Christmas Hike SATURDAY 19th December

Okay here are details of the Christmas hike.

We will be meeting outside Ashgate Croft School and leaving at 9.30am sharp on the Saturday morning.
Please ensure you have all the correct gear, waterproofs, warm clothing, decent footwear, packed lunch & warm drink. Anyone not deemed to have suitable clothing will not be allowed to take part.
We will then drive in convoy to Castleton where the walk will start around the Mam Tor peak. It is anticipated to last approx 4 hrs.

Transport.
The leaders will be taking their own cars and will accomodate passengers where we can, but we ask that parents can help out with the transportation. If you can offer a lift it would be appreciated. Parents are welcome to come along, but please make sure you have suitable clothing also.

See you all Saturday

Meeting Friday 11th December

Hi folks
Don't forget this Friday is the Christmas party night.
You are welcome to bring food and games for a bring & eat and play night.
Don't forget this is the last Friday night meeting before Christmas.
The following week will be our annual Christmas hike on the Saturday morning so lets have a good turnout this year.
Don't forget you will need warm clothing, wet weather gear, hat, gloves, a packed lunch and a warm drink and of course a day sack. Make sure you have suitable footwear. We will be doing a kit inspection before we set off. If you don't have suitable clothing then unfortunately you will not be able to join in. At this time of year the weather can change quite quickly in the Peaks and can get very cold and wet. The last thing we want is for you to get wet and cold and be poorly for Christmas so make sure you have the gear listed above.

The program for next term is now online and available to view HERE

We will be losing a few Scouts to the Explorers at the end of this term and would like to wish you all continued success with your Scouting experience.

I would also just like to thank everyone for their involvement this year, both staff and Scouts, and all the parents for their continued support, and hope you all have a good Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Regards,
Skip and the team.

Remembrance Sunday

A big thank you to all those that turned up to the service on Sunday. The turnout was good and we have had very positive comments from members of the congregation about how please they were to see our Beavers, Cubs and Scouts there.

We performed a short drama showing the importance of peace and sharing, and several of our members also presented readings and poems.

There are some photos of the service on the St Thomas' Church website - click the pic to view them.

Winners!

A big 'congratulations!' goes out to the two teams ('Rother' and 'Hippos(!)') who took part in the County Rampage competition held at Drum Hill Scout Camp this weekend. Both teams did excellently, with one winning the first place trophy.

The rest of the weekend was taken up by an action packed programme of activities, including shooting, archery, abseiling, climbing, bouldering and a widegame. The aim of the weekend was to demonstrate the possibilities of 'lightweight camping', using only small ultralight tents and Trangia Stoves. This brought up some interesting menu choices on the Saturday evening - tomato soup with chicken noodles anyone?

Photos from the weekend are, as ever, available at Padge's flickr site (just click the pic above to get straight there). If you see any of yourself that you would like a 12 x 8 (approx A4 sized) print of, then remember the file name and ask Padge next time you see him.

I'm off for a bath and a pizza now - cya in two weeks!
Padge

Friday 18th September

Well last night we had 27 Scouts turn up for the wide game at HolmeBrook Valley Park.
A good night was had and enjoyed by all who turned up.
A special thanks goes out to Padge who arranged the wide game and obviously to the rest of the leaders and young leaders who turned up to help.

I am just in the process of listing all the new patrols on the forum so take time to have a look if you missed last weeks meeting.

I have had seven replies for the camp in October. On the forms it says we can take 10, but that has been increased to 12. That will be the limit though.


Skip

Friday 18th September meeting

Don't forget this Friday we will be meeting at the top car park at Holmebrook Valley park at 7.30pm for a wide game. No need to come in uniform, wear some old clothes because you might end up a bit dirty.
If you're not sure where to meet give either Padge or me a ring to confirm.

Re the scout camp in October I now have 7 names. We only have 10 places available so if you want to come make sure you let me know asap. I will bring some forms on Friday with details.

Skip

Annual Camp Photos

Now this is Scouting at the cutting edge - photos online before we're even back from camp! Click the pic to see the full gallery:-

Annual Camp Update

Just a quick update from Padge who is now safely (but unhappily) back in civilisation (still, at least I can have a cup of tea without Kieran meithering me!)

Tuesday saw the Scouts out cycling and wind surfing (although by all accounts there was more wind than surfing!), whilst Wednesday's day-trip was ice skating and swimming at Doncaster Dome. The evening activites were 'camp olympics' featuring hammer (mallet) throwing, three legged race and tennis-ball-and-spoon racing; and team manhunt. And unlike the England ashes squad, we didn't let rain stop play!

Thursday's challenge for Ben is "can we get to Alton Towers and back without losing anyone?"... so I'm sure there's be a report for Thursday and Friday once Skip and team get back at the weekend.

Yearly camp

This year the week long camp is at Walesby.
We are currently there, and so far everyone is enjoying it. There is a full range of activities, yesterday we had a dip in the pool, where GSL Ben somehow found himself taking an unscheduled swim!!!
Today the Scouts have been shooting, doing archery and are currently busy in the lake area raft building.
Tomorrow we are off to Rother Valley to have a day sailing. Wednesday we are going to the Doncaster Dome, for ice skating and swimming, then on Thursday we are going to Alton Towers for the day, Friday we stay on site for yet more activities and then home Saturday.
The weather hasn't been to bad yet and spitirts are still high.

I have now authorised Padge (assistant scout leader) to be able to post entries on here so hopefully there will soon be some photographs of the weekend.

Skip

Abseiling this coming Saturday

Don't forget, if you want to come abseiling this weekend you must let me know tonight by either telephone, email or on the forum by adding your name to the list on the relevant post.
We need to know numbers for safety issues and also so we're not hanging around at the meeting place "just in case" you were going to turn up.
Please also note the new meeting place (it's easier to find), it's all in the forum post. If your parents aren't sure where it is get them to ring me.

Skip

Bear Grylls will be our new Chief Scout

Action man Bear Grylls will be appointed our new Chief Scout in July when Peter Duncan's tenure is up. He will take on the role for the next 5 years.

3rd Brampton (St Thomas') Scout Group is now a registered charity

We have just had confirmation that our Scout group has now been registered as a charity.
The Registration No. is 11229602.

Skip

New program online

Just to update you the new program for Spring is online on the main web pages and also available from download here

Regards, Skip

A cold camping weekend according to the forecast

Well tomorrow afternoon there are four leaders and ten scouts off to Brunts Farm in Grindleford for a conservation weekend. The plan is that we go out with the conservation rangers and assist in all conservation type work, ranging from repairing dry stone walls to clearing river beds! I can't see us getting in many rivers but it still promises to be a good weekend.
I'm going to take a few bits of video footage when we're out and about so hopefully wil post some bits on here.
....now where did I put that extra sleeping bag and hot water bottle!!!

3rd Brampton Scouts make National Scouting magazine

In the latest issue of Scouting magazine there is a 2 page spread dedicated to 3rd Brampton Scouts. If you don't have a copy you can download a pdf version here
Makes for an interesting read.

Next week we will be at Brunts Barn Grindleford for a conservation camp weekend, hope the snow's all gone by then.

Skip

Podcasts

I have been experimenting the last couple of weeks with producing a podcast.
Well, i've had a great response from the two episodes i've uploaded so decided I will try and make it a regular thing.
You can go to iTunes, and do a search for Scout Leader Minute, and it will bring up the link to download. You can then subscribe to the podcast so iTunes will update each time you log on with new episodes.
It's still in the early stages for sound quality etc but with a bit more practice it should end up being quite good.
Try it out, you never know you might even enjoy it.

Regards,
Skip

Our Forum is now online

I have just finished putting our very own forum online. You can get to it by following the link on the main web site. or by clicking here

You will need to register to post new topics. This is to stop spam messages being posted.
It only takes a minute or so to register. Once registered you can post away. You will need a seprate password to enter the scouts only, beaver only, cubs only sections. Just send an email requesting one. These sections are for announcements specific to individual sections at 3rd Brampton where only the relevant authorised people will be able to view.

Please use the forum and check it regularly. It's for your benefit.

Hope you enjoy it and find it useful.

Regards, Skip

New program online

Happy New Year to you all, I hope you've had a good christmas and are now looking forward to a new scouting Year.
We will be having quite a few new members joining us over the next few weeks, coming up from the cubs so please go out of your way to make them all feel really welcome, remember back to your first days in the scouts, lots of new faces, not knowing many people etc. Remember if they need any help, please volunteer.

Okay, so the new program has now been uploaded, you should have already had a paper copy but check with the online one regularly for any last minute updates.

Please remind your parents that your term subs are due this week, and a reminder to those of you who haven't yet returned your cameras, next week will be the very last week to get them back. If you haven't returned them by then you will not be included in the assessments for the photography badge.

This week we will be announcing the new patrols and patrol leaders and assistant patrol leaders. The points system will be starting this week from scratch, so best behaviour, turnout and effort is expected to get as many points for your patrol as possible. We will be having a term patrol winner and a yearly patrol winner. There will be good prizes for the winning patrol so do your best and good luck!

See you all Friday.

Skip