Scouts in busy St George's Weekend
23rd April 2007
Scouts up 'n' down the county have been celebrating St George's Day in style, with numerous activities centred on the Patron Saint himself and the Centenary Year. So what's been happening where you live?
Cambridge
Over 200 Cambridge Beavers, Cubs and Scouts celebrated St George's Day with activities at Queen Edith School.
The Beavers enjoyed a morning of activities based on the theme of 'knights'. They kitted up like St George by making shields and helmets, decorated biscuits for food and bounced on the bouncy castle before embarking on an obstacle course named 'Knights Training'. The Beavers were tested in their abilities to balance on a beam whilst being bombarded with balls, crawl through netting, leap from stone to stone and finally face the dragon! But in a new twist to the traditional story, the beavers were made to tickle the dragon to complete the course.
Cubs gathered for a morning of sports day activities. Packs competed against each other in a number of events, from long distance running to shotput, long jump and skipping. Teams were awarded points based on their performance and the overall winners of the day were the 27th Cambridge, based in Cherry Hinton. There was also a chance to complete some athletic badge work, with many Cubs doing enough to leave the event with a new badge.
Scouts also took part in athletic activities, but far more advanced than the Cubs. They spent the morning honing their skills in many different sports before putting their pioneering skills to the test to make a medieval catapult.
Simon Gates, Beaver Scout Leader of the 12th, 18th & 26th Cambridge and dragon for the day commented;
"St George's Day is something the scouts like to celebrate and they've come in force to have fun, meet new people, make new friends and take part in a great range of activities. Everyone has really enjoyed themselves and it's only the start of a year which will be full of celebrations."
Everyone gathered together in the afternoon for a parade to St James' Church for a special scouting service on the theme of 'sharing'. Award and competitions presentations followed before the walk back, with everyone dismissed after a word of thanks back at the school.
Peterborough
Peterborough Scouts celebrated this weekend with a party in recognition of their recent "Freedom of the City" honour. You can read the full story from the Peterborough celebrations here.
St Ives
Scouts in Cromwell District celebrated St George's Day with a special Centenary twist. A Scout from the future working on his 'Time Traveller' badge arrived on stage at the start of their 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"
Prior to the performance, the Peterborough Highland Pipe Band led over 400 scouting members through the streets of St Ives to Burgess Hall in recognition of the Scouting Centenary.
Find out what two young Cub Scouts had to say about the day here.
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