By Marilyn Burrows
Senior Scout Peter Gould of Ballinger, and Matt Harrison, Explorer Scout
of South Heath, both ex-Lee Common, have been selected to represent the district
at the World Centenary Jamboree next summer – quite an honour! And Callum
Bright, our scout who lives in St Leonards, has been chosen to attend the
centenary Brownsea Island camp next year. Well done!
This summer’s camp got off to a good start on the first evening in the Brecon
Beacons, when the boys witnessed a fantastic firework display staged in the
grounds of Llangoed Hall, across the fields from their site. Had this been
arranged by Group Chairman Bernard Tompkins, they wondered (he being a man
of great influence…)? Following this, a helicopter pilot, landing to pick
up well-heeled hotel guests, popped over to tell the scouts that their camp,
as viewed from the air, reminded him of his happy days as a scout. What a
nice chap!Then there was the incident with the overnight hikers: a patrol of older scouts who hike unaccompanied to a set destination and camp and cook for themselves, before getting themselves back to base (hopefully). After a bit of larking about on a hillside, they discovered that the custard carton in one of their rucksacks had sprung a leak. To the rescue was James, who cleaned up the ‘wound’ with an antiseptic wipe and applied an elastoplast, which held firm until dinnertime. Whew!
Back home, a recent overnight hike, from The Lee to Wendover Dean and back, was accompanied by the scout leader’s highly trained border collie, kitted out in reflective flashing collar. He is the scout troop’s own search and rescue device – well, you can’t take chances in the dark… Further activities include caving in Somerset, two six-a-side footie teams defending their title (sadly, only as far as the semi finals), and 8 scouts taking gliding lessons at Dunstable Flying Club.
Cub Pack
Our programme kicked off
with work on the Artist Badge, with a super session with the talented and
patient Ann Ash. We have made apple crumbles in our new kitchen using windfalls
from Pat Chinnery’s garden, hosted the district’s Sixer and Seconder ‘Beach
Party’ for 35 cubs and dressed up for hallowe’en havoc. We now look forward
to seeing the Wycombe Swan panto – watching adults dress up and get silly…Beaver Scouts
The theme for the first half term was colours, the making of blueberry muffins
being a highlight. Now we are concentrating on planets and solar systems with
a local enthusiast bringing his astronomy telescope to our meeting. A visit
to Kidzone, for some noisy fun, is also on the cards.