Survey forms have started to come in for the PL's Training Course on the 10th & 11th March. Please encourage your Scouts to send theirs in to me as soon as possible so that we can use the information to set the programme for the weekend at the next meeting of the organising team.
Anybody who has already volunteered to assist with running the event or would like to help, even if only for a couple of hours, is welcome to come along to that meeting on Tuesday 13th February, 8pm at Wallington & Carshalton's DHQ off Wallington High Street.

The route is now planned for the District Incident Hike starting at Boiderhurst on Saturday 10th February and information has been circulated to the Troops. We are still looking for more offers of help with running the incident bases and anybody available should let Andy Edmonds know. This was an enjoyable event last year and teams do not need to be experts in navigation to take part. I hope that as many Troops as possible will enter a team. If you only have two or three Scouts who are interested let us know before the event and we will try to make up joint teams. The closing date for entries is Saturday 3rd February.

The GLSW Cooking Competition will be held at the 1st Hook HQ on Sunday 11th February. The 16th have already entered a team and offered to help with the judging, if any other Troops are interested they should contact Andy Harris directly.
Wandle has a good record of success in this competition so hopefully the trophy will be heading its way up the A3 by the Sunday evening.

The Handball Competition was better supported at the end of January that it was last year and eight Troops battled it out through the afternoon at Greenwood School. The eventual winners were the 5th Morden who triumphed over worthy opponents from the 6/12th Mitcham in what turned out to be the most entertaining game of Handball we had seen in quite some time.

Nine teams from seven Troops entered the Incident Hike on Box Hill and despite the persistent rain the Scouts demonstrated a good standard of navigation and ingenuity to work their way round the course and complete the tasks. Congratulations to the team from the 20th Mitcham who won the event and to the runners-up from the 8th Morden who were only two points behind them.
As this activity is proving popular and the standard of entry is high we have decided to get a trophy for it.
Thanks to Andy and Phil Stentiford who set up the route and to all of the leaders who gave up a Saturday to sit in the wind and rain peering optimistically into the distance for the next team.
A special mention for remaining calm in the face of adversity should also go to the leaders on one of the bases who got caught up in the crossfire of local politics involving opposing factions of the National Trust. We may consider buying a Diplomacy Trophy as well.

Having dried out from the Incident Hike members of the 1st Morden, 8th Morden, 16th Morden, and 20th Mitcham joined 36 other teams in entering the County Cooking Competition the following day. Wandle's highest placing was the 16th Morden who came 4th.

The Troop census figures show that the net change in the number of Scouts in the District is minus 1 with us having lost 25 members and gained 24. This is a considerable improvement on our heavy losses last year. A number of Troops have undergone leadership changes and other disruptions during the year and it will take a while for everyone to settle into their new roles but the signs in some of the Troops are very encouraging. Congratulations to the 7 Troops who increased their numbers.

The joint Patrol Leaders' Training Course with Wallington & Carshalton District was supported by 35 Scouts of varying ages and abilities, who all nervously gathered at the 4th Morden HQ not really knowing what they had let themselves in for. The weekend covered training on a range of subjects including Route Planning, Pioneering, Venture Scouting, Programme Planning, Expeditions, Woggle Making and Decision Making all of which culminated in a lively and entertaining Skills Trading Post where the new skills demonstrated were translated into currency and a winning Patrol announced. By this time, of course, the shy, timid Scouts had been transformed into a noisy, extrovert crowd who had all made new friends.
It is not normally an ADC's job to act as dating agency after Scout activities but I took it as a sign of success that I was later asked to provide phone numbers to allow some of them to keep in touch with each other.
A lot of planning and effort by a relatively small team went into this event and both Neil Heron, my counterpart in Wallington, and myself considered that it was a success. My thanks go to all of those who formed the team that ran the activities, games and tutor groups over the weekend and to our behind-the-scenes support team who provided the venue, equipment, catering and ideas inspiration.

The County is looking to run a Scout Volleyball Competition if there is enough interest in the idea. Please let me know if your Troop would like to take part.

After the traditional rush of section activities in the first three months of the year there is now a break in District events until the Patrol Camping Weekend in June. Details of this have already been circulated to those Troops who were at the recent Scouters' meeting and the remainder will receive theirs in the post shortly.

The recent Scouters' meeting was well attended and it gave us a chance to accept the challenge of finding the new 2nd Morden HQ hidden down Connaught Gardens as they were our hosts. I apologise for the delay in getting the minutes circulated but I hope to have them completed in the next week or so.
At the meeting it was agreed that we should have a trophy for the Incident Hike and I have now received the one that used to be presented in Mitcham. I will hand it over to the 20th as soon as I can.

The Foot & Mouth situation is still making planning for Summer camps difficult but remember to get your PC Form in as early as possible. Please contact me if you need a copy of the form.

The date for the next Scouters' meeting has been moved by one week to Monday 25th June, please update your diaries. The venue will be the 16th Morden HQ.

The Patrol Camping Weekend (formerly the Camping Competition) was very poorly attended with only 4 out of our 12 active Troops represented. The reasons for the low interest were explored at the recent Scouters' meeting and hopefully those who were unable to attend can take advantage of a second opportunity to be assessed against the Camping Standard at the County event on the 22nd & 23rd September.
The six Patrols who did attend our weekend at Bears Wood all enjoyed themselves and were a credit to their Troops with their positive attitude and willingness to learn. All Patrols gained a Standard and at the end of the weekend Gold was awarded to the 1st Morden Kestrels who also won the Camping Trophy. Silver was gained by the 6/12th Mitcham Beavers, 8th Morden Foxes, 8th Morden Kestrels and 11th Mitcham Cheetahs. The 11th Mitcham Falcons achieved a Bronze. The Cooking Competition was deservedly won by the 8th Morden.
Thanks to the judging and cooking team for giving up their time to run the event.

At the Scouters' meeting it was agreed that the Five-a-Side Football competition on Sunday 21st October will be held at Power League whose facilities are far better than those offered at Lavender Fields. We will be using two floodlit pitches, changing rooms and their referees. The cost per team will be £12.50 and we will need 16 teams to enter.

The section Diary has been agreed for 2002 and will be circulated with the meeting minutes and posted on the web site shortly.

The next Troop Scouters' meeting will be held on Wednesday 5th September.

Once again the County Patrol Camping Weekend was well supported by Wandle Troops and 5 Patrols from the 1^st Morden, 6/12^th Mitcham, 8^th Morden and 11^th Mitcham travelled to Bentley Copse to be assessed against the Camping Standard. All of our Patrols gained a Silver Standard, which gave each member an extra badge to wear on their uniform for a year. In addition, for the second year running, the 6/12^th Mitcham were judged to be the best cooks with the highest marks gained for their imaginative menu and cooking skills across the four meals. In the First Aid, the 1^st Morden & 8^th Morden were awarded Gold.
As camping is the core activity of Scouting it is encouraging that one third of our active Troops entered this event and that we supplied 7 members of the judging team. Congratulations to everybody involved in what has been described as a successful and well-run event.

At the September Scouters' meeting several leaders agreed to supply questions for the Troop quiz, which will be held at the 5^th Morden HQ on Wednesday 21^st November at 8pm. The questions should be sent to me by the 9^th of November.

Andy Edmonds has agreed to organise our team for the County Swimming Gala, which will be held on Saturday 10^th November at Trinity School, he will be using the results of the District Gala to invite Scouts to join the team. In the past it has been difficult to secure firm commitment from the Scouts to attend this event so it would be helpful if Troop Scouters could encourage any of their interested members to confirm their interest to Andy as soon as possible.

Our next District activity is the 5-a-side football on Sunday 21^st October at Powerleague. Details have already been circulated to Troop Scouters who are reminded that Andy must receive entries before Saturday 13^th October.

Despite the high level of interest registered at the time we decided to move the 5-a-side football competition upmarket to improved facilities at Power League the actual number of entries was very disappointing. The number of late and amended entries also made organisation very difficult despite the fact that the date was set 18 months ago and letters went out in August. In the event we had to cancel half of the facilities that were booked otherwise we would have made a substantial loss on the event.
The event itself took place in heavy and persistent rain but this did not spoil the enthusiasm of the footballers who didn't seem to notice the dreadful weather. The venue was a considerable improvement on Lavender Fields but in light of the low turnout we will review the event at the next Scouters' meeting in January.
Eight teams from six Troops competed through the afternoon which saw the 1st Morden play the 8th Morden in the final. The final score was 2 - 0 in favour of the 1st Morden who will receive the trophy when I retrieve it from Cliff who has been getting the engraving updated.
Thanks to all those who turned out in the wet, to Steve from the 8th who acted as referee at the last minute and to Andy who showed some resilience during the previous week as he rearranged the playing order several times.

We now have a good team ready to represent Wandle at the County Swimming Gala on Saturday 10th November in Croydon. Good luck to all of the competitors.

A reminder that the Troop Quiz will be held at the 5th Morden HQ on Wednesday 21st November at 8pm.

There are a couple of question categories still outstanding (you know who you are) and I would appreciate receiving them by 9th November.