July 2022 and summer camp very much a come back for the group! With 2020 and 2021 being badly affected by the pandemic it was the first time for 3 years that our scouts and explorers were able to make the most of a full week away which took them to Hawkhirst on the banks of Kielder Water in Northumberland.

Kielder Forest is one of the most remote places in the UK which gives great opportunity for everything from mountain biking to sailing and hiking to canoeing. It is also a place of outstanding beauty and wild life where the scouts were able to see everything from the very small like Great Crested Newts to the enormous, our site being circled by a magnificent Osprey regularly over the week.

All the photos of a fantastic week below 🙂

On a fine June evening 16 scouts and 4 leaders gathered in Ipswich for a big step up from the last scout sailing trip which had featured two man dinghies. This time the scouts would find themselves crewing a pair of 49 foot ocean going yachts in the North Sea.

A gentle sail down the Orwell Estuary Friday night saw the boats drop anchor just short of Felixstowe before the next morning they headed out to sea with all hands on deck for a proper adventure!

After 18 months of not being able to camp due to the covid pandemic scouts from Raptor troop made a welcome return to nights under canvas with a summer weekend at one of our regular haunts of Thriftwood.

A weekend of fires and wide games, archery and kayaking, as our scouts got back into the swing of living outdoors.

A spectacular lightening display on Saturday night added a sense of peril to proceedings and despite it being accompanied by a torential the scouts showed their fire lighting prowess with Sunday lunch cooked on fires including a one match wonder from one of our patrols 🙂

Looking forward to more camps!

As the world begins to open up 16 scouts from Raptor troop took part in what has been the first district event for a year and a half! The district target sports day saw scouts compete against scouts from 1st, 11th/9th, 16th, 27th, 29th, 44th, and 57th Cambridge scout troops in air rifle shooting, archery and something brand new to most of us, the hair raising activity of axe throwing!

Competition was feirce as scouts competed to master the techniques and get on target under the watchful eye of the instructors. Axe throwing took some careful mastering however the scouts were soon getting to grips two different types and were busy burying them into the targets

It was archery though that proved the biggest hit as one of our scouts scored an unbeated 44 with 6 arrows, something even the instructors failed to beat!

Last weekend Raptor troop spent a weekend on camp at one of our regular haunts, Thriftwood in Essex. In the begining was the plan, and the plan was for a crisp sunny weekend full of beautiful autumn colours….. alas the gulf stream had other ideas! And the troop spent one of the soggiest weekends in living memory as the scouts waded their way through 32 hours of non stop downpour.

True to form though the scouts didn’t seem to even notice and through themselves into high ropes, shooting and archery while one of our newest and youngest scouts was insistent she could get a fire going while at least one adult leader was pondering trying to build an arc…

London? Forget it. Paris? Where? Milan? Never heard of it. The place to be for the best er….. new? looks is none other than the 12th Cambridge Scout HQ!

On a wet and windy thursday night brought together old clothes and make ups along with what our Patrol Leaders had acquired from the local charity shops to see exactly what they could put together with a bit of imagination. The results were…. well…. take a look!