1st Houghton St. Michael's Scout Group:

The Group has once again had another very successful year with all sections again managing to increase in numbers. Our activities remain varied and interesting across all sections.

Cub Section Report:
The pack numbers have again increased on last year with numbers up around 20 to 24 children, we now have a waiting list!

The children have enjoyed activities such as visits, air rifle shooting, model making, mapping, crate stacking etc, along with participating in various district and county competitions.

One of the Cubs won the gold medal for Olympic Archery at county level (Christopher Napier).

Over the year the cubs have attained many badges including a number of Silver Chief Scouts Awards (which is the highest badge the Cub Scouts can attain).

The Cub section being ably led by Dianne Sutherland (CSL), Jill Metcalf and Tracie Tait (ACSL's).

Scout Section Report:
Troop numbers have increased with 20 to 22 regular attendees on a Friday night.

We have participated in a number of County and District events. We had representatives at both Confido and Camp Frostie, (both of which took place at Moor House).

The youngsters have participated in many varied activities over the past 12 months.

The Scout Section being ably led by Andrew Brown (SL), Jacqui Smith, John Sutherland, Ian Thompson and Tony Bainbridge (ASL's).

Explorer Section Report:
We now have a number of youngsters of Explorer Scout age attached to the group (currently 7 members). Explorer Scouts are a district based unit and they meet on a Wednesday. We provide a meeting on a Thursday evening for those who are unable to attend the district meeting, this is administrated by Stuart Riding and Graeme Scott.

Leaders:
The Group has the good fortune to be in a very strong position with respect to leaders, many of whom are undergoing training.

Once again, it cannot be stressed enough what a fantastic, unpaid, professional job they all do, they are a real credit to both the group and the community.

GSL Footnotes and `Thanks':
My personal thanks go out to Ian Thompson who has stepped down as Scout Leader due to his changing personal circumstances leading him to be unable to commit to regular attendance on a Friday night.

Thanks must go to the Executive Committee, the three committee members holding office continue to push in the right direction, their dedication coupled with the dedication of the leader team make for a very strong group.

We have undertaken many projects in the last year, including the continued decoration and upkeep of both the interior and exterior of the HQ, our 3 main projects for the last 12 months have been:

• Upgrading the female toilet facilities to reflect the increase in our female members.
• Landscaping the exterior of the HQ in preparation to planting `wildlife promoting plants' in the next few weeks.
• Upgrading the kitchen facilities.

We are planning many varied activities and projects this year across all areas e.g., packing groceries in the local Co-op, further internal refurbishments to the HQ (specifically upstairs), expeditions, continued activities and camps.

Once again, this has been another excellent year in our long history and I would hope that the forthcoming 12 months prove as rewarding for the youngsters as the last, with the current leader team and Executive Committee I am in no doubt that 1st Houghton (St Michael's) will continue to make progress, both with the positive education of Houghton's youngsters and supporting our local community.

Paul Sutherland
Group Scout Leader