From time to time we send out an e-Newsletter by e-mail to keep everybody up to date with the latest news from Cubs. It is only available in electronic form, a paper version is not provided. It is sent to all Cubs that have registered their e-mail addresses.

This is the latest e-news message which was issued on 30 May 2011

This week
Just a reminder that although it may be half term, we've got Cubs as usual. It is part of our promise that we'll do more for less. We'll be meeting as usual but instead of being at Jubilee Fields we'll be having an evening out in the woods. You should meet us at the country end of Daux Road (opposite end to Tesco) at our usual start time of 6.30pm. You'll only need the top half of your uniform but please dress for the weather as some of the evenings have been rather chilly recently. We plan to spend the evening in the woods, returning to Daux Road at 8pm.
If you think you might need a drink then please bring a water bottle with you. We'd also like a couple of extra parents to help us in the woods. No need to register in advance - just come along on the night. Should the weather turn against us and bring the much needed rain then we will have to cancel.

Parent rota
Thanks to all that have taken their turns on our rota this term. With many of our meetings being outside we like to have a few extra adults around. You can find the rota on the website at http://www.parbrook.org.uk/rota.doc. Should you be unable to make the week that we've put you down for, please try to swap with somebody else so that we aren't left without a helper.

Summer Camp
Thanks to everybody that registered for Summer Camp. It is great that we've got 19 Cubs on the list now but that is a lot more than I'd booked at Blackland Farm. To allow arrangements to be made we have now closed our list to new bookings.

Stedham, 1-3 July
Our camp with our friends from 2nd Bracknell at Stedham is now coming together. It looks as if we will have about 30 Cubs in total for that one. The camp fees are £20 and if you haven't yet got your name down then you need to get a wiggle on as I hope to be sending out the paperwork after half term.

Pictures from past events
You may have spotted that our web galleries have been unavailable recently. Unfortunately the website we were using went bust and took our pictures with them. However, I've now restored all our past events for this year and selected ones from previous years. In addition to some new pictures from Portsmouth it also means that you can look back to the last times we visited Stedham and Blackland Farm to give you an idea of what to expect. Click on "past events" for the full list - anything from this year or with the yellow "updated" logo is available to view. The other ones still have a single picture from the event but no working gallery.

Billingshurst Show
After half term, Baloo and her team of volunteers will be starting work on our float and costumes for the Billingshurst Show. We've got a couple of pack meetings where we will be concentrating on that. The Show is a big fundraising opportunity for the group and we hope that you will be able to sell the raffle tickets we gave out last week. Don't forget to bring back the counterfoils and money. We have spare tickets if you'd like more and would also like any back that you can't sell as we generally run out on the day itself.
In addition to our float, Parbrook will be running a tombola stall again this year. We're looking for your donations of prizes so if you have anything suitable please bring them in (but not to the woods this week!). They don't need to be expensive but should be suitable to be won by children (so no alcohol please). We'll be looking for the Cubs to man the stall in shifts during the afternoon.
The group is looking for adult helpers to assist in setting up the show and clearing up afterwards. We've been asked to circulate the attached letter from Nat Evans. Please return the slip if you are able to help - or e-mail Nat direct if you'd rather.

Save our hut
The fundraisers at 1st Billingshurst have told us about some further events towards the appeal. The Lions bookshop in Jengers Mead is donating money from its June sales to the appeal. So please pop along and see what books they have on offer. You can keep up with the latest fundraising events at http://www.1stbillingshurst.org.uk/hut.htm.
We're hoping that the group will be able to let us know how much it has raised and what the target is as we fed back your concerns that the bottomless pit of fundraising was getting a bit wearing. The good news is that the hall has now been declared asbestos free and that building work on the toilets is about to start. However, we still don't have a date for returning to the hall.

Supermarket vouchers
Thank you to all that collected Tesco vouchers for us. We collected a total of 4554 Tesco vouchers and donated 211 to the central group pot. That left 4343 for us to use to replace our parachute and get a few other bits and bobs. We expect to receive our equipment in the autumn. While our Tesco collection has closed, we are still collecting Sainsbury's vouchers for the next few weeks.

Painless fundraising
While collecting money for the hall may be rather costly, our painless fundraising continues in the background. We've just received a cheque for £15 from our friends at www.buy.at/parbrook. That money goes straight into our pack funds and helps to keep your subs and camp costs down through our Parbrook Cashback. If you keep shopping, we'll keep earning.

Cubs County Camp 2012
Those of you with connections in other groups may hear about the County Cub Camp - pirate island - planned for May 2012. We have discussed this between the leaders and have decided that Parbrook will not be attending this event. We went to the last County camp - Campalot - in 2009 and are concerned that lessons have not been learned. This is for a number of reasons:

• We were concerned about the number of Cubs attending as there are 4 more packs in the District now. We asked that attendance be restricted to older Cubs, say over 9½ but the District has decided that there won't be any restriction.
• We were unhappy with the quality of the catering last time as it struggled to cope with the numbers last time which resulted in some Cubs getting small portions and having nowhere to sit to eat. Again, the District is planning to run things in the same way as before with central catering looking after the whole District.
• We thought that it was an expensive weekend. The camp fees are £45 but there are food costs on top of that so it is likely to be around £60 for a weekend which is more than we were prepared to ask you to pay.
• We noticed that queues for the more popular events such as the climbing walls were long which meant that Cubs spent a lot of time queuing. With more Cubs attending, the queues will be longer.

I hope that you can understand and support our reasons for not attending this event. Missing the County Camp will not reduce the number of camps that we organise as a pack next year. The District is running its own activity day at Stedham on 17 July and although it won't be on the same scale as the County Camp it will have things like the climbing wall and the queues will be shorter!

Don't forget your badges
If you are looking for something to do during half term then how about an activity badge? We've hardly given any out this term so click on "badges and awards" on the website and see if you can find one that suits you.

Nick Layt, Akela

1st Billingshurst (Parbrook) Cubs - Tuesday, 6.30 to 8pm
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