So what has the 1st Kettering Scout Group been up to in June?
- this month, the Squirrel Drey went out on a “Memory Walk” – running around Twywell Hills and Dales, then took part in a meeting learning about butterflies which included making butterfly feeding stations and learning about their symmetrical patterns. For our last meeting in June, the Squirrels spent a leisurely evening pond dipping at East Carlton Country Park – they couldn’t believe how many freshwater shrimps and Caddis Fly larvae we caught!
- our Beaver Colony started the term with an evening learning about survival skills. Next week they learned about the nests and burrows of little animals (including putting up a tent for Beavers), then made bug hotels for our wildlife. The Beavers ended the month with a Beaver Wide Game around Woodcroft Lawns on a sunny afternoon trying to find the right leader for the right straws (yes, it helped if you were there).
- June was a madly busy month for our Pack – the Cubs started the term having great fun camping over at Boughton House on the hottest weekend of the month, at the County Cub Camp organised by ex-Akela. Due to the traffic management of 500 cars coming on site though Broughton House, the Cubs had to hike nearly a mile with their full kit – yes we had the furthest spot away! During the weekend Northamptonshire’s ice lolly reserves took a hit with over 300 being delivered to everyone on site., and they didn’t last long. Later in the month, the Cubs spent an evening cooking twists on an open fire at JLC. And with the good weather holding out, the last June meeting was spent having a ballista-powered water bomb fight on Woodcroft Lawns.
- the Scouts too have been up to a lot this month. We started on the only cold and windy day of June making and sailing around on our rafts at Cransley Sailing Club – and sorry, all the rafts survived their voyages intact! – before a quiet Tuesday evening of making the Blazing Bamboo Shoots and setting light to piles of newspaper a long way away. An evening spent over at Grafton Head Park Woods with James Rose of Rose Tree Care playing Spot The Tree finished 10 of our Scouts’ Forester Badges, and the saplings we planted earlier are doing really well already. We finished the month with two meetings using compasses – the first on a “paternoster” compass course (it goes on for ever with you finishing at whichever point you started from if you get it right), the second at Irchester Country Park running around the orienteering courses. And yes, last weekend was spent with the patrol leaders and senior Scouts, preparing them to lead their patrols at this year’s troop camp – as well as feasting on quality camp-cooked food (fish rostis one night, and Jamaican chicken stew with black eye beans next day…).
