Please keep a note for 17th of May 2008 !

in your diary for our Annual General Meeting of our 

Scouting  in Ross & Sutherland, Scotland

at The Perrins Centre, Alness, Ross-shire.

Informal Social Evening with Cheese & Wine 

------------oooo0000ooo-----------

looking back reminder of

ROSS & SUTHERLAND AREA REPORT FOR 2007

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

ROSS and SUTHERLAND AREA SCOUT COUNCIL

 Minutes of Annual General Meeting, held at the Ross-shire Club, Dingwall, May 12^th 2007

 

The Chairman welcomed all to the Meeting especially, Marion Porteous, Andrea Smith and our guest speaker Callum Smith.

A moment of silence was observed in thanks, and memory of our President, Sir Roderick Stirling, who sadly died on March 24^th 2007

 

Apologise for absence. W Mackenzie, S Carroll, R.Graham, T Macleman,  M Phillips, F Smart, D Macdonald,          K Macnab, E Niven, J and M King, P McInnes, M Mclaughlan, C Hopkins, T Bethune, G Campbell,J  Duff,                  J Urquhart, S Clark.

 

Approval of Minutes: The Minutes of the 2006 AGM were approved. Proposed by C Lonnen, seconded by M Forsyth.

Matters arising: None

 

Area Annual Report: The report for the year 2006-2007 was distributed and accepted by the Meeting it will now be forwarded to SHQ when signed audited accounts are to hand.

 

Finance; In the absence of the Treasurer the AC distributed and itemised the Financial Report, which was accepted by the Meeting. Thanks were expressed to Ken McNab, Area Treasurer.

 

Synopsis of Reports :( Full reports appended)

 

Area Commissioner:

AC reiterated the sadness felt by all at the loss of our President, and assured the Meeting that condolences had been sent to Lady Stirling on behalf of all in Ross and Sutherland Scouting.

Followed by a résumé of the Area’s activities , the highlight being the Celebration of Scouting Service at Dornoch Cathedral Feb; 25th where the new Area Flag was paraded for the first time, and the Scottish Service at Dunfermline Abbey March 4^th.  He informed the Meeting that the new flag had been purchased solely with monies raised by the Badge Secretary, whom he thanked on behalf of the Area.  He congratulated Jennifer Robb and Alex Deas our Explorer Scouts, selected to attend the Centenary Jamboree.

He thanked the Chairman and Executive Committee for their support, and all the Leaders providing Scouting at the grass roots, and finally challenged all to help further Scouting for the next 100 years.

 

AAC Cubs: Reported on the successful Birthday Bash at Evanton,Cub Sports, and 5 Aside  Football, he thanked  Leaders especially Corinna and the Kings ,for all their help, he expressed his hope that the old “Cub Craft Competition” could be resurrected and was delighted with the successful changeover in  management of the Culbokie and Tarbat Packs, now under” New “ leadership.

 

AAC International: Reported on the very successful trip to Austria and Luxembourg 2006.

Pleased to report that Ross and Sutherland will be represented at the 2007 Jamboree and the PL Camp on Brownsea Island. Thanked everyone for their support during his tenure of office which due to the re-organisation of Scottish Scouting, would cease to exist. He will however be available for a position in which he can serve Scouting in the Area

The AC expressed his thanks to David “in abstentia”,for all his work as AAC International.

 

AAC Explorer Scouts: Pleased two Explorers are attending 2007 Jamboree, and some are trying to attend all 14 Camps being run for the Centenary. There will be a “Camping in the Highlands” on Bonfire Night which should pose no attendance problems for our Explorers, as they will be organising the event.  Still hoping to set up Module A Training for Young Leaders.

 

AAC Adult Support: Stated that the “New Training Programme “was now working well in the Area, but that we still needed more Training Advisers.

 

Beavers: The Secretary thanked Tain Scout Group for their help with the “Wow 20 Now” Birthday Celebrations last Sept: 

 

Chairman’s Report:

The Chairman gave an update on the progress of the Campsite at Balnagowan which at times is making slow and  frustrating progress, he however reiterated his intention to see the fulmination of the plans for a campsite fit for the Scouts of the future.

He expressed his appreciation of all the hard work being done by the AC in these times of change.

 

Awards: The Silver Acorn was awarded to Roderick Stirling.

Medal of Merit to: C Lonnen, O Smith, B Moran and J Urquhart, and 5 Wood Badges had been gained.

 

Election of Office Bearers: AC proposed J Ford to continue as Chairman, the Meeting then accepted his proposal that all existing Office Bearers be returned unopposed. 

 

Date and Time of Next meeting: An Extraordinary General Meeting in accordance with the rules of  re organisation of Scottish Scouting, will be held March 31^st 2008, venue to be decided.

 

A very informative account, of the implications and time table for the re organisation of Scouting in Scotland, was given by Callum Smith, Highlands and Islands Regional Commissioner Designate, after which the Meeting was closed.  

Again it has been a busy year where a number of items have occupied us.

The closing of Tollie Campsite after 40 years of Scouting, and discussions with Balnagown Estate for a new Campsite.

 Discussions relating to an impending Reorganisation of Scottish Scouting, and it’s implications for the future .

A new Training Scheme which initially caused us some problems in implementation – but happily we are now seeing the benefits of this modular system of Training. The Training Team under Cathy Chambers supervision hosted a number of meetings to help speed the Provisional warrant holders through their first three modules .I would like to record my thanks also to those other Leaders who by completing their module 25 helped us to provide Local Training Managers, and also I would  thank Andrea Smith the Regional Training Manager for her help and support in guiding us through this process.

The 5 year Warrant Review which the Appointments Committee were required to implement, and special thanks is due to Margaret Forsyth as Chairperson of the Committee and Willy Mackenzie as Appointments Secretary.

In these tasks and many others I wish to record my thanks to my Assistant Commissioners and Members of the Executive Team for coping with the ever increasing workload which is now required in order to adequately administer a Scout Area.

I was pleased to be elected to the Scottish Scout Board – and have gained some small insight into the work - and utter dedication of our Chief Scout for Scotland Eleanor Lyall and all her team at SHQ.

These items which were of critical importance were nevertheless additional to our main business which is to support the Groups to deliver quality Scouting in Ross and Sutherland.

In terms of numbers the Area increased its Membership during the year where our numbers increased by 14 to 484.

We were pleased to see new Group formed at Lairg, and are delighted to note the continuing success of Avoch Sea Scouts and wish them well in their efforts to receive Royal Navy recognition.

Sadly though we lost a Group in Portree, and I have asked Alan Duffield  to see if anything can be done in restoring Scouting in Skye.

We were also pleased to initiate and then to receive Awards for a number of our Leaders.

 Medals of Merit were awarded to Alf MacGregor, Brenda MacGregor, Martin McLauchlan, Calum Manson, Moira Phillips, and Ronnie Graham.

Chief Scouts Commendations were awarded to Jim King, Maureen King, Alison Munro, and Corinna Shanks.

During the year we ran a number of events,

The largest I think was the Farewell Camp at Tollie Brahan Campsite which took place in early June, and almost all Groups attended either as Campers or day visitors. The weather was glorious, everyone had a good time, and the event was a true celebration of over 40 years camping at the site,

Lots of thanks are due to all the people - too numerous to mention - who made this such a success.

Sadly -  from September onwards, we had to dismantle and clear the site and we owe a huge debt of thanks particularly to Calum and Joyce, and also the Camp Crew for all their hard work. I would also like to record our thanks to our President Captain Stirling for finding us somewhere to store a great number of  items that we will need for our future Campsite.

By way of a thank you for total commitment - we took the Camp Site Team out for a Bar meal and presented Calum with his Medal of Merit and also presented Joyce with a Gift Voucher.

We held a number of discussions through the year with Estate owners and visited a few possible sites, however we were the most fortunate in our discussions with Gordon Robertson the Manager of Balnagown Estate. I am extremely grateful that Mr Al Fayed the owner of Balnagown Estate (the former home of the Earls of Ross) who has indicated that he is prepared to help us in providing a new Campsite for us. It is a little too early to say very much at the moment – but we are hopeful that we will be in a position to provide camping for next years centenary celebrations, and suitably mark the 100^th anniversary of the first Scout Camp on Brownsea Island

I would like to place on record my thanks to my Chairman – John Ford for his experienced leadership and wise counsel both in these discussions, and throughout the year.

The Cub Sports were held in Dingwall in May and was a great success. It is my impression that the event was won by Muir of Ord Group, but I might be wrong as my brain was quite addled with supervising the long jump - Again I must thank Corinna Lonnen for organising the event, and for all the Leaders who took part.

The Cubs Football went ahead in February and was a great success with the the eventual winners being Conon and Maryburgh,and I would like to place on record my thanks to Corrinna for organising the event and all other leaders who took part.

The Area Church Parade was held at Alness Church of Scotland on the 23^rd of April and was well attended – and also I am sure was enjoyed by all – what a super Founders Day Service we had from the Minister Mr Robert Jones. I also am indebted to Cathy Chambers for organising this event, and I was also specially asked to thank her (from the boys and girls who attended) for the juice and crisps afterwards.

I would also like to especially thank our Secretary-  Brenda MacGregor who I am sure you will agree has done a tremendous job. She has overseen and developed the Email chain to reach almost all Leaders – and our communications with the Groups and between us all have improved thereby ……beyond recognition. Well done Brenda!!.

I would also thank our long serving Treasurer Ken Macnab – who thankfully was persuaded to continue in post and has overseen our finances with both expertise and patience; and also to our Auditor David Adams - for his time in auditing our Accounts.

                                     -----------------------------------------------------

I am conscious of the number of things that we need to do in order to provide our better support to the Groups. – Which is after all our main aim!!. ….And in this respect one of my  priorities - which I will need your help with, will be to seek to provide Group Scout Leaders to cover (or jointly cover all Groups.) .

To finish – I must pay a huge tribute once again to all the Leaders who give so freely of their time and energies to provide great Scouting in Ross and Sutherland.

And as we approach the Centenary year – I thank you all for the expertise, dedication, and commitment which has seen us through a total of 99 years of Scouting,

And let us trust that we can embrace change, and adapt to meet the challenges that await us - in order that we may provide another 99 years of Scouting!!

Frank Hallett                       24^th April 2006