Towards the latter part of 2004, Jan announced that she and Steve would be moving to West Sussex where they had purchased a property, subject of course to the sale of their existing property in Cheam. Despite a few pitfalls associated with buying and selling of houses they eventually moved into their new abode at the beginning of this year.
I first met Jan when my son joined 3rd Stoneleigh (Methodist) Scout Group as a Beaver Scout and Jan was the Beaver Leader. It was not long before I received a phone call from Jan inviting me to join the Scout Executive Committee as a parent representative. Although I was busy at work (long hours and all that!) and had commitments to other associations, nevertheless I was flattered to have been invited to join the Exec Committee and accepted. My comment then, and still is, that if the uniformed leaders were giving up their time for the benefit of my son, then I was more than happy to assist. Little did I know that, within a couple of years I would be taking up office as Chairman of the Exec Committee. At that time Gopal Srinivasan was the Group Scout Leader, but Gopal had to give up this post due to work and travel commitments, so the Group was without a GSL (Group Scout Leader) for a while, until Jan stepped into the role, thank goodness !!
In Jan we had a Group Scout Leader who had been involved with 3rd Stoneleigh (Methodist) Scout Group for many years, as well as being an active member of the Stoneleigh Methodist Church who are our sponsors. Jan always seemed to find the time, and had plenty of enthusiasm for our group and, together, we increased the parent members of the Executive Committee so that each group had at least two representatives. Jan would hold group ‘leaders meetings’ on a regular basis where all manner of topics were discussed with the leaders of each of the groups. Jan would also step in at short notice on a Tuesday evening if one of the groups needed additional ‘warranted officers’ (without them a meeting could not take place).
We also hold ‘social & fund raising’meetings to which Jan regularly attended and was very involved in assisting with events we had planned for the group, even to the extent of getting her sleeved rolled up for the Car Washes. We were also extremely lucky that Steve Hall was the Surrey Scouts County Commissioner and he would also come to help whenever he could. As County Commissioner he did not have much spare time, so we were very fortunate to have him along, especially at ‘fathers & Sons camp (now Group Camp) when he and Jan would help, and guide us (parents that is) to erect the tents.
We shall most certainly miss Jan and Steve at 3rd Stoneleigh Scouts, they have left us with a scout group from which we can be proud. It is a strong group in terms of the various various groups, from Beavers, Cubs and Scouts, to Leaders and parent representatives. Our finances are in very good shape, and the equipment and minibus should give us many more years service. All in all a very pleasing situation.
A farewell party (kindly hosted by Esther Parks) was laid on for Jan where she was presented with a number of tokens of the Groups' appreciation for all her efforts.With Jan leaving us we have been very fortunate that John Bashforth has stepped into this role. John also has a long history with 3rd Stoneleigh Scouts and knows the group very well. We also wish John all the best in his new role. We would wish Jan and Steve much happiness in their new home, and hope that they will come and see us from time to time.
Contributed by John Saunders.