Blackwood Scout Group’s Membership Welcome Pack includes the fees set for the current year as well as useful information about incidental costs associated with scouting, such as uniforms, camps and excursions.

All our activities are delivered with the very generous support of a highly skilled and well-trained volunteer leadership team and support committee. The group has substantial fixed costs associated with insurances, training, the hall and our equipment which must be covered by fees. The structure of these is explained as follows:

• Initial joining fee – Paid once per youth and includes: neckie, badges, woggle and record book.
• Registration for Scouts SA – Covers insurance of the youth whilst at scouts. Discounts are available for the Scout Shop and Woodside Activity Centre.
• Blackwood Group subscription per youth and contributes to utilities, repairs and hall running costs. There are discounts available for siblings and parents who volunteer for the group.
• Annual maintenance levy is paid per family and contributes to any additional works the group needs to finance, such as car park improvements or facility upgrades. This can be paid via volunteering for the group also.

For the first three weeks your child can simply come have a look and join in with the activities to see if he or she likes it. During that time they are automatically covered by the Scout Association for insurance purposes. Parents are welcome to watch as well as participate.

Please contact the Group Leader if more information is required.

Uniform

The uniform consists of a shirt (polo style), belt, scarf & woggle, and trousers. The uniform is available from EXURBIA | The Adventure Supply Co.
134A The Parade, Norwood, SA 5067.

Activities

Scouting is all about learning new skills in the outdoors. We encourage all our groups to participate in sleepovers, holidays, camps and hikes range from day activities up to three days duration. The cost of these activities is an extra expense; however, you can be sure that we carefully aim to keep the price of such activities to a minimum. Our aim is that each section has at least one overnight activity each term. The cost of these activities varies between Joey, Cub and Scouts sections and also with the travel distance.

The Scout Group

A Scout Group is entirely self-funded. The expenses of a Scout Group are various. A somewhat major cost is the purchasing of badges and certificates. (Badges are presented as soon as they are earned and there is no call for parents to purchase their child’s badges).

The Group must also meet the cost of maintaining the Scout Hall itself and we have the normal water, electricity and insurance bills to pay. Then there is also the initial and ongoing cost of training Leaders and the supply of their uniforms.

The Group’s running costs are mostly offset by the annual membership subscriptions and partly through a small number of fundraising activities throughout the year.

Fundraising

Most Scout Groups engage in fundraising for the Group. We encourage fundraising for major events (like attending a Jamboree) through the formation of parent committees for specific events.