Group Scout Leader’s Report

Here we are in our 9th year and what a year it has been,

The main highlights have to be the opening of our second troop in September to reduce our Scout waiting list and completing our 4 to 18 years age range with the opening of our Squirrel Drey in January 23 which already has 20 members. Our leader teams in both sections have been amazing at getting these up and running.

As of January 2023 we have a membership of over 170 young people and, with adults, 250 members. This makes us the largest British Scouting Overseas group in the world! Although we have no immediate plans to grow further, our vision stays the same: ‘to provide quality Scouting to as many international young people in Prague as possible’.

We have done some great activities this year in all sections, including community events such as supporting local food banks, canoeing, ski trips and survival camps. Our Summer Camp in Novy Bor was attended by over 80 of our members. We have also attended several international events including the Kent International Jamboree two Monopoly Runs in the UK and the District Camp in Luxembourg which 45 of our members attended. We continue to find innovative and exciting activities for the young people in our group.

In August 2022 we supported the BSO/BGO Jamboree Contingent, who will be attending the World Scout Jamboree in South Korea this summer by providing equipment and travel logistics for their visit to Prague for The Central European Jamboree. We are very proud that 3 of our Explorer Scouts will be representing BSO at WSJ and one of our Assistant Explorer Leaders Ed will be there too as a member of the international service team.

We have been very fortunate to be able to significantly reduce the cost of Scouting for our members through grants from Prague City council, which also supported the purchase of equipment for and training in climbing and archery. The subs that all members pay have been reduced significantly.

2022 saw the start of the war in Ukraine and one of the most significant activities we did. Coming from an idea from some of our Explorer Scouts, we held a fundraising event: ‘The Hike for Ukraine’ This raised 50,000kc for a local charity supporting Young Ukrainians. The money also allowed the group to start running regular events based on Scouting activities and Scouting values and 30 young Ukrainians and their families based in Prague now attend these

In April 2023, we joined the Prague Council of Children and Youth (Rada dětí a mládeže hlavního města Prahy) - http://rdmp.cz. We look forward to working with the council to help support the future development of our group in a number of areas such as grants, insurance and advice.

I would like to thank my team senior team of section leaders, Julie, Charles, Mauro, Wannes, Simon, Baloo, Manon, Alastair, Alain and Chris Tebb. Also Elli, Claire, Michael and Alastair for their continued trustee board support and work behind the scenes. I would like to thank Brook and his fundraising team for the sterling work they are doing getting grants and finding other opportunities for funding. And all those dealing with the admin and logistics of running such a large group. I however would like to single out Chris Wait (Baloo), our Deputy Group Scout Leader and Scout Leader, who has without a doubt been the driving force behind many of this year’s activities and background work and I am grateful for his unwavering support and dedication.

We are now looking to the future and we hope that in the next couple of years we will be in a position to find a permanent home where most of our sections can meet together. This will require the support of our whole community.

Our growth and success this year has been due to only one thing: the hard work and dedication of our leader team, our parent supporters and our young people. I am sure that this will continue and that we can provide even better Scouting in the year to come.

Simon ‘Mang’ Burgess Group Scout Leader

District Commissioner’s Foreword

As you will see in this report, the last twelve months have been hugely successful for 1st Prague. The effort put in by Simon and his leadership team as well as all the adult volunteers, uniformed or otherwise, cannot be understated; to have become the largest Group in British Scouting Overseas (not just the district and by some margin) is utterly amazing, especially given the impact of recent global events.

I am privileged to be a part of this Group as well as leading our District and I have first-hand witnessed the dedication and personal resource that each and every one of the adult volunteers. It is not just in membership numbers though that 1st Prague has made achievements: there have been at least 25 top awards completed across all sections, we have attended several Area/District international events, three Explorers are attending the World Scout Jamboree in Korea this summer, and the continued support of the Ukraine Club is awe inspiring and a perfect example of scouting values at the centre of the Group.

While my time as District Commissioner is ending, my time with 1st Prague is not. I look forward to being able to contribute even more in the next twelve months.

Chris Tebb DC, Northern Europe

It has been a very exciting year as January 2023 welcomed the opening of our new Squirrel Drey! This was my first year with 1st Prague Scouts and as a Scout Leader. It was a significant learning experience all around, and it was also loads of fun! I must extend my deepest thanks to the support I have been given by the more senior scout leaders, particularly, Simon Burgess and Chris Wait who have helped me learn how to develop and deliver a quality program as well as stay organized on the administrative side of things. We kicked off with quite a full group of 18 Squirrels, all ready and eager to make new friends and learn some cool stuff, so there were a lot of new faces and information to keep track of. We have held our weekly sessions in the Early Years classroom at the French Lycée School in Prague’s Smíchov area, which has provided us with ample space for both indoor activities as well as an outdoor space to run around and play games.

As a new, and quite international section, we started the year looking at our identity, both individually, and as Scouts living in Prague. We joined in on international cultural celebrations such as the Lunar New Year and Carnival – making lanterns and masks, as well as dancing in costume to traditional music from various parts of the world. We learned about bridge types – and a few of the more famous bridges in and around Prague (including the Charles Bridge, of course!), and we even designed our own bridges over a paper river. We talked about what it means to be a Scout, to make the Scout Promise, and to wear our uniform, symbolizing our common values. Later, we had a Zoom call with another Squirrel Drey in the UK, sharing a little bit about us, and learning about them, too!

We explored our feelings, talked about what makes us happy, and the best ways to express our emotions – both the really good ones, and the ones that aren’t so fun. The Squirrels showed their gratitude drawing pictures and writing thank you cards to some of the hard-working superheroes around us including police officers, firemen, postmen, garbage collectors, doctors and nurses who keep us safe and our community running. During our First Aid Stage 1 session, we learned how to recognize an emergency and practiced what to do and how to call for help. We also painted rocks, leaving them along a hiking path to brighten someone else’s day.

We explored the world around us, learning how to identify local birds, insects and flowers, the best foods for them to munch on, and what they need to grow and thrive. We talked about ways to protect our environment; we planted our own seeds, and we built bird feeders with reused plastic water bottles.

We had loads of fun both inside and outside, building dens for our teddies in the classroom and later on, for “little human Squirrels” in Hvezda Park. We learned about our five senses, how we can use them to understand the world around us, and we conducted a few colorful experiments, including swirling reactions with fatty milk, food coloring and dish soap, a classic reaction with sodium bicarbonate and vinegar to model a volcano eruption, stacked colourful layers of liquids of different density, and tested our own senses, identifying various foods and herbs by smell.

We had an absolutely fabulous weekend programme of events, where our Squirrels learned new skills and got to try some amazing new things. During the colder months, Squirrels tried out ice skating and even went on a day trip to the Ore Mountain region of the Czech Republic to try out skiing with a group instructor! As the weather warmed up, we got out for our first hike together in Klanovice, taking an exciting train ride to get there.

The Squirrels loved taking a pony ride in Prague’s Park Zahrádky after learning how to care for the ponies at the nearby Pony Paradise Pony Club, and our most recent event challenged the Squirrels, testing their bravery trying out a few “high ropes” obstacles between forest trees at Sambar Lanky Park in Kladno while learning how to stay safe using a harness and double carabiner lead.

None of this would have been possible were it not for our rockstar team of leaders, Aurore, Yoohee and Alex who have all dedicated time and effort into planning such rich and wonderful experiences for our youngest Scouts, as well as our Squirrel parents who have supported us and assisted us through messy activities and outdoor adventures.

We look forward to our day visit to Summer Camp this July. It will be a fantastic opportunity for our squirrels to learn about more traditional outdoor scouting activities and for the older sections to mentor our young Squirrels – and will be a preview for future overnights being planned for next year. As we have grown slightly during recent months, some of our young people will be preparing to move on to Beavers in the fall, making room for those coming of age on our Squirrel waiting list. We will be happy to see them make the transition with greater confidence and a positive attitude having already had such valuable scouting experiences as a Squirrel.

Julie Maddox Squirrel Scout Leader

This was my first year as section leader of the Beaver unit. We had a record year in terms of Beaver numbers and added new members to our team.

I took over as section leader at the start of September 2022. At that time, our team consisted of myself, Chisato Hashizume, and Petra Novakova. We also had approximately 25 Beavers in our unit, which was difficult but manageable. That changed for the better as the year progressed.

Matthew Stokes joined us as a leader at the end of September. This was his first attempt at volunteering as a scout leader, which he has really taken to and is now confident in his role and the Beavers have really taken to him. As of the new year, Larisia Petre also joined the team as a first-time scout leader as well. She dove into the role and has an energy and drive that really suits her as a leader with our age group. We now also have two young leaders, Sofie Teodorovicova and Adam Caspe, volunteering their time with us for their bronze Duke of Edinburgh award and Sofie has already asked if she can stay and help after her DofE time has passed. We will welcome her with open arms and Adam too if he chooses to stay with us. Both have been very helpful and have really great potential as future leaders.

As to be expected, Chisato and Petra have been indispensable both as leaders in welcoming and folding our new leaders into our unit right away. Their love for volunteering with our age group of kids shows every day, both in patience and creativity. They were the first to volunteer to help guide our new leaders through leading sessions and on the planning side. We also tapped into our parents as a resource more this year than in the past.

Several parents volunteered to plan and run a couple of sessions. Venno Jelinek came in several times to use his engineering prowess. He planned and ran a wonderful build your own water propelled rocket session, with some basic explanation of the physics behind it that the kids got to experiment with on their own. He also came in to teach the Beavers about electrical circuits. Andrea Colantoni stepped up on several events with our unit and came to our December planning session to contribute, which lead to our first attempt at an international month where parents from similar regions would come in and tell something about where they were from, play games or sing songs, and of course cook some nice recipes from home that the kids loved. I believe the crepes on French night were the largest hit. The international month was nice but will require some tweaking in the future.

As has been traditional, we went to the enamel cup making workshop around Christmas and added gingerbread cookie decorating around the same time And, as expected, they were a great hit, and we will do them again.

Now that the year is coming to a close, we expect to have ten Beavers earn their bronze award by the summer group camp, the most since I have been here. And our kids are hungry for more experiences that of course results in badges. For the next year, we hope to add an autumn camp and some more events that tap into our parent network with some guidance from lessons learned from the international month. Matthew and Larisa are beloved by our kids and I can’t wait to see what our full team can do next year. We hope to have Adam and Sofie with us next year too. We are lucky to have a very willing and active parent network that we can rely on when needed and plan to continue to nurture that as a resource. We look forward to seeing the first crop of Squirrels come up in the autumn and have them start their journey with us. All in all, it has been a great year with a great team. I couldn’t be happier.

Charles “Spike” Beaver Scout Leader

With the end of COVID, we were finally able to bring back Scouting to its more traditional form, with regular sessions and outdoor activities.

The growth of our 1st Prague Group has continued throughout this year and the two packs, Bears and Wolves, consolidated their leadership and their operations. Fifteen new cubs and three new leaders have joined 1st Prague since September!

During this year, Thoughtful Beaver assumed the role of Leader of the Wolves pack, aided by King Louie, Zita, Nala, Harley, and Wednesday and Bagheera that of the Bears, assisted by Winifred, Wookie, Zita, Tabaqui, Grey Brother and Bandalog.

Cubs spent a lot of time out in the open, engaging in all sorts of activities, including hikes and ice skating. Having enjoyed the rhythms of the Summer Camp, most of our Cubs braved the morning frost on our tents and joined us for the Autumn Camp in October 2022 at a campsite in Zizkov. The Cubs learned many skills at camp including pioneering, backwoods cooking, and how to put up patrol tents. They also spent a morning at a high ropes course which was enjoyed by all.

As the days got shorter and colder, we started using the spaces provided by Sokol in Ujezd and Vrsovice, our stable bases since last year, to meet inside. Cubs also had the chance to visit the annual Maker Faire in Holesovice. The autumn term was rounded off by a joint Christmas party.

Our sessions covered a wide range of topics such as backstage theatre, science experiments, air activities, DIY, photography, money management skills, fire safety, astronomy, and International Women’s Day.

Whenever the weather or the occasion allowed, we also organised outdoor activities and sessions. We went hiking, ice-skating, a scooter ride to Areal Vltavanu, rafting down the Berounka, slack-lining, held a martial arts session, explored our local areas of Mala Strana and Vrsovice, and volunteered at Metro Farm, a local community farm and garden.

All those activities contributed greatly to what is probably one of the main goals of scouting; teaching skills for life. And we are proud to announce that this year we were able to award the highest number of Chief Scout's Silver Awards, to Eliska, Elijah, Noel, Max, Benjamin, David, Caleb, Levon, Emily and Zarah, with a few more soon to follow.

For the first time in the history of 1st Prague, we also awarded the new YouShape core badge to 13 of our Cubs.

In the past 12 months we awarded a record grand total of 509 badges, between activity, staged, challenge and the Union Jack badge, awarded after the first international camp!

This is the case for the 13 Cubs that flew to Brussels for the 2023 District Camp, where they had the chance to participate for two days in Scout activities and meet other Cubs from Northern Europe District countries.

It’s been a year full of achievements that will soon culminate with the largest Summer Camp ever organised by 1st Prague! An amazing experience our Cubs are looking forward to.

Mauro and Wannes on behalf of the Cub Leadership team

This is my 1st year as a Scout section leader. We started the 2nd Vltava Scout troop in response to demand for the experiences and opportunities we provide. I am getting to grips with the new section, and I enjoy getting to know the ever-growing capabilities of the Scouts, both new faces and some familiar ones too. What made the induction to the task of running Scouts so enticing was the enthusiasm and support of the incumbent leader Manon, and her partner Gabi, who helped me get underway and up to speed with the challenge of running the older section. 5 years ago, they started the Scout section, provided a fantastic programme and opportunities for young people to develop, and they are sorely missed. I hope we will welcome them back into the fold sometime in the future.

A highlight of the year was that we were able to award both Adam and Aarav the Chief Scouts Gold award, the highest award a Scout can earn! The aim of the Scout group is to help as many of the Scouts achieve this as we can, and many others are well on the way to achieving this honour.

This year has had some ambitious activities. The Scouts canoed 30km in September, competed in the Manchester Monopoly Run in October, hiked 16km in the dark in November, produced a high level of cuisine in the cooking competition in March, cycled 55km in April, and are due to walk 20km in June. These were ambitious targets, and the participating Scouts exceeded all expectations with the way they tackled the challenges set.

All we achieve and all we do with the Scouts would not be possible without the fantastic group of leaders that run both the Scout troops. Both leader teams in the Snezka and Vltava troops collaborate in a providing varied, engaging weekday programme, supporting me with the administration of running the 2 troops, planning the programme and booking weekend events. I really appreciate all the energy, thought and effort they put in to making such a fantastic experience for so many young people.

This year more than most, I must thank the parents for their active involvement. I have had help with translation, running programme, event booking, camp cooks, hikers, cyclists, shoppers, lunch makers, drivers, van loaders, store cleaners, and kitchen hosts that have really got into the spirit of what we are trying to achieve. Thanks for stepping when we needed you to!

One of the elements of this year I am proudest of is the community events we have engaged in. That we had so many Scouts willing to give up their free time to help at the metro farm, to pack food donations, and to wrap Christmas presents for the vulnerable is intrinsic to the values of Scouting, and I will look for more opportunities for them to do more in the community in the future.

The ambition for next year is to run frequent, local opportunities for the Scouts to camp overnight, perhaps a little more independently of the leaders. All the Scouts will get the chance to experience a Scout expedition. I am keen for the Scouts to take ownership of their troops, strategize with their peers, and tell the leaders what programme they want us to run. Cub graduate Benji organised a computer games afternoon in the winter. I’d like this to set a precedent, to promote true youth-led Scouting.

Intercamp in May was a first taste of an International Scout camp environment for 35 Scouts & Explorers, we have put together an exciting programme for the 37 Scouts attending the Viking Summer camp in Novy Bor, and we are really looking forward to spending 11 nights in August at the Haarlem Jamborette with 17 of the Scouts. Enjoy the summer break. We go again in September!

Chris Wait – Scout Leader

The last twelve months have been a series of transitions and firsts for Prague’s Bohemian Explorers. The end of the 2021/2022 year saw our first wave of graduation to Network and away to university for several of our Explorers who had been with us for some time (SJ, Kadri, Francesco, Sonia), with one of these claiming her DoE Gold award (Milla). Further advances in the DoE programme saw the majority of our Unit complete their DoE Bronze practice expedition on another successful summer camp (albeit forever remembered for one member losing their phone into the drop toilets.).

The new year started with a much changed dynamic but with focus on the DoE, our members closed out their adventurous journey which allowed us to present our first three Bronze awards. The autumn term saw trampolining, disc golf, learning about foods from displaced people and was rounded off with a cultural visit to Dresden and its famous Christmas market.

The new year saw a change of leadership, with professional demands requiring Alastair Hammond to step back from ESL; Alastair had led the Explorers for five years since the inception of the Unit and his commitment to our young people has been exemplary.

Our winter term focused on mini-pioneering, leadership and learning about Operation Hlavak which is where Ukrainian refugees are processed as they reach the sanctity of Prague. There was also time for a world discussion, Zendaya to win a balloon debate, going to a Hildebrandt art exhibition and learning Aikido and traditional Irish recipes for St. Patrick’s Day. The term concluded with a celebration of the Ukraine Club and all the work it has achieved that was initiated by our Explorers last year.

We also had three of our young people (Lydia, Evan and Ondrej) join other Explorers from the District at the London Monopoly Run in March.

We have done our community duty through the year, with attendance and participation in celebration of The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee and coronation of King Charles III, as well as the more sombre occasions of HM The Queen’s memorial, Remembrance and ANZAC day.

Our successes this year include our first Chief Scout’s Platinum award (Isabella), two Explorers completing their Young Leader mission badges (Isabella and Alex), and the same two achieving their over 75 nights’ away badge. We wish our three attendees (Isabella, Alex and Sisi) at the 2023 World Scout Jamboree in Korea a wonderful experience and the same to the sizeable contingent heading to Haarlem Jamborette in August

Chris Tebb Explorer Scout Leader

The Scout Activity Support Unit is a special unit whose main goal is to provide support to the group and its sections.

The unit is intended for adults who wish to volunteer and who have limited time but a great desire to help others by using their skills and knowledge.

They help the group with diverse tasks, from logistics for the camps, setting up camp infrastructure, loading and unloading minivans, running errands before and during camps, making pictures, cleaning, organizing events etc.

From my humble point of view, the profile of SAS members summarizes the ultimate goal of Scouting...“Adults who serve others without expecting any reward” They help others not for money, not for fame, not for likes... They help because it is their duty and it should be everyone’s duty: to help others as much as possible to do their best.

Maybe you cannot see them at the activities but many of those activities are only possible thanks to them. If you want to help the group but can only offer sporadic support, this is your opportunity. Come and be part of us!

Alain Flores y Flores Scout Active Support Manager