Year 2011
AGM REPORT 2011
Yet another very successful year with a lot of great achievements at Arctic Fox ESU
Our membership has changed aspect this year. The unit currently has 32 explorers which consists of 18 Girls and 14 Boys of varying age, so we have certainly had to adapt to these times of change, however from the recent press reports we are in line with the national picture of growth.
I would like to thank Adam Rhodes, David Harwood, Tim Holland and Mark Littleboy in their leadership support over the last year.
So what’s been happening in the unit?
In the last year we have managed to continue with our varied programme. Activities have included events such as Alpaca Trekking, Arundel Bath Tub Race, Ride and Stride around sussex’s historic churches, Nick Gibb visit to talk about local politics and give the explorers an understanding into how it works and Arundel Ghost tours. Arctic Fox Apprentice was an activity that gave the explorers the responsibility to come up with a fundraising idea that had to be executed at 1st Felphams Christmas fair, a lot was learnt from this activity and some groups were more successful than others. We had a visit from SUSSAR (Sussex search and rescue) who explained what they do and how they do it. This year we decided to go local with the Ice Skating at Worthing’s open air rink.
During March the explorers took an active part in planning the programme themselves which meant that they all had the responsibility of planning an evenings activity and also the responsibilty of it’s successes or failures, fortunately each team came up with a successful idea and again this approach to the planning of the activities gave the explorers an insight into the work that has to be put into the programme.
In keeping with the previous years and to ensure that we have an unbiased ethic we took six explorers to the Conservative conference in Birmingham who put across their views in a workshop, which saw local and national politicians attend. This completed visits to the three main parties over the three years.
What about the Successes of the year!
Arctic Fox explorers have made me as a leader immensely proud of their successes and achievements this year. As Again we have gone through the year putting Arctic Fox firmly on the map with another great series of fantastic achievements.
Firstly, I would like to congratulate both Lizzie Stroud and Matthew Farrant in achieving their Queens Scout Award, this is one of the biggest achievements that can be made by an explorer and this has not been achieved in the Bognor Regis District since the early seventies. Well done Matthew and Lizzie!
We have continued to maintain links with the Royal Navy under the RN recognition scheme. This has given our explorers the opportunity to attend the camp at HMS Bristol and we also entered a team of six explorers into the HMS Raleigh swimming gala in Plymouth. This event saw us compete against many RN recognised units from around the country and we are very proud to come back with A bag full of plaques, an award tray and very large cup along with 6 tired but very proud Explorer Scouts. The large explorer trophy was awarded for best overall performance.
As a national event this really was a great achievement but if we are to attempt to defend our awards next year we will need to work hard as competition and a desire for payback is high, especially with Hamble Sea Scouts whom we trumped!!
A breakdown of the results are as follows:-
Individual successes were:
1st Oliver Grubb U16 Freestyle
2nd Rachel Farrant U16 Backstroke
3rd Kerrie Lewis U18 Backstroke
1st Tom Holland U18 Breastroke
2nd Matthew Farrant U18 Freestyle
As a team they managed to:
Win the U18 Medley Relay
Come 2nd in the U16 Medley Relay
Come 2nd in the Freestyle Relay
Other achievements for the year have been: -
Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award Duke of Edinburgh Silver Award
Rachel Farrant Lewis Powell
Tom Holland
Oliver Grubb
Joanna Lampard
Megan Smith Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award
Julia Cowell Elizabeth Stroud
Amber Perrett Matthew Farrant
Edward Sutcliffe
Queens Scout Award
Matthew Farrant
Elizabeth Stroud
I would like to congratulate the above explorers on their hard work that they have put in to achieving these awards, they were all awarded their badges and certificates at an award ceremony at Lodge Hill in February.
The Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme still features heavily in our Explorer programme and everyone is encouraged to do it. Currently we have eighteen young people doing their Bronze Award, seven young people working towards their Silver Award and one going for Gold.
We also currently have 8 Arctic Fox Explorers that are currently working with Beavers, Cubs & Scouts throughout Bognor District as part of the Young Leader Scheme this helps develop Explorer Scouts Leadership skills with a view that they will return to a Leadership role when they are Adults. They are all currently undergoing a module based training programme.
I would also like to thank those that help keep the unit running from behind the scenes, Jonathon Stroud (Treasurer), Sue Hawthorn (Fundraiser) and John Hawthorn for auditing the accounts.
Don’t forget to visit us at www.arcticfoxesu.org.uk
Yours in Explorers,
Simon Baker-Irons
(Explorer Scout Leader)