Armful of Badges for Beaver Scout, Ben
Beaver Scout, Ben Howlett, aged 8 from Alconbury has broken local Scouting records by earning all 18 of the Beaver Scout Activity Badges. This is the first time that a Cambridgeshire Beaver Scout, aged 6 to 8, has achieved all Badges and Awards on offer for the 6 to 8 year old age range.
Now with an armful of awards, Ben is proud of his achievements which range from the Adventure to Safety Badges and Animal Friend to Healthy Eating.
Ben, who as recently moved on from Beavers to Cubs said "The last badge was the Imagination Badge, it was a lot of hard work but I was glad that I managed to finish this last badge before I finished Beavers and went on to Cubs. I had decided that I would challenge myself to gain all the badges possible after I had been awarded the Chief Scouts Bronze Award, so I worked hard and even completed a couple of the badges at home."
Ben is most proud of his Chief Scouts Bronze Award. He completed the Outdoor Challenge where he had to attend a sleepover, visit a place of interest, take part in an outdoor activity and help put up a tent.
"The sleepovers are great and so much fun. I have been on five. I went to Tolmers Wood on Family Camp and got to build a raft and take it on the lake, hoping that it didn't fall apart!"
Activity Badges are an important part of the Beaver Scout Programme and provide an opportunity to reward a young person who has taken part in an activity over a period of time. They raise interest and extend a young person's skills throughout their time in Scouting.
Six of the Badges are 'staged' which means that Ben, as a Beaver Scout has been able to gain the badge appropriate to the level of skill he has reached. It is possible, for example, for a Beaver Scout who is an excellent swimmer, to gain a higher level badge than an older Scout who has just taken up the activity.
Ben's Mum, Helen Howlett explains how Beavers has helped her son to develop as a young person:
"Ben has learnt so much at Beavers and he has gained confidence in achieving goals that he thought that he would never reach. The group is really supportive and we have a great team of leaders, all volunteers. For instance at Family Camp at Tolmers Wood, Ben was happy to join in and build the raft but was no way going to get on it in the lake! He was quite upset about it but the others in the group all supported him and with their help he had a go and found that it was something that he really enjoyed. So I think that what Ben has most enjoyed about Beavers is having opportunities like this and many others that have given him new challenges and helped him push himself to develop into a confident/try anything at least once Beaver."
