Suspension of face-to-face activities in Scouting

Members will have received an email from our UK Commissioner, Tim Kidd:

Suspension of face-to-face activities

Given this guidance, all face-to-face Scout meetings, activities and events must be suspended from tomorrow, Tuesday, 17 March 2020. This suspension applies to young people and adults, and will be until further notice.

We must continue to respond to the developing situation in a calm, measured and appropriate way. We will continue to follow official guidance. The safety of everyone involved in Scouts, both young people and adults, is our number one priority. That is always at the heart of our decision making.

As such the County will suspend all its meetings and Kinver Campsite until further notice. We will review this on a weekly basis inline with current advice.

This means that:

* County Cook Off and Programme Day will be postponed.
* Adult training until June will be cancelled.
* Norway Trip will be reviewed 1st May 2020 by the County Exec.
* Activate and BushScout HW activities will be reviewed in Mid April with updates provided in due course
* European Jamboree will be reviewed based on updates from the organisers
* Nepal 2022 roadshows will be cancelled and a video uploaded to provide the further information- email will be sent for leaders to forward.
* Other County events postponed until 1st May 2020 and then reviewed..

Kinver will be closed to all Scouting and Guiding bookings for the next four weeks. We will review in mid April and advise those accordingly. All deposits are non refundable, though they can be transferred to another booking.

Please ensure that during this time assets are appropriately cared for by the Executive committee, with all decisions appropriately mitigated by risk assessments etc. Please be advised that Executives should still meet – both group and districts as deemed  by your constitutions and by the frequency required, or if government advice changes. You can only have a virtual meeting if your constitution has it in its provisions so please ensure that your meetings are compliant. If your constitution does not make an allowance for virtual meetings, have an extraordinary meeting face to face to confirm that you can alter the constitution.

Please ensure that you review your financial position within groups. Subs still need to be paid as they are not an attendance fee, they should be covering the operating costs of your hut as well as capitation, activities etc.  You are also required to ensure that you have 6 months running costs in reserves to cater for this type of situation.

This pandemic is causing a lot of hardship for many and where we can support others , we should, as long as it is to no risk of ourselves and young people. Tim makes mention of what we can do to support our country in his briefing – keep your eye out for future updates on this. There will also be some Scouting at home resources for our young people – again keep in contact with your parents to let them know we are still here. Online Scout Manager has produced helpful resources for home activities.

We are in unprecedented times, and not all the information is available to us. Do the best we can and Be Prepared!

Yours in Scouting,
Sid