To assist the team in determining the way forward a number of relevant people have been invited to our meetings, these included District Commissioners, County personnel, young leaders with expertise in communication, representatives of the Guide Association and lecturers from the University of Ulster

As you are already aware our remit in the County is that of revitalising Scouting both in taking a Scouting presence into the inner city and attempting to help existing Groups. We also must raise the Scouting Profile within Belfast County.

The demographic situation throughout Belfast County has been researched together with the details of existing Scout Groups in the five Districts.

Advertising

Bearing in mind the possibility that a number of young people come to Belfast to continue their education, an advertisement was placed in Scouting Ireland, this being the magazine of the Scout Association Ireland, in the hope of recruiting some help with leadership. During August, we set up a display at the concert of the Scout and Guide Symphony Orchestra in the Waterfront Hall. In September and October we worked with the Guide Association at the freshers Fairs and Bazaars at The Queen's University of Belfast and the University of Ulster, both at Jordanstown and Belfast. The main aim of this venture was to elicit an interest in the formation of Scout and Guide Clubs in the universities. The resulted in 21 students at QUB and 26 students at UU indicating interest. Exploratory meetings have been held by ourselves with QUB students and the Guides with UU students. Progress is slow but we are endeavering to move this forward. In addition some help with leadership was acquired through this venue.

Marketing

Recognising the need to raise our profile we prepared and lodged a brief with the Department of Communication, Advertising and Marketing at the University of Ulster. This brief was taken up and resulted in 23 fourth year students undertaking a live project on our behalf, working in 5 groups. The students met with Maynard Porter, Robin Connor and myself in September in order to be briefed on Scouting in Belfast County. They then proceeded to research the situation. This included determining the current perception of Scouting by the general public and the internal perception of Scouting by current members. Use was made of Vox Pops, Questionnaires, Focus groups, media and Press Archive Search, Demographic Data, Youth Facilities, Internet, Interviews and Panel Surveys. I attended a very professional presentation of the projects and we have now been presented with documents containing very mixed findings together with suggested public relations strategies. These will be taken on board and used in order to help market Scouting.

Website

Work has commencedin establishing a Belfast County Website and our thanks are due to kathyrn McCracken who has designed an initial disk for the Team. This has now been passed on to the County PRO who will take it forward. In order to assist with the work involved the County Executive have agreed to make an honorarium available for a possible studentship during the summer months.

Scoutreach

Work has commenced in the Ballymacarratt area of East Belfast to re-establish Scouting. Sinclair Trotter has been seconded to assist with Scoutreach Projects in the County. Relationships have been established with Community Workers in East Belfast and access has been given to after school clubs in Dee Street Community Centre and the Carew Centre, Tamar Street. With the help of Scouters from local Groups in East Belfast three very successful Scoutreach taster events have been held, and work is progressing on the acquisition of suitable premises in which to establish a Scoutreach Club. This is due to commence in the area in June. We are now at the point in East Belfast of meeting with the District who will in turn administer the Scoutreach Project. Taughmonagh in South Belfast will be our next project and initial communication is presently being made with relevant Community persons. Scoutreach will also be taking place in West, North and South-East Belfast over the next couple of years.

Development Plan

Work is now far advanced on the County Development Plan. The purpose of this plan is to give us a basic document from which sections can be used to apply for relevant funding. The primary purpose being the recruitment of one full time equivalent person as a project officer for a three yeat fixed-term period and the means to strengthen and support existing Groups in the County. Other areas include funding for linking to local community groups, developing relationships with the media, acquiring a suitable vehicle(s) together with relevant equipment for use as a Scoutmobile and the establishment of a central store of promotional materials.

General

The Team's thanks are due to all who have assisted us during the year and in particular to the County Executive Committee who have made available a substantial budget in order to assist initially with the Community Development work. I personally wish to thank my Team for their continual commitment and expertise, not to mention stickability! As I have stated before, Community Development is very mcuh one step at a time and there is so much to do. I trust that by this time next year we will be seeing the fruits of our labours.

Anne Jackson, ACC (Community Development)

Community Development Update October 1999

A Community Development Project Team representing the five Districts in Belfast County was established in April 1999.

Membership of the Team includes Betty Weir (South East), Brian Kennedy (West), Eric Wilson (North), Derek Wheeler (South), David Bell (East), Hugh Fergusson and Maynard Porter (Belfast County) and myself.

The Team has met on 6 occasions to date in an attempt to gather necessary information and gain insight into the exact situation in each of the Districts. Various people have been invited to join us at our meetings in order to help with the research: these have included young and older Scouters alike together with the Belfast County Commissioner, Public Relations Officer and Reach Out Officer for Guides.

Our remit in the County is very simple, that of revitalising Scouting, and we are very aware that there are many existing Groups who need help in terms of young people and Leaders. We are also aware that there are areas within Districts were Scouting once flourished and no longer exists. Priority will be given to addressing these issues.

Meantime in order to attempt to raise the Scouting Profile in Belfast County, we propose to establish a County Website and work is ongoing on this at present.

Marketing will be a necessary factor, and we have prepared and lodged Project Briefs with two Departments in the University of Ulster, one for students undertaking a B.Sc. in Communication, Advertising and Marketing, and I am pleased to report that a group of students have just made contact indicating that they will undertake this particular project. The second Project Brief had been lodged with the Department undertaking the DipHE in Community Youth Work, projects for which will run after Christmas.

One other area we are working on at present is that of establishing Scout and Guide Clubs in the two universities. At the time of writing, I have just completed three days of Freshers’ Fairs and Bazaars at The Queen’s University of Belfast and the University of Ulster at Jordanstown and at Belfast. As a result of this we have sufficient interest to reactivate the Scout and Guide Club at QUB and to establish one on Campus at Jordanstown. In addition, several people indicated their wish to become involved in Leadership in the County and names have been passed to the appropriate District Commissioners.

Work has also commenced on the implementation of a Scoutreach Programme in the County and contact has been, and is being made with appropriate Community Groups, for example in the Lower Newtownards Road, Knocknagoney and Taughmonagh areas.

Community Development is very much one step at a time and I realise there is so much to do but I consider myself very lucky to have a team with so much experience and expertise and I assure you we will do our very best to support you all out there in the County but it will take time. A start has been made to create a background from which to move forward.

I will keep you in touch with developments.

Anne Jackson, ACC (Community Development)

Our former County Commissioner, Hugh Ferguson, established in 1999 a working party to address the issue of Community Development in an attempt to strengthen and revive Scouting in inner Belfast. The group met for the first time on 14^th April 1999 and continues to meet monthly.

Information will be posted on this site as the work of the group progresses. If you have any comments or suggestions for now please contact your District representative before the next meeting.

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