District Beavers Visit Wildlife Park

116 Beavers and 34 adults enjoyed a day out at the New Forest Wildlife Park on Saturday 22nd April 2014. They walked around the park seeing all the different animals and learning a few things about them from the education team. They also had some time on the adventure playgrounds to burn of steam.

The weather was kind to us as well staying dry but chilly. Everyone had a brilliant time and Beavers went home full of beans and couldn't stop talking about what they had done according to their parents.

 

 

The Beavers were also joined on the day by the Hampshire Beaver Mascot 'Chip' .

 

A big thank you to all the leaders and young leaders that attended on the day making the event run smoothly.

Tony Moles
ADC Beaver Scouts

Good News in the budget for Scouting

Good news in the budget today with funding announced to support Scouting in the toughest parts of the UK 

Funding worth £10m made up from Libor fines will be awarded to charities and organisations who deliver social action opportunities, Chancellor George Osborne announced in today’s Budget.

The fines, which originally were only to go to military charities, will be delivered through the Youth United Network, a network of voluntary youth organisations. The charity will see funding delivered to organisations including the Scout Association, the Army Cadet Force, the Fire Cadets and the RAF Air Cadets.

Rosie Thomas, director of the Youth United Foundation, said: “Social action is at the heart of what the Youth United Network does.”

“This new funding will enable more young people to get involved with Scouts, Girlguiding, Cadets and Brigades groups, particularly in deprived areas.”

The Chancellor said: “Financial services are a hugely important industry to this country which I want to promote around the world.

“But I also want the fines paid by those who have demonstrated the worst of values to support those who demonstrate the best of British values.”

One of the charities who will receive this funding is St John Ambulance.

The charity’s chief executive, Sue Killen, said: “We are delighted by the announcement in the Budget that we are one of the organisations to benefit from these funds, which will enable us to increase opportunities for young people volunteering and learning first aid with St John Ambulance.”

The Scout Association and the Girlguiding UK will also both receive a share of the funding.
Wayne Bullpitt, UK chief commissioner of the Scouts, said: “We want to make Scouting accessible to as many young people as possible. The new funding, announced today, will help us continue this vital work to improve the life chances of even more young people from some of the UK’s most challenged communities.”

1st Romsey Hike and Camp (update)

1st Romsey's hike, navigation exercise and overnight camp concluded successfully Sunday 16 March........................


All groups eventually reached the destination, some with more changes of direction and drier feet than others, and for some unluckier ones, their  packed lunch disturbed by a hungry horse!

 

Chilli-Con Carne cooked on an altar fire followed and then "cherrio" to the day trippers.
The over-nighters (about 2/3 of the group) then had a peaceful singsong around the small
remains of a modest  fire.

 
followed by cocoa  "biccies"

The fire was still hot enough to be restarted or breakfast, with eggy bread, tinned spaghetti and bacon.

Next there came..............
Rifle shooting courtesy of Ferny Crofts,
we have some who are 'top gun' and some who might be safer if they were on the other side........

and then a Mini Olympics including a selection of, throwing, running and endurance events.

After lunch it was time for all the gear to be loaded back onto trailer - on loan, so many thanks for setting that up Tim.

Now a few first-timers have 'broken their duck', and a few more have learnt how to set a map,  it rather begs the question -what's next?

"The limits of the possible are to be found by attempting to go beyond"


Mike Page-Jones
1st Romsey

A huge thanks to all who made this weekend possible to leaders, helpers and parents also a special mention to an Explorer Scout from the Romsey town ESU who made himself invaluable by assisting with the packing of the trailer,  and also hiking part of the course with one of the groups, as well as generally getting stuck in with helping prepare food, organise wood for campfire and so on.

If you were one of the Scouts who enjoyed this weekend please comment on this blog, we would so like to hear what you thought about this Scouting activity  (comments are moderated so will not appear straight away)

Happy St. Patrick's Day

 


The Beaver Scouts at 15th Romsey North Baddesley made some finger snakes to celebrate St. Patrick the Patron Saint of Ireland.  

 
Legend has it that back in the fifth century St. Patrick drove the snakes from Ireland. Standing on top of a hill he used his staff to herd the slithering creatures into the sea, banishing them for eternity.

Happy St. Patrick's Day - and may the luck of the Irish be with you always!

Hike in the Sun

1st Romsey Scouts enjoying forest and sun today on their hike, having great time & looking forward to their camp 


 

Official Opening of Climbing Wall

James Ketchell visited the Dr. Peter Centre this afternoon  to talk about his fascinating adventures and also to declare the opening of the climbing wall.

 

 With a spectacular entrance from the top he quickly reached the bottom of the wall in a matter of seconds

His talk and his enthusiasm for adventure was truly inspiring

Canoeing Dates 2014

CANOEING DIARY DATES FOR 2014

Please click on image for easier reading -

 

Details for the Taster Day and Courses have been sent out to Scout Leaders and Explorer Scout Leaders

Renewing Scout Promise on hike

It just proves that the Scouting Promise can be renewed anywhere and at anytime.

 

Cubs from 10^th Romsey renewing their promise on Founder's day whilst on their half term hike.

Although for some making the Scout sign was a bit of a challenge with or without gloves!

Photography Badge - 3rd Romsey

The final part of the Photography Badge took place early February when the Scouts submitted 10 photos to the Viewfinders for review.   Chris, Chris & Terry said "all three of us really enjoyed working with the Scouts, and were very impressed with the overall quality and creativeness of the final submissions".   There was an exceptionally high standard of artistic content with a good variety of images.  Photographs had been well composed and were interesting subjects.  There was good use of light, shadow and pattern.  Some Scouts used storytelling techniques to good effect and used different aspects.

Congratulations to the 19 Scouts who took the course and completed their badge.  Good luck to all the Scouts who entered the Photographic Competition 

Congratulations to all the Scouts who took part in the Viewfinders' Photo Competition.  21 Scouts entered their favourite photo to the Viewfinders for judging.  Below are the comments from Chris, from Viewfinders.

"The scouts’ favourite images have now been judged by the nine members of the Viewfinders “Awards Group”.  We were all really impressed with the high quality of the images, and send our congratulations to the winners.  

1st - Kathleen

2nd - James

3rd - Susanne

4th - Ben S

Viewfinders will feature these images as a panel of prints in the summer exhibition which is planned The exhibition is planned for 23 June to 3 July."

 

Thank you to Chris, Chris, Terry and the Viewfinders judges for their enthusiasm and time!

Sarah Beaman

3rd Romsey Scout Leader - Ashanti Troop