The section goes from strength to strength; with a young person membership of 56 girls and boys, Discovery and Endeavour continue to grow. This year we have done our best to deliver a youth led programme, and have executed a number of things that have come out of last Sixers’ forum including TOP SIX Awards, The aquarium sleepover and much more…
We love a camp.
In August we took 18 cubs on a week-long summer camp to Buddens Scout Adventure Centre in Wareham. The Cubs got to kayak, raft and canoe on the campsite lake. Earning time on the water and learning some fantastic skills such as paddling, knot tying and teamwork. We took to the cliff top paths of the Jurassic coast and traced the routes of ancient smugglers, even finding a bounty of our own in the shape of ice cream at Lulworth cove. Cubs also enjoyed an Australian themed day honing boomerangs, a fantastic activity which invoked great conversation and a fantastic level of concentration. It wouldn’t be an Australian themed day without going down under, which we did in an artificial cave network, before baking Lamingtons in cardboard box ovens and of course a BBQ.
As a section we offer lots of opportunity for nights away and next up was our annual hike-over, a popular sleepover where Cubs hike, in this case from Romsey, back to the scout HQ for an evening of fun and games.
It’s not just the Cubs that go camping with us as we also offer a Cub and Parent camp in the autumn; this year’s theme was the wild west. The Cubs and their Parents threw themselves in wholeheartedly, taking part in everything from tomahawk throwing, crate stacking and the zip wire as well as making dream catchers and getting involved in some fun and messy games. The parents particularly enjoyed spending two lovely evenings around the campfire after ‘’most’’ of the Cubs had finally gone to sleep.
Sleeping with Sharks was up next. This was a fantastic sleepover at the national marine aquarium in Plymouth, where we were joined by Cubs and leaders from across the district to enjoy this very different sleepover experience. Please take a look at the report below.
The last camp of 2017 was the now traditional Cub Christmas sleepover. This time round our sleepover began with a trip to Pantomime at the Mayflower with a cameo from Redwolf! The next day was filled with Christmas crafts and games and a lovely Christmas dinner, which for the first time was cooked on site in the group’s fantastic new kitchen.
2018 has started well with the most informative Sixer’s sleepover we’ve had to date, which has helped us shape a lot of this year’s activity including some smart ideas for fundraising, award systems, and activities.
In May we trialed a new camp, which we called Wolf camp. 37 Cubs signed up for this one night camp where the Cubs hiked from Beaulieu Road Station to Ferny Crofts carrying all but their bedrolls. At camp, the Cubs enjoyed backwoods cooking, tracking, puzzle solving and took on the adventure course. They helped put up their own tents and the older Cubs also helped put up their tarp shelters which they would sleep under for the night. It was a lovely camp enjoyed we believe by all.
We have been busy.
Not everything we do is a complete success and our attempt to make an igloo from milk bottles was always ambitious in scale, but the Cubs finally made the decision to abort the project. They did continue to do some other Antarctica related activities in order to earn the HSX Antarctica badge.
The Cubs helped to make some amazing wooden reindeer to sell at the Santa run, however these amazing creations were found to be far too appealing to parents who bought them before they ever got to the Santa run.
Something that always gets talked about is our zombie wide game, so earlier this year we took the Cubs to Ferny Crofts to clear out the zombies. I must speak to Ferny Crofts about an award for this service as there always seems to be plenty of zombies there when we arrive and none when we leave.
We walked between two local bodies of water in aid of Water Aid. Our walk was one of many organised Scout walks for the charity ensuring that safe clean water can be made accessible to those affected by drought and other awful conditions which make access to water difficult. We raised £50 for the charity.
We have taken part in several district competitions since the last AGM, including the Brainbox challenge, football, and the swimming gala.
Our Cubs always surpass themselves at parades and this year was no different, a very smart turnout for the Remembrance parade and service in Totton and again by those who attended the St George’s Day service. I would once again like to congratulate those cubs and indeed all the young people in all the sections who took an active part in the service, praise for you all was of the highest order.
What’s next?
There is already so much planned. Summer Camp this year is in Almondsbury, just outside Bristol with a theme of ‘One Camp, Two Countries’ and activities on both sides of the River Severn including hiking, cycling, climbing, archery, shooting and much, much more.
We also have a magic themed Cub and parent camp planned, hike-over and Christmas sleepover. We have a BIG rounders game lined up against the 4th Eling Sea Cubs at the end of this term.
We have yet to write our autumn and winter programmes but I’m sure with the Cubs input we will be having a great deal of fun and learning some all important ‘skills for life’.
New Forest North Cubs visit the National Aquarium, Plymouth
Following a Pack Forum at the 5th, one idea that came up was to do a sleepover in a museum and after some research t
he idea of sleeping at the National Aquarium was born. Due to minimum number requirements for exclusive use it was decided to offer this experience to the whole district. This saw a contingency from Lyndhurst, Copythorne, Colbury, Eling and Testwood take up the opportunity.
Two coaches left the district, packed with Cubs and their leaders for a night ‘Sleeping with the Sharks’. When we arrived we were shown the area we would be sleeping; under the watchful eye of the inhabitants of the Eddystone Reef tank, which included Bullhuss and Smoothhound sharks, as well as fish we are more accustomed to seeing battered
and served with chips.
Speaking of food this was our next port of call, the cafe where we were fed and watered in preparation of our twilight
adventures with the creatures of the deep. After eating we split off into two groups to explore the aquarium. Our guides gave us fantastic interactive and amusing talks about the sea life we encountered along the way from octopuses to Clown fish.
The last tank we visited before settling down for the night was the shark tank; this was truly one of the highlights. The
Atlantic tank is the largest tank at the aquarium and home to some very large sharks such as the 2.5m Lemon shark
and the 2m + Sand and Nurse sharks. The tank is also home to the only Spotted eagle rays in Europe, Barracuda
and other large fish. It is also home to Friday the green turtle and a full-size WWII Seaplane replica. The sharks
were fantastic and the Nurse and Sand sharks as nocturnal hunters were particularly active.
After our tours, we then made our way back to the Eddystone tank to make preparations to sleep in the large auditorium. A screen was dropped in front of the tank and Finding Dory was projected onto it, whilst ice cream and popcorn was served as a midnight feast; which the Cubs took back to their sleeping bags to eat.
In the morning we packed up our things made our way back up to the cafe for breakfast, then following a quick stop to the gift shop for those all important aquatic themed souvenirs. We got back on our coaches for the journey home having had a most wonderful adventure.
It is hoped by all involved that we will do another District Cub adventure like this soon.