It seems ages since I wrote my last bit for the newsletter, but only because so much has happened. 

I hope you have seen the pictures on Facebook from Mission 00Bucks. What an amazing 4 days over 4000 Scouts and Guides from Bucks having the greatest of times. Scouting for Girls played the opening night and set us up for a festival atmosphere that lasted the whole weekend. The 5 activity zones kept everyone happy, busy and well entertained during the day. The parties, discos, cinema and free candyfloss had us all dancing well into the night, even if the karaoke was a bit hard on the ears. Have a look at the pictures to see what a fantastic event it was. Facebook Mission 00Bucks 

The light evenings are giving us more time to be out, more time for adventure and fun. The Quarries have been buzzing with Family camps, cooking competitions, day hikes and working parties. We have been working hard to keep the campsite ready for you to camp. Please book for evening usage so the car parking can be monitored and on busy evenings the neighbours informed. If you are visiting our campsite come and say hi, I’m there most Saturdays with the service crew. 

Leaders not getting much sleep is becoming a theme, Beaver sleepovers at MK Safari and the Scout night hike are the sort of activity when we don’t expect too much rest but leaders forgetting their own sleeping bags when camping in April…… 

Thanks to everyone for getting the annual census figures in on time this year. We grew by 4% in 2018 well above the average and yes, we are thumbing our noses at other Districts. The joining list continues to grow by 3 or 4 a day. Positive news, we have opened a new group in Bradwell Abbey, the CDC who manage the Abbey have given us great rates on the Cruck Barn and are working with us to get the Group off the ground. The hunt is on for other halls and community centres to host new sections. 

Thanks to all who came to St. George’s Day parade this year. Back to the traditional parade in CMK and Campbell park. The day was made complete by a surprise stage invasion by the Beavers, all of them!! Followed by the other sections, it was great to see so many. 

Some of the Groups will be affected by the way MK Council administer the Wider Use fund. This year will be the last year they will get help with the rent of Council owned buildings. We have been working with the Guides to minimise the impact the cut in funding will make. For the last few years we have lobbied the council not to kill the fund off, they have listened. There is now a new grant that all Groups can apply for. This is administered by the Community Foundation. We arranged workshops just for Scouts and Guides on how to apply for Community Foundation grants. The foundation is very enthusiastic to have a partnership with us to give us all easy access to the funds they have. These grants are not just for rent or large projects but also smaller grants for program evenings, camps or even to cut the cost of coach hire. 

Hope to see as many of you as possible at your AGMs.

The new registered Group that meet at The Cruck Barn are nearly ready to invest their new Leaders and first Beavers and Cubs. They meet on a Monday night and are being supported by the CDC at the Abbey and a fantastic team from around the District.

If you see the new colours around the District or want to join up for joint evenings at The Abbey please say hello, welcome the new members and get in touch.

Joint Camp 

11th - 13th October 2019

Quarries Scout Campsite 

More information will be passed out over the next few weeks. 

Monopoly Run 2019 

The London Monopoly run is open to Explorers, Networks, Senior section guiding and leaders. The next event is 18th April 2020 with bookings opening in September 2019

The Explorer section has been building since census and we now stand at 140+ across the 7 Units. The Explorers have been busy and the D of E groups are busy with 50+ signed up. We have run a Silver expedition and have Gold and QSA expedition in July. Silver and Bronze are planned for September/October. Please remind your Young leaders and older scouts they can complete D of E in scouting. 

We are have events all through the year. From challenge hikes to National/International camps at places like Gilwell. Explorers had 20+ attend Mission )) Bucks and thoroughly enjoyed the music, making friends and the silent (NOT!) disco. Gilwell24 is our next event with 34 Explorers from all the Units attending. 

We are looking at more walking camps and need more leaders in the district to gain their Terrain permits at the moment Rex Exon, is the ONLY leader to have a T1 and this is really limiting what Explorers and Older scouts can do. Would you consider thinking about doing this? 

This summer is going to be fantastic with 10 Explorers attending the World Scout Jamboree in USA/Canada, 6 going to Kandersteg in Switzerland and 18 going to Haarlem, Jamborette in The Netherlands and a trip in the UK to Tolmers activity camp. They have all worked really hard to fundraise etc. – really fabulous skills gained there. We are looking at new funding routes as we are conscious of the costs involved and will look at Gilwell Benevolent fund and MK Community foundation. We will let you know how we get on. We were thrilled by a grant to buy a new Coleman Shelter from Councillor Robin Bradburn. Many thanks to him. 

We have had a lot of change in our leadership team with leaders going off to do further study and moving because of work. The remaining team have worked really hard to cover this but we are on the hunt for some more adults to join the team – look out for some social media posts and posters around our communities.

Mission 00 Bucks attracted 4000 other Scouters and Guiders from across the county for 3 days of fun and adventure. 

There was some amazing activities for everyone to do and also a great line up of entertainment on the main stage. 

Scouting For Girls opened the camp with a fantastic set on the Friday evening. 

Weather was also really good and made the camp within the wonderful grounds of the Claydon Estate all the more enjoyable. 

MK Scout District have helped and supported at the MK Marathon for many years now. Our role is to look after the baggage area making sure the runners personal belongings are looked after whilst they are out on the run. 

This year we had a fantastic team from across the district and all YP have been awarded the Community Impact Badge for their hard work. 

We really did make an impression and one runner asked a member of the team if we can go to London Marathon and run the baggage area there as ours was so much smoother. 

It is wonderful that we can help make such a landmark event run smooth and make this all the more enjoyable for the runners. 

Huge thank you to all the Young People,  Explorers, Network and Adult Volunteers 

Please keep your eyes peeled for 2020 marathon dates and how you can be part of this adventure. 

Another great St Georges Day was had by all and we certainly made shoppers and general public know we were in town. 

Parade formed at Christ the Cornerstone Church and paraded down the side of the shopping centre and through the market. Making our final stop at the amphitheatre in Campbell Park. 

Our story of St George was told with a difference and was very interactive for our audience. 

Promises were taken and this was also done with a difference as the ADC Beavers asked for her Beavers to join her on stage i don't think she meant the whole parade of Beavers and this then set the trend for all other sections. Looking back now this was a nice thing to do and worked really well. 

Thank You to all that joined us including Mayor of MK Cllr Martin Petchey and our Deputy County Youth Commissioner Lucy Parker. 

Well Done to all the Cubs and Scouts that took part in the District Ready Steady Cook Competition. 

The judges had an extremely hard job picking an overall winner as the dishes this year were exceptional and also very tasty. 

1st Crownhill Beavers have been getting in the scarecrow spirit for the Loughton Scarecrow Festival. There fantastic designs were displayed on the trail and they have also been out and about admiring the other fantastic designs. 

Huge well done to all the beavers at Crownhill for their hard work.

The Beavers caught the eye of some allotment owners and now that the trail is over the Beavers will be off to stand guard over the allotments. 

Also a huge well done has to go to Loughton Scout Group who have helped and supported the event in many ways and have also entered scarecrows into the trail. They helped with the car parking at the weekend and made the event generally enjoyable for all. 

The next trail will take place in 2021 and is a Around The World In 80 Scarecrows Theme. Loughton Scout Group have agreed to organise this so look out for more information 

5th Newport Pagnell cubs have enjoyed a full week at CubJam 2019 with 860 other cubs.

5th Newport Pagnell out and about at Whipsnade zoo. 19000 steps later we’re home . Enjoyable day

Was lovely to have such a good turnout for ‘Uniform Sunday’ held at St Faiths in Newton Longville.

It was such a positive morning with our young people proud to be wearing their Scout Uniform, and sharing their promise with rest of visitors in church.

They stayed on after the service to share a drink and a chat with older members of community. Very proud of our group. 

The weekend was full of activities and adventure and learning Skills For Life. 
Archery, Shooting and Caving were the activities on the plan and that was to name just a few. 

Saturday evening was campfire where parents and family members were invited to enjoy this too. Great weekend was had by all.

3rd Newport Pagnell Scout Group have been practicing the rules of archery/shooting range by using the soft archery indoors - we’ve been particularly focusing on the Outdoor and Adventure challenge badges!

We also had a camp which it was all of the cubs (16 if them) first time under canvas! We learnt basic camp skills and some campfire songs! 

Great Linford Cubs have been cleaning up with there litter pick around the local area. 

For Media related queries or to request attendance to an event please contact Jason Raggett. - [email protected]

See your article in the next edition. 

Any events that you have coming up get them added to the upcoming events. 

Email write up and pictures to [email protected]