A massive well done to our four teams of scouts who successfully completed the Blakfoot hike last weekend. It was the first hike for seven of our scouts and they did superbly. Let’s hope they are just as good at the Cheshire Hike next April 🙂

All eight achieved a Blakfoot Gold for their hike and we’re very proud of them.

I was a little disappointed that they weren’t a bit more exhausted when we collected them from Clitheroe, especially after some of the reports I’d heard from the leadership team about how talkative they all were at night-time!

How much does it take to tire out our scouts?

Chamboree 2014 started on 1st August and finished on the 9th August. That’s eight days of super fun scouting. Within these eight days Cubs, Beavers, Scouts and Explorers visited the site unaware of the fantastic activities prepared for them.
There were many amazing zones to rotate through each day.
These zones were called:
Adventure (a full day at Tatton Park);
City (a full day in Liverpool);
The remaining zones were a half day each and were called:
Global zone (learning about the world);
Blast zone (improving your aim);
Creative zone (getting creative and making souvenirs);
Xperiment zone (experimenting with science);
I.R.I.S. zone (super hero training zone);
Survival zone (can you survive in the wild?).
Each night there was an event such as: film night or the UV disco. This meant that there was never a dull evening.
The highlights for me were I.R.I.S. zone, Survival zone and the UV disco.
The best activity in IRIS was the washing machine – where we all got foamed, but the zorbs were brilliant fun as well. When we were knocked over, we looked ridiculous with our legs flailing in the air, until the zorb referees turned us the right way up again.
Survival was brilliant too. We sheltered from the rain inside a tent whilst we made survival bracelets from paracord. When we emerged, the rain had stopped. Some of us built dens; others made their own tent pegs using saws and knives; some learned how to prepare and cook “wild” food and tasted rabbit and pigeon. All of us played on the giant pioneering carousel.

A massive WELL DONE to our Scouts. This was the first time our group has joined in with this District Event, and our Scouts came second.

More importantly they had a brilliant time, learned new skills, demonstrated their fantastic teamwork and leadership skills AND were tired after only 24 hours of activities.

Who would have thought it possible to tire Scouts out so quickly, they were still a little lethargic on Monday – I hope the leaders have all recovered too!!!!

Six lucky Scouts had the experience of a lifetime on a trip to Norway. Sailing, rowing, fishing, swimming, cooking on open fires and making lots of new friends

They had an early start to catch the train from Crewe, various delays saw them running through the airport to catch their plane!!!  The English Scouts slept onboard the Anna Minde on Thursday evening before the Norwegian leaders turned up on Friday and claimed their bunks.

On Friday, the Norwegian Scouts arrived and helped to set up camp on the island. It must have taken a long time as that evening they were fishing from the powerboats by torchlight.

Becalmed on the island on Saturday, the team amused themselves with geo-caching, rowing, learning to splice, fishing and driving powerboats.

Sunday saw them meeting the ornithology team, and a few birds, before crossing the sound to the fortress. Then it was time to leave the camp and return for some home hospitality from their new Norwegian friends.

There was just time for a trip round the old town on Monday and joining in with a Norwegian scout meeting before taking their farewells on Tuesday morning.

Someone should explain to Ryanair that they flew past Manchester to get to Dublin – maybe they should provide parachutes and save the four hour wait in Dublin airport.

A huge THANK YOU to Simon for coming out of leader retirement to lead the trip.