As of Tuesday March 17th, all face to face scouting has been suspended due to the ongoing coronavirus epidemic.

We are constantly reviewing government guidance and information from Scouts HQ and we will be back as soon as we possibly can. In the meantime, here are a few things you should know:

  1. Subs will be reduced to £5 per month from April onwards for at least 3 months while our outgoings are slightly less. If you find yourself considering cancelling your direct debit for any reason, get in touch with us. We will happily waive subs payments rather than see you struggle finically.
  2. Marra Camp is postponed until next year. They will issue refunds as soon possible and at that point we’ll be in touch about getting refunds out to you. Bear with us while this is sorted.
  3. The Ypres trip did not get enough bookings to go ahead, and with the travel situation as it is in Europe we are not looking at alternatives this year. Hopefully we will sort this in the future. If you paid a deposit and didn’t give me bank details for a refund, please get in touch ASAP so we can return your money.

A pause to face to face scouting does not mean that scouting has stopped altogether. We plan to run some virtual nights away during April, and will join with Northumberland Scouts on April 30th to try to set a world record for the biggest virtual camp!

We’re also looking at getting some online sessions set up to keep you scouting. The first of these will happen tonight for Beavers, when Catherine will talk us through the Parent Portal part of Online Scout Manager where you can check on your badge progress, see what you need to do next and upload evidence so you can continue getting badges from home.

We’ve finally moved into the 21st century and got ourselves on Facebook. More regular updates will appear there. Find us here: https://www.facebook.com/1stBartonScouts

If you need to get into the parent portal, you can find it here: https://www.onlinescoutmanager.co.uk/features/parents.html Your login info is the same as when you first signed up to your DD. You can use this for badges online, DD changes and updating contact details.

Stay safe and get in touch if you need anything.