Coronavirus Updates

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update - 19 May 2020

19/05/2020

We continue to find alternate ways to deliver Scouting in these unusual times and the increase in the number of groups and sections finding ways to adapt and keep our young people engaged with activities is just brilliant!

Within this update you will find the following information:

• Cub Camp – alternative online meetings
• Awards – Congratulations and Nominations
• Coronavirus – What we can and cannot do
• Occasional Badges – Considerations and Guidance
• Membership Fees – County Support for 2021
• Online Scouting and Staying Safe Online
• Training – Mandatory ongoing learning and online sessions

COUNTY CUB CAMP – THE ALTERNATIVE
This weekend would have been our County Cub Camp with around 600 young people taking part. Whilst we can’t meet face to face, the County Team have been pulling together a programme of activities for our young people to take part in. These will be in variety of forms throughout Saturday and include a traditional campfire in the evening.

AWARDS
Congratulations to all of those who recently received awards in the St Georges Day celebrations. It was great to see the different ways that these were presented using online methods. I am sure that DCs will arrange suitable presentations of the actual awards once we are able to meet face-to-face again.

If you have someone who you think is worthwhile of an award for the outstanding service, please visit the awards section of the HQ website to find out how to submit nominations.

Note: Please remember that Long Service Awards are issued automatically to recognise the time people have given to Scouting. Good Service Awards are aimed at celebrating ‘over and above’ the requirements of the Long Service Awards.

CORONAVIRUS – WHAT WE CAN AND CANNOT DO
HQ continues to update the essential information to support our volunteers during the period that face-to-face Scouting is suspended. This includes information about HQ, events, finance, insurance and building management to name just a few/ If you haven’t already done so, please take the time to read this information here .

Our priority is to keep young people and volunteers safe. It’s clear that the best and most effective way we can respond is by supporting young people at home

We cannot meet face-to-face and should not be organising to attend third party activities or events during this time. The challenge for many of us is the not knowing how long this may continue. As we all know, this is an ever changing situation and as soon as there is more information on the expected period that this will continue (or not), HQ will provide an update.

You can, of course, support other organisations in a personal capacity, but you should keep this separate from your role in Scouts. Our insurance policies are based on standard Scout activities rather than these exceptional ones. Therefore, if you do decide to help out in your communities, then thank you, but you'll need to do so in a personal capacity.

OCCASSIONAL BADGES
Within the advice referred to above, HQ offer advice on the production of local or occasional badges. If you're thinking of producing a local badge, please read the HQ advice carefully first.

Specifically, though badges must not be styled or refer to the Coronavirus / COVID-19 outbreak in any way.

HQ are working on a national occasional badge to support Scouts at home - details will be included in our normal communications when this is ready.

Within the County, we also have our Challenge X badge, the activities for which have been adapted to support Scouting at Home which is approved as an occasional badge.

Please do not arrange for the design of other badges intended to be used as occasional badges without first seeking permission as it is highly unlikely these will be approved for wearing on uniforms. There is only so much space for the wearing of such badges after all!.

MEMBERSHIP FEES
As I have alluded to previously, the County continue to do everything that we can to reduce our costs, obtain funding and offset any expenditure to enable us to support local Scouting.

We are delighted to be able to announce that following a review of the budget and savings made, we are able to announce a reduction in the County element of the membership fees for next year. We will reduce our fees from £8.25 to £5.75 per young person for the membership fees due to be collected in 2021. We will of course continue to seek out any further opportunities to save money or obtain funding and if we are able to help in any additional way, we will review this further in the winter.

ONLINE SCOUTING AND STAYING SAFE ONLINE
We recently held two sessions around supporting the programme online and keeping safe while delivering Scouting differently. Both of these sessions were recorded and can be viewed here

The County Team are looking at further opportunities to offer these sessions and we would welcome any feedback on topics of interest. Please submit any suggestions to Rachael Macadam, Deputy County Commissioner (Programme) by email

TRAINING
Thank you to those that have responded to the requests to update their mandatory training. As a County we are heading in the right direction and showing a significant improvement in catching up on these essential training requirements. For those that have received an email and not yet found the time to complete the training, please can you do this before the end of the month.

We have recently trialled running some of the training modules online which have generally being well received. We acknowledge that the interaction is less in these sessions and we are working on developing more online sessions to enable training to continue in these times.

AND FINALLY
As always, the time and dedication and the way we have adapted to deliver Scouting throughout the County continues to impress us all.

The County Team are here to support you in delivering Scouting. If there is something that you think we should be doing to support you, please feel free to get in touch.

Thank you for everything you are doing to enable Scouting in Humberside to continue.

Stay safe and take care

Gary McCune
County Commissioner