The last few weeks feel like 1909 Revisited – as if we were starting the Group from new – as for the first time since March last year, all three Sections have held face-to-face meetings. And in our first full week back, we welcomed 72 Beavers, Cubs, Scouts and Young Leaders: making up for lost time for these young members is now our priority over the next few months, as well as catching up with our recruitment, leader training, and equipment maintenance.
So what’s been going on this month then?
- after one Zoom meeting, our Beaver Colony has met twice face-to-face – and welcomed 5 new members straightaway. Our first meeting was spent in working out how we are going to meet in The Great New Normal and making Bug Hotels, then the second in learning about the Green Cross Code and our first Scout knots.
- our Cubs held two more meetings on Zoom – our first meeting focusing on Teamwork and the older Cubs running team games for the younger members, the next week on Zoom had a pre-recorded message from Bagheera inviting the Cubs to retake their promise for St George’s Day before we continued the Astronomer Badge looking at space launches. Last week we finally welcomed the Pack back for a face-to-face meeting of team games, and proudly presented all the Cubs with the badges they had earned – over 25 badges given out.
- the Scouts’ first meeting on a Sunday enabled 30 Scouts to complete the Geocaching Badge running around JLC – along with the investiture of our April winner’s grandson! – before our next two meetings face-to-face that cannot be run on Zoom – axe training, chopping up various logs kindly provided by Rose Tree Care (I could swear they smelt of paint) – and fire lighting and cooking twists.
- whilst continuing the process of preparing for more adventurous activities, Raksha has completed her activity permit for Archery, having undertaken a full weekend learning the skills and safety advice required to run an archery range safely. This is great news, as the Group can now run this this exciting sport for all members – from Beavers to Scouts – without needing to borrow instructors.
- we have also spent the last month refitting the Group’s kayak trailer after the Council Tip weighbridge confirmed it wasn’t too heavy to be towed legally. We are massively indebted first for Peter Hare’s mechanical skills and knowledge in stripping it back to the chassis before rebuilding it – we’d welcome a roadside inspection …. now! – and to Owen Stanforth and Briggs Irrigation of Corby who have kindly provided new stainless steel panels to replace the rotted plywood. Tommy Lawson has gone through the kayak fleet checking all’s up to standard – another £50 of spare parts ordered – and we are nearly ready to take our people back on to the mighty roaring River Nene using our boats once it defrosts. We can’t wait!
Yes, there is a lot going on, and yes, we’ve got some catching up to do in a hurry – but we will do this fully in accordance with our priority of doing this safely as we unlock further.
