I am reaching out to introduce myself and provide some details on the future of Belchamps Scout Activity Centre.
I’ve been involved with Scouting all my life. I joining 30th Odiham as a Beaver before my family relocated to Essex, where I joined 3rd Shoeburyness as a Cub and stayed through until Scouts. I played an active part in Synergy Network as well as being an Assistant Explorer Leader within Southend Estuary and continue to be part of Essex Networks ASU. Having built skills and experience working within the financial sector, I took the plunge and combined my customer service career with my hobby and joined Belchamps in 2013 as the Guest Services Manager.
I have now taken the role as Strategic Development Manager and have been tasked to ensure the future of Belchamps Scout Activity Centre. I am confident that I can achieve this goal but also create a centre that evolves to meet the needs of local Scouting, a centre that you can all be proud of. COVID-19 has no doubt affected us all and the same is true for the centre, we can no longer continue as we have and a number of changes will need to be made. As we make these changes I would appreciate your support and understanding but more so your feedback.
My plan is to support and concentrate on local Scouting and other local youth organisations for the immediate future. As the centre shifts its focus the most noticeable change will be the reduction and need for paid staff. There is an immediate need to reduce the centre outgoings to ensure the future of Belchamps. My hope is that this can be achieved by recruiting a large volunteer staff team to help support the centre. If you think you might be interested in volunteering, want more information or just for a bit of chat please get in contact with me.
I am now working to reopen the centre ASAP and hope to be in a position to host your face to face Scouting activities soon. As we open up our green spaces, toilet blocks and large indoor areas, we’ll be making a number of changes to ensure that we are COVID-19 secure. Please keep an eye out for future updates on the centres reopening.
I would like to thank you all in advance for your support and look forward to welcoming you all soon to the centre.
Yours in Scouting,
Dave Dryden
Strategic Development Manager
Belchamps Scout Activity Centre

dave@belchamps.org.uk ... See more

Belchamps Camping and Activities Since 1936, its time to reflect on the past of this great campsite and we need your help. We want to fill a section of the Belchamps website with as much of the site's history as we can find, info people, and groups from past, pictures of visits. past events, Jamboree stuff, anything that you might be able to share, scans, and pictures would be great. Please do this and share us email all the info you can: history@belchamps.org.uk #Repost #essex #scouting #belchamps #history #share ... See more

Thanks to Bobs Skips for donating a skip to the centre. We’re able to clear the workshop area ahead of being able to open soon.

The New Belchamps JOTI take part at home pages are almost completed: We hope that we will run the amazing JOTA JOTI event, but if your group is not be going for any reason, we invite participants to take part in this globe scouting event Saturday from home with our support. This global event is on 17th and Sunday 18th October. Our event page GB1BEL now has instructions to any group wishing to take part to join the JOTI @home http://www.gb1bel.org.uk/take-part-home/ ... See more

Bushscout UK have a fun challenge for you! Belchamps would love to see you win, give it a go!

This is "TGI Weekender - swing braiding final" by The Scout Association on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.

For your viewing pleasure...

If you have a spare 5 minutes could you please nominate Belchamps for the first round of Movement for Good funding?

https://www.movementforgood.com/

All you need to do is fill out a quick form, the only information you need is our Charity number (1015218) and our charity type (education and skills)

Thank you all in advance for your support. ... See more

Join our Movement for Good, helping to change people's lives for the better

Belchamps Tree Identification challenge - Week 3
Can you figure out what the tree in the photo is? And where you will find it on our site?

Well done to everyone who guessed last weeks, you were close, it was - Silver Birch on Wood 2 ... See more

Support Belchamps Scout Activity Centre and take part in our 2020 Badge challenge.

In February we received stock of our 2020 site badge, by now they would be flying of the shelves. You can support us by taking part in the below challenges and then ordering your Belchamps 2020 badge. You can take part in the activities for free and there is no obligation to by the badge.

Challenges (Complete 2):
Find and identify 20 different types of tree, animals, insects or birds. Look high and low, your find all sorts of trees and animals in your back garden, local park or front door step. You can document this in a journal or by taking photos. Extra: Write 50 words about one of the trees, animals, insects of birds you have found.

Spend a weekend camping in the garden. This could be in a tent or you might want to have a go at building a shelter out of things you can find around the house/shed/garage.

Draw a comic strip about your favourite Belchamps Activity. If you need inspiration you can find our activities on our website.

Design a new Belchamps Scout Activity Centre badge. You could do this on the computer, using paper or pens or by getting really creative and using things around the house.

To reduce postage cost where possible please complete these as a group and do a large order for the badges.

Costs:
Badge £1.50
Delivery £1.50 ... See more