So, a quick run-down of what’s been happening in the Group ….
- our Squirrel Drey started back slightly later than the other sections, to give our 4 – 6 year old Squirrels a chance to get used to the new school routine for the first time before starting more things in the evening. In our evenings as well as playing Squirrel games we talked about starting school, and talked about the passing of our Queen. It was a real pleasure being invited to their meeting last week – sharing time with our Beavers, Cubs and Scouts of the future
- our Beaver Colony has welcomed several new members this term taking us to 22 Beavers – with several more on the waiting list – after we have handed on some of our Beavers on to our Cub Pack. Our Colony started the term with an evening of welcoming the new members, learning the Beaver Rules and having a games filled evening, the following week we worked towards our Emergency First Aid Badge and learned some basic bits of what to do in an emergency, we then had our evening’s litter picking to work towards the Community Challenge – Cairo was panicking at one point when the Kettering Wombles had beaten the Colony to it, and picked her first area clean! Our last evening was spent in a badge catch up where we played archery, learned to tie 3 knots and making bird feeders for the Beavers to take home and see what birds come in to their gardens
- our Cub Pack delayed their return, cancelling the meeting as the announcement was made of the passing of the Queen 30 minutes before the Pack met. The first proper meeting was a World Cheese tasting night, followed by a night making and racing chariots in the car park after practicing our knots, finishing with the young leaders teaching flag folding, maps, knots and most importantly – tea making! Yesterday, just before the National Lottery Draw the 1st Kettering Cub Pack competed in and won Glendon District’s Cub Scout Challenge, fending off challengers from the other Packs across the District – well done Cubs!
- the Scout Troop started back by joining with the Kracken Explorer Unit to be the first at Woodcroft to make our promise to the King, then running an indoor wide game trying to find the falcon (roosting in the PH at Fotheringhay – obviously!). We sent Ben off to the County Aviator Day – where he got to be the first in the queue to fly in a microlight – and Charles, as one of 10 Scouts from across the county to the County Commemoration Service for HM The Queen in Northampton. The second troop meeting was a chip shop survey – M+D’s topping the table being the Scouts’ favourite – before we invested two new Scouts and said goodbye to three. Our last meeting was spent starting one of the nine Scout challenges – the Skills Challenge, teaching the Scouts skills for life
- after spending several meetings building it, our Kraken Explorer Unit has now properly christened the new Woodcroft fire pit. Later in the month, the Unit had a weekend at Great Barford Scout Camp to celebrate the 20 years of Explorer Scouts, and took over Box Hill Aqua Park.
We are proud to report that, last week, our Squirrel Drey, Beaver Colony, Cub Pack and Scout Troop between them had a grand total of 99 members at the section meetings – even with about 10 apologies across the Group, and discounting the Explorers (the Kracken Unit being a District Unit with members from several groups). When we add our Young Leaders in, and our Explorer Members, we are properly smashing the “100 Young People at our Section Meetings in One Week” record. So Thank You again from all of our Group members, your support has helped us focus on keeping our meetings fun and adventurous
