Roll up! Roll up!  12th Cambridge is raising funds to pay for improved toilet facilities at the hut.  Our plan is to build modern, accessible toilets to replace the Victorian-style ones that we currently ‘enjoy’.

To help with this, we are running an auction of lots at our Summer Party, to be held on Monday 23rd July 2018.  The auction will commence at 7.30pm.

William, one of our scout leaders, has been busy around Cambridge securing a whole host of fine lots for you.  Fancy scuba diving, roller-skating or a meal, theatre tickets or a new haircut?  How about punting on the Cam or a back massage?  Perhaps tennis is your thing?    Maybe you have a friend that would appreciate a gift of climbing or a voucher for art supplies?  You are bound to find something that you would like in our list of auction lots below!

Can’t make it to the live auction on the 23rd? No problem!  We will accept online and email bids in advance. Simply read the auction rules and submit a bid using the form below, or email the auctioneer with your bid details.

So, get bidding and enjoy the fun of the auction!

Auction Rules

• The auction will be a two-stage auction: 1. Bids are invited in advance by online form below or email to auctioneer@12thcambridge.org.uk  2. A live auction will be held at 12th Cambridge Scout Hut on the evening of Monday 23rd July 2018. The auctioneer at the live auction will be provided with details of all bids made in advance.
• Bids made by email should clearly include the following information: name, phone number, lot number and brief description of the item being bid for and the bid amount. Bids for multiple items may be made in the same email.
• 12th Cambridge has exercised due care in the preparation of descriptions of lots. In the event of these descriptions being shown to be materially inaccurate, winning bidders have the right to withdraw their bids.
• 12th Cambridge reserves the right to withdraw any lot from the auction without notice or explanation.  Further, it reserves the right to set a ‘reserve’ price for any lot. If the highest bid is below the level of the reserve, the item will be deemed not to have sold at auction.
• Bids made online and by email are ‘sealed’ bids. They will be passed to the auctioneer before the live auction but otherwise remain confidential.
• In submitting your bid, you agree, if successful, to pay an amount up to the value of the bid.  For advance bids, the actual amount payable will depend on the level of the 2nd-highest bid.
• For winning online/email bids submitted in advance of the live auction, the winning bidder will pay the amount bid by the second-highest bid, plus £1.
• For winnning bids made in person at the live auction, winning bidders will pay the amount that they bid.
• If two or more bids for an item are exactly the same and the highest of all bids, then the bid made first will be deemed to be the winning bid.
• The cut-off for online/email bids being accepted is 11pm on Sunday 22nd July 2018.  Online/email bids made after this time will be deemed invalid and discarded.
• Winning bidders will be notified of their purchases within 48 hours of the end of the live auction.  They will be encouraged to pay for their items by direct bank transfer (account details will be provided).  Alternatively, cheque made payable to ’12th Cambridge Scout Group’ or cash will be acceptable at the live auction.
• All proceeds from the auction will be received by 12th Cambridge Scout Group (registered charity number 300711).
• Privacy: all personal data (name, email address, phone number etc) submitted via the online form below, or by email, will be kept confidential by 12th Cambridge Scout Group.  It will be used only for the purpose of running the auction and to contact the winning bidders.  It will not be submitted to any third parties.  It will be deleted immediately after the auction.
• Any queries concerning the auction should be sent by email to auctioneer@12thcambridge.org.uk  The auctioneer’s decision is final.

While most of us were sleeping off the Christmas turkey 2 of our young leader explorer scouts found themselves on a coach to Scotland where they took part in the Advanced Mountaineering Course run by our friends and neighbours Hertfordshire Scouts at their Mountaineering centre at Lochearnhead in the Scottish Highlands.

Having already graduated from the initial mountaineering course run at Easter Will and Lucy were put through their paces learning the use of ice axes and crampons, avalanche awareness, navigating in poor visibility and generally learning to deal with everything the Scottish winter could throw at them.

Like the look of this? Older scouts can still sign up to the initial course taking place again this Easter…..

The nights are drawing in, which can mean only one thing: it is nearly fireworks party time again!

Come along, bring friends & family, and enjoy hot dogs, soup, mulled wine and the best fireworks this side of Midsummer Common!

Friday 3rd November

Party 6pm on

Location: 12th Cambridge HQ

Fireworks @ 7pm

Free entry*

You are welcome to bring sparklers – PLEASE follow this safety advice and do not drop them on the field (use bins provided).

RSVP for catering numbers to: fireworks@12thcambridge.org.uk

Volunteers invited:

• to help with: setting up (from 4pm) and
• debris sweep of the field (Saturday morning, 10am on).

*The scouts will be shaking collection buckets at the end, so please donate generously!

The 12th was delighted to host the Cambridge District Archery Competition today.  With over 120 cubs, scouts, explorers and adults from Groups across the District, the event welcomed everyone, from complete beginner to seasoned club archers.

After yesterday’s deluge, the weather gods smiled on us with a mild, sunny day and light winds – perfect for archery!

The competition format was three ends of 5 arrows, shot from 10 metres onto a 90cm target face. Scoring was from 1 (outer white) to 10 (inner gold).

In the individual events, organised by section, competition was hot in the Cubs and Scouts sections.  Congratulations to Stanley Howard of 11th/9th for his winning score of 101, and Noah Straghan of the 28th (scoring 124).

The best three Individual scores from each Group/Section were counted in the Teams competiton.  Here, 28th Cubs and 12th Cambridge Scouts both excelled and retained their respective Teams titles.

For those who would like to see the the full results, with detailed scores for every arrow shot, they may be downloaded in spreadsheet form here:

District Archery results 2017 final

It was a pleasure to host this wonderful (and growing!) competition.  We would like to thank: Tom Hartley (organiser and chief range-master) and everyone who supported by  organising, hosting, bringing equipment, setting up, scoring, crowd-controlling, photographing and participating! 

We congratulate everyone who took part, and look forward to the next event!

A massive THANK YOU to the customers and staff at the Co-op store in Newnham for their support and huge donation of £3,758 to 12th Cambridge!!!

The money was raised via a combination of the Co-op’s membership charity scheme and its donation of all the money charged for carrier bags. Those 5p charges really do add up!

We will use the money to improve our offering of scouting for all in our community. We will start with refurbishment and provision of accessible toilet facilities at our Gilbert Road HQ.

Benefits of the Co-op customer membership include 5% of spending for the member and 1% donated to the local community. More details can be found at www.coop.co.uk/membership

We’re growing! After the success of opening our second scout troop last year we now want to open a second Cub Pack and Beaver Colony as well as reinforce our current sections. And our scouts have a bit of a message for anyone who might be interested…..

If you have a few hours a week to spare and would like to spend it with most awesome bunch of kids on the planet then please get in touch. We’re waiting to hear from YOU!

It’s been a while since we have had one, but it’s time for a parents’ HQ work weekend on 15th & 16th October, so please save the date!

Let us know that you can help by popping an email to diy2016@12thcambridge.org.uk, and roll up your sleeves and prepare to have fun!

We have two projects lined up:

• clearing and making safe the alley behind the HQ building
• redecorating the meeting room and Brownie room to make them into Activity rooms

Project 1: alley clearance

What are we aiming for?:
Make the alley behind the hut useful and safe for for storing equipment & accessing the gas bottles.

What will we do?:

• Clear all the weeds and overgrowth
• Dig out the uneven soil, broken glass and rubbish – enough to fill the skip that we’ll hire!
• Fix the perimeter fence
• Lay weed-control fabric and approx 2 tonnes of gravel

What do we need?

• An army of willing volunteers to dig, shovel and barrow the rubbish out and the gravel in
• Tools: wheelbarrows, spades, shovels, pruners

Project 2: room improvements

What are we aiming for?

Transforming two rooms from junk stores to Activity rooms for our young people to use during scouting sessions – the large room will become an informal, nice room and the smaller one a meeting room with table and chairs.  With carpet, we hope to make the rooms feel less cold in winter!

What will we do?

• clear the rooms of all clutter and excess furniture
• paint the walls
• fit blinds to the windows and seal draughts
• fit carpet tiles on the floors

What do we need?

• volunteers to clear, clean, paint & fit out the rooms
• Tools: we already have most items already, but a couple of stepladders would be handy.

So, if you are up to challenge, please email the team: diy2016@12thcambridge.org.uk, letting us know when you can make it, how many people, offers of useful tools – basically any info that would be helpful.

As is traditional on these occasions, leaders are excluded from parents’ work weekends, and the GSL will supply the tea and biscuits!