Thank you for your Votes

Thank you to everyone who came along to the Derwent Valley AAP Your Voice, Your Money, Your Vote event to day. There was a fantastic turn out of people, including alot of parents from 1st Consett and 1st Blackhill. It was also amazing how many of the people who we spoke to used be a scout, or know someone who is at the moment.

When all the votes were counted, Consett and Blackhill Scouts got the most votes, winning the £5,000 we applied for. This is a great boost for us, and the money will now go towards the next stage of the build, which is the electrics and plumbing. Hopefully we will be in the new headquarters by Easter!

We need YOUR vote!

Saturday 16th November is your chance to help us win £5,000 towards our new headquarters.

Consett and Blackhill Scouts are competing for a share of the Derwent Valley Partnership's "Its Up To You" grants, to help us start on the next stage of the new headquarters build. This grant is very important for both groups, as we work to find the money to complete our amazing new building.

The grant will make a huge difference to our 100 members, who currently meet in three different locations each week, and to future generations of young people in Consett, enabling both groups to provide more activities to more young people. As well as providing a fantastic new centre for Scouting, the building will also be an amazing asset for other community groups in Consett.

Please come along to St. Patrick's Church Hall, Victoria Road, Consett DH8 5AX on Saturday 16th November between 10 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. and vote for us.

Spare two minutes to help us win £3,000

We have got through to the final stage of the Lloyds Bank Community Fund. We now need you to help us win £3,000 towards our the new Scout Headquarters..

All you have to do is follow the link below and vote for 1st Blackhill Scout Group, or send a SMS Text message to 61119 ‘Vote KWHC’ (network rate only; no additional charge) or preferably both! You can also vote by going in to a LLoyds branch and asking for a voting slip. Everybody can vote three times, one by each of the above methods. 

Please pass this on to as many people as possible and ask them to vote.

Voting will close online and by SMS at 11.59pm on Friday 1 November 2013 and in branches, at the close of business (times vary locally).

Our Online Profile: https://communityfund.lloydsbank.com/voting/cf_org_vote_profile.asp?GUID=45A2DF9AD4BD4CF2BD9800EDB4205091
SMS Text Code: KWHC. Voters should send the message 'Vote KWHC' to 61119

Coffee Morning Saturday 12th October

All members, parents and supporters are invited to join us for a coffee morning on Saturday 12th October in the Church Hall at Christ Church, Consett from 10 a.m.
As well as enjoying coffee, cakes and snacks you will also have the opportunity to take part in a tour of the new headquarters. Be amongst the first to go inside and see what a fantastic building it will be when completed.

Thank you for an Excellent AGM

We would like to thank all the parents and young people who came along to our Group AGM and Presentation Evening.

It was amazing to see so many of you there; around 70 in total.

The AGM is an essential part of the Scout Group, where we look back at the past year, and plan for the next. And what a year it has been. New leaders, new headquarters being built and many exciting activities shown in the leader presentations. There were also a large number of badges given out all sections, including Chief Scout Awards, and some trophies for 5-a-side and Camping Competition.

Thank you again. With your support the next year will be even more successful.

Join us for our night of Celebration and AGM

All parents and supporters are invited to our Presentation Evening and Annual General Meeting on Monday 23rd September.
The event will take place at St. Patrick's Primary School, Consett, starting at 6:30 p.m.
As well as the business of the AGM there will be reports on what each section has done over the past year and what they are planning for the coming year, and presentations of awards and badges. Following the meeting there will be a quiz, raffle and buffet.

Successful Summer Fundraising

The hard work to raise the money needed to complete our headquarters continued over the summer. A stall and activities at the Shotley Bridge Family Funday over the summer bank holiday raised £546, and the scout sections took part in bag packing at Iceland, raising a further £386.

Well done to everyone who helped out. The fund raising committee will be organising more events for the autumn which we hope will continue to be just as successful.

Autumn Term section meetings

As we mentioned in our newsletter before the holidays, our new headquarters will not be ready for the start of the new term in September. We are still waiting to hear from several grant giving trusts whether or not they will be donating any money to our efforts to complete the build.
Therefore, all section meetings will continue as they were before the holidays; Cubs and Beavers at St. Patrick's School and Scouts at the Methodist Church. Days and times will remain unchanged.

New Headquarters: Shell almost complete

Back of the building; plenty of room for tents and games

Second Hall

See the latest photos: The new headquarters for 1st Consett and 1st Blackhill is coming along at a very fast rate.
The work started in March, and now the shell of the building is almost complete. It just needs the doors to make it watertight, and external drainage to be put in.
However, it is still along way from being finished, and work may have to be put on hold as we hope for further grant funding to come in. £100,000 is still needed to be found to completely finish the building, as it still has no electrics, gas, heating or plumbing, and the landscaping still needs to be done.

Inside the corridor, looking towards the main hall

It was, though, very nice to be able to go inside and have a look around. The main hall is very impressive, and light and airy thanks to the roof windows, extra high ceiling and large rear windows. The second hall is slightly smaller, but also has roof windows and a large window overlooking what will be the grassed area. The toilets have Sun pipes to enable daylight in to them.
We are almost there! Lets just hope some of the grant giving trusts look favourably on us in the near future, and our fundraising events continue to be well supported.

The main hall, looking back towards kitchen

Scouts win District Camping Competition

A team of Scouts from 1st Consett has won the Teasdale Trophy, Derwentside District Scouts' camping competition.
The team of six competed against teams from across the district, in what is a real test of Scouting skills over two days. Each team is completely self sufficient for the weekend, without leaders helping, and had to plan their own menus for the weekend camp and a programme of activities that demonstrated their skills.
Scout Leader Marc Reeves said "The Teasdale Trophy is probably the toughest Scout competition. It is a real test of teamwork and leadership by the patrol leader. Our team should be extremely proud, especially as some of the younger team members had never been camping before this year".

A Beaver Leader's first camp

Seventeen 6 to 8 year olds from Consett and Leadgate Beaver colonies staying overnight at the Minsteracres retreat. It was our first night away as Beaver Leaders and I can honestly say I don’t know who was more nervous; the parents, the Beaver scouts or me and Neal! 

The parents had a good look round at the dorm where all our Beavers slept, before leaving them in the capable hands of a mix of experienced Scout Leaders and newly appointed leaders such as ourselves. 

The children were excited and jumped into every challenge. In twenty four hours we managed to fit in a range of activities, including following a trail, tent building, boat building and much more. We had a traditional camp fire where Ruby from Leadgate Beavers led the children in some funny songs.

The food was great but I was amazed to see how many fussy eaters we had, I mean how many kids don’t like cake and custard?

Some of the leaders and Beavers enjoying the dens they made

 We had an amazing time and the kids have some awesome memories. Back for more fun in September.

Gavin Heckles, Consett Beaver Leader.

£4,350 Grant for Nights Away activities

1st Consett are celebrating after receiving a grant of £4,350 from Durham County Foundation. The grant is to help reduce the cost Nights Away for all members of the group and to go towards leader training.
1st Consett has a policy that all young people should be able to take part in Nights Away experiences regardless of background and ability to pay. However, with all the group's fund raising efforts going towards the new headquarters, the group was unable to subsidise its camps making them out of reach of some.
This grant will ensure that all of our members will be able to experience the Adventure of Scouting by taking part in nights away activities, such as summer camps for Scouts, Cuboree for Cub Scouts and indoor weekends for Beaver Scouts.

Award from Royal British Legion

1st Consett Scout Group have received an award recognising their contribution selling poppies in the Consett area.
Three Cub Scouts and two leaders were invited to the Royal British Legion Youth Poppy Awards which was held at Gateshead Civic Centre. 1st Consett Scout Group had been nominated to receive an award by Mrs Vera Parnaby for the amount raised by the Group. 
The certificate was presented by the Lord Lieutenant for County Durham Mrs Sue Snowden.

Scouts Recipe for Adventure

Consett Scouts have recently created their own recipe for adventure. On Saturday 23rd February the Scout Troop took part in a day of activities at Whickham Thorns Centre, including orienteering, climbing and skiing.

After the skiing, the Scouts cooked a four course meal for their parents for their Chef badge. The meal included home made vegetable soup, chicken stuffed with cheese and wrapped in bacon and home made apple pie.

Another Giant Leap Forward towards our New Headquarters

It has been an absolutely amazing week for 1st Consett and 1st Blackhill Scout Groups, with two grants totalling £50,000 received this week.
We received £20,000 from the Bernard Sunley Charitable Foundation at the beginning of the week, which was followed with £30,000 from the Garfield Weston Foundation on Wednesday. Although there is still a way to go, we are now approaching the final straight, and our goal of completing the new headquarters by September is now looking very likely.
The groups are continuing to apply for grants, and we hope with a last push from parents and supporters at fund raising events we can achieve our goal.

Cubs win District 5-a-side Competition

Congratulations to 1st Consett Cubs whose team won the Derwentside District Scout 5-a-side competition. The competition, which is held at the Louisa Centre in Stanley, is open to all Cub packs in the district. 

Consett's team did not lose any of the games they played, and scored a magnificent 23 goals during the tournament.

Old Scout Hut comes down

After fifty years of service, and many happy memories, 1st Consett said goodbye to its old wooden hut. 
Beaver Scous, Cubs and Scouts from 1st Consett and 1st Blackhill came along to say goodbye, and mark the start of a new era for both groups.

The old hut has now been removed and work on the new £315,000 headquarters will start in the next couple of weeks. The building, designed by Milbank Architects from Consett, is being built by Absolute Civil Engineering (ACE), also based in Consett.

The now empty site

The two groups have raised enough money to complete the shell of the building, but still need to raise a further £150,000 to complete. 

As work progresses we will up date our site with photographs, so we can watch as the building rises from the site on Constance Street.

Donation from Councillors gets New Headquarters underway

A generous donation from two local Councillors has kick started 1st Consett's and 1st Blackhill's construction of a new headquarters for the two groups.
Durham County Councillors Owen Temple and Clive Robson each donated £30,000 from their Neighbourhood budgets. Combined with the £90,000 the groups have already raised, they now have enough to start construction of the building shell.
The building will be on the site of 1st Consett's old wooden hut, on Constance Street in Consett.
There have been Scouts in Consett for over 100 years. The new building will secure the future of Scouting in Consett hopefully for another 100 years.
There is still along way to go, however, with a further £150,000 needed to complete the headquarters, which the groups hope will come from grants and donations. 
At a time when Scouting is more popular than ever, with numbers increasing at record rates the headquarters will provide state of the art facilities and space for both groups to grow.
Work is due to commence demolishing the old hut, which was donated by Consett Iron Company in the 1960's, in early February 2013.