Kayaking on the River Chelmer

Great day out when the Water Team took six Network Scouts kayaking on the River Chelmer last August. We all met just north of Chelmsford and had a quick introduction to safety and how to kayak. Then on to the water for a three hour paddle ending up back at the start with two locks to negotiate on the way. When we finished, the networkers helped to get the kayaks back on the trailer and then off to the pub the recover.
If any section or group of leaders are interested in going kayaking, just contact the Water Team and we will be pleased to take you out.
Ian. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Or Roger. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Hornchurch District Cubs Archery Competition

The competition was held at 2nd Squirrels Heath HQ, Arnaud Lodge on Saturday 23rd November 2019.
Congratulations to all the winners and well done to all the Cubs that took part.

Results:

Under 9 Highest score
1st Jack 3rd Rainham
2nd Sam 2nd Squirrels Heath
3rd Francis 2nd Elm Park

Under 10 Highest score
1st Jacob 1st Elm Park
2nd Harry 2nd Squirrels Heath
3rd Jack 1st Elm Park

Under 11 Highest score
1st Michael 8th Hornchurch Dragon
2nd Callum 3rd Rainham
3rd William 3rd Rainham

Highest Group Average Scores
Under 9 3rd Rainham
Under 10 1st Elm Park
Under 11 8th Hornchurch Dragon

District Spooks Day

District Spooks Day was held at Thriftwood scout camp and 165 Beavers attended.

Although the morning was a bit chilly the weather was very kind to us and the sun shone all day, happy leaders & beavers.

This year the beavers was asked to bring along recycled rubbish to make a scary monster and what a pile of rubbish we had, the winning group was chosen by Roger Fall and because the beavers had done such a great job, there was 3 winning groups in total.

The beavers were treated to a spooky tour, where they met 2 witches in their house where they answered questions to carry on the path to a wooden house, were they had to put their hand into holes to guess what was in it.

They decorated biscuits, made edible jewelery , made spider and ghosts from lolly pops and made scary finger puppets, they navigated their way through the wood to find on a golden pumpkin.

The Beavers showed their archery skills, bean bag throwing and got very messy with apple bobbing and mummy brains.

At the end of the day the beavers had hot chocolate & cake, then they had a camp fire, were there was a very large fire waiting for us to have camp songs around. All the very creative monsters that the beavers had made was put on the fire with a great big raw from the beavers.

The Beavers was presented with a spooks day badge for their blankets and went home very happy.
As always, the day would not have gone ahead and been very a successful day without the support and help from all the leaders and helpers attending. Not forgetting Sam for a great camp fire and songs.

Michelle Haddon
ADC Beavers

District Scouts Scrapheap Challenge Camp

On the first weekend of October Scouts from  seven troops attend the District scrapheap challenge camp at Thriftwood. The aim was to achieve parts through a range of challenges from wiring a plug to retrieving axels from a forbidden zone and rescuing wheels from high up in the trees. Once all parts had been successfully obtained, the Scouts were on their way to building their karts. Saturday afternoon saw 13 teams build their karts with the evening being spent on customising to their own design using various materials and spray paints. The evening finished off with an Explorer/Young Leader led campfire and a movie before heading off to bed. Despite the heavy rain Saturday night and into Sunday morning, the races went ahead through mud and fields. Apart from a couple of karts returning to the pits for urgent repairs, the races were a huge success. Thank you to everyone who helped make the weekend a success and the leaders at  8th Hornchurch for spending countless hours ordering, planning and preparing the karts in advance. Thank you especially to Rob Saleh for spending several days ensuring we had all the equipment we needed to ensure the camp was successful for everyone.

Here’s to our next event, Laser Tag at Stubbers on Saturday 30^th November!

Dean Claxton

ADC Scouts (Events)

District Cub Camp September 2019

This year’s District Cub Camp was held at Skreens Camp site in Chelmsford where 160 Cubs attended with 45 leaders and young Leaders.

Even though the weather wasn’t great the rain kept off until the night. All the cubs camped outside in tents which was a lot of fun.

Once everyone had arrived on Friday night and settled into their tents we had a camp fire where we all sung lots of camp songs.

Our District Commissioner came along and gave a 20 year service award to Dean Jefferies and made Mick Cross a District leader. The Cubs had sausages in rolls and a drink and went to bed.

On Saturday morning we all got up and had breakfast then the activities began for the day ranging from Kayaking, Crate stacking, Climbing, Badminton, Archery, Air Rifle shooting, wheelchair assault course, raft building, slack line and grass sledging.

On Saturday evening we had dinner followed by a night of Fun at the Fair games which included some of these games,  splat the rat, play your cards right, fish a duck, key in the box, football in the hole and Knock down bottles using a stocking over your head with a weight by swinging your head. After a fun filled night and tiring day we all had supper and went to bed with the rain pouring down on the outside of the tents!

On Sunday morning we all got up had breakfast and then we held a District Sports day with the usual activities of how far can you throw the welly boot, three-legged race, obstacle race, egg & spoon race, sack race, running race and wheel barrow race. All the cubs had lots of fun and enjoyed taking part.

A big thanks to all the leaders and the cooks team who helped make this such an exciting event for the Cubs.

Richard Thorn

District Cub Scout Leader