Official forms

I guess this is the time of year when there is a certain amount of form filling. Apart from the Charity Commission return which, fortunately, can be completed almost entirely through the Web, it is also the start of the three year cycle to apply for funding from Surrey County Council. As funding is by no means guaranteed we have had to think quite carefully about what we might need money for. This has to be around supporting (in broad terms) our Senior Section. This is an age group where we have been successful in keeping them and converting them to leaders. Our Senior Section team does a fine job in planning and delivering a programme of activities for them and they have their own network. However, it did highlight to me that there is a rather awkward time between finishing the BP Challenge (around age 13) and being old enough to be a Ranger (14). Between these points there seems to be a sharp decline in numbers. One of the challenges we face is to bridge this gap. Not an easy challenge but one, I am sure, we can deal with.
The other thing it brought home to me was the breadth of the Senior Section programme and how much they could contribute in ideas and, possibly, time to developing the County. The Chair of Junior Council is already a full voting member of the Exec and rightly so. However, we need to make a more focussed effort to seek and act on their views. Maybe this should be through my going to their residential events and involving them in debate or by inviting them to our long-term planning sessions. I know some have been invited to supper with me in the next few weeks and so the process has started but it is, once again, a reminder that we are a youth organisation and the people who should contribute ideas to its planning are .... youth.