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!

This year summer camp was something special as the latest leg of our ongoing exchange program with 12th Cambridge Canada took us to the Lake District.

Things kicked off early for our friends from Canada as 18 scouts and leaders from our namesake group flew across the Atlantic to take in the sites of Glasgow and Oxenholme for a few days before joining us. We’re told there were only a few difficulties with the local accents 🙂 All their photos here!

The day of camp itself dawned and the UK contingent set off from Cambridge bright and early with a few bleary eyes, collecting our Canadian contingent on route ready to arrive at an exceptionally wet and soggy Great Tower Campsite. As one wag pointed out, we shouldn’t have been surprised, all those lakes came from somewhere….

After an afternoon of setting up camp and a good night’s sleep Sunday dawned and at last we same something that looked like the sun! It was an action packed day as scouts variously got stuck into rock climbing, kayaking and high ropes either on site or off of it. Tons of photos of all the action here 🙂

Monday came and another soggy morning, but there was no time to get wet, it was time to head for the hills! With different hikes offered either up and over Ill Belle or over Wansdale Pike and into Ambleside there was something for everyone. The sun even showed its face during the afternoon. We thought it had got lost! All the photos here.

Summer camp isn’t all about the action and the next couple of days were spent slightly more quietly with scouts getting up to all sorts including first aid training, camp site service, geocaching, orienteering and some general chewing the fat round the fire. Our exalted GSL even brought a pizza oven on to site for a slightly unusual camp dinner. Loads of photos here.

1 August came and with it the birthday of the scout movement as we remembered the camp on Brownsea Island in 1907 that marked its begining. Invited to a celebratory breakfast and promise renewal by our neighbours on camp, 3rd Macclesfield Scouts, before we headed off for another all action day with scouts doing whatever they hadn’t done on day 2. Photos here!

Friday came and with it the big pack up. That wasn’t the end of things though! Our friends from Canada returned to Cambridge with us for a few days of home hospitality as UK families hosted the Canadian scouts to give them a taste of British family life and took them to see the sites of Cambridge.

Being scouts though we couldn’t just leave them to some down time. Stay still? Time off? Not us! So day trips to London and the Harry Potter Studios followed (turns out too much butter beer makes you ill. Who knew?) as our Canadian friends got to see what they’d only seen on TV.

The final day dawned and a flight back from Gatwick to Toronto for our guests from across the Atlantic. Two weeks had flown by, dozens of trans Atlantic friendships had been forged and the count down to our return trip in 2021 had begun.