Autumn Camp.

The Scouts spent three days camping at Screens Park.

This site was perfect for our first camp in 21 months because it gave us a huge sense of space with long views across the Essex Countryside and big blue skies.

In the picture above the Scouts are tweaking pioneering projects as the sun rises.

We used the camp to refresh basic Scouting skills. Only four of the fifteen Scouts who attended had ever camped with us before.

We also took part in a few entertaining activities and most of us enjoyed the opportunity to be woken up by a parliament of Owls. (We can see why the collective noun for a group of Owls is called a parliament, boy do they bicker!)

Another Month Another Gold.

The Gold Award is the top award a Scout can get. It requires a lot of commitment and by no means do all Scouts complete it. So to present one two months in a row is a rarity.

Last month we finally presented a Gold that was completed during lock down. This month we presented our first Gold Award that was started before lock down but completed afterwards with a good dose of Zoom meetings contributing in the middle.

FRIDAY OCTOBER 15th

Our Friday Beavers spent the night at the Rowswell Hall. Among other things, they practiced first aid skills on cuddly toys, helped by our Young Leaders and roasted marshmallows.

For two weeks the Scouts have been meeting at Thriftwood, playing wide games in the dark and using the Climbing Wall. This enabled Some Scouts to play a wide game for the first time and in doing so start the Outdoor Challenge. It also enabled Scouts to use Climbing to progress the Adventure Challenge and of course the Climbing badge.

GOLD!

Completing a Gold Chief Scout Award has been harder than usual in the last couple of years. A lot of the more obscure bits to finish this one were done during online meetings last year.

Presenting them has also been harder. This one was actually completed at the end of January when we were still meeting online. Since then Scouts have moved on to Explorers but news of a Scout returning to Beavers as a Young leader prompted the Scout Leaders to dust off the badge records and pay a visit to the colony for a surprise presentation.

TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 28th

Our Tuesday Beavers have been learning about money from around the world as part of the new Beaver Money Skills Badge.

It had been 772 days since the last time the Scouts had been on a hike together. Our last hike one was a two day expedition spending the night at Great Towers Scout Campsite, something 3rd GP first did in 1941! For 3GP, 25 months is a veritable hiking drought and something urgently needed to be done.

We had older Scouts who needed to lead a group on an all day event for the Team Leader Challenge. We had plenty of younger Scouts who needed to take part in their first all day activity.

We had bits of the navigator badge to cover off and we wanted it to count towards the Adventure Challenge badge and Hikes Away activity badge.

13 Scouts, 1 Young Leader and five Scout leaders met at Bedfords Park before splitting into Groups for the walk.

A circular route had been planned taking us out via Havering Country Park and Hainault Golf course to Hainault country Park.

Lunch was enjoyed by the low ropes course, some of our Scouts couldn't resists a go.

As we started to walk back the hot weather turned to rain. We returned via a different route using public footpaths and bridleways.

It was great to make so much progress on so many badges in one day. But most of all, it was great to be outdoors just chatting as we wondered through the countryside.

Friday September 17th.

Our Friday Beavers met in Raphael's Park for games and collecting wild things.

The meeting started with an activity invented by the Beavers themselves, collecting conkers and arranging them into pictures and artistic patterns.

After a game with the parachute, each beaver was given an empty match box and asked to fill it with a collection of wild things.

AUGUST

Our Tuesday Cubs were the first to attempt a night away as restrictions eased with a joint camp at Thriftwood.

The Cubs enjoyed the fine weather by participating in water activities as well as Camp Site Service.

The Scouts were back at Raphael's Park volunteering with The Friends of Raphael Park & Lodge Farm Park again. We kept out of Black's Brook this week, staying dry instead. Some of the trees had been coppiced before we arrived, creating a lot of long thin branches which had been left in the woodland. The Scouts helped by gathering up the coppiced branches and carrying them out of the woods.

The next task was to gather the material into bundles and drag or carry it to the other side of the sports and down into the woods there.

Finally, the Scouts helped position the freshly cut wood around the poles that had been planted in the ground to make a fence of natural materials.

The evening ended with some wide games which as the sun had set, were the first night time wide games we had played in two years.

The Scouts were Back at Thriftwood for a second week of canoeing and backwoods cooking. This week was warmer and the Scouts seemed keen to practice their capsizing. Whilst the younger Scouts built their confidence on the water, our older Scouts proved they still have the skills to cook on a fire.

Above is a video of what the Scouts have been doing this Summer.

Friday July 9th.

Our Friday Beavers met in Raphael's Park where they split into small groups to scavenge for natural materials to use for making crowns. As any Beaver will tell you, all good scavenging adventures need to include a bit of of hacking through undergrowth (Long Grass) climbing mountains (a wooden picnic table) and coming into contact with fierce beasts (A squirrel on a bird table!)

For our Friday Beavers and Friday Beaver Leaders this was our first meeting away from St Michael's in over a year. An important milestone on the road to normality. The Beavers ensured they made the very best of it.

Friday June 18th.

There was a bit of a pioneering theme this week. On Thursday the Scouts built shelters from the rain and on Friday the Beavers were enjoying themselves pioneering too.

Where the Scouts used heavy poles and rope, the Beavers used sticks, Plasticine and their imaginations.

It was another rainy night so the Beavers were meeting in a well ventilated hall with windows well open.

Two more Chief Scout Gold Awards were presented this week. This is the top award that a Scout can gain.

The months of zoom meetings were used to finish off any parts of challenge badges that could be completed online or at home, this left just a few tasks to complete outside once the troop started meeting face to face again.

Back but not quite back to normal.