Report on the 3rd Meeting of i.Voice
Youth Council
Sunday 16th November 2014
1st Calow Scouts HQ
The 3rd Meeting of i.Voice Youth Council for Chesterfield District Scouts was held on Sunday 16th November 2014 at 1st
Calow Scouts HQ.
What a crazy few months it has been for The Scout Association in their Vision towards 2018. A brand new Youth
Commissioner with her deputies in tow, bringing a youthful face to the major decisions within our movement and
taking a massive leap towards what we are aiming for, Youth being at the forefront of decision making and
programme planning. The Better Prepared Campaign has been implemented in order to increase Inclusivity within our
movement and giving more Young People the chance to enjoy their Scouting Adventure. The 3rd Meeting of i.Voice,
the Scout Youth Council for Chesterfield, has brought many changes with our members moving on to join new
Explorer Groups as well as welcoming 1st Highfield & Draco ESU to i.Voice.
Our main objectives for the meeting were to mark the Centenary of the outbreak of the Great War and Scout’s
involvement at the time and why we remember it today. Discuss what Scouting means to our Councillors and what
should be improved in the future as well as fundraising ideas for the group and what the group should invest in to
facilitate our meetings and events. We also introduced our members to the benefits of using Media in Scouting and
how this can be used as a tool to promote the future of the movement.
We had 11 Councillors present at the meeting representing 10 out of the 16 Scout Troops in Chesterfield, we are still
looking for members from a number of groups in Chesterfield, the Leadership Team encourage you to email them at
ivoiceyouthcouncil@live.com for more information regarding this amazing opportunity for our Scouts in Chesterfield.
We also want to introduce Kayleigh Topliss, Canotila ESU, to the i.Voice Leadership Team. Kayleigh will also be joining
Matt & Izzie at the next meeting of the Derbyshire Scouts Youth Council, where she will represent the District in
making decisions and discussing the way forward for the future in Derbyshire.
The Leaders and Facilitators of i.Voice would like to thank St Peter’s Church & 1st Calow Scouts for use of their hall for
the meeting as well as everyone else who helped to co-ordinate and organised the meeting.
The next meeting of i.Voice will be in the New Year; however we will be participating in Fundraising and Social Events,
of which details will be passed on in due course.
Summary of Sessions
‘Word Game’ Icebreaker
To open the meeting, the Councillors were each asked to think of something interesting
they had done in the time leading up to the meeting as well as something boring and dull.
The Councillors then came up with their own ‘Word of the Day’; these ranged from
inspirational thoughts such as ‘future’ and ‘youth’ to the not so creative ‘cake’ and ‘door’
This was done in order for the newer (and more experienced) members of the Youth Council
to integrate with the group and feel more relaxed prior to the discussion sessions later.
Fundraising
This is a constantly developing topic that we touch on at our meetings as we feel it
important to ensure that the group is actively looking for fundraising opportunities. In this
session we discussed what we would want to invest in that is in the greatest interest of the
Youth Council. The overall response was that the Councillors want to be more recognisable
as a group through our own range of Neckers and Badges to be worn at meetings and other
District Events as Scouting Ambassadors.
In order to kick-start our fundraising efforts; the District has kindly given us a donation of
£200 towards Neckers and Badges for the members which we will hopefully be receiving
before the next i.Voice Meeting in Early 2015. We are currently in the process of discussing
a budget to cover the running costs of future meetings of i.Voice with the District Executive
Committee, which should be finalised and hopefully approved before the start of the new
financial year.
During this session we also discussed the potential for a Social Event before the end of the
year to celebrate the success i.Voice has had in the last 12 months and to act as a teambuilding event outside of the formality of what we do (most of the time) at i.Voice. The
group will be taking part in a bag pack with 2nd Brampton Scouts in order to facilitate this
and the development of the Youth Council.
County DC’s Meeting – Youth Led
In this session, we discussed the recent County District Commissioners Meeting held at the
Strutts Centre, Belper in which two of the i.Voice Leaders attended as members of the
Derbyshire Scouts Youth Council. We briefly discussed the aim of the meeting and how the
Youth Council had been invited as Ambassadors for Young People in Scouting.
Youth Involvement was at the heart of this meeting and the members of the County
Executive Committee praised the hard work and dedication of the ever-growing number of
Districts within Derbyshire which have a District Youth Council (including i.Voice,
Chesterfield) in order to hear the views and opinions of Young People to make Scouting
Youth Led in partnership with Adult Leaders, an aim of Vision 2018 within The Scout
Association. i.Voice is leading the way with this as an established and functioning example
for other Districts, if not Counties to follow.
The i.Voice Councillors also gained an insight during this session as to the amount of Youth
Representation there is currently on the various organising committees for large events in
our County, such as the Four Inns and Kinder Walk as well as Peak 2015, arguably the
biggest event Derbyshire Scouts are involved in organising.
In 2015, there will be a County Conference, held in Castleton, Peak District in which
Inspirational Young Adult Leaders will be commended for their role in making Scouting in
Derbyshire ‘Youth-Led’ with a clear vision towards the future of our movement.
‘A Time to Remember’ – Scouts and WWI
We took time during our Meeting to mark the centenary
since the outbreak of the First World War in 1914 and
remembering the vital role played by Scouts in order to
fight for the freedom we have today and work on the
home-front to protect the countless numbers of civilians
living through the terror of war, using Scout Huts at
Shelters and relaying vital messages to name a few.
At the Remembrance Sunday Ceremony in Eastwood Park, Calow on 9th November 2014;
i.Voice Leaders Matt Swain and Izzy Jinks, alongside i.Voice Councillor for 1 st Calow Scouts,
Jack Ellis laid a wreath at the cenotaph on behalf of the Youth Council as an act of
remembrance.
What does Scouting mean to me?’
The next session was lead by our newest Facilitator, Kayleigh Topliss; focused on what
Scouting means to us and how we, at i.Voice, can make a change towards the future of our
movement, specifically in our District. This was also used as a general discussion session for
our members to comment on anything they think needs improving/developing in our
District and how we can do that as a Council of Young People. The Councillors were asked to
share:
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Their favourite moment in Scouting
3 words to describe what Scouting means to them
Their future Scouting Ambitions
This was also a chance to pick up on some of the topics discussed at previous i.Voice
Meetings and discuss how far we had progressed with them.
Derbyshire Scouts Youth Council
During the afternoon we were joined by
Kiron Griffin, Leader of the Derbyshire
Scouts Youth Council, Nominated Youth
Representative for Derbyshire Scouts and
Scout Leader in Derby South District
Kiron gave a short presentation on what we
do at the County Youth Council and how we
can influence decisions made within
Derbyshire Scouts. Kiron also highlighted
how it was difficult for this group to
influence decisions at a District and Group
Level and that the work done by i.Voice in Chesterfield has a direct impact on our own
Scouting and sets to improve the District as a whole, moving forward to 2018.
Kiron was very impressed at how far i.Voice had come over the past year and how we’ve
been developing Scouting in our District ever since.
The Councillors asked Kiron if it was possible for a few of them to visit one of these
meetings to see the difference we make on a County Level. Unfortunately, because of the
size of i.Voice, it would not be possible for the meetings to merge; however, Ivan Zailac (1 st
Hasland) & William Jenkinson (2nd Brampton) will be representing i.Voice at the next
meeting after the group voted on who should attend the next meeting.
Kiron also shared a few games with the group which was a relaxed end to the formal part of
the day
‘The Great i.Voice Bake Off’
After all the formalities were over, the
group were challenged to design and
create a centrepiece using the best
medium possible….Cake!
The groups were each given cupcakes
and biscuits alongside a whole host of
decorations in a bid to create the most
eye-catching and tasty cupcakes possible.
The tension in the Scout Hut cut be cut
with a knife as the winners were
revealed, the drama of The Great British
Bake Off was nothing compared to that in the ‘i.Voice Tent’. All the designs were very
imaginative and tasted amazing, but in the end, the winning design was that of a poppy
made out of cake with green iced biscuits as leaves.
Photos from 3rd Meeting
Attendees
Leaders & Facilitators
 Matt Swain – Canotila ESU/Derbyshire Scouts Youth Council
 Izzie Jinks – Canotila ESU/Derbyshire Scouts Youth Council
 Kayleigh Topliss – Canotila ESU/Derbyshire Scouts Youth Council
Guests & Adult Helpers
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Glyn Jones – District Commissioner, Chesterfield District Scouts
Kiron Griffin – Leader, Derbyshire Scouts Youth Council
Sarah Jinks – Scout Leader, 2nd Brampton Scouts
Chris Jinks – Explorer Leader, Canotila ESU
Councillors
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Ivan Zailac – Canotila ESU
Abhya Kapoor – Draco ESU
Daniel Owen – 1st Hasland
Gemma Hopkinson – 1st Calow
Jack Ellis – 1st Calow
William Jenkinson – 2nd Brampton
Elizabeth Wainwright – 1st North Wingfield
Lewis Barnet – 38th Chesterfield (Loundsley Green)
Ellie-Mae Topp – 1st Tupton
Nathan Orwin – 1st Highfield
Ben Mustafa – Young Leaders, Chesterfield District Scouts
For more information or to ask any questions regarding the meeting or future
meetings please email ivoiceyouthcouncil@live.com
Facebook: i.Voice Chesterfield Scouts
Twitter: @ivoice_scouts #iVoice