On Friday 30th March the Beavers went to the Catalyst Museum in Widnes for a sleepover with other Beaver Scout colonies from Warrington East District.

This was the first opportunity for our Beavers to have a “Night away” for a couple of years.

After arriving we travelled upstairs in a “great glass elevator”, it was quite exciting being able to look down and see how far up we were. One of the leaders from another colony was too frightened to go that high so used the stairs instead!!!

The Beavers left their bags in the observatory on the fourth floor, and went to explore the museum. There was a room with lots of games and puzzles, an exhibition and a huge room with lots of science experiments to try.  Each colony was given a booklet with a quiz, we finished ours and so all our Beavers earned their experiment badge.

We enjoyed supper in the catalyst café, and then watched a 3D interactive film. The Beavers had to press buttons to vote for their favourites to design a future car. At the end the car flew out of the screen at us.

After all this excitement it was time to get ready for bed. Andrea helped the Beavers to get their sleeping bags ready and to brush their teeth. Laura had a projector screen and the Beavers were allowed to stay up late to watch a film until they felt tired enough to sleep. Amazingly all the Beavers were asleep before 11pm.

Next morning it was very light in the observatory since there were no curtains; nevertheless the Beavers managed to stay in bed until after 7.30am. It was very exciting to wake up in a new place and look out across the river.

The Beavers ate their breakfast of bacon sandwiches in the café,  After cleaning their teeth, they packed their bags and  brought everything downstairs in the lift.

There was just time for the Beavers to enjoy playing on the playgrounds outside. The Assistant County Commissioner for Beavers came along to see everyone, although most of the Beavers were too busy to talk to him!

We all met up before going back to the 3D cinema for another show. Next we moved into the laboratory and everyone made a key ring from a special plastic that can be melted in hot water and moulded into new shapes.

Thank you to Andrea for coming with us and to Laura (Assistant District Commissioner for Beavers) for organising the whole event.