As the summer holidays draw to an end and the words "back to school" seem to be in every shop window it's time to reflect on the six-week break.

Did you and your Troop, Unit, Pack or Network use the opportunity to get away? And how many of you managed to fit in a week long summer camp?

I know for a number of people the holidays were packed. Barking & Dagenham District continued their strong links with Danish Scouts with a trip to Denmark, Scouts from Ilford East went to Uganda and numerous Groups (including my own) took part in the Essex Jamboree in Kirby-Le-Soken.

I am looking forward to hearing feedback about Denmark and Uganda, but I can give my impressions on the Essex Jamboree. It was pleasing to see Groups from Chingford, Hornchurch, Ilford NorthWest, Romford, Squirrels Heath and Waltham Forest South all taking part in the fun, along with adult volunteers from across GLNE, including Spencer Pardoe DCC who in charge of the main arena every evening. A great time was had by in, during what was by far the best weather of the holidays - it seems Essex even managed to book the sun!

Later into the holidays I spent a week at the Lochgoilhead Scout Centre in Scotland. We had a fantastic week of activities and three cooked meals a day (too much food for even me to cope with!).

I also had a go at mountain biking - however I hadn't realised that in Scotland mountain biking actually involves taking a bike up a mountain! Needless to say it was not an epic performance - I am unlikely to be giving our Olympic Cycling Team a run for their money!

The summer also saw London officially take over as host city for the next Olympic Games in 2012. Hopefully you and your youth members have been inspired by the large number of medals won by our team in Beijing. The 2012 Olympics are taking place in our County and we have a lot to offer the Olympic Delivery Team - I wonder how many of our current youth members might be able to take part as athletes, or how many adults will offer their services as volunteers for the Games? We now have less than four years to go, so this all needs to stay at the forefront of our minds.

August also marks the publication of GSCE and 'A' level results. A number of our youth members in the Explorer Scout & Scout Network Sections will have collected their results and I hope everyone achieved all that they deserved. This is an anxious time of year for our young people and I hope you are all able to go onto bigger and better things.

Thriftwood (one of our County campsites) has had a busy summer and I have enjoyed helping out in the site shop. They have been running an activity called 'Water Splash' on every Wednesday of the holidays and it was great to see all the young people taking part in the fun (even if it hasn't really been hot enough for water sports!)

Whatever you have been upto I hope that you have all had fun and are looking forward to returning to weekly sectional meetings at full speed - as the nights draw in we need to be even more active in our programming to ensure that those who enjoyed the summer are just as captivated by the autumn and winter!

Anyway I'd better go - I need to start planning some lessons for the return to school!

Dean Jefferys | cc@glne-scouts.org.uk

This Blog was originally going to be a weekly update, but life has been so busy that it is rapidly becoming almost an annual update!

With that in mind there is a lot to update on. I don't know how many of you went away over the Whitsun weekend, but what a washout! I still have memories of being flooded out of camp during the Whitsun weekend in 2000 - it seems to be a re-occurring pattern for that weekend. I was helping in the shop at Thriftwood on Bank Holiday Monday and there were certainly a lot of wet and muddy faces coming through the doors (including quite a few Cubs from Barking & Dagenham), though there were also lots of smiles and that's the main thing!

I spent a very proud day at Windsor in April attending the National Scout Service. It was great to honour our Queens Scouts and our Good Service Award holders and particularly inspiring to meet some of the young gallantry award holders from across the UK. It would be even better to see even more Queens Scouts next year, so why not go for the challenge. Having stood in the Quadrangle myself as a Queens Scout it is certainly worth all the effort!

I also had the pleasure of attending the Waltham Forest South Gang Show. Who needs 'Britain's got Talent' when we can boast 'Waltham Forest has got Talent'. A fantastic show, which was a credit to all the young people and adults who took part. Many hours of work had clearly been put in and Richard Sams and the rest of the Production Team deserve our thanks for providing such a professional performance. I am looking forward to the County 'Showstoppers' show already!

The last weekend of April saw a team of volunteers including myself descended on the rather overgrown chapel at Thriftwood for a much needed make over. Stage one is complete, with the chapel cleared of leaves and the woodwork completely re-stained. A new archway is also underway and I had the dubious honour of standing on the roof of the chapel itself trying to clear all the moss - it was only then that I realised that the moss was the only thing holding the tiles together. Its lucky I'm so slim

The County Conference is now looming fast - we have got all the DCs taking part as well as the vast majority of the County Team to help us determine the County Vision for the next five years - I look forward to reporting the outcomes at the County AGM on the 18 June - make sure you attend to find out what we have in store.

Have a great week!

Dean Jefferys | cc@glne-scouts.org.uk

I have had the pleasure of attending numerous events across the County and wider over the last few weeks, including the Barking & Dagenham Founder's Day Service, GLN's Southern 50 Challenge, Hornchurch District's Swimming Gala, and even a trip to the National Outdoors Show in Birmingham.

The County Swimming Gala and Chief Scouts Awards at Gilwell were both special evenings. It is fantastic to share the achievements of our young people and particularly nice to have proud parents along to share in the pride. A number of people need to be thanked for their help in ensuring both of these evenings were such great successes - too many infact to mention by name, but you know who you are!

With the changes to the youth programme the Chief Scouts Awards for Beavers, Cubs and Scouts all now require more work by the young people to achieve - however that should not stop just as many people gaining them. I remember full well going to Gilwell to collect my Chief Scouts Award as a Scout and was proud of the achievements required to get there, so to all our young people I say go for the challenge and become a high achiever!

Over the Easter Weekend I had a fantastic time in Snowdonia with Scouts from Hornchurch who were staying at Coetmor Mill, an activity centre owned by Hertfordshire Scouts. The Scouts were able to take part in a full programme including a visit to a hydro-electric power station, trout fishing, a high ropes course called 'Tree Tops' and a train ride partway up Snowdon. I hope a number of you had similarly adventurous weekends or at very least are heading full steam into the camping season.

I am off to Italy next week with our Year 10 Geography students from school to complete their fieldwork. The long range forecast suggests an average of 20° Celsius, so I will try not to come back with too much of a tan!

If you are in your Easter school holidays then enjoy the break (and try not to eat too many Easter eggs!)

Dean Jefferys | cc@glne-scouts.org.uk

As it's half term I have had a bit more time to update my blog - so here we go!

Having been DC for Hornchurch for five years I was pleasantly surprised to attend a 'Surprise Leaving Do' to mark the end of my term of office at The Optimist Pub in Upminster. Thanks go to Jim Berry for organising the venue and buffet. It was nice to mix with Scouting friends from across the District and special thanks for the lovely engraved watch and pen that I was presented with.

I have been pleased to continue my tour around the County attending events and meeting with members of the County Team on a one-to-one basis. In the longer term I have also been invited to Waltham Forest South's District Gang Show, Newham's AGM and a presentation of a Queens Scout Award.

County appointments continue and at the start of March I hope to officially announce the new team of Deputy CCs, ACCs and Advisers as well as new DCs for East London and Ilford NorthWest. One of the new appointments which I can announce is the new role of ACC (Faiths & Beliefs) which is been taken on by the Revd Darren Barlow. Darren is no stranger to GLNE having previously been a leader in Ilford East, as well as being County Development Officer and ACC (Scouts). Darren is Team Rector of Grays in Essex and is a member of the Group and District Executives in Thurrock. I am sure you will all join me in welcoming Darren back to the County Team.

Thanking people in Scouting is very important. To help with that the Region have announced a new 'Thanks Event' where 4 adults from each London Scout County will be invited to a special presentation to recognised their achievements. In addition our annual St Georges Day Award recipients will receive notification during the next week or so and I had the pleasure of taking three members of the County to the Regional Dinner at New Scotland Yard to thank them for their contribution to Scouting in GLNE.

n addition the County will also be launching the 'County Pride Awards' soon (more details to follow) to thank our adult volunteers, as well as the annual Chartermark Awards for those Scout Groups who have increased their membership at the 2008 Census. We are also going to be launching a pro-active County scheme to support those Groups whose membership is at the lower spectrum.

At the weekend I am off to 'The Southern 50 Challenge' - a 50 mile endurance hike organised by GLN Scout County over the Chilterns. Having taken part as a competitor I know how gruelling and worthwhile the event is. Fortunately this year I am going as a supporter and will be encouraging adult and Explorer Scout teams from Hornchurch.

Whatever the week ahead has in store for you I hope it proves to be enjoyable and action packed!

Dean Jefferys | cc@glne-scouts.org.uk

It's been a while since I last updated my blog - I keep getting told off by leaders for not updating it regularly enough - you know who you are!

My first Scouting event of the year was with Epping Forest South at their District Get Together at Bancrofts Rugby Club. This struck me as an excellent idea to start the year off on a high with a free drink bought by the District and a buffet. Thanks to Brian and all the team in EFS for their obvious hard work.

The County Social on the 10th January provided us with the chance to thank DCs and members of the County Team for their help and support over the last year. It was great to see so many Scouting friends and to set out my stall. I also gave all those present a Centenary Thanks Certificate in recognition of their commitment over the last twelve months.

Hopefully if you are a GSL you have had your access codes for the annual census and have started inputting your data - it's interesting watching the figures come in. Hopefully I should be able to announce some pleasing increases in due course. I also have some interesting ideas to help boost membership further and I will be sharing these ideas with the DCs at their forthcoming meeting - hopefully you will see targeted support for some of our Groups in most need in due course. This could indeed be the most hands-on County strategy for some time.

The year has started with members of the County taking part in Gilwell Winter Camp, Fire and Ice at Tolmers and the Thriftwood Pedal Cart Olympics. I was asked to present the prizes at the latter (having spent all weekend dishing up food for the hungry competitors). Imagine my surprise therefore when it was announced that the winning Scout Team was from Barking & Dagenham and the winning Explorer Team was from Hornchurch - nice to see GLNE starting on a high!

It may only be January but I have already started thinking about Summer Camp (it won't be long!). Following discussion with my Young Leaders we are going to take the Troop to Essex Jamboree. I attended this in 2004 and had a fantastic time, so I'm looking forward to it already. What about you? - will your section have a busy camping session this year, and particularly if you run a Scout Troop will they get the chance to experience a week away under canvas? We know our young people join to go camping, but are we giving them the opportunity …

I'll leave you with that thought.

Dean Jefferys | cc@glne-scouts.org.uk

I took the Young Leaders who help me with my Scout Troop out for dinner just before the festivities kicked off. I have five lads who help me and although they don't all come every week, they are a tremendous help, particularly as they are so much nearer the age of the Scouts themselves. They used to be members of the school at which we meet, and although they have now all moved onto the local Sixth Form College they all make a real effort to attend as many Troop meetings as they can. They picked the particular Indian restaurant and I picked up the bill - £150 well spent I think to thank them for their enthusiasm! So thanks again to Jack. M, Jake, Liam, Dan, and Jack. W - here's to another successful year in 2008!

Thanking our adults is so important. Don't forget a meal out is just one way! There are the national long and good service awards, the newly designed 'Thanks Badge' available via badge secretaries, as well as other gestures such as the occasional bunch of flowers or bottle of wine - if we want to save work by recruiting adults then we need to value and retain the ones we currently have. For further inspiration check out www.scouts.org.uk/thankyou

I enjoyed the run up to Christmas. I got the opportunity to visit Newham Districts Carol Service, Chingfords Scout Fellowship Gathering and Hornchurch's Leaders Christmas Meal at The Optimist in Upminster. The Chingford Fellowship gathering was especially pleasant as I got the opportunity to present a good service award to 91 year old Fred Dudley for his years of service to Scouting - I also won the pass the parcel competition!!!

As many of you know I am a secondary teacher, and the last day of the Christmas term was especially good this year as we put on a pantomime for the pupils. I ended up as the narrator ("oh no you didn't!") which went down very well. We then had an excellent staff meal cooked by the canteen staff, before I headed off to camp at Gilwell for the weekend before Christmas!

Thriftwood Scout Centre in Brentwood (which is owned two thirds by Districts in GLNE) has its now annual Pedal Cart Olympics in a week or so. I understand that the event is fully booked as it is becoming more popular year on year. I will be there playing a full part, but I won't be doing 'a royal walkabout' - I'm helping to run the onsite café and leaders bar. This has become a bit of an annual diary entry over the last three years and it should prove to be even better this year. If you are free why not pop along and see what its all about. More details on www.thriftwood.org.uk

I am heading off to Epping Forest South on Friday to join their District Get Together at Bancrofts Rugby Club - DC Brian Gillman is offering to buy the drinks, so I could hardly refuse! I am sure it will be a great evening.

Whatever you have in store for January, enjoy yourself and keep smiling!

Dean Jefferys | cc@glne-scouts.org.uk

Apologies this edition has been a bit delayed, but I have been so busy being out and about meeting members of the County that I just haven't had a chance to update these pages!

It has been a pleasure meeting all the District Commissioners and it's great to hear of all the good things going on in the various Districts. Things also seem to be boding well for further census increases in a number of these Districts in 2008 and I look forward to presenting Chartermark Awards to the successful Groups and Districts in due course.

Fairly soon District Secretaries should receive the passwords so that Groups can input their census data onto the national census website. If you are a GSL why not begin this process now by finding out exactly how many members you have, as well their ages, genders and ethnic backgrounds - then it won't be such a rush in the new year!

We have been collecting quarterly census figures from all the Districts all year so we know roughly how many members to expect from each District and Group, so we look forward to receiving the final figures in due course.

Hopefully you will have seen the details of the revised 6-25 youth programme in the recent 'Scouting' Magazine supplements. The new resources are available from Scout Shops as from February and look like they correct some of the problems a number of us expressed, such as the Cub Powerpack not having all the badge requirements in. There are also revised badge posters and wallcharts and I look forward to seeing these displayed in Group Headquarters throughout the County as well as members proudly wearing their new look joining in badges.

I had the pleasure of joining 2nd Elm Park for their Annual Presentation Evening and AGM. Over 200 people joined the Group to see their children recognised along with adults from the Group. Indeed the Group had to hire a larger hall for the night as they were expecting a big crowd. An excellent evening and a lot better than some of the formal AGMs of old.

Looking forward I am pleased to be joining Chingford District for their Scout Fellowship Christmas Gathering, Newham's District Carol Service and Hornchurch District's Leaders Christmas Meal. I'm also going camping over the weekend of 21st - 23rd December! I reckon that my the time Christmas Day comes I will be glad of the break!

Thanks for all that you do!

Dean Jefferys | cc@glne-scouts.org.uk

With some excitement I set off on Monday to East London District to join their District Scout Council Meeting. It was nice to put some names to faces, but especially great to see a presentation from some of the Explorers about their Explorer Belt Expedition in Ireland. I’m not sure what was scarier – walking the 120 miles or having to stand up in front of numerous adults from across the District to make the presentation! Either way, the lads did very well and their presentation was first class. Well done to all concerned!

I met Simon Aulton (our Field Development Officer) on Tuesday. Those of you who know Simon will not be surprised that one of the first things he said to me on appointment was “let’s do lunch!” – so we found a suitable hostelry for a chat about the state of the County. I think the main thing to say is that there will be changes in the future, but we can also look forward to a period of continuity as well.

We will soon be looking for a new County Child Protection Coordinator to offer advice and support to adults around the County on CP Issues. If you would like to know more about what this involves then please contact Trish Neal for info. You can email her at dcc@glne-scouts.org.uk

I have also started to meet all the DCs to review what’s going on. As part of the Adults in Scouting model, all adults should get a chance to sit down with their supporters to discuss how things are going and DCs are no different. It is interesting to hear about the different things that are taking place, both good and bad, and to offer my support. I look forward also to visiting numerous District and Group Events over the next year. Please feel free to invite me to anything which is of interest – if my diary is free I will be there.

As previously mentioned the search process is now underway for new DCs in East London, Hornchurch and Ilford NorthWest. I know that Alan Dennison and the various Search Groups are looking forward to receiving your nominations so please send them in! We need to find the very best people around to take on these key Scouting roles and to grow and develop Scouting in these three Districts so please ‘look wide’ and send your nominations to Alan.

Thriftwood Scout Centre held its annual Memorial Service last Sunday followed by the Reunion Luncheon. It was Squirrels Heath Districts turn to lead the service and the young Scout who played the keyboard deserves a special mention. The meal was as ever excellently organised by Mary Hindley and a pleasant time was spent catching up with friends of Thriftwood, some going back many years.

I must leave it there as my Young Leaders are running the Troop Meeting this week and I need to catch up with them to see how they are getting on with their plans!

Have a great week!

Dean Jefferys | cc@glne-scouts.org.uk

My Scout Troop re-opened on Tuesday (we had a delayed start due to my illness over the summer). It’s only been going a short while and is an example of ‘thinking outside the box’. You see it’s an Extended Schools Project and meets at The Albany School in Hornchurch from 4.30pm until 6.00pm. The most exciting thing is that all the youth members are completely new to Scouting and so are my enthusiastic Young Leaders. They are all Y11 students who left the school last year, but are continuing to come back and offer their support. Their commitment is infectious and is what keeps me going.

Young Leaders are the future of our movement and relate so well to the Beavers, Cubs and Scouts in our care. They have to feel valued and wanted though like all of us, so if you have any of these special young people in your section, please encourage them and let them play a part in the planning process – you never know they might have some good ideas!

Like many of you I will be playing my part in Remembrance events over the weekend. I will also be going to Thriftwood next weekend for their service and dinner. Some of you may not realise that Thriftwood was purchased as a living memorial to the Scouts from the Owner Districts (Squirrels Heath, Hornchurch, Barking & Dagenham and Brentwood) who died during the First and Second World War. It’s fantastic to see the site develop with the passing years and to continue serving as a living memory of those former members who paid the ultimate price to guarantee our freedom.

We are indeed fortunate to have such a fine collection of Activity Centres within the County. All of these rely so much on countless hours of work (both paid and voluntary) and help to showcase Scouting in GLNE – on my behalf thanks to everyone involved for their hard work and dedication.

On Monday I have been invited to a meeting with the Scouters of East London District which I am really looking forward to. It will also be a chance to thank Peter Final who is stepping down at the end of the year as District Commissioner. Peter has done an excellent job keeping things going and we are all grateful for his input. We will shortly begin the process of finding a successor, as well as recruiting new DCs for Hornchurch and Ilford NorthWest. If you feel you might have the skills and interests to take on any of these roles or know someone who does, then make sure you play your part in the nomination process.

Have a great week and keep smiling – it’s infectious!

Dean Jefferys | cc@glne-scouts.org.uk

This is the first in what I hope becomes a weekly update on what I have been doing and also key developments in Scouting.

Firstly I must thank everyone for their good luck messages with the new role – I may well need all the help and support I can get! I am looking forward to the challenge of leading the County and helping to ensure that even more young people are able to benefit from the magic of Scouting.

My first weekend as CC and I hit the ground running with a weekend meeting at Gilwell examining how we can work with the Olympic 2012 Committee and what benefits we can get from them and vice versa. This huge celebration of sporting endeavour is taking place in only five years in OUR County so it is important that we work in partnership with Seb Coe and his team to reap mutual benefit from the Games – it promises to be an exciting time.

It was especially pleasing to see a number of young people at the meeting with the Olympic Team (LOCOG) and this is where you can help!

The County Executive and Team should have two dedicated members aged 18-25 to be young people representatives. One of these would also be one of our reps on The Council of The Scout Association. If you think you could fill one of these roles or know of someone who could please email me at cc@glne-scouts.org.uk with your recommendations and I can tell you more of what it entails. Let’s make GLNE a youth focused County by finding out what our younger adults actually want.

I don’t know about you but I was blown away by the Jamboree and by the Centenary as a whole, but I think most of us are now ready to put the centenary behind us and to move on! Indeed we should be thinking about our calendars for 2008 to ensure that the adventure of 2007 is carried into next year. After all, a lot of people have joined this year because they have been inspired by the magic of Scouting – if we want them to stay they must continue to enjoy exciting and attractive weekly programmes and weekend residential events.

Anyway have a great week and keep up the good work!

Dean Jefferys | cc@glne-scouts.org.uk

Dean Jeffreys has recently been appointed as County Commissioner for GLNE.

He was previously the DC of Hornchurch District.

Dean Jefferys | cc@glne-scouts.org.uk