Reminders & key information:

This edition’s reminders:

Beavers

All colonies – will be continuing to work on both their Health and Fitness and Cook Activity badges this week. We are meeting at the normal times and places for both sections.
Night in the Museum sleepover – We are holding a ‘Night in the Museum’ sleepover at Weston Park Museum for all three Beaver colonies. For more information and full event details please see the dedicated event page. To book your child’s place, please answer Yes to the My.Scout invitation which you should have received on Wednesday evening. Places are considered firm after clicking yes with the full balance payable (even if your young person drops out). This is because the group has to make a financial commitment. If you have any questions about the sleepover, please contact Amy, regardless of which section your child is in.

Cubs

All Cub packs – Next week all of our Cubs are planning to go out on a night hike so can you please ensure they are suitably dressed to be outdoors all evening.  Walking boots/shoes are a must along with a torch.  Can they also bring a day sack with a drink and an optional snack?  Thank you to the additional leaders and parents that have volunteered to help out. If you can help your young person’s section on your cub’s walk this week, please let your child’s leader team know – thank you!

Badge work – A quick shout out to Sam from Raptors who has sent in evidence of him fundraising outside of Scouting. This will be linked to suitable badge work. Remember to share other experiences as these can link to cub badges, especially sports/hobbies that are regularly attended.

Scouts

Enigma –Next week we are learning about fire lighting and if successful will be having burgers for supper!  Can parents please email Shauna about any allergies, please.  Can the scouts also wrap up warm as will be outside for most of the evening?  After Scouts collection will be from the rear of the scout hut at the end of the night and not inside the hall as normal.

Viernes – are looking forward to an evening of World Scout Jamboree activities and meeting those going on this year’s trip. From what we’ve heard from other sections, there are inspiring stories and some fab tasks to get stuck into.

Wibbles – Next week we will be visiting the local Pantomime where we will be able to watch a few members of the troop who are part of the cast. Everyone attending should meet at 6.40pm outside the Paramount in uniform and necker, please. Bring some change for refreshments if required.

Monopoly Run has now been fully paid for by the group based on the firm indications recorded in My.Scout. The first payments are now overdue if not already paid.  If you can arrange for these to be paid this week please if you have your first payment (£25) outstanding. Those who have booked a place are reminded that the second payment (£50) is due this week.

Explorers

Next week our focus will be on maps and building theoretical cities.
With the reminders out-of-the-way, let’s recap the week.

This week:

Beavers learn about keeping healthy

Boomers and Castors

This week, Tuesday and Wednesday Beavers have started working on both their Health and Fitness badge and their cooking activity badge.

The Beavers had lots of fun learning about a balanced diet and being clean and safe in the kitchen. They made fruit crispy buns using dried dates, apricots and sultanas to make them a bit healthier.

They also measured their heart rate before, during and after exercise to look for patterns and change in their pulse.
Finally, the Beavers made an eat well plate to show what they had talked about to their families.

Cubs Communicator badge

Bella Vista
Bella Vista cubs spent the evening working towards their communicators’ badge.  We played fun games including a Makaton version of Captain’s coming, a team building game moving cups with elastic bands and strings.  We held a basic conversation in Swahili, introduced ourselves to our new Leader Hannah and took down phone messages.  We even used Shauna’s iPad to send emails to the new Group Scout Leader Rob.  If your cub still hasn’t sent a text message to Shauna can you please get them to do so from your phone to finish off their badge work.  We finished off the evening by investing Neo into the pack.

Alegre

This week the cubs learnt of the importance of Communication and Teamwork, as part of their Communicators Badge. Some of our cubs are fabulous at talking but find listening a little challenging. And some are great listeners, but not so confident with the talking part of communication, so this week everyone had the chance to develop these skills.

One activity involved taking an accurate message from a phone call. Another involved sending an email to someone and another was to create a newsletter for an event. And finally, each cub was asked to talk about themselves for one minute whilst others listened intently.

The cubs also had to compete in groups to complete a number of tasks which required them to demonstrate great teamwork. The video will give an idea of how well this went. Trickier than it looks!

Enigma Jamboree in a bag night

Enigma Scouts had a visit from Alison and James who are taking part in this summer’s World Scout Jamboree in America.  We played American style games including American Football and hockey.  Along with this, we found out how they managed to secure their places on this exciting opportunity, what they have done so far in preparation and the plans for when they get there.  I hope it inspired scouts into applying for the next one in four years to South Korea.

Wibbles Challenge Night

Wibbles held a team challenge evening in order to finish off parts of the teamwork and team leader badge. There was some skill needed for some of the games and everyone gave 100% effort and tried their best.

“It was an awesome night” for Raptors

So Raptor cubs spent the evening in North America… Well not really. The young leaders who are successful in being chosen for the forthcoming Jamboree ran the whole night themed around the country. The Cubs spoke different languages, played themed games, explored flags and traditions.
It was an ‘awesome’ night! (awesome should be read with a stereotypical generic American accent)
Millstones badge work night 
This week Millstones started the evening with all the beavers talking about either a hobby or sport (which we missed last week due to the snow). It was really interesting and they all rehearsed or brought in some lovely things to “show & tell”.
We then made a start on the health & fitness badge looking at healthy foods and designing a healthy eating poster.

Explorer Challenge Night

Explorers concentrated on team challenges this week by holding a robot wars competition. They also had a cup challenge to test skills and dexterity.

Mini-survival simulation

“On Friday night we were told by our scout leader we were in a survival situation.  We had to search around outside the scout hut because we had to build a shelter, build fires and cook some bread.  We all split into different teams. Some people started chopping wood and starting fires, some started building shelters with what they could find and others cooked.  It was a fun night and everybody got to try the bread at the end. We also had a chance to try a pine needle tea which our scout leader showed us how to make, my dad!, it has more vitamin C per 100ml than Lemons.  We were joined by cub scout leaders Rob and Claire.” Phoebe, Viernes Scouts

And finally:

Formby recce for Cubs

Shauna and Rob took a recce to Formby to see if it would be a suitable venue and location for a cub weekend camp. Despite the -6C weather over the Pennines, at the coast it was bright, clear and lots to see – even if most pathways were like ice skating rinks! They met the Group Scout Leader of a local group who showed them the Scout Hall and facilities we’ll use when we hopefully go later this year.