In February many of our Meerkats, Cubs and Scouts wore their uniforms to school for a day to show their pride in being part of Scouting. Officially it is called “Founder’s Day” as it is celebrated on Baden-Powell’s birthday of 22 February, but I prefer the name “Scout Day” in celebration of the movement and our members rather than the individual founder.
Thank you to all those who have paid their fees for 2024, and to those who have added a voluntary donation to the maintenance fund!
February also includes the Western Cape Awards Ceremony where we honour our Gold Star Meerkats, Leaping Wolf Cubs and Springbok Scouts. 1st Claremont received Gold Star Awards for the Den, Pack and Troop and several patrol awards, and our group was placed 4th in the Tonkin Trophy for the best groups in the Western Cape. Well done to our members, leaders and families for this great result.
February also featured our AGM, where our leaders and committee report on the past year and the plans for the year ahead, followed by a social event outside. The social side, on a Saturday afternoon, included a family braai, a fundraising tuckshop, and a foofey slide built by the Scouts. This year was a fun event but unfortunately not very well attended by parents, so please let us know if you have ideas on how to tailor the event to encourage families to attend.
We’re delighted to have Karen Hewson joining us in the fundraising portfolio for the group. Karen brings great enthusiasm and creative ideas and I am very happy to have her as part of the team! On that note, well done to Daniel and team for hosting a very successful fundraising Pub Quiz earlier this term.
Finally, an update on the City’s proposal to take away a large part of our grounds to build a Vodacom mast. Our councillor Mikhail Manuel sent this update when I asked:
Please see the response I provided to previous residents who have reached out for an update. These are my estimates based on previous experience.
The decision on whether to lease the land will likely only be made around Aug/Sep 2024. After that, there will be a further 12-18 month period for the planning applications, if the lease application is successful. So at a minimum, no construction will happen until late 2025.
1st Claremont will carry on monitoring this and will raise our objections at the planning stage and any other opportunity.
– Ian Webb
