With the forecast for rain all day (thankfully, a little pessimistic) and a biting northerly wind & hail showers failing to deter our young teams, the scouts embraced all the challenges set for them by the organisers (who themselves had to fend off hypothermia).
In addition to the hike, there were 7 checkpoints with challenges including code-breaking, semaphore, an observation quiz, shepherding (yes, seriously!) and spaghetti-bridge-building.
Well done to all our scouts for completing the challenge safely and with enthusiasm!
A contingent of 19 scouts from Raptors and Wildcats headed to Gilwell Park for the weekend along with 3000 others for a lot of fun and an absolute mud bath. Hat tip to scouts from 11th/9th Cambridge, 14th Cambridge, 16th Cambridge and 18th Cambridge and Shackleton and Avenger Explorer Scout Units who we camped with…..
As well as the Photos below head over to our Youtube page for a few vids of what we got up to….
12th Cambridge Scouts are proud to support the Maggie’s Wallace Christmas Concert, to be held at the Wesley Church, Christ Pieces on Saturday 5th December. The concert, featuring Christmas carols and well-known Barbershop songs, starts at 7.00pm. Our scouts will be helping to serve mince pies and mulled wine to help the audience warm up.
Maggie’s Centres provide emotional, practical and social support to people with cancer and their families & friends. The concert is a fundraiser to help Maggie’s continue with this wonderful work.
To find out more about Maggie’s, click on the logo below!
The Cub pack headed to Thetford Forest this year for their Autumn camp. The whole thing was guided by our founder, Lord Baden-Powell, drawing on his Wolf Cub’s Handbook.
Let’s let him take us through some of the cubs’ activities this weekend in his own words…
Every Scout aims at being a good camper, because you can’t be a backwoodsman or a pioneer unless you can look after yourself in all weathers in the open.
Now that we’ve packed our kit let’s be off, shall we? Before you go, and the whole time you are away, say to yourself, “I am going to make this the jolliest camp there ever was FOR THE OTHER CUBS.”
“Knock the Blob”, a game from the WCH
And when you are in camp remember that as you are there to have a splendid time you must keep in mind the Cubs’ patent dodge for making themselves happy – that of helping other people and particularly Akela.
There are lots of ways in which a tenderfoot suffers in camp. But there is no roughing it for an Old Scout; he knows how to make himself quite comfortable.
In order to be a good Cub a fellow must know how to lay and light a fire.
Every Cub must be able to tie knots properly. What duffers ordinary boys are at tying knots! They make a sort of tangle of string or rope, which probably they can never undo again! That would never do for a sailor or for a bridge builder.Knots are quite easy to learn, and as soon as you know them you can teach other people how to make them.
Young wolves learn to look after themselves in the wild. They learn to watch birds and animals day by day so as to learn their habits, just as a boy Wolf Cub does. But the boy’s object is to know more about them, and to take a friendly interest in their doings.
Practising fox-walking
Now tracking and stalking are fine things to do, but if you are to be a good tracker you want a great deal of practice and training.
Practising fox-walking
Texts and images from The Wolf Cub’s Handbook, Lord Baden-Powell (15th Edition)
August saw Raptor troop head to The New Forest for summer camp. We were joined by our friends from 12th Cambridge in Ontario Canada, our twin troop.
As well as trail biking, axe throwing, pioneering, high ropes and climbing it was also just a little bit wet….. many scouts came home having grown gills and webbed feet
All members, friends & family of 12th Cambridge are invited. Everyone will get the chance to mash and press their apples, taste the juice (fresh, mulled & cider). Bring something for the BBQ and enjoy!
As we get our activities lined up for the coming term, it’s time to take a look back at some of what the Cub pack has got up to in the last term. (That is to say, I’ve just got round to going through my photos.)
Archery, maypole dancing, a visit to an old people’s home, a tour of our local fire station, bowling, canoeing, parents’ evening…and that’s just the ones I had time to take photos of!
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
Once again, the Cubs had a chance to prove their skill and fearlessness as they tackled the heights of the climbing wall at Kelsey Kerridge.
Completely ignoring the pleas of the instructor to stay at shoulder height, they ascended, without the aid of ropes, helicopters or anti-gravity boots, up all that the wall could offer.
Thanks to all the parents who volunteered to supervise (and endure the rigours of the safety form & training)!
ode-breaking, semaphore, an observation quiz, shepherding (yes, seriously!) and spaghetti-bridge-building.
