South Yorkshire Scouts -

Scouts Ride the Crest of the Air Waves

GB5SOS was the call sign ringing out around the world from the 35^th Sheffield (St Oswald’s) Scout HQ (The Ossies) for the 55^th Jamboree on the Air (JOTA).

 The Jamboree on the Air is an annual event in which half a million Scouts and Guides all over the world make contact with each other by means of amateur radio. Short-wave radio signals carry their voices to virtually any corner of the world.

The use of amateur radio means that many Scouts get the opportunity to discover the skills of wireless radio techniques and electronics. JOTA is also the only event that offers each individual Scout the opportunity to speak to other Scouts across the world.

Stewart Butler,  The South Yorkshire Scout County Radio Adviser said “it was great to see so many young people speaking with others in the world-wide family of Scouts. JOTA is a great opportunity to have a go with short-wave radio as well as helping us understand the global nature of Scouting”

 Over the weekend of October 20^th and 21^staround 100 Beavers, Cubs, Scouts, Explorers, Leaders and families had the opportunity to talk with others connected to the Scout Movement. With the help of Sheffield Amateur Radio Club (SARC) contact was made all over England, Scotland, Greece, Canada, USA and  New Zealand, as well as contact being made with one of the Ossies’ visiting Leader’s home country of Japan.

On Saturday evening, SARC training officer, Trevor Wood, showed, the older Explorer Scouts the basic Morse Code and helped  them  send messages using their home made Morse buzzer whilst on Sunday, many of the Beaver Scouts learnt to spell their name in Morse Code.

Peter Day, Secretary of SARC said “the contacts took many minutes to complete and sometimes over half an hour or so when there were several young people waiting for a turn to send greetings messages. I believe all involved had a memorable experience of Amateur Radio with many making their first ever Amateur radio contact”.

Sticking with the international theme, Scouts, Radio operators and families enjoyed a bring and share supper of nachos, garlic bread, pizza, hummus, crudités and other delights, whilst on Sunday a French lunch of baguettes, cheese and pâté was enjoyed by all!

The Scouts swapped stories about their favourite Scout games, foods, sleepovers and camps whilst leaders and parents shared their experiences of supporting the Scouting Movement. With more than a dozen Explorer Scouts staying over night, the contact went through the night all over the world!

Organiser and Assistant Beaver Scout Leader, Dean Maragh “was delighted that so many people from different local Scout groups had enjoyed this rare experience to talk with other members of the Scout movement using the skills, resources and expertise of SARC, it was truly a fun, ‘Learning by doing’ event will all looking forward to next year!”

South Yorkshire Scouts Sport Makers

South Yorkshire Scouts Sport Makers – 14th November 7pm - 9pm @ English Institute of Sport Sheffield

Have you been inspired by the amazing 2012 summer of Sport? Are you aged 16 or over? Are you free on the 14th November 7 - 9pm?

South Yorkshire Sport are offering for anyone over the age of 16 to be part of the Olympic legacy programme and complete a free Sport Makers two hour training course where all participants will receive a free Adidas t-shirt and Adidas bag.

Interested? Visit the website to find out more and register! View the Sign Up section on the home page and select South Yorkshire and complete a quick profile. Go to 'find a local Sports Maker event' select 'SY Scouts Sport Makers' and input the access code 'Scouts'.

Young people from South Yorkshire 'Speak Up' at the Labour Conference

Well done to all South Yorkshire Scouts who took part in the Scouts Speak Up event at the Labour Conference on Sunday 30 September in Manchester. They debated topics ranging from education to the recession and gave their views to local MPs. Many of our young people featured on pictures on the face book page of the Scout Association and on the main website! Do you want to hear more about their experience? Look out for a guest blog shortly on Bruce's Blog!

Keep up to date with all available opportunities both locally and nationally on the youth involvement webpage of the County website.

Jess returns home

Jessica Ennis, winner of the Women's Heptathlon at the London 2012 Olympics was given a Civic Reception on Friday 17th August. There were over 10,000 people in Barker's Pool, which had been turned golden in her honour, to welcome her home to Sheffield. A smaller number were in the City Hall afterwards for a function with the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress. These VIPs were looked after by a number of network scouts from the Wharncliffe Network Unit.

Tom Hague presented Jessica with an Olympic necker.

Jessica Ennis is an inspiration for many, through years of hard work and determination the athlete from Sheffield became an Olympic Gold Heptathelete champion at London 2012. Being a South Yorkshire Scout, the opportunity to be a VIP assistant at her homecoming civic reception is something most Scouts would jump at.

In all 6 Scouts from Wharncliffe Network based in SouthYorkshire, formed a team to assist the VIP guests at Jess' reception. Not only did this mean being able to meet a number of high profile guests, but the opportunity to meet Jess herself.

The highlight of the evening has to be presenting Jess with the 2012 Gold Olympic Scout Necker, which reads on the back "Congratulations on your achievement on behalf of South Yorkshire Scouts".

For the team of Scout VIP assistants the presentation was a real honour, on behalf of the great Scouting that takes place in SouthYorkshire.

Congratulations to Jess, everyone is proud of her overwhelming achievement.

Tom Hague & Haley Toseland