Back in May an intrepid band of scouts headed down to deepest Essex to spend a wet weekend on a lake! Canoeing, rafting, pedlos and a new friend, Trevor the Terrapin were all included. And of course we burned a lot of stuff 🙂
Author Archives: Graham
Run for your life!
It’s back! After a year hiatus the annual 12th Cambridge charity night of madness that is The Sun Run is making a grand come back, this year supporting not just one, but two charities….
What is the Sun Run? At exactly sun set, 9.21pm on the evening of Friday 14 June a gang of scouts from both troops will set off from the village of Arrington near Wimpole Hall and attempt to cover the 24KM home to our HQ before sun rises the next morning at 4.37am.
For our scouts it is an extraordinary physical feat and we expect most of them to collapse in a heap at the end, it is though for a fantastic cause. This is what they looked like on the finish line the first year we did it!
This year Wildcat troop have selected MIND and Raptor troop have selected Water Aid (sponsor them via the links!) as their charities of choice. These charities are entirely the choice of our youth members and reflect causes that they are passionate about.
Mind are a national charity who support those with mental health problems, helping them access treatment, whereas Water Aid are an international charity focused on providing clean and safe drinking water to communities in the developing world. Both are brilliant causes.
So if you have a few quid to spare please feel free to throw it in the direction of our scouts. They all made a promise to help others, this is them keeping it.
High Adventure!
As has now become traidition over Easter both scout troops sent a contingent of older scouts to take part in Hertfordshire Scouts initial mountaineering course at their mountaineering centre at Lochearnhead in the Scottish Highlands. There they spent a week of being put through their paces at everything from navigation to rope work on steep ground to wild camping. All taking place against the backdrop of the stunning landscapes offered by the Highlands. Many “munros” were bagged including Ben Vorlich, Ben Glas, Meal-nan-Tarmachan and Ben Lawers.
A new generation of mountaineers now can’t wait to go back next year!
Scouts on the run!
In honour of St George’s day scouts from both troops took part in the first ever Cambridge District Scouts Monopoly Run. Issued with a board of Cambridge land marks our teams set off at a sprint to hit as many as they could while taking their chances with community chest squares… A great fun day out and congratulations to our friends and neighbours at 16th Cambridge Scouts who won, hitting all but two of the locations 🙂
Walking in a (grey and mild) winter wonderland
Early in January scouts from both troops blew off some of the Christmas cobwebs with the annual trip to Gilwell for Winter Camp.
Winter Camp is a national event over two sites, Gilwell Park in Epping Forrest and Hawkhirst in Northumberland. Thousands of scouts and explorers gather for a weekend of everything from tank driving to being a stunt man! Yes we’re quite serious… while the more traditional scout acivities of climbing and pioneering were much in evidence our scouts also got to drive tanks and throw themselves off tall towers as they trained to be stunt scouts 🙂
We’ll be back next year but in the mean time here are the photos…
Scouts – review of the year 2018
2018 has been yet another busy year for both scout troops, from the mud of winter camp to sailing in Norfolk, the snows of the Scottish mountains to the white knuckles of Alton Towers. Here’s the highlights!
Scouts autum camp – November 2018
Back in November scouts from both troop spent a weekend at one of our regular haunts, Tolmers campsite in Hertfordshire for no better reason than a weekend out doors! A bit of climbing, a bit of campsite service and, just for fun some bungee running. Here’s all the photos, enjoy 🙂
Summer Sun….
This year’s summer camp was a piece of history for 12th Cambridge, with both cub packs and both scout troops camping together for the first time! A contingent totalling 56 people made their way to Gradbach in the Peak District for a full on week of adventure. It included caving, rock climbing, hiking and, for the scouts, a trip to Alton Towers. And some epic pioneering where the scouts created a quite lethal looking trebuche…..
Patrol Camps – July 2018
On a blisteringly hot weekend in July the scouts of Raptor troop headed to Tolmers in Hertfordshire for a patrol camping weekend. Although accompanied by 3 of our adult leaders the scouts were left to it, to plan and run the camp themselves while our volunteers watched from as far away as possible. The scouts were a fantastic credit to themselves and the troop and are now looking at organising camps with no accompanying leaders at all.
Watch this space!
Summer term 2018 – All the photos!
It’s been another jam packed term for scouts. Whether it’s been taking to the skies gliding, space hopper jousting, making our own pottery or simply burning stuff in the woods there’s been plenty of fun. Still to come is summer camp before we take a breather during August but for now enjoy the piccies….