Our biggest news is that we are now allowed to meet outdoors face-to-face, and that there is no set maximum group size – we control the numbers to what we feel is sensible for that activity. The Leader Team for each section of the Group has been discussing and agreeing how they will meet this term – face-to-face meetings may not suit all straightaway, and decisions have been made that reflect the requirements of the leader teams and their members to keep paramount the safety of all of our people entrusted to our care. It is a careful return to the Scouting we are good at – but having kept the core of all of our Group together for a year without normal meetings, we are determined to finish this last stretch together, and safely. And at that point, we can actively expand so that the 1st Kettering will be where it should be again – a flourishing Group, one of the largest in the County.
So what have the sections been up to this last month?
- as well as playing Beaver Scout games, our Beaver Colony has concentrated on earning the Beavers their Emergency Aid Badges. The Beavers’ teddy bears have been properly in the wars, with Dave, our friendly Paramedic parent, using them to teach remotely the Beavers the recovery position and bandaging;
- our Cubs have completed their Chefs Badge – first by preparing for it over several nights, talking about how foods are made, and what makes a well-balanced diet – before going off to cook during a Thursday Night Meeting the 3 course meal each Cub created. Once this was completed, the Pack learned about the patron saints of the four countries of the United Kingdom, then created their Union flags. In the next meeting we ran our mini pioneering project – making cubes – before finishing the term off by all of the Pack creating their own Dragon Story – but with only 5 words at a time per Cub!
- the Scouts completed the four Zoom-based bits of activity badges started earlier this term – and waved our goodbyes (for the moment) to Nicholas, a Scout Leader from Uganda. After a Sea Survival Night with the Royal Navy, our last Zoom Scout Meeting was spent making chocolate Easter Eggs – a great way to run this meeting as there was absolutely no cleaning required of brown and sticky Scout Headquarters by leaders late into the evening. Sorry, parents! For the Scouts’ last (and best) meeting of the term was the face-to-face Royal Navy’s Activity in the Easter Holidays – a half-day session at the sun-baked Woodcroft making Meccano radio masts, helping the Royal Navy bombard the Sea Cadets’ Headquarters with rockets, and running the radioactive power ball along piping – finishing with the investiture of Dinija, Lily, and Isaac.
It is the start of the Summer Term, the best of the three school terms to be doing Scouting – we look forward to updating you with our new start next month.
