Winchester Scouts have won an £8,000 grant from Tesco to build a new amphitheatre style Camp Fire Circle at their Pinsent Camp Site.

You can see all this at:
http://www.winscouts.org.uk/development/pinsent-camp-fire-circle/

This amazing new facility replaces the old circle that dates back to the 1930s
when Pinsent was donated to Winchester Scouts.
The new Camp Fire Circle will seat 300 Scouts at any one time – an increase
of 200 to accommodate so many more young people and parents wanting to
share in the modern SCOUTING ADVENTURE. There are now 11 Scout
Groups in Winchester, with 50 sections and 300 leaders for over 1,200 young people.
The rebuild will be one of the largest camp fire circles in the UK – a
testament to the growth in local Scouting and the demand for camping at
Pinsent.  This cements Scouts as Winchester parents’ preferred destination for young peoples’ character development and adventure based non-formal education. Scouts call this ‘learning by doing’.

Welcome to our new, re-launched website.  We want to make this a useful place for everyone in the Group, where you can find information and news, so if there are things you would like to see here, then do let us know and we will see what we can do !

Richard (Group Chair)

This year’s St George’s Day parade is only a month away. We’ll be marching our flags past the Guildhall and up through the High Street to the Cathedral.
Please keep the date free, iron your neckers, find your woggles, polish your shoes and bring your cameras!

We’ll post more information about precise timings and where to meet nearer the time.

Our 2015 Christmas Carol Service will be held at the Scout Group HQ on Wednesday 16th December.  Please come along at 6.45pm for a 7pm start.

There will be mulled wine and mince pies and the chance for a chat afterwards, and each section is putting together a short piece to perform during the service.

I look forward to seeing you all there !

Sunday 8th November will see the annual Remembrance Service at the Cathedral War Memorial. It is the most important occasion in the 12th Winchester calendar and one that we are privileged to attend thanks to our long-standing links with the Green Jackets and Rifles Brigade.

We very much hope that all Beavers, Cubs and Scouts will be able to attend. Please ensure full uniform is worn, shoes are carefully polished, hair is neat and neckers ironed. (And don’t forget to wear something warm underneath the uniform as we will be outside for the duration of the service.)

Meet at the KRRC Memorial outside the Cathedral at 0900hrs. The service takes place  at 0910hrs and should be finished by 0930hrs.

‘The courage of those Beavers was nothing short of impressive’

Ladybird

The Beavers welcomed the start of the new scouting term with a series of evenings up at Pinsent. The highlight of these was undoubtedly crate stacking. Under a threatening early evening sky, the Beavers were harnessed and helmeted before, three at a time, testing their balance and their nerve in front of their friends.

Essentially, crate stacking is the act of placing one crate on top of another while a climber remains on the topmost crate without overbalancing and falling off. Obviously, our Beavers were secured safely, via their harnesses, to an overhead rope but nonetheless this was an exercise that required confidence in bucket-loads. However they all did themselves – and each other – proud. Everyone had a go and there were some extremely impressive crate stacks. Obviously, falling off them, or kicking them over, was half of the fun.

With many thanks from the Beavers to all the adults who made this exercise possible!

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Many thanks to the Beavers and Cubs who turned up to help with our fund-raising bag pack at Tesco on a wet Sunday morning in July.

We had some great feedback from the customers and after a long coin counting session we found we had raised £309 for the Group in just two hours – well worth while, so thank you to everyone who supported this event !

“It was my first time sailing. We had a nice time at the weekend. I learned how to sail Wayfarers and Picos with instructors who made it fun. I would go again next year!” Alistair

Sunday morning’s crew, although up and ready for the day at a similar time, was noticeably less lively than the previous day – at least at first. Demonstrating advanced skills, various boats became involved in a new form of naval warfare based on water pistols and buckets of water until everyone was wide awake.

“It was a fun experience to go to. The instructors were very good as they took you through your paces and if you were more advanced they would put you in a boat for more able sailors. I would definitely do it again and would like to try a Pico next time. PS – the power safety boat was excellent as it could go very fast!” Edward

The centre’s highly qualified instructors impressed us with their enthusiasm and their ability to cater for our group’s wide range of skills and experience – and all at the cost of only £25 per person. We are already making plans for a repeat visit next year: get ready to book your place soon…..

We were delighted to award 29 badges at tonight’s pack night – well done Cubs for all your hard work.

See details about the exciting new badge programme for all sections here http://prepared.scouts.org.uk/. We will gradually swap over until the autumn term, so don’t worry if you’re half way through something. In fact, we need to empty the badge box so get on with it!