April 2024 Newsletter

Summer is nearly here and we’ve got a bumper newsletter full of events and activities for you this month. We hope you’ve all had a good Easter break and the leader team are looking forward to seeing you all next week.

In this newsletter:

• Summer Term Start Dates
• Summer Band Night
• District Activity Day
• Renewal of Promise
• Summer Camp
• Easter Activity Weekend
• Summer Term membership fees
• Personal Details Checks

Summer Term Dates

We’ll be starting back for the Summer Term on these dates:

• Beavers: Fri 19 Apr

• Cubs: Wed 17 Apr

• Renown Sea Scouts: Fri 19 Apr

• Solebay Sea Scouts: Mon 15 Apr

• Endeavour Explorers: Thu 18 Apr

• Dauntless Network: Tue 16 Apr

Summer Band Night

Sat 18 May @ 19:00

One of the hottest social events of the summer is back: the 3rdCB Band Night.

Celebrate the start of summer in Old Leigh and watch the sun go down as you dance the night away to some great entertainment, including the fabulous XStatic Party Band live on stage.

Gates open at 6:30pm. We’ll have an on site bar and food wagon available, or bring your own drinks & snacks for the evening.

All proceeds go towards supporting Scouting and activities for young people at 3rd Chalkwell Bay.

Tickets are £12.50 (or £7.50 for children 12 & under. Under 5’s go free).

Buy your tickets online now at 3rdCB.org.uk/bandnight.

Last year’s band nights were sell out evenings, and great fun for all involved, so don’t miss out, book your tickets today!

District Activity Day

Sat 27 Apr @ Belchamps

To celebrate St Georges Day (the Patron Saint of Scouting), our District Scout Team are running an activity day for all of Scouting across Southend West at Belchamps on Sat 27 April. 

There will be all kinds of activities put on, for all ages from Beavers to Scouts, including pedal karts, high ropes, bush craft, quad biking to name just a few, all finished off with a camp fire in the evening.

Invites have been sent out via the Parent Portal and places are limited so remember to book your child’s place.

Renewal of Promise

Sun 5 May @ 10:30-12:00

At the start of every summer we come together to renew our Scouting promises to Do Our Best for the upcoming year.

We’ll meet by the cockle sheds, under the bridge into Old Leigh at 10:30 in full uniform, then march to Strand Wharf where we will gather to renew our promise together as a group, then march back to The Den to finish at around 12:00.

All Beavers, Cubs, Scouts & Explorers are expected to attend in full uniform (this is one of the few events we ask all to be there for). Parents & friends are very welcome to watch the parade and service (please be at Strand Wharf by 1100).

All are welcome to join us back at The Den afterwards for tea & cake.

Summer Camp 2024

The highlight of the Scouting year is just around the corner: a week away learning new skills, making new friends and memories that will last a lifetime for the first week of the summer holidays, based at Marlesford Hall in Suffolk. The dates are:

• Beavers: 27 – 29 Jul
• Cubs: 27 Jul – 1 Aug
• Scouts: 27 Jul – 3 Aug

You should all have received an email invite to sign up, or can do this in the Parent Portal.

Explorer Camp

This year the Explorers will be joining thousands of Scouts from around the world at Essex International Jamboree, for an unforgettable week making international friendships and challenging themselves with over 100 activities from abseiling to zorbing. It’s the same week at Scout Camp (27 Jul-3 Aug). Speak to Matt for details.

Easter Activity Weekend

Over the Easter weekend the Sea Scouts got together for a long weekend of activities around Essex.

Friday started with an incident hike around Two Tree Island (high winds sadly stopped the sailing element), followed by a master chef desert making challenge (the girls definitely won this one!). On Saturday day we headed to High Ongar for a day hike on the sunniest day of the weekend, putting navigation skills to the test before moving on to Ninja Warrior in Chemlsford to tackle their huge indoor obstacle course.

Sunday’s activities included axe throwing, pedal kart racing and ultimate frisbee, then on to ten pin bowling in Maldon, pizza dinner in the park, and a night hike around Bradwell, visiting the ancient chapel of St Peter-on-the-Wall along the way (not spooky at all in the dark), and finally back to The Den for a sleep over (which even included some sleeping). We finished the weekend with a big fry up breakfast, and walk along the seafront for ice cream. Thanks to all the Scouts for making it such a fun weekend, and to the leaders for pulling it together in very short order.

Summer Term Membership Fees

This term’s membership fees are due on 1 May. If you’ve not set up automatic payments you’ll receive a separate email reminder, and can pay through the Parent Portal .

If you’re a UK tax payer, please also consider signing up for Gift Aid. It costs you absolutely nothing, but we can claim an extra 25p in every pound collected in membership fees, which makes a huge difference to the activities and facilities we can offer – last year this was over £9,000 of additional income! You can opt in for Gift Aid when paying membership fees (Gift Aid link on the left hand menu), and it only takes about 5 seconds.

Personal Details Checks

As the days get longer and weather improves we’ll be doing a lot more of our Scouting outside this term, and getting more adventurous.  As such it’s important that we hold accurate details for our youth members so we can support them better on their Scouting journey and keep in touch with parents along the way.

Please take a minute to log in to your child’s record on the Parent Portal and check/update the details we hold for them, especially any medical/dietary information, and nominate an emergency contact that we can call in the unlikely event we can’t get hold of parents (this should be a friend or family member, not a copy of parent’s details; we’ll always contact parents in the first instance).