Posts Tagged ‘Beaver Colony’

At this year’s Family Camp, I managed to video a few of the activities.

In the video you can see the camp site in the rain (just for a change), the Beavers and Cubs making their pirate equipment, the BBQ and finally the full camp fire.

The video lasts about 40 minutes and does take a moment or two to load when you click play, so please be patient!

There is a shorter version on YouTube – click here

Last night was the Group’s Annual General Meeting.

As well as the ‘formal’ stuff, awards were given out. It was pleasing to see three Beavers get their Chief Scouts Bronze Award and the Cub of the Year Award presented (we really need to have Beaver and Scout awards as well!).

But it was also pleasing to see a A Chief Scout’s Commendation for Good Service given to the Group Treasurer.

Congratulations to you all.

More photos in the Gallery

On the weekend of 28th – 30th May the Group held its second Family Camp (our first was for our Centenary in 2008). This time we stayed at Barnswood Scout Camp, which is near to Rudyard Lake.

Everyone arrived on the Friday evening (the majority of families having put their tents up the previous nights) and we soon started the weekend’s programme. First was a walk around the campsite as many people had never visited Barnswood before. This was followed by one of Paul’s special wide games! After this chaos subsided, it was time for supper and bed – where did the evening go?

Explaining the Wide Game

Saturday morning brought the rain! After cooking breakfast for 105 people (the most we’ve ever had on a camp!), we split into two groups. The Scouts and their parents lit fires and did some pioneering, while the Beavers, Cubs and their parents went down to Rudyard to go on the Lake on Bell Boats. To say it rained a lot would be an understatement and we got wetter from the rain than the lake!

Bell Boating

After lunch the Scouts went on the lake and the Beavers and Cubs got themselves painted with pirate faces and learned how to make secret messages, how compasses work and made their own telescopes.

Creating Secret Messages

By this time the rain had stopped and we prepared the BBQ. The BBQ was a huge success and we must have cooked well over 150 burgers and sausages!

Men BBQing (Rachael supervising obviously)!

Then it was time for part 2 of the wide game, a general knowledge quiz with questions for both adults and children (can you name the Titanic’s sister ships and do you know which country Dora the Explorer comes from?) and of course a campfire. The camp fire saw fine performances from a group of the Beavers and one of the Scouts did a solo turn. The rain even held off for most of it and just came on at the end. Then time for supper and bed.

The Campfire

Sunday began a bit more leisurely and after breakfast and flag break we held a Scouts Own and then invested one of the Beavers.

Beaver Investiture

Then it was a few quick games and activities, then packing and tidying, lunch, more packing and tidying, the close of the camp and home!

More photos are in the gallery.

All three sections of the Group have been busy recently.

The Scouts spent an evening a Kidsgrove Group’s climbing wall.

The Cubs spent an evening investigating Westport Lake.

And the Beavers spent an afternoon playing football.

You can see photos of all these activities in the Gallery.

The Beavers, Cubs and Scouts have been bag packing at Marks & Spencer today and we’ve made a whopping £579.12!

Many thanks to all who came and huge thanks to Sharon who organised it and Natasha who stayed all day!

On the 5th February 2010, three of the Colonies Beavers recieved their Bronze Chief Scout Award badges and certificates. They have all worked extremely hard to gain this award and will hopefully continue with this attitude in Cubs to gain their Silver Chief Scout Award. Well done from all of the Leaders!! BRAVOOOOOOOOOO

Last week the Beavers were visited by the Police! They were visited, not because they had  been naughty, but for the Friendship Challenge! The Beavers even went home with a goodie bag!

See more photos in the gallery

All the Beavers, Cubs, Scouts, Leaders and adult helpers from 1st Porthill Scout Group would like to wish everyone a very Happy Christmas and a Happy New Year!

The Beavers arrived at 10.30am on the Saturday morning and luckily they had no problems getting there. All the Beavers were shown their bunks for the weekend and were given a chance, along with their parents to have a look around the building.

After a quick tour of the site and a juice break, it was right down to the first activity. This was a tracking signs walk organised by the Explorers around the site and despite the rain it was a fun walk. Once we got back it was time for dinner.

Next up, it was time to try some fire lighting. This was going to be difficult with all of the wet wood and the wind. But as true scouts we managed to get two out of three fires going and were able to cook our vegetable kebabs to perfection. By this time the sun was shining and the Beavers enjoyed having eating their food cooked on the open fires. After a quick tidy up it was back to the building for the next activity…

…Placemat making, lots of colouring and stickers, to make pictures showing what they had done at camp. The next part the Beavers were all really excited about, the trip to the shop, lots of sweets, chocolate and souvenirs to choose from.

Once the shopping was done, it was time to pitch some tents and once that was done they had some free time on the field.

Tea time, Spaghetti Bolognese followed by cake and custard. After tea it was time for a wide game, in the dark. The beavers loved going out in the dark with their torches looking for hidden CD’s. The fireworks were next and they were beautiful and the camp fire that the Beavers had all been practicing for was brilliant. We were joined by the Cubs from Porthill, Berryhill and Stafford, when it was over the Beavers were ready for Supper and then bed.

Sunday morning was a rush to get the Beavers up and washed, ready to have their full cooked breakfasts. After Breakfast it was time to get Uniforms on and to pack up all the Kit before the presentation of all of the badges and the prizes for the winning team from the wide game.

The rest of the photos are in the Gallery.

Here is a useful video of how to tie a friendship knot in your neckerchief.

UPDATE 09/06/2010: Just to point out that we didn’t make this video, but it was created by the fine Scouts of the 3rd Ware Scout Group in Hertfordshire. Please take a look at their site and tell them how good their video is!

Back in June, the Beavers and Cubs did a sponsored walk around Westport Lake to raise money for the PDSA (see here).

All the money is finally in and counted and we’re pleased to announce that they raised a whopping £485.64 for the charity!

Well done to all who took part.

Tonight Rachael and Jodie were invested as Beaver Leader and Assistant Beaver Leader respectively. Many congratulations to them both.

More photos are in the gallery.

How do you have a beach party when the nearest beach is over 50 miles away? You make your own!

The Beavers decided that for their last meeting before the summer holidays they would have a beach party. So they had lots of goodies to eat and sand was specially imported so they could have a sandcastle making competition.

The winners

After the the sandcastle competition, there was a conga around the hall and other silly dancing too!

At the end of the party two new Beavers were welcomed to the Colony by our resident Beaver Ontario.

More photos are in the Gallery.

Last night we held the Group’s AGM.

As well as the usual item we had a couple of special ones.

When it came time to elect the Group Executive Committee each of the committee members got given a hat to show who they are and what jobs they did. Nick ended up wearing three! Group Scout Leader, Group Chairman & Group Secretary. He’s been relieved of one of these already.

After all the official stuff was done, we had some awards to give out. The first, and most important, was the Cub of the Year Award. This is given every year to one of the older Cubs who will be moving on to the Troop soon. The award is given to the Cub who excels in all they do throughout the year.

The next award was a surprise as Sharon, our Cub Leader was given her 25 Years Service Award. The District Commissioner gave her the badge and certificate and the Group gave her a bunch of flowers, a framed photo of all the Leaders and a bottle of wine! The flowers were presented by David Wood who recruited her to be an Assistant all those years ago, the photo was presented by the Cub who got the Cub of the Year Award and the wine by Nick as Group Scout Leader. She was most surprised we’d done anything!

Next came John our Assistant Scout Leader who was presented his Woodbadge. This now means we have 5 Leaders in the Group with their Woodbadge – the most we’ve ever had!

Finally Nick our GSL has been awarded the Award for Merit.

Well done to all and the rest of the photos are in the Gallery.

Thanks to the Beaver and three Cubs who turned up today to help at the Church’s summer fair. We raised £33 for the Church funds.