We think if its possible to get parents involved with the last meeting of term we should totally do it. Last year we were able to do an external event at an archaeological dig but when we don’t have such an option, we usually have a barbecue. That is exactly what we did this year.
We had some of the Scouts down earlier to help us with the setting up of altar fires and cooking of burgers and food. Unfortunately, the weather for the evening wasn’t exactly perfect, however we still persevered. After a small welcome from Skip, everyone was invited to grab a burger from indoors before we had our Group Scout Leaders Martin and Karen come down to invest 2 leaders, Neil and Myself, as we had passed our appointment process (hurrah!).
We also had a Scout that managed to get through their Chief Scout Gold. A huge congratulations to Evan Melleney! We had Martin and Karen present an imaginary award only because we didn’t manage to get hold of the badge and certificate in time. We will make sure we get that to you through Explorers or other means in the future.
Following that, the leaders had organised some games for everyone to participate in. We had a few rounds of tug of war with varying setups including Scout v Scout, Scout v Parents and Scout v Leaders. The adult:scout ratio was about 1:3 to make it a fair fight. The Leaders luckily won their bout against the Scouts otherwise we may have never heard the end of it. 🙂
After that, we had a slightly lower key game in the form of ski racing. This involves teams of 4 working together to walk round a course on a pair of skis.
As the penultimate event of the evening, we had some of our Scouts talk about the year (albeit at very short notice) and Anna to do her Digital Citizen presentation to complete the badge.
The final part of the evening was a celebration. Over the course of the year we have awarded about 201 badges to Scouts for various reasons which we think is amazing. If you want to look at all the badges awarded, please take a look here:
There is also the matter of the badges that we awarded on that evening which you can see here. Congratulations to the following!
Next, we invested Samuel who we should probably of invested a little sooner. This was led by Cobra Patrol Leader Alex as his new patrol leader was non-attending. Welcome to Chieftains!
Lastly, we announced the winner of the patrol competition. The standings were as follows:
1st – Hawks
2nd – Otters
3rd – Wolves
4th – Cobras
Well done Hawks! We will be discussing with you want you want to do for your prize in the coming term! We are back to zero. Remember everything you do at Scouts can have an impact on the standings. Be an awesome person and a top Scout and points will just flow into your patrol and you won’t even know it.
Unfortunately, events like these do mark a sad moment as well because we usually have Scouts that have grown to old for Scouts and their time with us has ended. Unfortunately, we do have to say goodbye to Evan and Alex… You both have been amazing over the years you have been with us and Bosun and Myself look forward to working with you in Explorers for a few more years. 🙂
That’s us done for this school year. We will see everyone back after summer. However, for some of the Scouts, all the Leaders will see you for Summer Camp where I certainly do hope we can give you one of the best but also most challenging experiences of your entire lives. I stress this so much but Brecon is such an amazing trip. Nearly all the Scouts will get to do it before they leave us if they are with us from beginning to end and it encompasses so many aspects of Scouting but most of all the Scouts get to spend a week with their friends that they’ve made here. Even the leaders get to have a great time. We will be hiking, mountain biking, cooking, rafting, kayaking a few more surprises where a few groups of the leaders get to fill some evenings and afternoons.
Scouts: thank you for making the Leaders time some of the most enjoyable of our weeks. We really do appreciate it and glad we can have a good time with you!
See you in a few weeks and to another year of Scouting!
Ellis
