Reminders & key information:

This edition’s reminders:

Beavers

At all three beaver meetings this week, we will be having an interactive meeting where we are asking the beavers to bring along either a hobby they have or sport that they compete in. For the hobby, they should have been doing it for 6 weeks, tell the colony about your hobby (just a minute or so). For the sport it needs to be at least for 6 weeks, they need to know the rules, and have taken part in a match, competition, show or pass an exam; again, they need to tell us about it. Can you please encourage them and ensure they have everything they need to take part that night?
Additionally, we are looking at a “Pets” night week commencing 1 April. This is something the Beavers have requested. If pets could be brought in by parents for the beaver to talk about and then the pet is taken home again. Please let me know if this is a possibility so we can see if we would have sufficient to make this viable. Thank you.

Cubs

Alegre and Bella Vista – will be welcoming members of the Jamboree contingent to find out more about the amazing opportunities they will have later in the year when they jet off to America for the World Scout Jamboree.

Raptors – will be working on their “Communication” badge at the school during our normal meeting times.

Scouts

Enigma – will be having a troop forum and planning evening for the upcoming term and playing some games in between

Viernes – this week will be mini survival. The scouts will have to make cover, a fire, use water purification tablets and cook some food on the fire e.g, rabbit on a spit.

Wibbles – will be looking at elements of the World Challenge badge and taking part in a Jamboree themed evening

Explorers

Look out for an email this week with a plan for this week, please.
Freezer camp – An event request was sent this week with regards to Explorers attending Freezer camp at Hesley Wood 22-24 February. The deadline for booking on to this event is Tuesday 15 January.
Leaders
The first leader meeting of 2019 will be Thursday 17th January. Please see the dedicated event post for the full details.
With the reminders out-of-the-way, let’s recap the week.

This week:

Beavers’ team building fun

Boomer and Castor Beavers split into teams this week, working together to complete some challenges set by the leaders.

One activity was a giant game of noughts and crosses where Beavers worked as two teams to try to win the game. The other was a map reading skills activity where called ‘land mines’ where the beavers had to navigate around a simple map, using co-ordinates and problem-solving skills to avoid the landmines in small groups. Many thanks to our young leaders and parent helpers.

Millstones games night

On Friday Millstones had a games night solving lots of puzzles working in teams.

Cubs panto night

All three Cubs pack spent an evening with the Steel Valley Beacons as they put on a private performance of this year’s Pantomime Maid Marion and his big band of Girlies! All the cubs left with big smiles after a fun first week back.

Wibbles teamwork/skills night

Wibbles returned after the Christmas break to learn some new skills and take on some teamwork challenges.

We tried origami which is not as easy as it looks and the teams also made lots of creations from glow sticks. Lots of necklaces and circular shapes appeared as expected but some were a bit more creative and we saw flowers and hats too.

Everyone had a chance to try glow stick bowling in the dark and we held a troop forum to look at programme ideas for the rest of the term.

Scorpion forum night

Scorpion Explorers held a unit forum to plan ideas for the rest of term. There were several new Explorers joining the unit this week so it was good to get a wide range of ideas from all age groups.

Pioneering key skills

Friday scouts used broom handles and lashing ropes to make a base for a shelter. The scouts were also polled to see what they would like to do in future weeks. More outdoor activities were high on the agenda.

SCUBA taster evening

Scouts representing all three troops were at Stocksbridge Leisure Centre on Friday evening for a SCUBA diving taster evening. This is the second time we’ve been able to partner with Chapeltown Sub Aqua club. Many thanks to them; we’re looking forward to another opportunity for those 12+ years old Scouts who haven’t yet been to have a go either late February or early March.

Abseiling at Miller’s Dale

On Saturday, a number of Scouts headed out to Miller’s Dale near Buxton to abseil off the viaduct there. It’s a challenging and hair raising opportunity. The viaduct is very high, with some of the abseil lines over running water. Sterling effort from the young people and some excellent teamwork supporting one another through tandem descents to build confidence. As soon as we can get another date in the diary, we’ll be heading back there so more people have the opportunity to participate.

 

New Adventures

Wednesday Beaver leader Jake came in to say ‘goodbye’ to all the Beavers this week as he is going to be moving to New Zealand for a while before moving on to Australia for a new adventure with his partner, Alice. We would like to wish him lots of luck for the future and sincerely hope he doesn’t miss us too much!  🙂

And finally:

In case you missed it

Jamboree Christmas tree collection

The Penistone Jamboree team completed the Christmas Tree Collection service on Sunday 6 January and collected a whopping 330 trees. The money raised will go towards their Jamboree fees as they will be heading off to the USA in July of this year. Look out for future events organised by the team in the next few months.

A big thank you to Liam Evans who supported the Jamboree unit with this.