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Welcome to our New Newsletter
MK District have changed the way that we publish our newsletter and we would like to thank all our subscribers. 
 
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Hi All and welcome back after a long hot summer. What a summer of scouting it has been for Milton Keynes. I have really enjoyed your social media posts over the last months. Looking at your photos and posts has been great, I can’t wait to hear your stories of adventure. How many 1000s of miles? How many 1000s of smiles. 
This is one of my favourite times of year for Scouting, wringing the most out of the end of summer and planning different adventures for the dark nights. The ADC team has been hard at work over the summer planning next years, hikes, competition camps, day trips. Please look at the calendar on the website when planning your programs. District activities are there for everyone to enjoy, we run them to bring everyone together to encourage fun, team work, competition and learning new skills. We do this at minimum cost and best they are activities that you as leaders don’t have to organise. 
This week sees the opening of a new Beaver colony in Loughton, well done to everyone who has helped get this off the ground, lets hope it’s the first of many. We are constantly looking for ways to get more children involved and reduce the waiting this isn’t something we are doing on our own County, Region and HQ are supporting us. We will keep you informed, exciting times. 
Later in the month is the District AGM. Just like your Scout group the District needs a strong executive committee to run if you think you could or know someone who can help out please contact Pat Pankhurst for a nomination form. It’s almost the end of AGM season, from me a huge thank you for the time and effort you put into your Annual General Meetings. In the planning they can seem a drag and just a hoop to jump through. But I have enjoyed everyone of them, the meeting is what it has to be. But the celebrations, badges awarded, campfires, village fates and BBQ make them a special event. 
There is lots of information from our County team about next year’s huge camp, 00Bucks. This is shaping up to be one of the biggest Scouting events in decades. MK will be a sub camp on its own and we are working to make it the biggest, best and most fun sub camp. It’s time to fly our flag and show the rest of Buckinghamshire how great we are. Our challenge is to have 1000+ from MK.
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All MKScouts adult volunteers will have been issued an Office365 account. It’s important that you check you can access your @mkscouts.org email address, as from the beginning of next year all District communications will be sent to @Mkscouts email addresses. If you find you cannot access, or have lost your registration details, or are a recent joiner and don’t yet have one, then support can be reached in a number of ways:
 
New Accounts/Re-activations/Removals can all be requested through the webstore:
https://mkscouts.org/webstore/product-category/adult-training-it-support/it-training-support/
 
Office365 is accessible across a range of platforms, and downloads of apps can be found in the appstore of your choice. However, this does NOT include desktop apps for Windows & Mac, only the web-based applications. We have compiled a number of Frequently Asked Questions to help you configure your devices, these are available under the Members section of the MKscouts website: https://mkscouts.org/ufaq-category/office-365-faq/
 
Any problems please email [email protected]
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New Active Support Unit
The District Exec have approved a new Active Support Unit, Damboree ASU. 
 
MKScouts is the new home of Damboree, an nationwide initiative to promote #BeaversInTents. 
 
Working with the UK Technical Nights Away Advisers, and a ragtag mob of volunteers from across the country, the Damboree Team has encouraged Beaver Leaders to go out and get Campsite Nights Away Permits, including Kyle P. and Angela R. from Milton Keynes. They are part of a contingent of 175 other leaders who achieved their Campsite Permit as a result of Damboree. ~13000  Beavers camped as part of Damboree, supported by over 3500 adults.
 
Traditionally Beaver Leaders held indoor permits, but as a result of rules changes in 2015, many of the restrictions on Beavers camping were removed, but the rules changes hadn’t really filtered down to the section leaders. Some of the local rules being used across the country to stop Beavers camping were horrific, and sadly in some cases there are still local rules in place, for example that Mod 38 needs renewing every 3 years. 

Due to our overwhelming success, we’ve needed to find a proper home, with proper governance wrapper around us, and Milton Keynes seemed the best choice after we were turned down for National Active Support Unit status. 

As we start to plan Damboree activities for 2019, we’ll be looking to create Cub streams and Scout Streams to create a progressive Damboree programme as young people move through up the movement. For more information on who we are, what we’ve done (if you’ve managed to avoid us so far), you can find our website at@ https://www.damboree.co.uk or https://www.facebook.com/Damboree/ we also have a Facebook Group for more insight into what Damboree 2018 has been about https://www.facebook.com/groups/DamboreeGroup/ (please note this is a private group, and you will be asked questions as part of your join request).
 
Damboree ASU Manager, Stuart Ball will be on hand at the AGM if you have any questions, or want to get involved in the ASU, or Damboree 2019 #EveryoneInTents.
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GSL MEETING – Now termly! The day and location of the meeting will change, so nobody is left out. 

Tuesday 2nd October 2018 7.30pm. Quarries 
Thursday 7th February 2019 7.30pm. 
Wednesday 8th May 2019 7.3opm. 

Venue for last two meetings will be confirmed nearer the date.
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MK Scout and Guide Gang Show is Coming Home – October 20th-21st at The Venue Theatre, Walton High School.

Scouts and Guides from Milton Keynes will be performing many songs and sketches that they have been rehearsing since March 2018.

Our biggest Item this year is a tribute to the 100 yrs of WW1, Under the sea with Neon Characters, Around the world, Plus the Junior section will be performing The Wizard of OZ. 

Tickets are on sale via the webstore – Discounts for MK Scout and Guide groups will be available. Visit the Gang Show page from this website to purchase your tickets. 

Come along and support the cast of 2018 who have put many hours into this show – it would be a shame to let them perform to no one after many months of weekly rehearsing.

Any questions about the show or wish to join us please contact [email protected]

 
Click Here To Buy Your Tickets
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We have opened the website to allow you to share your success with us. This is a great opportunity to share ideas and what you have been doing on our website. 
Write Your Story Here
Thank You for reading this edition of the newsletter. 
Our next newsletter will be published on 16th October. If you have a news story that you would like to share please send this to [email protected]
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