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

AGM 2019

Hornchurch District held their AGM on Wednesday 4th Sept at Gwillcoo.

The meeting commenced with Louisa asking everyone to stand for a minute silence for Janet Winslow. Dean Jefferys read an Eulogy to Janet and Louisa explained her family had agreed to a trophy in her memory, to be presented each year to someone from within the District who like Janet, is willing to go and help another Group or section, in times of need.

Debbie Carter officially stood down as District Commissioner and thanked everyone for their help and support during her time in the role. Louisa thanked Debbie for all her hard work, dedication and time that she had spent over the last 4 years helping to make Hornchurch the great District it is and went on to present Debbie with some gifts from the District and Groups, and wishing her well

Lee Clark, GLNE County Commissioner also thanked Debbie before investing Lee Copleston as the incoming District Commissioner for Hornchurch.
Louisa then asked Dean Jefferies to present the following awards

.
Young Leader of the Year
Charlie Lovegrove - 2nd Squirrels Heath
Jackson Memorial Trophy
This award is awarded to a group in the District which we feel has excelled in all aspects of Scouting and this year was presented to 2nd Upminster.
Ron Sorrell Shield
This award is presented to a leader who has been outstanding throughout the year and the recipient was Tony Pearce of 2nd Elm Park.
Dean then went on to present the following:
David Rogers – Commissioner Commendation
Glenn Daniels- Commissioner Commendation
Louisa Golder- Commissioner Commendation
Pink Parachute Pottery Shop- Commissioner Commendation.

Lee Clark County Commissioner then was asked to present Paul Fix on behalf of the Chief Scout with
The Bar to the Award of Merit

The formal part of the meeting closed and we then went on to have a short presentation from Roger Stannard from the new Water Activities Team which was launched earlier this year and he promoted the benefits the young people will get from this and asked for adults to come forward and assist the team.

Dean Jefferys and Tony Pearce then concluded the evening with the three young people, Dexter, Briony and Vienna, who attended the World Jamboree from Hornchurch this Summer as we heard of their experiences and watched a slide show from selection to arrival back in the UK. This way we could all see the fun they had, not just while they were in the USA and Canada but over over the last 18 months.

First event for the Water Team

 The water ommittee got going with it's first sailing day at Stubbers.

We have been fortunate to enter into a partnership with a family Sunday sailing club that enables us to take a group of scouts out each week.
The hope is that as scouts become proficient they may join the cub and become even better sailors.

There are 40 or so boats to sail of 5 or 6 different types. From single handed boats to larger Wayfairers as per the photo.

We hope we can find leaders or parents to join in and see how far we can take this project.

We have penned in two dates for leaders to have a go.

Saturday 27th July for kayaking and 15th Sept for leaders sailing

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Cubs District Soapbox Derby 2019

What a packed event with 73 Cubs attending and 23 teams racing.

It was busy, a bit chaotic and karts everywhere. A big thank you to all the leaders who gave up their time to make this event happen.
It was a dry day but a bit over cast but the rain kept away. The biggest upset was for the leaders when the electric urn decided to give up the ghost and die. No more tea and coffee for the rest of the day.

A few of the newer groups to the event found out that their Karts were not quite up to the challenge and a number of wheels went astray. But there were plenty of carts to borrow and it did not stop the fun. Be prepared is the moto for next year. Kart building techniques were learnt by some.

This was some comments from 3rd Rainham Cubs about the event “had a blast” “it's amazing” “fantastic great fun” “Thanks for having us” that is telling it all, the Cubs had a good time.

A big thank you to Nelms School for allowing us to use the playground and facilities.

With so many Cubs attending we had to drop some races as we did not have enough time to get them all in.

Lets see if we can have even more Cubs for next Year with three races running at the same time. Cub leaders and parents get building those karts.

 Bob Wallace
Assistant District Commissioner Cub Scouts (Events)

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