#ScoutingUK

Tonight we had a hike at a local woodland/valley.

Up the side of the valley to start with, then a stop at the top for a bit to eat and a look at the view.

After a very warm day the temperature had come down a bit, but the climb evidently caused every to warm up again.

It was at this point I invited everyone to dip their hands into my rucksack where I had some ice lollies that were still frozen thanks to a number of ice blocks and a bag of ice cubes.

After the refreshments we descended into the woodland for a walk back along the bottom of the valley next to the river.

A very pleasant one this evening!

I was practicing my campfire songs “repertoire” on my walk just now and I had to stop when I was approaching a corner of the woodland track I was on and spotted other humans, so that they wouldn’t give me strange looks. 😁

At the time Cecil was THiiiissss big. 🐛

I find country walks are the best time to practice. Singing by yourself at home feels odd, probably, partially at least, because the acoustics are different and it feels odd standing up performing in a small room.

#ScoutingUK #Scouting

This evening at Cubs we did the Athletics Plus badge.
All of it.

The boys enjoyed challenging themselves, although it took a while for them to understand they were not competing against each other, but their own personal best.

Some remarkable performances by some of them.

Importantly, they all “did their best”, which is really all we can ask.

#ScoutingUK #CubScouts

That’s it. I’m outta here.
Work completed.
Laptop closed

Off to Cubs now and then it’s holiday time 🎉

#CubScouts #ScoutingUK #holiday #vacation

Was doing the weekly shopping and I get a message.

Due to unforeseen circumstances my new volunteer won’t be able to start with us for 6-12 months.

Unfortunate, but they still want to help, so we’ll continue as we have been and welcome them again when they are in a position to.

#ScoutingUK

A bit of advice/recommendations from Scout Leaders please.

If you are tying a rope between two trees for use with a tarpaulin, which knot do you think is best?

I’m doing shelter building with our Cubs & wondering which is best to teach them.

We haven’t done any knots with the majority of those attending, it will also be the 1st or 2nd Meeting for a few of them, so I want something effective but simple.

(I’ve limited experience, not being in Scouts as a child.) 🪢

#Knots #Scouting #ScoutingUK

#ScoutingUK

At our AGM we made our oldest Scout a Senior Patrol Leader.

I don’t think he fully earned it, but it was my choice to do it, and I think it might be the making of him.

He’s now in a patrol by himself, he stands up with the leaders at flag break, and during sessions behaves similarly to a Young Leader.

He’s only been doing it for two sessions but is already stepping in to help where he sees that it’s needed.

When it comes to games he’s just as happy helping moderate as he is joining in if numbers allow.

So far I’m pleased to have made then decision.

#ScoutingUK

Circus skills tonight 🤡

Had a chat about what we all thought life would be like at the circus - I’d hoped to find some short documentary online but didn’t find anything suitable.

Then we split into patrols and they rotated around three stations:
- juggling
- balloon modelling
- face painting (their own face, as a clown).

It was a bit chaotic, especially as a number of scouts didn’t want to paint their face, and some of our scouts with short attention spans struggled with juggling. But it worked out really well in the end.

Ended with a game of capture the flag - with many Scouts running around as clowns.

Tonight at Scouts… 🤷

Well I was present for their opening ceremony, but I was there to do some Group Admin (mostly with my Trustee hat on), so though I know they did some things with Trangia stoves, I was stuck inside our Hut tapping away at a computer.

Annoying. I’d loved to have been outside, but what I was doing with the assistance of another committee member was more important, hopefully a one-off, and will benefit everyone in our Group.

#ScoutingUK

Great news! The rain held off and we had our annual Cub pack walk in the park.

This is not our local; it involves a short drive but is a lovely place to visit. Large lake and plenty of “off track” woodland to discover old brick structures that tell the story of the coal mines below.

The boys love it here - especially the play area they use when the walk is over!

We also get plenty of parents and siblings coming with, along with the dogs too. A real family affair.

#CubScouts #ScoutingUK #nature

I have a new Cub Team Member! A new volunteer came along for the first time tonight, an existing Assistant Leader with another Section elsewhere in the UK, and they have an interest in helping us start another Section at our Group too!

They are going to fit in, we all seemed to get on well.

⚜️

#ScoutingUK #Scouting #CubScouts

#ScoutingUK

Off the back of a nice day came the first session of Scouts after half-term.

We were supposed to be doing Emergency Aid, but the third party that was going to deliver it had to cancel.

There were fewer Scouts tonight, only seven and one of those was made up to Senior Patrol Leader at yesterday’s AGM.
So we split the six Scouts into two teams and gave them the following challenge:

Build me the biggest thing in one hour. It can be made of anything you can find.
If it falls you get no points.
It has to stand on its own for 30 seconds.
It cannot be built on existing structures.
It cannot be lodged into the ground (later revised to allow pegs).

My hope was that they would do some pioneering, but they didn’t 🤣

One team got a pole that was 10m long and managed to secure it, they won.
The other taped poles together and secured it, theirs measured 8m.

Some really nice efforts, and some nice problem solving and teamwork going on.

In the middle of it all, my Dad popped along on the way home (my previous post said how he was visiting me today).
I introduced him as “my old Scout leader”, and he talked to both of the teams and gave them some ideas - which they both ignored 🤣

We finished with three games of capture the flag and sent them home tired.

Our SPL found the change in role interesting, he was more advisory than getting involved, and he refereed the game at the end.

“Head, Shoulders, Knees And Toes” performed by @forquare for Scoutadelic.

The structure chosen, to remove lines each time through, means the whole thing reminds me of “The Crocodile Song” aka “Crazy Elephant” . At least the way I know of and perform it.

#CampfireSongs #Scouting #ScoutingUK #UKscouting #Scoutadelic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQfV7kByOis

#ScoutingUK

Today was our AGM, awards ceremony, and 80th anniversary celebrations.

This is my first in-person AGM at the group, and we had a great turn out (about 50-60 people I reckon).

We did all the legal bits, and this year we’ll have more trustees (previously we had two, and one of those was the GLV).

Then invested anyone that hadn’t been invested yet, gave out any outstanding badges, and presented some awards.

Then it was off to do activities, we had tug-of-war, soft archery, giant jenga, tasting marshmallows, and face painting, plus refreshments.

We all gathered for a bit group photo, added that plus some other things to a USB pen drive and buried it all in a time capsule.

We also had a bit of a sing song lead by yours truly, finishing with a big rendition of happy birthday.

It was a pretty good day with everyone joining in and having fun, despite the showers that came and went.

I see @forquare ’s got another song video on the way.

Or “dropping tomorrow” as de kidz say.

#Scouting #ScoutingUK #UKscouting #CampfireSongs

Two Squirrel Scouts went to an international Scouting event with their Scout Group.

Excellent.

“Adventure Abroad: 1st Monifieth Squirrels Take on LanzaJam Jamborette”

#ScoutsUK #ScoutingUK #ScoutsScotland #LanzaJam #SquirrelScouts

https://scouts.scot/news/lanzajam/

We had a scientific evening with the Cubs:
- Seeing how a lava lamp works
- Watching what happens with eggs in water
- Making non-Newtonian liquid and getting quite messy at the same time!

It was a lot of fun and the boys enjoyed learning the different science behind each experiment.

#ScoutingUK #CubScouts

Tonight there was no Cubs Meeting.

Except there was.

We had our Scout Group Awards (*cough* AGM) Night.

And this year there were Young People! Lots of them! And from all Sections! And they brought their adults!

I represented our Beaver Leaders first, then did my Cub Team Leader duties, reading our Section Reports and handing out their awards with assistance from a Beavers Young Leader and Cubs colleague respectively.

Lovely to see so many there. 😀 ⚜️ 🏆

#ScoutingUK #Scouting #UKscouting

Been to buy the “ingredients” for tomorrow night’s Cubs meeting.

#ScoutingUK #CubScouts

Sounds like we could have a new member of our Cubs Team. Minimal details, but sounds promising.

The more the merrier!

#ScoutingUK #Volunteering