Webshop commission

Our webshops continue to provide a welcome boost to our fundraising efforts. We have just received a cheque from BuyAt for £40.61, relating to commission from 8 transactions with Laterooms.com. This brings to £882.42 the total money received from both webshops since they were set up three years ago.

Record week for easysearch

A record 913 "easysearches" were recorded from our supporters in the week 11-17 December, generating £4.59 for the Group, according to an e-mail received today.

This brings to £27.92 the total funds raised from 4,950 completed searches.

Are you one of the 6.4m people that use a search engine every day? If so then why not raise money for 2nd Wakefield Crofton Scout Group while you search?

Easysearch combines the results of several search engines such as Yahoo!, Bing and Ask to ensure you can always find what you’re looking for. But the fantastic thing is that EVERY TIME you search, half a penny is raised for 2nd Wakefield Crofton Scout Group. That’s right – you don’t even have to buy anything! Almost 17 million searches have been made using easysearch and each one has raised money for good causes.

See what people are saying about easysearch:

"easysearch is a great idea and just as good as Google for the results! I’ve recommended it to my friends and I think this site is the best around as it does something for people. Well done!"

"What a fantastic idea! I was using Google anyway but this way I get to raise money for my good cause every time I search…brilliant! I’ve made easysearch my homepage!"

So the next time you need to find something online, please use http://2ndwakefieldcroftonscouts.easysearch.org.uk and raise money for 2nd Wakefield Crofton Scout Group with every search you make.

EasyFundraising Competition

The EasyFundraising on-line Christmas Advent Calendar Competition offers a chance to win a different prize every day in the run up to Christmas. Follow this link for details.

News from the exec ...

It was a productive exec meeting that was held recently – the committee continues to support the scout group in many different ways but our priority last week was fundraising.
The family fun night has been postponed, so don’t forget to put 13th March 2010 in your new diary and be ready to buy tickets for a great family night out (complete with hot supper) when they go on sale in the New Year. It really will be a night that children from 1-100 years can enjoy and it not only supports Crofton scouts, it helps to support Crofton Community Centre also. Any unwanted gifts (including that scarf you never wanted!) will be gratefully received as raffle prizes for the big night.
We are holding a charity stand in the Ridings Centre on Sunday 6th December, where we are hoping to raise awareness of both the group and the fledgling district-wide explorers section and raise some invaluable funds. We hope to promote some Christmas cheer also and remind Wakefield that scouts is a place for children (and adults) of different ages to experience activities that they may never have had a chance to try (often in weather that they’d never imagine!), build supportive friendships and have fun :-). This activity will be followed on 21st December by bag packing at Morrison’s, on Dewsbury Road. Older cubs and scouts will be braving the Christmas crowds (with adult supervision and support), learn a life skill ;-) and help busy shoppers be a little less stressed in the run-up to Christmas ...
So lots to support as you can see and don’t forget to have a good ol’ clearout, fill up your charity bags and leave a bit of room in the house ready for the arrival of a special person, on Christmas Eve who I am sure would join with me in saying, “Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas explorers, scouts, cubs, beavers and helpers” ...
…and even Santa needs his helpers and so do we – in adult form and in uniform or not! (Reindeers and fluffy beards welcome – it’s amazing how creative a scout can be!) Until next time/next year, have a happy and peaceful December and if you want to help at any of our fundraising events or join us as an adult helper, don’t hesitate to speak to one of the leaders or email via the links on this webpage ...
Crofton Scout Group Secretary

Cub Calendar 2010

Details of Cub (and some Group) Events though until December 2010 have been added into our Calendar. Please check with Akela for further details.

News from the exec...

The exec is still working hard, supporting and managing the fundraising activities for the group. A recent virgin vie night raised a small amount of funds that will support the forthcoming 'pig race night' on 20th November. This will be a family fun night with racing between fluffy pink pigs, a hot supper, a raffle and rather a lot of oink-oinks!
Everyone should also have come home from Beavers, Cubs, Scouts or Explorers with envelopes for recycling jewellery...however old or broken your items are it doesn't matter to us so please ask around at home, work or with friends and neighbours for any donations. If you don't have an envelope please speak to one of the leaders...
...speaking of which we are always in need of uniformed leaders or volunteers. It doesn't matter whether you can donate your time, your skills or your enthusiasm once a year or on a regular basis, it will help to support the group and give you a sense of personal satisfaction (I can vouch for that, having suddenly gone from being a scout and soon-to-be beaver mum, to exec member to group secretary in a very short space of time!!). Again, if you are interested but are a little shy of what your contribution may involve, please speak with one of the leaders or email via the contacts page.
Next exec meeting 11th November...hope to see you there! :-)

Tesco stuff

Our Beaver Leaders have redeemed Tesco Vouchers for the following items:

2 sports/feelings balls

8 sports mats

72 coloured pencils

750 sheets of craft paper

24 fabric crayons

50 pipe cleaners






Many thanks to all who collected vouchers for us.

Weekly easysearch report

Here is the easysearch report for Week 37 2009

Week range: 04-Sep-2009 - 10-Sep-2009

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Total number of searches by all easysearch organisations...........196678

Searches by 2nd Wakefield Crofton Scout Group...........85
Amount raised for 2nd Wakefield Crofton Scout Group..........£0.43 GBP

Explorer Scout Unit

We are pleased to announce that we have been given the go ahead from Wakefield district to open an Explorer Scout Unit for Young people aged 14- 18 years. This is to be run by Matt who has been helping us with our scout section for quite a while now.

If you require any more information on this section or know of any young people who would be interested in joining this section please contact explorerleaders AT croftonscouts.org.uk (i.e. same format as our other e-mail addresses)

BuyAt webshop cheque received

Hot on the heels of the recent EasyFundraising commission, we have received a cheque for £20.92 from our other webshop: BuyAt.

FundRaising made Easy

We have received a cheque for £24.58 from easyfundraising.org.uk for Quarter 2 2009.

The Escouts Community

One scouting resources website that I find I visit above all else is the excellent escouts.org.uk which is a Scouting forum & Community that also offers free website hosting to Scout sites. The site itself thrives with one thousand unique visitors a day and over ten thousand visitors in total but a little promotion wouldn’t hurt to a receptive audience.

So what’s in it for you, the Scouter? Do you need free hosting for your Scout website or are you just looking for help building the website? Do you want to chew the Scouting fat on a forum as opposed to a newsgroup or do you have a question for the Chief Commissioner?

You may answer yes to some of the above, but Escouts answers yes to all of them! Such a fine site must be part of the Scout Association’s set up surely? Nope, the independence of Escouts means people can talk freely from the heart about scouting.

Members of the Escouts team described the site as a‘living thing’ and talked about the fact that it is always being developed. The latest addition to the site is the social group function. There’s everything from Bushcraft to Blackberry mobile user groups and it allows chatter to kindred spirits in a fill your boots kind of way!

I could go on but I’ll finish with how the site has been summed up by members in one word. ‘Useful’ and‘Community’ were some good answers but be sure to log in and decide for yourself at http://www.escouts.org.uk/.

GiftAid nets over £1000 for the Group

Our recent GiftAid claim, relating to subs payments made in the year ending 31st March 2009, has been accepted by HM Revenue & Customs. This has resulted in a payment direct to Group funds of a massive £1,073.08.

This highlights just how important it is that the Group maintains an up to date register of GiftAid Declarations. If eligible, a parent will normally need only complete a declaration form once, as it may remain valid for six years.

Year End Accounts

The Year End Accounts for our financial year ending 31 March 2009, as presented at the A.G.M. last Thursday, are available here. (You may need Adobe Reader to view this file.)

Active Kids

Sainsbury's have stopped issuing Active Kids vouchers for this year, and we now have until 24 July to redeem our collection. If you still have any vouchers lying around looking sorry for themselves, please pass them in either to Chris Stead or to any Leader.

Leeds Half Marathon

We have received a letter of thanks from the Event Coordinator of the Leeds Half Marathon which took place on May 10th. Crofton Scout Group provided marshals and manned drinks stations for the event and in turn we have received a donation of £210.

Many thanks to all who gave of their time to help on the day.

Photographs from the day can be seen in our gallery here.

Leadership changes

Chris Stead has been asked to move into a District appointment, managing our existing and new facilities at this exciting time for Wakefield District Scouts. This is a tremendous opportunity for Chris which he has accepted, and a reflection of his excellent managment skills and scouting knowledge.

Chris has done a fantastic job within Crofton in supporting the leadership team over the past four years as Group Scout Leader (GSL), and helping to turn the Group round from the brink of closure to the success it is now. Chris has promised that he will still be a regular face within the group and will continue to support us in whatever way he can.

Karen Hodgkinson has been appointed by Wakefield District to take on the role of Group Scout Leader. Karen will be known to many within the Group, having been a Beaver Leader for several years before becoming Assistant Group Scout Leader in 2008.

The continuing support of all the enthusiastic leaders, helpers, parents and friends will ensure that Crofton remains such a great success and one of the best groups in the District.

Gift Aid Declaration call.

With our financial year end approaching we are preparing our records in anticipation of submitting this year's claim for Gift Aid from HMRC. Last year's claim netted us £800 and with your help we hope to recoup a similar figure this year. As you can imagine, this sum makes a huge difference to our finances.

Could all parents please check that you have filled in a Gift Aid Declaration if this is applicable to your circumstances. If you are not sure whether you have filled in a form, please contact me (David Brown) via e-mail and I will be able to check whether or not you are on our register. If you have more than one child in the Group then a single form may be used to cover all children, and the Declaration may remain valid for six years.

Please note, if you stop paying tax or have paid insufficient tax to cover the amount the Group will be claiming back (up to £78 per child per year) you must let us know, as we cannot make a claim for your payments.

Further information on GiftAid may be found on our Finances page, along with a link to download a blank copy of the Declaration form.

Weekly easysearch report

Here is this week's easysearch report.

Welcome to your easysearch report for Week 09 2009

Week range: 20-Feb-2009 - 26-Feb-2009

Total number of searches by all easysearch organisations...........203502

Searches by 2nd Wakefield Crofton Scout Group.................................106

Amount raised for 2nd Wakefield Crofton Scout Group..........£0.54 GBP


Well done! Keep searching....

easyfundraising cheque received

We have received a payment of £33.74 from our fundraising webshop with easyfundraising - follow this link for details of this facility. This payment relates to transactions made between October and December 2008, either from commission on sales or from easysearch web searches.

Did you know that if you use easysearch instead of Google or any other search engine and you can make a real difference to 2nd Wakefield Crofton Scout Group? By making just 10 searches a day with easysearch, you can raise around £20 a year. Why not encourage your friends, work colleagues, schools and family members to do the same. Click here to try it out. Better still, you can even easysearch directly from your browser.

Where did all that mud come from?

The No-Nonsense Parents' Guide to Scouting.


Whether your child is already in Scouting or is considering joining, the Scout Association has put together some useful resources for parents which can be seen here. Some of the sections included are:

• Parents’ frequently asked questions about Scouting
• Parents’ family information form
• Case studies relating some different experiences of parents who have enjoyed helping out
• Adventure News - an offer to subscribe to a monthly e-mail newsletter giving you the best of Scouting stories and information.

Beaver programe

hi everyone, we seem to be going from strength to strength within our beaver colony, and we would like to let you all know what exciting things will be happening in our programme until the end of March, so here we go,

9th Feb,
we are working towards our air activities badge-making paper airoplanes and para shoots.

23rd Feb,
we are celebrating lord Baden-Powell's birthday along with otters, kits and badgers, so we are having a party (yay) with games and party food.

2nd March,
we are having a visit from our very own (Mr akala) who is a police officer, to have a chat with our beavers about anything they would like to talk about.

9th March,
we are working towards our Hobbies badge, so beavers will be talking about what hobbies or other activities they take part in other than scouting.

16th March,
we are making mothers day gifts and cards

22rd March,
we will be attending Crofton church for the mothers day service which was a real hit last year with the children and parents.

23rd March,
pond dipping at Winterset, details to be arranged

30th March,
Easter celebrations, making Easter goodies, and games

Also this year we are going to arrange a beaver sleep over, there will be beaver craft day, the beaver ball and a beaver fun day plus lots lots more to be added to our programme.

we would like to thank all leaders and parents who make all our activities run with great success so THANK YOU EVERYONE,

from badger, kit and otter

Photo Gallery upgrade

Our photo gallery has been migrated to a new service, provided for free by SmugMug. Follow this link to see the new layout.

BuyAt commission

We have received a cheque for £32.31 as commission on purchases made in our BuyAt webshop.

Happy New Year to all

Please remember (as I didn't!) to check the calendar on the Events page regularly as items are being added for the coming year. Alela has provided dates for many Cubs activities, details for other sections will be added in due course.

Set it and forget it!

Thank you to all parents who have set up a standing order to pay subs. We hope that this method will prove popular as it should simplify our accounting process as well as giving parents one less item to worry about at the start of each half-term. Once set up, the bank instruction may remain in place throughout your child's time with Crofton Scout Group with no changes being necessary when they move up through the sections.