Kate’s Blurb - February 2004

Scouting Statewide February 2004

VENTURING ON     . . . news from Venturing SA

Hi everyone and welcome to 2004, happy New Year and all that guff. I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas and a relax over the holiday period. Firstly I would like to thank all those in my team for their support and friendship during 2003. I would also like to thank all those Leaders within the section who dedicate their time to help run their Units each week. You are the ones who are the Venturer Section and without great Leaders like yourselves, there wouldn’t be a Section that is growing each year. For those who attended the Meet & Munches, Venturer Leaders conference and training courses during the year – a big thankyou, it is nice to catch up with you all at these things, to put faces to names and to actually talk face to face is so nice. I appreciate your enthusiasm, friendship and dedication to our Section and I look forward to another fun year in 2004. There are great things in place for our year with Venturing in 2004 but we mustn’t forget what has happened in the last part of 2003.

SuperSplash 2003
WOW!!! What a wonderful weekend we had. The weather was very kind to us, apart from blowing a gale each night and getting rather chilly – but we didn’t have to reduce the activity times during the day due to weather conditions. The activities were excellent, the food was great and so much of it as well, the Leaders helped out and we had so many more Venturers this time, we had nearly 65%+ of our Venturer population down at Milang. So many people volunteered their time to make an event such as this one come together and I can only say how much I appreciated your time, suggestions, encouragement and support to help make it happen. There are also a lot who helped out on the actual weekend and I thank you as well. I had a great time and in May we start all over again, so if you are at all interested in assisting with SuperSplash 2004, let me know. SuperSplash 2004 is on the first weekend in December the 3rd, 4th, 5th, so put it on your Unit program and start planning to come along.

AJ2004
Finally we got to 2004 and what a Jamboree. It seemed like we had been planning this for so long (I was on the Jamboree Executive for the last 3 years) and on New Year’s Eve when a handful of Leaders were on site and we had a bit of a shindig – all I could think of was “Thank goodness we have hit 2004!” But what a fantastic Jamboree. The Scouts all had smiles on their faces, most of the Leaders did and the activities were absolutely amazing. The radio station was excellent and run by our very own Steve Brown. They played the best music and I had it on my radio on my desk all Jamboree. Well done Steve, it was nice to see Mark Gurd there as well working hard. What wonderful young people we have in our movement, so talented. Thanks for your help Mark with the Vice Regal Salute. Part of my role during the Jamboree was to take the VIP’s around the Jamboree site; this happened most days and they were just blown away with the onsite activities, the logistics of it all and how the Scouts were enjoying themselves. It was a pity we couldn’t take them offsite to show them the fun that the Scouts were having off site that would’ve just taken their breath away. But what they saw onsite was amazing enough. The Venturers seemed to be having a great time as well and thanks goes out to each and every one of the Venturers who took on assistant Leader roles with each activity. The Jamboree would have been hard hit if you didn’t take the time out of your holidays to help, we needed you and you helped out and we hope that you enjoyed it just as much as the Scouts did. I would appreciate any feedback you are prepared to give either as Venturers or if you are a Venturer Leader and assisted, if you would like to give me any feedback on how you found the whole thing that would be great. Thankyou to everyone who helped out and made this Jamboree one that will not be forgotten quickly.

Queen’s Scout Awards so far:
As you may already know, the Queen’s Scout Award presentation has been delayed this year to coincide with the Adult Award Presentation and World Scout Day. I would like to recognize those Venturers who have already been presented with their Queen’s Scout Award so far and I know that there are more in the pipeline. Keep up the good work. The Venturers who have received their Queen’s Scout Award are: Nicole Curnow, Katherine Haebich, Asher James, Alex Johnston, Ellie King, Kathryn Page, Glenn Sharpe and Tanya Snowden. Congratulations to each and every one of you and I hope that you have the opportunity to talk to other Venturers and encourage them to continue with their goals.

I am looking forward to this year and I hope that I will meet more of you and your Venturers throughout 2004.
Keep smiling and take care.
 

Yours in Venturing
Kate Ryder
BC Venturer Scouts.
8270 2429