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Poppies and Cenotaph

Poppy Selling

A very big thank you on behalf of The British Legion,to members of Active Support,the 7th,25th and 13th groups for the hours they put in at Waitrose in Portswood selling poppies. Thank you all very much, I will publish the amount collected when I have it.

Cenotaph

Well done to everyone who attended the service at the Cenotaph today. You were all very smart and well-behaved and a credit to our District, The Scout Movement and yourselves. A special thank you to Akela, Kate Budd and her two Cubs for laying the wreath on behalf of the Scouts. Give yourselves a pat on the back you all did well. I’m very proud of you.

George Longhurst
District Team

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In Action

Explorers Complete DofE Bronze Expedition

On the last weekend of October, 9 Explorer Scouts from The Southampton District put on their hike boots and rucksacks to embark on their Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Award Expedition.  The two teams completed their training and a practice expedition earlier in the month and spent several evenings planning routes and preparing route cards.  Each team had to carry everything they needed for the two days, including tents, first aid equipment, cookers, food, and all their personal kit.  

The Explorers set off from Ferny Croft on Saturday morning, navigating across the forest to arrive at Wilverley campsite mid-afternoon.  After cooking a hot meal they settled down to good night’s rest.  On the Sunday morning the teams packed away their equipment, making sure they left the site spotless and continued their Expedition to Pickets Post.  As they navigated through the forest they gathered information and photographs ready for a group presentation, which will complete the requirements of the D of E Expedition.

We were lucky to have dry and mild weather for the weekend, with an added bonus of an extra hour of sleep, due to the change of the clocks.

We will continue to support the Explorers with the other sections of the D of E Award:  Volunteering, Skill, and physical, and hope to be able to present their Bronze Awards along with Chief Scout’s Awards soon.

As well as all 9 Explorer Scouts completing their Expedition; Explorer leader, Jake Toomer, has successfully passed his assessment as a D of E Expedition Assessor.  We now have 4 qualified D of E Expedition Assessors in the District who look forward to seeing more groups next year.

Thanks to Mark for assessing Jake’s Assessed Assessment. Also thanks to Vicky and Rozy for acting as D of E Supervisors on the practice and Assessed Expedition.

Amanda Toomer,  AESL Endeavour

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In Action

Cerebrating Cubs 100 at the home of UK scouting!

Over 120 cubs and 50 leaders travelled to Gilwell Park on the weekend of the 10th September to celebrate 100 years of cub scouting with a Birthday Party and many adventurous activities like the 3G swing!

It was a real team effort with Network catering for us and Active Support helping with transport.

The cubs had an amazing time and we commemorated our visit by leaving a stone in the promise path for the cubs to find when they visit Gilwell in the future.

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In Action

Scouts shine at activity hike

Hello Autumn! You simply can’t beat spending time in the forest at this time of year. The changing of the seasons brings about some stunning colours and wildlife. We love it and the Scouts section makes the most of it by holding many activity days in The New Forest this term, starting with Maddison Hunt.

Earlier this month, teams of Scouts aged between 10.5 and 12.5 hiked around Wilverley Inclosure. Along the way they stumbled across challenges to complete by working as a team and using their initiative and skills.

This year we made pancakes, built towers, constructed bridges and administered first-aid. The sun shined and our young people outshone themselves… Well done.

Congratulations to everyone who took part! It’s a huge achievement. This years Trophy was won by 1st Aldermoor.ctytljgwiaazbyj

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In Action

7th Southampton Beavers Sleepover

Beavers from 7th had a sleepover in hall on Saturday 15th October. They all gained the Communicator Activity Badge learning codes, sending emails and making sure they knew the home phone number. A bug hotel was made and bird feeders. Due the wet weather they had painting competition which the leaders also joined in with and made paper aeroplanes and had competition to see which went the furthest. Time was also enjoyed with our very large box of Lego and dragon flies were made from pegs and pipe cleaners. A very large breakfast was eaten on Sunday morning, could not keep up with the large amounts of toast consumed. They made their own sandwiches for lunch had one last game with the Lego before parents arrived to collect them. Everyone went home tired but happy, that included the leaders!

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In Action

Jamboree on the Internet

18 Beavers, Cubs and Scouts from the 29th Immaculata took part in the largest Scouting event across the world, Jamboree on the Internet. Joining over 1 million scouts from across 150 countries, they made live video contact with Scouts from all across the world, including America, Mexico, Canada, India, Finland, Australia, Italy, Bangladesh, Columbia, as well as more local Scouts across the UK.

Those attending took part in all forms of communication – including text-based chat, video-based chat and video conferences, with a chance to talk with their new friends about Scouting in their country, where they come from and who else they had already met throughout the event. Every participating group was given a special ID, a JamPuzz ID, which they could swap and collect, incorporating countries and regions which they could tick off as part of a Bingo game as they made links across the world. Making use of the facilities available, some also worked towards their Digital Maker badge, making use of Scratch, the online development platform, to build their own games and distribute them with others who they had met online.

Embracing modern online technologies, Scouts also made use of Minecraft to connect to the digital online world of JOTI where they could build and explore an online Scouting world, in addition to communicating with those occupying this online world.

In addition, they had the chance to sample JOTA, Jamboree on the Air, by listening to both morse code transmissions and vocal greetings by other groups over amateur radio. Although without their own license and facilities to transmit themselves, it still gave a good chance to see this exciting and older part of the Jamboree.

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In Action

Summit Camp Photo Gallery

Scouts, Explorers and Network members have just returned from an epic weekend in the mountains in Snowdonia, they even had decent weather this year! Thanks to 25th ESU who shared these pictures. Also, check out some other photos over on Google Photos and Instagram and share us your photos if you were there #summitcamp

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In Action

Canoe Club White Water Trip

Far, far too early one morning last December three quite sleepy Scouts met at the 25th, helped load kayaks onto cars and set off into the pitch darkness.

This was the Canoe Club’s first white water day trip. The Scouts had all passed a PaddleSport Discovery course (equivalent to the 2* award) earlier that year. With the techniques from this course under their belts and bright yellow helmets firmly wedged upon their noggins, we were able to treat them to a slightly more exciting and demanding river than can be experienced at the Wye Valley camps.

Two vehicles travelled 130 miles from Southampton to Exemoor in Devon. Our trip down the river Barle started at the ancient Tarr Steps and finished at the village of Dulverton. We paddled for three to four hours, the water was excellent, there being plenty of it, with continuous grade 2 rapids from start to finish. The Barle provided some great autumnal scenery and we even found a rather excellent spot for a picnic on the banks.

The Scouts all paddled brilliantly. As leaders we could tell they were all nervous at first, but the wobbles soon gave way to big grins as they began to confidently smash through bigger and bigger stoppers and even surf on waves.

Continue reading “Canoe Club White Water Trip”
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Internal

The Future of Biblins, Wye Valley

Cub scouts on Biblin campsite bridge, Gloucestershire

For those who have visited the campsite at Biblins, Wye Valley, the future of the campsite is in question.

The campsite now faces closure unless they are able to secure funding to upgrade the site. To help achieve this, they have sent out a survey to collect views on the site, along with more details about the situation. You can find both here

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Training

Module 38 – Skills for Residential Experiences

1st / 2nd April 2017 @ Ferny Crofts. This is an additional ‘skills’ module which expands on Module 16 (Introduction to Residential Experiences), and is also very useful to those seeking to become a Nights Away Advisor .

The weekend is an ideal opportunity to learn from experienced trainers/scouters and from other delegates attending. This is an ideal ‘practical skills’ weekend to get leaders thinking about ‘the OUT in Scouting’ and learn in a safe environment.

There is also a Module 16 being run on the Friday evening (31st March) at Ferny Crofts. There are still places available, so please use the link to book: Adult Training Forms. For more information on these modules go to the Adult Training Modules.