Numbers
In this period, we lost 2 scouts. One reached 14 and moved on while another had to leave to pursue her football dream, which moved to Tuesday nights. At the same time, we gained 1 from cubs and 3 from the waiting list which brings us to 32.
At the end of term at least 5 older scouts will move on and we are expecting 5 to come up from cubs. We will also gain 1 more sibling from the waiting list.
Young Leaders
One of our Young Leaders officially departed but we have gained another who has impressed since starting at the beginning of the term.
Adult Leaders
We have recently gained 2 new ASL’s in Leon & Gareth and another is in the pipeline. This brings us up to 4 leaders with occasional support from our Group Chairman.
Activities
We have had a packed programme this term. We started by learning about navigating using satellites & Geocaching. Later on, we did a treasure trail around Cambridge city centre, learning about some of its hidden histories. The Scouts were also lucky enough to get a trip to the Open University to learn about space and meteorites, including a trip around their state-of-the-art laboratories.
Moving indoors we have been completing some badge work. We had 2 weeks of the popular masterclasses where Scouts could develop a new skill from cooking and wood carving to photography. We started a session on Hovercrafts and engineering which will be finished next term. Finally, we have completed another successful Santa Sleigh collection in the pouring rain and will end the term with a trip Sledging.
Next term it will be more of the same with a trip to the Amazon distribution centre planned to see how they process orders from end to end.
Camps
On top of the District & Family camp, we have 2 other camps booked in for next year.
In January we are returning to Fire & Ice. We have 28 Scouts signed up for what should be a great weekend. Nick is using this camp to obtain his Camping Permit.
Then in July, we are booked to go to Great Tower in the Lake District for our week-long summer camp. So far, we have 16 Scouts signed up to experience sailing & paddleboarding to name a couple of activities already booked in.
Badges
We have awarded 106 badges over the term, with a number also working towards their challenge badges. Next term we will hopefully have our first Gold Chief Scout Awards to hand out as 4 Scouts have nearly completed all of the requirements.
We have now set up District & County scout leaders’ groups which have both had their first meetings. Going forward this will hopefully lead to the sharing of knowledge & resources, with leader training & development session in the pipeline.