A very special message for our Jamboree contingent in Japan from No.10…..
A special message…..
Author Archives: Graham
Japanese Adventure!
In the early hours of Friday morning 5 of the group’s young leaders, AK, Charlie, Lucy, Nick and Martha will be setting off to Japan for the trip of a life time, to take part in the 23rd World Scout Jamboree. For two weeks they will live with more than 30,000 other scouts from 162 different countries, from every continent and corner of the planet.
Jamborees take place every 4 years and are a unique opportunity for young people from around the world to meet others from every other culture, religion and country. One of the two units our scouts are allocated to will be surrounded by units from Lebanon, Denmark, Japan, Brazil and Switzerland. You don’t get much more mixed up than that!
Arriving late on Friday our intrepid 5 will spend 3 days n Tokyo before moving onto the Jamboree itself which kicks off on 28 July with a packed program to include everything from sailing to global development with a central theme of peace, as Japan and the World remember the events of 1945 in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
And if that wasn’t enough they will then spend 4 days with a Japanese family as part of the home hospitality program
You can keep up with the adventures of AK and Martha via their unit’s Facebook page here and Charlie, Lucy and Nick via their unit’s page here and Twitter feed here
This is the adventure of a life time and we’ll be telling you all about their adventures when they get back 🙂
Quidditch!
So on Thursday a series of school trips left Raptor troop with just 14 scouts compared to our normal 35. There was only one answer….. Two make shift patrols of 7 and a game of Quidditch!
Teenagers take the lead at patrol camps
With the summer season well and truly on us it’s the time of year where we can really let our scouts do what we train them to do, take the lead and run their own camps. During the summer each of the 5 patrols that make up Raptor troop plan and run their own camps with no adults going with them! For the patrol leaders, our 13 and 14 year olds it is a big responsibility and one of the highlights of their time in the troop.
Selfie tastic!
Our first patrol, The Hawks, are just back from their trip to Gilwell Park in Epping Forest where they swung from the high ropes, zipped the zip wire and ran their own grand prix. Photos below! Further down are photos of Kingfishers expedition to Thriftwood. Over the next few weekends Kestrels, Eagles and Owls will follow them…..
Scouts all at sea!
After plenty of time spent on in shore sailing in recent years it seemed time that the scouts turned their hand to something a bit tougher. So one sunny Sunday morning 9 intrepid scouts and and 2 leaders headed for Ipswich docks and a day at sea learning to handle the 50 foot yacht Ocean Scout.
Our friends across the pond
We keep in regular touch with our friends at our twin group, 12th Cambridge in Ontario, Canada. Here we report on their latest service project, bring some cheer to their neighbours living in a shelter for the homeless. Scout Leader Shelly Dyet reports from across the Atlantic…..
To mark Good Turn week 2015, the Scouts and Venturers arranged to make cookies for the local homeless shelter. We were told to prepare for around 100 clients at the Shelter, and we probably ended up with at least 150 cookies.
In order to make this work, we used the kitchen at our other church, Wesley United, where 1 of our Beaver Colonies meets. They have a large kitchen with a commercial oven, so we were able to cook 5 commercial trays of cookies at a time.
Scout cooks in action!
We divided the kids into 4 groups, trying to balance the skill level. Each group was supplied with the recipe, a bowl, and mixing spoon. The ingredients were in the middle of the room, on an island, and groups took turns gathering the items they needed. When they had their batter ready, they dropped the cookies onto a cookie sheet, and started a new batch. Once the ingredients were all gone, we stopped making cookies. Some of the kids had clearly never baked anything before. It was entertaining to see them try to figure out why their batter was so running, and then have them discover they didn’t add any flour.
All of the sheets of cookies were given the okay by me, except for 1. The cookies, although eatable, looked more like hard candies, which again, I think had to do with the flour being omitted. We had the kids eat this ‘bad’ batch.
While the cookies cooled, we discussed homelessness, and the reasons why someone may need to use the services of a shelter.
We put the cookies into pie boxes, and walked 5 minutes down the street to the shelter.
Some of the kids were terrified, and suddenly became very quiet when we arrived. The clients at the Shelter were very appreciative and took the time to thank the kids for their efforts.
When we arrived back at the church, we talked about the experience and how it differed from their expectations. Many shared that they expected it to be dirty, messy, and the clients rude. They had expected to be swarmed with people all grabbing cookies at the same time. A lot were impressed by how tidy, clean, and organized the building was, and many expressed interest in helping out again.
So, Goodturn week 2015, was a success for us. Now that the youth have done something like this, as opposed to picking up garbage, I can see them organizing a similar event for next year.
Diary from down under……
In the first of an occasional series here is the first report from 11 year old Rebekah, one of our scouts who is spending 6 months in New Zealand with her family. She has joined Island Bay Scout Troop and is joining in everything they do. Here she reports on ANZAC day, New Zealand’s equivalent of Remembrance Sunday.
Today I was in the dawn ANZAC Parade with the Island Bay Scout Troop. This was made up of the Keas (Beavers); Cubs; Scouts and Rovers (Explorers)). We had to get up at 3 am! We all met at Wellington High School along with about 240 other scouts and leaders – I was the only person in a UK uniform. We paraded down the street and assembled on ANZAC Square along with other representatives of the Guides, Air and Sea Cadets.
The cannon that fired was very, very loud.
A number of people spoke, laid wreaths, there was a piper who played the bagpipes and the Last Post was played. We also sang the Australian National Anthem and the New Zealand National Anthem (in Māori and English). We then went back to the High School for breakfast.
The Governor-Generals of both Australia and New Zealand spoke at the dawn service. They then flew immediately to Australia to take part in the commemorations there. There were also Turkish representatives and commemorations taking place in Turkey at Gallipoli. We have kept the programme and a poppy.
There was an estimated 40 000 people attending (20 000 were expected)! We were very near the front of the public crowd. For my Mum one of the most moving parts of the service was the Karanga – at the start of the service – led by Taranaki Whānui (a Māori woman). Wreaths were laid at the tomb of the unknown soldier and at the new Australian memorial.
A Highland Fling!
As well as the sailing trip older scouts and young leaders had the chance to join our friends from Hertfordshire Scouts on their Intermediate Mountaineering course at their mountaineering center at Lochearnhead in the Scottish Highlands.
The trip introduced our gang of 4 to the basics of mountaineering including navigation, mountain first aid, use of ice axes, use of ropes on steep terrain and wild camping. The week culminated in a 3 day, 2 night trek, wild camping in the mountains where they bagged a series of “munros” (mountains over 3000 feet high).
The scenery was nothing short of breath taking and was a chance for older scouts to stretch themselves before moving onto explorers. Next stop….. the Advanced Mountaineering Course at New Year!
Politicians put through their paces
With the General Election quickly approaching the troop’s Patrol Leaders, our senior 13 and 14 year old scouts, decided that they wanted to have a night themed on it and decided to invite the candidates for the Cambridge seat at May’s election to an evening to be grilled by the troop in a “Question Time” style event.
We were joined for the evening by Valerie Holt, campaigned for Liberal Democrat candidate Julian Huppert, Labour candidate Daniel Zeichner, Green Party Councillor Oscar Gillespie and UKIP candidate for South East Cambs Deborah Rennie.
Just like on the tv show none of the candidates knew any of the questions in advance and some were clearly surprised by the nature of some of them which varied between the voting age, use of cycle helmets, GCSE grade inflation and immigration. UKIP’s Deborah Rennie said “I was really impressed with the questions” and Labour’s Daniel Zeichner said ” it was actually the most interesting event we have done so far, because the audience was a much more genuine cross-section. I was very impressed by the young people”
They were clearly not the only ones to enjoy it as one scout called it “the best night I’ve had at scouts this year”, it looks like we may have now got some budding politicians in the making. The event also got coverage from the local press
The group would like to thank all those who gave up their time for the group in what is a very busy time in the run up to the election.
Cubs back in the day
So while reorganising a load of our archives we came across a huge number of photos showing what our cubs got up to between 2006 and 2009. It includes what we got up to in the scouts centenary year in 2007, a really special time to have been involved 🙂
Many of those featured are now explorer scouts or even leaders now. We’ve put them all in the gallery now here. Enjoy!