What were we up to in our centenary year?
3 December - Beaver Puppet Workshop and Show
Over 100 Beavers from 11 Colonies came together on Sunday 2nd December to enjoy a puppet workshop and show. Together they made reindeer puppets wearing their own Group neckers before watching 'Kevin the Caveman' performed by Paul Garofalo of Just Puppets, with a little help from his new friends
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29 November - Explorers Community Service
Cromwell Explorer Scout Unit were out in the community at the end of November visiting a local primary school.
In return for some internet time to research for an international project, they took down the 'Africa display' in the school entrance hall before putting up two Christmas trees. To say 'thank you' to the year three children for the use of their classroom and technology, they left behind a giant hanging snowflake
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17 & 18 October - Beaver Sausage Sizzles
Almost 200 Beavers plus their leaders and parent helpers turned out over two evenings to the annual sausage sizzle and campfire in October
Torrential rain two days before caused the river Ouse to rise rapidly and one hour before the Beavers arrived on site, everywhere south of the bridge was completely underwater. The campfire and it's seating was floating happily on 30 cms of water, great fun for the ducks but not so useful for the Beavers
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Not a problem! A fast moving team quickly rigged up some emergency lighting on the flagpole, moved a makeshift campfire in a BBQ drum beside it and arranged pioneering poles for the youngsters to sit on. Poor Gateway Scouts were unable to even get onto Holt Island to hold their meeting and a fast thinking Scout Leader, magicked up some sausages and made good use of the glowing embers after the Beavers left
End result, 200 jubilant Beavers singing their way home, several relieved Beaver Leaders putting their wellies away until next time and one well fed Troop, wondering what all the fuss was about!
14/16 September - CMC trip to Yr Hafod, Snowdonia
The weather was typical for Snowdonia - warm and sunny on Saturday (except on the highest peaks) and raining on Sunday.
Both days saw our walking parties heading out on routes set to challenge at an appropriate level; the veterans (youngest aged 49) climbed to Snowdon's cloud capped summit; the Explorers explored, heading off for a 14km circuit taking in Carnedd Llewelyn (Snowdonia's third highest peak at 1064m), while the Scouts took on Tryfan and the Glyders.
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1 August - Scouting's Sunrise
Well anyone who took part can't surely help but agree that when Cromwell District say they are out to celebrate they certainly do!
On Tuesday 31st July around 100 youngsters arrived to take part in a camp, which included The Big Gig at the Burgess Hall. Of those, around a third were friends of Scouts and Explorers out to see why Scouting is going from strength to strength.
Then on Wednesday 1st August those from camp paraded into St Ives Town Centre to be joined by hundreds of other Scouting youngsters and adults past and present plus friends and family. A special Scouting "cry" by the Town Crier led towards the renewal of Promises for all Sections - which began promptly at 8.00am.
Then it was back to Nobles Field for bacon rolls and a morning of fun for all the family, ending with a formal closing ceremony and singing Happy Birthday.
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23-25 July - Dutch visitors
In the lead-up to the 21st World Scout Jamboree at Hylands Park, Cromwell District hosted the Ortolanen Troop from Zeeland in the Netherlands for a few days. Our Dutch guests were a pleasure to be with and it was great fun taking part in activities at Copley with mixed groups of Dutch Scouts, English Scouts and Girl Guides from Godmanchester. This was also a great opportunity for some of the Cambridgeshire Jamboree Contingent to meet new friends before arriving at the Jamboree.
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Activities included a trip to Fitzwilliam Museum and a guided tour of Cambridge; 'getting to know you' activities, barbeque and campfire at Copley (“hoofd, scouders, knie en teen” was a bit tricky); guided tour of Houghton Mill and a treasure hunt around Houghton village. The Troop were accommodated in the very well equipped Houghton Chapel Centre
Niels Mulden writes:
"Our Troop, The Ortolanen, exists of 39 people. 35 youth participants and 4 leaders (Barbara, Sebastiaan, Richard and Huub). We come from the South West of the Netherlands. At the moment we are staying at Kibblestone for 9 days and in between we've been on home hospitality in Houghton. After that we leave to go to the World Jamboree.
And we want to thank everyone who made it possible for us to have a great time in Houghton."
7 July - St Ives Carnival
5th St Ives Scout Group took part in the St Ives town carnival with a magnificently decorated float on the theme of 'Happy Birthday'. The Beavers, Cubs, Scouts and leaders were all prepared to celebrate the 100th birthday of Scouting, resplendent with gift-wrapping, giant candles and cakes.
The most eyecatching part of the display was the giant 'One World One Promise' badge on the back of the trailer, which from a distance looked like a giant flag but on closer inspection turned out to be sheets of paper, hand painted and taped together.
A very striking display advertising Scouting in the town and everyone enjoyed themselves on the first sunny day in ages. The icing on this very special birthday cake was that the Group won the award for best float. Well done to all.
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23/24 June - Around the world in 18hrs
That was the imaginary task given to 152 Cromwell District Beaver Scouts when they came together this weekend for the "Big sleepover".
Taking over Westfield Junior School and the Copley Scout centre in St Ives for the weekend, the Beavers enjoyed games and challenges that took them around the world.
The Major of St Ives, Deborah Reynolds, set them off on their Journey on Saturday afternoon and by Sunday lunchtime the beavers had collected lost Mayan Gold in Central America, joined an African Safari, walked the Great Wall of China and even explored some dark caves in Spain as well many others games and challenges. For many, the greatest challenge of the weekend was to spend their first ever night away from home, but it was a challenge that they relished and everyone received a specially commissioned badge to wear proudly on their uniforms.
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22-24 June - Hiking and mountain biking in the Brecon Beacons
This was the first opportunity in quite a few years for the scouts to experience 'proper' Mountain Biking in the hills; a very different prospect from riding around the fens!
Of the 16 attending, 12 decided that they were up to the challenge of tackling the hills on two wheels under the guidance of two of the CMC's new Mountain Bike Leaders - this was the first chance for Jamie & Mark to use their skills in guiding and instructing the Scouts on bikes, the pair being amongst the first in the country to be assessed for and gain a Mountain Biking Leading permit under the new Adventurous Activities Permit Scheme.
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25-27 May - Centenary Camp
More than 250 Scouts joined one of the biggest camps St Ives has ever seen to mark the 100th anniversary of Scouting.
The packed Centenary Camp covering Holt Island, Copley Scouting Centre and Noble's Field was part of a series of events to celebrate a century of Scouting. The Beavers, Cubs and Scouts took part in exciting activities that the Explorer Scouts helped to run; canoeing, climbing, a night hike, rocket-making, pioneering, a water slide, crate- stacking, archery and an assault course among many others.
On Saturday night there was a rousing campfire followed by an impressive firework display.
Like all Scouts we had to be prepared - for bad weather - but even though Sunday's deluge dampened the ground and canvas, we were all in high spirits and prepared for more FUN.
Special thanks to Myers Beds and Speedy Hire for sponsoring this highly successful event.
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23 April - St.Georges Day Tea Party
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As part of their Friendship Challenge, the Beavers from 1st Wyton (RAF) Colony made their own invitations to invite members of the District Scout Fellowship to a St. George's Day tea party. They planned their menu and made some table decorations in preparation for the big day and on the evening they set the tables, made the sandwiches and decorated the cakes before welcoming their specially invited guests.
Mike Wenham, Pat Tyler, John Hancox and Austin Lusmore, who have clocked up almost 150 years of Scouting between them, captivated the Beavers sharing their experiences of old scratchy uniforms, camps and memorable activities.
22 April - St George's day celebration of Scouting
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We were promised 'even bigger and better' this year and we were not disappointed. The Peterborough Highland Pipe Band led over 400 members of Cromwell District through St Ives to the Burgess Hall for our centenary celebration.
A Scout from the future working on his 'Time Traveller' badge arrived on stage at the start of our service and invited a Beaver, a Cub, a Scout and an Explorer Scout to join him in an adventure.
They visited the first experimental camp on Brownsea Island in 1907 where they met B-P and learned the origins of the campfire song 'Ging Gang Gooli'. Next it was 1917 to see a Wolf Cub Pack doing Grand Howl with the sounds of the Great War in the background and then forwards to 1987 to see some Beaver Scouts who were excited to be joining the Scout movement. A brief stop in 2007 where the Explorer Band gave a fine rendition of the Motown classic 'Dancing in the Streets'. Finally they made it to the future where in 2107 they witness the Chief Scout of the Universe (a two-headed being) on a conference call to plan the Intergalactic Jamboree.
In between, they also arrived in old America and learned a native Indian chant.
The adventure was brilliantly scripted by the performers with only a little guidance from their leaders and the renewal of promises was led by the time travellers
Congratulations to the following adults who received awards:
Austin Lusmore who received the highest honour in Scouting - the Silver Wolf
Josie Ratcliffe who received the Medal of Merit
31 March - Clowning around at Somersham's Colony sleepover
19 Beaver Scouts from the 1st Somersham Colony joined together for their first every Colony sleepover. They juggled and walked on stilts. They threw horse shoes and walked on tightropes. They played parachute games, sang songs around the campfire and experienced a host of craft activities. And when it was too dark to see outside, they got their torches out and went looking for nocturnal animals. And of course they slept - well wouldn't you after so much fun and excitement.
All great fun and a good way to prepare for the BIG one in June
24 February - Beaver Scouts Annual Handicraft Competition
Beaver Scouts from 10 Colonies around the District brought together their competition entries on Saturday 24th February in the Free church in St.Ives. As an introduction to the Centenary year Beavers were encouraged to think creatively and make: models of Brownsea Island; photo frames displaying a picture of our Founder, Baden Powell; fridge magnets and woggles with a Scouting theme plus desk tidies from recycled materials. Those visiting on the day had the opportunity to try more handicraft activities before St.Ives Town Mayor Cllr Doug Dew presented certificates to the winners.
2-3 February - 100 Hikers in our Centenary Year!
The Cromwell District Scouts' Night Hike 2007 was a big success! Great support from everyone in the Scout Section as usual and some new faces this year too, with incident bases and leadership help from the Young Leaders team and Network & CMC Fellowship members.
15 Patrols of Scouts, representing 9 of our 10 Troops, enjoyed fun and challenging activities, a good walk in the (very) fresh air and an interesting social evening...night...morning... How do they manage to go without sleep?
Congratulations to the Needingworth Dudettes, clear winners with 295 points out of a maximum 350. Good performances also from Fenstanton & Hilton Cobras and 2nd St Ives (Sea Scouts) - who's public-spirited litter picking bumped them 2 places up the results table into 3rd place.
However, navigation skills will be high on the agenda for the Hemingford Troop - their team failed to find the incident base run by their own Scout Leader (but they weren't the only ones). But they're not as downhearted as the Fenstanton & Hilton Barbie Girls who failed to find the Hot Chocolate station run by their Troop Leaders! At least there's no in-house assistance going on...
