District Beaver Spy Sleepover 2019

The Beavers descended on Thriftwood Scout camp for their District sleepover - this year’s theme was ‘Beavers in Black’ Spy Academy.

7 groups Friday to Saturday and another 7 groups Saturday to Sunday.

The Beavers had supper and then went for a night walk, which led them to a camp fire where they sang songs.
On returning to base they all had a hot chocolate & snack, then off to their dorms for the night.

The following morning after breakfast, the Beavers were officially enrolled in to the spy academy where they received their spy kits, disguises and ID badges.

After this, they were put into their elite task forces, and given the main mission of the day to find my brief case that had been stolen, which contained top secret documents. The spy that had stolen the brief case was described to be dressed in orange and wearing a mask. The Beavers spent all day guessing who this could have been, it was great to see them all using their imaginations.

As part of the Beavers spy training, they tackled an assault course and had an archery session - the Beavers showed good team work throughout. The Beavers also had the opportunity to learn how to lift finger prints, use their skills to decode secret messages, including writing their own codes with invisible ink. They also had a chance to test their steady hands as they manoeuvred their way along a giant buzzer wire.

For each mission that the Beavers completed throughout the day, they would receive a clue which would help them find the missing brief case.
The Beavers showed great courage as they climbed a very high wall as part of these missions, to retrieve a clue from the very top.

Each team was also given map coordinates, which they used to lead them to Headquarters and even found some more clues along the way.

I think the favourite mission of the day for both the Beavers and leaders, was Mission Impossible. The Beavers had to make their way from one end of basecamp to the other, to retrieve gadgets, however the tent was covered in tape and laser beams which they had to duck and dodge to avoid getting caught.

By the end of the day, the Beavers had become fully fledged special agents, as they discovered all the clues and put them together to find the missing brief case.

We all look forward to seeing what the next District sleepover will bring!

Michelle Haddon
Assistant District Commissioner (Beavers)

District Cubs Badge Day 2019

190 Cubs and leaders having a great time earning badges and enjoying the outdoors at District badge day. Thanks to Bob and his team and all the Leaders, adults and Young Leaders, who have worked hard to provide this opportunity to the Cubs.
Activities include cooking egg omelettes, making dampers, ping pong ball guns and electrical circuits. The Cubs will go home with DIY, Science, Backwards cooking and Pioneer badges.

Debbie Carter

DC

District PL Weekend

On the 26th April 15 Scouts from across the District came together for a Patrol Leaders (PL) training weekend at Thriftwood. The weekend started off very wet and windy but being Scouts, everyone was prepared with their waterproofs. Roger Huggett organised the weekend and programme to ensure the Scouts gained as much knowledge as possible. The Scouts started off learning about being a Patrol Leader and the skills, knowledge and experience required to run a patrol. After a short piece of theory work on running a patrol, planning a camp, including menu and activities, it wasn’t long before the Scouts were in teams and carrying out practical skills. Starting off with knots & lashings, lamps & stoves, bearings, first aid and using axes the Scouts had a full morning of activities. Following lunch they started work on compass points, fire lighting, problem solving and building a stretcher for their casualty.

After a busy start there was a short session on patrol forums, the Scouting structure and moving on to Explorers. The fun didn’t stop at dinner time as the Scouts worked together in several wide games when the leaders ‘lost’ them in the woods. They successfully navigated their way back to site for a campfire and a couple of games of Uno.

Sunday was just as busy with teams working together to build a floating raft that could support a lit candle. After packing away, everyone was presented with their Team Leader challenge award and a certification of completion.

Thank you to Roger Huggett for organising such an action packed weekend for our PL’s of tomorrow. My thanks also to Marc and Sarah-Jane Scarce for catering over the weekend. Not forgetting Gerry Merritt, Allyson Cheung, Dean Holden, Jessica Scrace, John Reed and Marc Scrace for running various bases and activities. Thank you all for the hard work and dedication you’ve shown to the Scout section. Here’s to our next event, the District Hiking Weekend on the 29th – 30th June.

Dean Claxton
ADC Scout Events

St Georges Day 2019

The following Awards were presented today to adults in the District:

Long Service Awards

10yrs - Louisa Golder, District

15yrs - Sheila Harper, 7SQH

15yrs - Graeme Luscombe, 2EP

15yrs - Sharon Ridgewell, District

The Commissioners Commendation

Terry Talbot, 6SQH

Lee Eastment, 2SQH

Rashida Boukari, 1RA

Owen Bristow, 7HX

Caroline Gallagher, 3UP

Lee Owen, 2UP

Reggie Dean, 1UP

The Chief Scouts Commendation for Good Service

James Youngs, 2SQH

The Silver Acorn

Nick Messenger, Thriftwood

District Beavers Team Challenge 2019

The Team Challenge was attended by 10 Colonies.

Beavers worked in teams where their problem-solving, team-working and leadership skills were put to the test. There was a variety of tasks which included Building a free-standing flag pole, design a flag to put on the top, using string, bamboo canes, sticky tap, elastic bands and paper.

The beavers created amazing pieces of art using mosaic squares to make a picture of a beaver. Then build a house from puzzle pieces. Each team got to answer 2 quiz sheets, to test their general knowledge.

There was great team work to decode questions to find the next task, that took them outside to find the longest blade of grass, believe me, I was surprised how long the grass was. The teams showed fantastic team spirit and encouraged each other to do their best.

2nd Upminster Gridirons Beavers came first and 3rd Upminster Wesley Beavers came second. Well done to all of the Beavers taking part.

Another Fantastic Team challenge, thanks to Sue Cruse and her team.

Cubs Scooter Challenge 2019

It was a windy day but fortunately there was no rain.

When the Leaders arrived to set up we had to change the route of the race track because bushes had grown on the route and it was getting a bit narrow.

Cubs from 11 Packs attended the event. The Cubs were racing in their age groups 8.9. and 10. The reason for this was this year the Cubs were individually scored. We took the two highest scores from each group to decide who would be the winning group.
We believe that this made it fairer for the groups that did not have as many Cubs taking place.

Hot dogs, crisps, Kit Kats and chocolate bars were for sale. Once again, Cubs love a Hot Dog and they all sold out.

The Cubs all enjoyed the races and there were no serious crashes. We only used one plaster,

The Cubs were asked at the end if they had enjoyed the day and would they like to do it again next year, a large shout went out they want to do it again.

There were trophies for the 3 highest scores in each age group and a trophy for the winning group.

8 Years
1st Olly - 2nd Cranham#
2nd Ashton - 1st Corbets Tey
3rd Francis - 2nd Elm Park

9 Years
1st Callum - 3rd Rainham
2nd James - 1st Upminster
3rd Ewan - 2nd Squirrel’s Heath

10 Years
1st George - 8th Hornchurch Jupiter
2nd Caleln - 2nd Squirrel’s Heath
3rd Aiden - 8th Hornchurch Dragon

Winning Group
1st 8th Hornchurch Dragon - 60 points
2nd 2ndSquirrel’s Heath - 57 points
3rd 1st Squirrel’s Heath - 56 points

Thank you to all the leaders that helped put on this event: Richard Thorn, John Dodd, David and Connie Dutch, Sandra Smith, Ian Meadows, Chris Plume, Ian Arnold, Mick Cross. Also thank you to all the Young Leaders that helped.

Beaver Badge Day 2018

On a very sunny day for October, at Thriftwood scout camp.
A 150 Beavers took part in our Badge day and worked on 3 badges:

Photography Badge: The beavers each made a scrap book with their photos they had taken, they had a lesson from a photographer and took lots of selfies using a camera.

Explore Badge: They went exploring the surrounding areas and worked together as a team to find a list of things.

Music stage 1: This badge has 4 elements. Skills, they repeated a tune or song on musical instruments and covered Knowledge and Interest as well. The beavers made a shaker and a drum to practice what they had learnt when they went home.
The beavers performed a new song that they had learnt around the camp fire, to finish of the fun filled day.
I’m sure we all went home signing the baby shark tune.

Michelle Haddon

ADC Beavers

Hornchurch District Cubs Air Rifle Competition 2018

We had a very good turnout for the competition with over 70 Cubs attending. The Cubs attended in 2 age groups Under 9 ¼ and 0ver 9 ¼. The change to the competition this year was that there were no teams and all cubs shot individually. Trophy’s were awarded to the top three scores in each age group. The two highest scores from each group were added together to find the overall group winners. A film and various games with sweets as prizes were run to keep the Cubs not shooting from getting bored. Thanks to all the Leaders that stayed to help run this event.
The scores were:

Bob Wallace ADC Cubs (Events)