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.