continual decline in the loss in Membership, to less than 1%. Great news!

Much continues to be done, particularly in retaining and recruiting more adult volunteers. We are ever hopeful and must congratulate everyone who has contributed to the positive efforts being made.