A reminder that Sunday 22nd April is the St George’s Day parade. All sections should meet in Colebrook Street car park at 12.30pm. Collection is at 2.40pm in the Lower Close.
Full uniform, including ironed neckers and polished shoes, please.
Most of us know how much our Scouts, Cubs and Beavers value the time they are able to spend up at Pinsent camp. Whether it’s crate-stacking, fire lighting, hiking, camping or some other activity, Pinsent is a marvellous resource. However, like all marvellous resources, it doesn’t run itself.
Winchester District regularly runs working weekends to help maintain the site and ensure it is safe and enjoyable for all its users. The next such weekend is scheduled for the 14th-15th October 2017. The 12th Winchester Scout Group has been allocated the 10am-12 noon slot on Sunday 15th October. We need a minimum of ten adult volunteers to help refurbish the individual camp sites. The work will include removing sycamore seedlings and saplings, clearing logs and returning them to the woodpile, spreading bark chippings over footpaths, and fencing. Children are also welcome, and can be found appropriate tasks to assist…..
Please, please, please don’t leave it up to the leaders! Find some boots, a thick pair of gardening gloves and come and join us for a couple of hours. If you can help, please let your child’s leader know or post on the FB page.
Look forward to seeing you there on the 15th!
The autumn term programme of events got underway with a swing for our Beavers on Saturday 23rd September. On a day when Winchester was gridlocked, a dozen of the 12th’s youngest members were busy running a sweet stall at the St Bartholomew’s church fete (and, no, they didn’t eat all the produce), visiting the Royal Greenjackets’ museum, enjoying games on St Giles’ Hill and an evening bat watch at Winnall Moors with the Hants Wildlife Trust, before turning in for the night in the Scout hut.
Huge thanks, as ever, to Ladybird and her team of helpers for making the weekend possible.
It’s the Remembrance Day service this Sunday (the 13th) at Winchester Cathedral. We often say how it’s the highlight of our Scouting calendar – and it is. It is a real privilege to stand at the memorial with the Green Jackets and, as such, we need to look the part. This means full uniform for all Beavers, Cubs and Scouts, with ironed neckers.
Here, for avoidance of doubt, is Ladybird’s guide to ironing your necker:
Properly done, it will take around 15 minutes but should keep the necker in immaculate condition for two years!
On Sunday, please meet outside the West Door of the Cathedral at 8.45am. The ceremony will start at 9am and finish by 9.20am.
Several of our Beavers were among over 100 local Beavers who participated in the anniversary District camp at Pinsent in September 2016. The Beavers followed Ladybird’s kit list to the letter and arrived with their teddies and onesies, tea towels and torches. Much fun was had sorting out sleeping arrangements, laying out carry mats and sleeping bags (query – are any of them ever so keen on bedtime at home?) and learning the importance of the “shoes off” rule in the tent. Then came lunch and an impressive variety of activities including archery, an obstacle course, cake decorating and, of course, songs and marshmallows around the campfire…… Everyone slept well, achieving a new and impressive morning lie-in record of 6.45am, and was thoroughly and happily grubby by noon on Sunday when it was time to go home.
Many, many thanks to Ladybird, Slug and Chick – and congratulations to Tyler for his award for “most helpful camper”.
What the Beavers said…..
‘It was SO much fun!’
‘Mummy, you’d be so pleased. I ate the biggest lunch!’
‘We didn’t go to sleep ALL night.’ [They did; I checked with Ladybird and Slug – Ed]
What one of our new Cubs said….
‘Can’t I be a Beaver again for the weekend?’
Rafting, kayaking and sailing…..our Beavers tried all of them one grey July day. Suitably garbed in wetsuits and life jackets, the colony did its very best to emulate their watery namesakes. New skills were acquired, new alliances made (‘I’ll sit this side, you sit there and we’ll both try not to fall overboard’) and, at the end of it all, another of Slug’s legendary barbecues fortified the tired and soggy sailors with pemmican and ships’ biscuits (aka sausages and cake).
Our thanks to everyone at Spinnaker for such a brilliant – and bargainous – day out!
What the Beavers said…..
“Our group fell in the water….because we wanted to!”
“I liked the barbecue afterwards. I had four sausages!”
“I got really wet but I didn’t mind because it was fun and I had a nice warm shower when we’d finished.”
“Can I go next year?”