Auditions will take place on Sunday 15^th July, 1000-1700 hrs at Scout Park.

We are looking for Explorer Scouts and Network members from across GLN who would like to get involved in this year’s production by acting, signing, dancing, providing technical support, back stage or front of house work.  Please can this message be passed on to all Explorer Scouts and Network members who may be interested in this opportunity.

For more information and to register your interest please sign up on www.thelondonpantomimers.org.uk and click on “Come and join The London Pantomimers”.

This opportunity promises to be a unique and memorable experience, a chance to meet new friends, will look great on your CV, demonstrates personal commitment and will go towards the top Scouting and DofE awards.

The annual Scout Pantomime has been running as a traditional family production since 1944, and is aimed at all members of Scouting, young and old.  The Scout Pantomime is proud to have received national recognition from The Scout Association as an outstanding annual production.  Young people who are involved will automatically become members of the Pantomime Explorer Scout Unit and adults will join the Pantomime Active Support Unit.

Come celebrate 10 years at Theme Park Camp!

Open to all Explorers and Network Units, September 7-9th 2012.

We’ll have two nights of discos, games, camp fires, a beach party, inflatables, karaoke, and more. Then all day Saturday we’ll take you to Thorpe Park, home of some mind bending (and stomach churning) rides, including the new Swarm roller-coaster.

All you need to do is get there, bring tents, and feed yourselves. Easy!

To find out more:
http://www.summitnetwork.org.uk/tpc
http://www.facebook.com/themeparkcamp
http://twitter.com/themeparkcamp

Twenty-four of them came up with a unique fundraising event to help pay for next summer’s trip of a lifetime.  They spent 24 hours living in their own self-designed cardboard box.  They had their own small space mapped out on
the floor of their Turkey Street Scout hut and that became their total living space.

Apart from giving them all the opportunity to raise a total of £5,000, the event also helped them to understand the plight of many people who have to sleep rough on the streets.

Alice Hillier, aged 16, (pictured in her red and white scarf) said “Whilst living and sleeping in our own tiny cardboard houses has been great fun, it’s really sad to know there are people less fortunate than us who have to do this all the time”.

Jags Bharth, aged 16, said “It’s been really cosy in my cardboard box next to all my mates.  Being a Scout has given me so many different opportunities, and this has been just one of them”.

Kiera Whitbread, aged 15, said “It’s been amazing to raise money in such a fun way.  I can’t wait to meet up with so many Scouts from practically every country in the world”.

Mike Thurston, Explorer Scout Leader and the event organiser said “These young people are boys and girls, all aged between 14 and 18 and have had a really good time raising money for this huge international Scout camp next summer”.

Just to confirm the latest news from Namibia. The plantation is really going well. We now have 202 trees as 2 trees have come back to life from the failed project 4 years ago! The headman Geelbooi Thameb has now retired from the job he had working on the roads and is now dedicating his time to the plantation. Cash crops are growing well around the tree area as a result of the irrigation, which is great and will supply food to the community immediately. The best crops are growing in the area where we had our toilets!!!! Although the community struggled initially to buy diesel for the pump Geelbooi manged to get a 300 litre barrel donated by the road company on his retirement and they have also received a donation of 3,000 namibian dollars from another charity to buy diesel. Jim is planning a camp later this year with the Tsumeb and Tsintsabis scouts to plant the next section of trees and increase the irrigation area. The Tsintsabis scouts would like to start a Rover unit (over 16s) as there are many young people of this age in the community where there is almost 100% unemployment. The hope is that this will give these young people some purpose. I will be launching an appeal to supply the Tsintsabis scouts with a shirt and scarf as they have no money. This will cost about 100 namibian dollars per person (about £12).

We have chosen a brand new school for the 2012 event which we have never used before, which should give us plenty of space.  Although we cannot disclose the location, we can say that the venue is close to a good rail link, so that will help teams who may wish to use public transport.

It’s easy to enter via the online booking system on www.scouts-gln-southern50.org.uk.  Just click into “S50 Challenge” and “How to Enter”.

Please let me know if you are an Explorer Scout Leader and would like anybody from the organising team to come along one evening and give a talk about the event to your young people.

Any questions to secretary@scouts-gln-southern50.org.uk

A new Explorer Scout Pantomime Unit has been formed with members stretching from right across the County.  We are always looking to increase the Unit with any young person wanting to learn new skills on how to operate a spotlight, be part of the back stage crew or support props and stage make-up.  This year’s production of Aladdin runs from 9^th-17^th December.  Further information can be obtained from Fozzy on cesc@gln-scouts.org.uk

The training will help you gain the confidence to encourage young people to join, adults to volunteer, or raise the profile of Scouting in your community.

These skills will be useful for the rest of your life, will be a great help with job and university interviews and will look great on a CV. And of course, you’ll enjoy a fun-filled weekend with other Scouts your age.

What does the course cover?
• Talking to journalists
• Giving radio interviews
• Delivering presentations
• Supporting a campaign
• Online campaigns/direct lobbying

Who would you work with?
• Media Development Managers, HQ Media Relations Team, HQ Public Affairs & Campaigns Team
What qualities do you need?
• Enthusiasm
• Motivation and the ability to motivate others
• Background knowledge of Scouting
• Effective communication skills
• Willingness to be trained to develop communications and campaigning skills

The next course is on November 5/6 at Gilwell

The course is free but you will need to pay your own travelling expenses. Some participants will camp; others will stay in indoor accommodation. Full pre-course information will be distributed prior to the events.

Please note that the ideal age of attendees is 15/16 but there are no age restrictions in place.

If you wish to attend, please download the Scouts Speak Out Booking Form and send it to the County Media Development Manager (that’s me, Steve Way) at communications@gln-scouts.org.uk. If you can’t scan it in to email, send it to me at

… and contact me if you have any questions.

Find out about chances to help at the Olympics next year by becoming a Young Games Maker: http://www.london2012.com/get-involved/volunteer/young-games-makers/index.php

Become a Cast Member of the Olympics Opening or Closing ceremony:

http://www.london2012.com/games/ceremonies/get-involved/casting-information.php

And make sure you book up to celebrate 10 years of Explorers at GLMW’s fantastic Blast! festival – places are going fast, it’s only a couple of weeks away….

http://www.blastfestival.co.uk/

The Acorn E.S.U. and 1st Islington Scout Group in CCI took part in Bookbridge this summer. The project was collecting books to send to two new libraries in Cambodia.

In many schools around the world pupils are taught without any books at all. Bookbridge aims to change that by building libraries with donated books. In the summer of 2010 the first Bookbridge Library was built in Mongolia – it has 13,000 books and to date more than 25,000 children have benefited. In 2011 they are aiming to build six more libraries. The UK Scout Association has twinned up to help find books for the library in Cambodia.

As a group we collected in excess of 300 books which we sent off to the project. The whole group were all involved in the effort from Beavers to Explorers – the Beavers helped us count, the Cubs designed posters and Scouts sorted through the books to check they were appropriate. The Explorers and Leaders also made the 3hr trip to the national sorting days in Nottingham – whilst we were there we sorted through nearly 40,000 books, loading hundreds of boxes into containers! Across the country in excess of 70,000 books were collected.

You can find our more about Bookbridge, the libraries and our links with Scouts at www.bookbridge.org/scouts. The books collected will be a huge boost to children in Cambodia – thank you to every one that helped!