The Scouts were invited to bring along their hobbies and interests to demonstrate. As well as a number of collections qualifying for the hobbies badge, we got several musicians as well, so the hall was quite lively.
Orienteering or ‘Cunning Running’
How do you get 26 Cub Scouts lost in a church hall? Simple, send them orienteering around the hall. Orienteering is normally carried out in the woods and we try to do this on most camps (those who went on Dads and Lads will remember running around Whippendell Woods looking for check points).
Last night we learnt about map references and did orienteering in the church hall. The highlight was 1 boy who claimed he had lost his six in the church hall!
Baking bread
The Scout Troop is concentrating on the Creative Challenge this term, and there’s nothing better to create than food. Some of the Patrol Leaders had already had a go at this, so they showed their Scouts how to roll out dough and bake it. Then to test the results!
Finding out about Beavers
So did you know that Beavers (the animals that is) have orange teeth!
This was one of the many interesting things that our Beaver Scouts learnt about Beavers when completing their challenge quiz of searching around the hall for the answers. We also made Beaver face biscuits and tried out a new game – throwing balls to try and hit chairs and score lots of points. We welcome 5 new Beavers to our meeting and then at the end of our meeting we said good-bye to our 4 older Beaver Scouts as they ‘swam’ up to Cubs.
Winter Camp
The Cub Scouts are off soon on there annual Winter Camp. Exciting things to do whilst ‘camping’ in a local church hall. In previous years we have been to Bromham, Letchworth and Bedford. This year we will be ‘out and about’ in the Stevenage area.
The year of eight camps
It was only in looking at next year, for the Troop Forum on 4 December, that we realised that 2014 had been a record year for camping in the Scout Troop. With considerable support from Hitchin District and Hertfordshire County, we had eight camps:
- Winter camp in February had Scouts from all over Hitchin working, and competing, on camping skills
- The County PACE (Patrol Activity Challenge Experience) in early May was a weekend packed with different activities, with Patrols organising, and catering for, themselves
- The District Activity Weekend later that month combined resources from various Groups to offer a range of opportunities
- Our own Scout Group’s family camp in early June was a chance to see what your Scouts, Cubs and Beavers have been doing, and try a few things yourself – parents rafting can get quite competitive!
- Our summer camp was in August at Phasels Wood, across the county near Hemel Hempstead
- We again entered a team for the County Born 2B Challenged competition camp
- In October, a small group took part in the County air activities camp, and qualified for three badges in one weekend
- Just to round it off, Hitchin leaders took a team of our Scouts, with others, to the County’s premier Scout competition, the Green Beret Challenge
2015 may not quite achieve the quantity, but many of these events will be back, and the quality should be just the same! Scouts are already signing up for the next running of the winter camp.
Christmas party
We celebrated the coming festival and the term just completed, with the usual mix of games and sitting with friends over food.
World issues
Each Patrol had prepared a short presentation on a different world issue. The challenge was to find something that the rest of the Troop did not know about poverty, famine, the work of charities and so on. We got some remarkable and impassioned talks, including one presented as a drama, and all learned something new.
Next week and next year
Planning as a Patrol and a Troop is an important part of Scouting. First, Scouts worked in Patrols to decide what to present next week, and who would prepare what in the days to come. Then we all gathered as a Troop Forum to talk about camping plans for 2015, and what kind of summer camp we would like.
Decorations
We were asked to help the local homeless shelter by making decorations for their supporters’ entry for the Christmas tree competition. If you want any miniature woollen hats, we’re the people to ask!