3rd Hampton Hill Scout Group

We need your help. The Mayor of London is offering to invest 2 million pounds into the 10 most needy parks in the London area; One of the parks on the list of potential winners is Crane Park.

As you will be aware the Richmond upon Thames District Scout Air Rifle Association uses the premises of the Twickenham Rifle and Pistol Club. The Twickenham Rifle and Pistol Club are members of FORCE (Friends of the River Crane Environment). If Crane Park were to win the 2 million pounds it would safeguard the Twickenham Rifle and Pistol Club, which would mean a continuing local venue for shooting activities.

Please encourage all members of your families to vote at this link. Everybody who lives in London has the right to one vote.

The voting started on 25 November 2008 and will close at 5pm on 30 January 2009. Postal votes must be received no later than 30 January 2009. Votes received after this date / time will not be counted.

Many thanks for helping to safeguard this local asset for the Scouting community.

Ian Hardy
Assistant District Commissioner (Scouts)
Richmond Upon Thames District Scouts

In what is most Scout’s favourite church service of the year, we celebrated the Christingle and lit candles together while lined up around the church.

Young members from both the Scouts and the Sunday School delivered a first class reminder of what Christingle represents as well as a powerful reminder of the generousity demonstrated by others despite their modest backgrounds.

Following the team and individual successes at the recent national scout shooting event at Bisley, 3HH have made the Richmond and Twickenham Times. Thanks to Sheila L for writing and submitting the Article.

3HH also grabbed a second feature in the same edition when there was a major splash on the Christmas celebrations at the Hampton Hill parade.

Well done guys!

Many of you will have known Sue Blay. She was a great friend to 3HH, led the Hampton Hill Duke of Edinburgh Award group and for many years was the Guide Leader at 3rd Hampton Hill. Sue recently lost her long courageous battle against cancer on 11 November 2008. Her funeral service was held at St James on 26 November 2008.

3rd Hampton Hill Scout Group will be hosting a memorial service for Sue in the spring of 2009. Those youth groups and adults that Sue worked with will be very welcome to come along and celebrate what she stood for and achieved. The intention is to plant a tree and place a plaque in recognition of all that Sue did for young people in Hampton and Hampton Hill including: 3rd Hampton Hill Guides, 3rd Hampton Hill Scouts and the Duke of Edinburgh Award Group. Details of the memorial are being worked out with Sue’s family and will be published once finalised.

3rd Hampton Hill have begun a memorial collection which will be used to buy the tree and plaque. The remaining money will then be divided equally between Sue’s two nominated charities: Christian Aid and ‘Maggie’s’ (cancer charity). Any contributions will be gratefully received. Cheques should payable to 3rd Hampton Hill Scout Group with the words Sue Blay Memorial Collection on the reverse please.

Our thoughts and wishes are with all of Sue’s family and friends at this time.

Regards,

Rich M
Group Scout Leader

3HH’s three sections got together to mark the beginning of Hampton Hill’s Christmas season and to strut their stuff! Well done everyone for pitching up and supporting the group; at least it was dry this year

Click on the photo montage above to see more of what we got up to…

(Thanks to John O for the photos)

Our Beaver Scouts need YOU!

We have a fantastic opportunity for some Adults to join in the fun and assist us with the continued running of our two Beaver Scout Colonies on a Friday.

In order to keep running such a fantastic programme we do need some additional help and support. We are actively seeking two Assistant Beaver Scout Leaders to provide valuable support to our Beaver Scout Leader.

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We are actively seeking a new booking secretary to manage hall bookings at 3rd Hampton Hill. This is a vital role for the group and we need to fill this post before the end of the year.

The outgoing booking secretary has drafted a role description and is standing by to help with a handover. Please view the attached role description and speak with any section leader or send an enquiry if you might be interested.

We look forward to hearing from you. Thanks.

Rich M
Group Scout Leader

3rd Hampton Hill Scout Group have now had a 3rd successful nomination and award from the Jack Petchey Foundation.

In the Young Person (aged 11-25) category Tom B has been given this award for his commitment, service and achievements at 3rd Hampton Hill. Tom continues to support the Group in the role of Young Leader and will shortly be helping to run the newly established 2nd Scout Troop which will begin meeting this Tuesday. Congratulations and well done Tom!

As part of the award 3HH have received a cheque for £300 from the Foundation. Part of the nomination process involves a suggestion from the nominee on how this money will be spent by the Group. Tom has asked that this money be used to help purchase some smaller lighweight/hiking type tents which can be used for weekend camps and for any overnight hikes. Thanks Tom.

Are you looking for something new which is challenging and rewarding? Adults in Scouting are from all walks of life. Yet the one thing they share is the enjoyment of helping young people reach their potential. We are actively seeking adult help and support. . .

You may feel that you have no skills to offer Scouting – but everyone has something to give. Doing things such as making squash and organising games means the Leader has more time to spend with the young people. Do you have any hobbies and interests that you could share?

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Some months ago (back in July), 3HH celebrated its 60th birthday.

We’ve finally managed to publish some photos of the party!

If anyone else has any pics of this great day we would love to have copies so we can publish them here! Please pass them to us on suitable media via any Section Leader – Thanks.

Alex L, Duncan L and Wend W were all honoured, along with others from the Greater London South West Scout County, for their contribution to Youth Leadership and their achievements in Scouting by the Jack Petchey Foundation.

Each have been awarded with grants that will be directed to Scouting benefits in the local area. See also the post from earlier in the year which gives some more details and background. Well done to you all!

Sheila L – Scout parent and member of the 3HH Scout Group Executive Committee – recently wrote an article for the St. James church magazine explaining all about 3HH’s 60 year anniversary.

Sheila reflected on 3HH’s growth over those 60 years, as well as sharing a touching account of her experiences watching her son in the group.

If you’d like to read the article, please click here for the PDF file and turn to page 7. Many thanks for the write up Sheila.

Together with a bunch of other certifiable scout leaders, 3HH represented the Richmond Upon Thames RUT Scout District in this year’s Great River Race held on Saturday 13 September.

We covered a monstrous 22 miles from Ham to Greenwich in a traditional Viking longboat, carrying the Mayor of Hammersmith and Fulham as our passenger. The whole thing took a very respectable 4 hours and 7 minutes (we’d expected nearer 5 hours if we were to be honest with ourselves); all the more impressive since we had the largest and heaviest boat in the event!

The Race was simply a stunning spectacle: hundreds of boats of all shapes and sizes, powered only by oars, raced from Ham to Greenwich, through the City, dodging commercial river traffic and tidal turbulence all the way. You can click on the photo above to see more of the day’s action.

As well as the most incredible personal achievement (I am after all far from being a super-fit athlete ) and huge amounts of fun, I was delighted to raise nearly £500 for the local Scout district. And across the team as a whole, the figure will be a couple of thousand.

But it’s not too late to show some last minute support, you can still donate online through justgiving.com using the donate button.

Many thanks once again for your hugely generous sponsorship and shouts of encouragement, Simon

** update 16 Sept 2008 ** The fund raising total is now well over £500 and that’s just awesome. Thanks masses to all those who showed support to get the total this far.

BT like many companies runs a scheme called Community Champions which seeks to recognise and reward those in their employ who volunteer their time freely for the benefit of their community. I have been fortunate in a recent application to the scheme in being awarded £500 towards our plans to open up the loft at our HQ.

This year we have also benefited from large contributions from Barclays, Thomson Reuters and BP in similar schemes or matched giving and all this just by applying to those schemes.

If your company has a similar scheme that you as a volunteer for our Group can apply to or if your company has a community sponsorship fund of any sort then please do consider making an application on behalf of the group (we can offer help when completing any forms or paperwork).

Funds of this sort ease the pressure on the group to fund raise, or to increase subs etc and give us the opportunity to both improve our facilities and increase our resources as we seek to replace our minibus and open up the loft space.

Please do speak to any of the team if you can help and a big thanks to BT for the £500

Hello All and Welcome back!

Hope you all had fantastic holidays!

Both Cubs and Scouts had great Summer Camps – take at look at the posts and pictures to see what they got up to. I would also like to take this opportunity to say a very Big Thanks to everyone in the Leadership Team and the Group Exec at 3rd Hampton Hill for their continued hard work and support.

As the Sections prepare to return the Group faces the challenge of starting up a Second Scout Troop. Plans are being finalised and more information will be available later this month.

We are already looking ahead and planning future Events and a full programme of activities for all Sections.

We continue to need additional adult help and support; particularly at both Beaver Colonies (to assist and support Jane our Beaver Scout Leader) and also at Scouts to bolster the Scout Team which will shortly begin running a second Scout Troop on a Tuesday. The recruitment of adult help continues to be our top priority.

I look forward to seeing you all soon.

Kindest regards,

Rich M
Group Scout Leader

Hello All,

A quick note from me (Rich – Group Scout Leader) to say Thanks to All the Leadership Team and Group Executive Committee for another Great Term of Activity and ‘Scouting’ adventure!

Thanks also to All members of the Group for another happy and very enjoyable Term.

As I write this the Cubs are enjoying their Camp at Chalfont and they will be joined overnight by the Beavers for a Sleepover. The Scouts are looking forward to their Camp in the New Forest at Ferny Crofts in August.

I would like to wish you all happy holidays and a fantastic summer!

We look forward to seeing you all in September.

Kindest regards,

Rich M
Group Scout Leader
3HH

Following the awesome Borough Camp held at Walton Firs in Cobham we have posted some photos of the event. Just click on the image to see the whole collection.

All of the 3HH contingent had an amazing time – with climbing ropes using Prussic loops laid on as our activity for everyone at the camp to try out.

Also while not trying to be too competitive about these things, 3HH Cubs were thrilled to win the Borough Football competition with some daring displays of skill. Well done guys!

3HH performed really strongly in a bunch of other events as well and came close to hoisting many more winners medals. Shame guys but all the best for next time!

Please join us on Sat 12 July any time from 3pm – 8pm for our 60th Year Celebration BBQ!

Venue : 3HH Scout HQ, The George Stanley Hall, The Triangle, rear of Holly Road Recreation Ground, School Road Avenue, Hampton Hill.

There will be food and a special celebration cake – as well as games and entertainment. Hope to see you there!

We’re delighted to invite all members, friends and cohorts of 3HH to our 60 year celebratory birthday event on Saturday 12 July 2008 between 3pm – 8pm!

The format of the day will be very relaxed allowing you to come and go as you please:

Venue: 3HH Scout HQ and Games/Activities on the Recreation Ground

Food: 3HH will supply burgers, bangers and veggie stuff with buns / rolls plus salad and condiments. We’ll also be cutting up a monster celebration cake at about 6pm if you’d like to stick around.

Drinks: 3HH will lay on some soft drinks. Please feel free if you’d like to bring along your own bottles of adult juice (within reason ). We will not be running a bar on the day.

Entertainment: We’ll be organising tons of stuff to keep you occupied on the day – or you could just choose to hang out and chill if you like! It’s your call. There will be the usual giant games such as jenga, chess, connect 4 and twister – as well as the typical scout classics. For those of you feeling slightly more energetic there will most likely be a bouncy castle, some mini golf and a few rounds of softball / quick cricket etc.

The event is not a fund raiser and we won’t be charging for anything. But we will put out a donations box in the event you want to contribute something to cover the costs. We’d just love to see you on the day to say thanks for all of your help and support, and to look forward to the next 60 years of fun and adventure.

Please remember that the day is simply about having a bit of fun and celebrating what an awesome group we are. Look forward to seeing you on the day!

3HH Leadership Team

For every £10 customers spend in Sainsbury’s stores, online grocery site or petrol stations, customers will receive one Active Kids voucher.

Last year as a result of the campaign we benefited from some very popular sports kit which has been really well used over the last 12 months … but unfortunately it’s not indestructible and some now needs replacing again.

We would be really grateful if you could please donate to 3rd Hampton Hill Scout group. Just bring them in and give to a Leader; we’ll do the rest!

Time is running out for this year’s scheme – if you do have any vouchers knocking around at home, we’d be very grateful for them.