Month: November 2012

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News

Police visit the Scouts and Explorers

Last Friday the Community Police called into the hall to speak with the Scouts and Explorers about the dangers and implications of drugs and alcohol misuse.
They brought with them the display boxes and pictures of the different type of drugs commonly used in Ballymoney, and discussed the dangers of drug use as well as the implications of a criminal record.
Everyone then got the opportunity of wearing beer goggles, which are goggles that make your sight slightly skewed so it is difficult to walk in a straight line, this was great fun.

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News

Ballymoney Explorers Join Belfast County Young Leader Training

Two Explorers from Ballymoney recently joined the Belfast County Young Leader training weekend at Crawfordsburn. Conor and Daniel, who are both doing service with the Ballymoney Cubs for their Duke of Edinburgh and Chief Scout awards, travelled to Crawfordsburn on the 16th November for a packed weekend of classes and activities to develop their leadership skills. The weekend addressed a range of topics such as styles of leadership, dealing with challenging behaviour, scouting for young people with special needs and communication. It also provided an opportunity to get to know Explorer Young Leaders from a variety of groups in the Belfast and  Down Counties and take part in a number of games and activities such as blind trails, climbing and duck-duck-goose.
All the Explorers have recently completed training on safeguarding  as part of their programme in preparation for Young Leader roles within the Group and other youth organisations. Conor and Daniel are now starting their first of 4 missions to achieve the Young Leader Belt.

Blind trail to develop leadership and team working

Explorers playing duck-duck-goose

Classes at YL Training

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Camps News

Cubs sampling Scout Camp

Four of our cubs went with scouts this weekend to their Christmas camp to get ready for their move up to Scouts at Christmas.

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News

New Leader Investiture

This week it wasn’t just the Cubs welcomed into the scouting family, Anne (Bagheera) who has been helping Jonny (Akela) as the the Assistant Cub Leader also recited the Scout Law and Promise and was formally Invested by Kevin, the Group Scout Leader at the Cubs Investiture ceremony.  Anne has also helped out with the Beavers section.
The group congratulates Anne on what is bound to be only the start of her Scouting journey.  Well done!

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News

Cubs Investiture Ceremony

This week many of our new cubs completed their Investiture ceremony.  This is where they formally join the scouting family and are awarded their membership badge, joining approximately 28 million scouts worldwide.
The badge is presented at the Investiture ceremony when the new Cub Scout makes their Promise in front of the pack, parents and leaders.  In Ballymoney we do the ceremony over our original wolf cubs flag.
To gain the membership badge there are the following requirements:

Know about the Cub Scout Pack:
Get to know the other members and leaders in your Six and Pack.
Find out about the ceremonies and traditions in your Pack.
Find out about the activities that your Pack does.

Know about joining your Pack:
Know and understand the Cub Scout Promise and Law and the rules in your Pack.
Know and understand the Cub Scout Motto, Sign, Salute and Handshake.
Know what to do at your Investiture.
Know the meanings of the badges you will receive.

Know the history of the family of Scouts and worldwide Scouting.

Congratulations to all our new members, this will hopefully only be the start of their badge collection!

 
 

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News

This week in Beavers

Emergency Aid
Tonight we continued to work on our Emergency aid badge. Unfortunately the Ambulance Service wasn’t able to attend but the Beavers all had a fun time learning some basic first aid and got lots of practice putting on bandages and dressings.

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News

Remembrance Day

All sections of the group joined the local Remembrance Day Parade last Sunday, and attended the subsequent service at 1st Ballymoney Presbyterian Church.

 
 
 
 
 
 
Earlier that day a small delegation from the group were present at the wreath laying ceremony, with the Beavers taking the honour of laying the wreath at the cenotaph.
 
 

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News

Beavers Update

It has been a busy week for the Beavers. On Tuesday night we had our Investiture Ceremonies with the new Beavers receiving their badges and certificates. We also had a visit from Lynn who talked about the importance of The Poppy Appeal with members of the colony helping to make some poppies. Thanks to the Beavers who worked hard and their parents generous support we were able to present The Poppy Appeal a cheque for £221.15. The week came to a close with 3 Beavers laying a wreath at the morning service in Ballymoney followed by 28 of our Beavers attending the Remembrance Day Parade in the afternoon.

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News

Scouts & Explorers Visit Ballymoney Fire Station

The scouts and explorers are working towards their fire safety badge which incorporated a visit to Ballymoney Fire Station to see how the work that the fire officers undertake and to find out tips for fire safety.
The scouts say that they have learnt the importance of a working smoke alarm as well as a planned escape route from their bedrooms.
Everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves with the highlights being driven in a fire engine and try on the breathing apparatus.
Our thanks go out to the Fire Service of Northern Ireland and all at Ballymoney Fire Station.

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News

Explorers Enjoy A Morning Of Clay Pigeon Shooting

The explorers spent the morning at the Route Gun Club learning how to safely fire a shotgun and how to shoot at the moving clays.
After a safety lesson everyone got a chance to fire some shoots at the clays and were given some guidance on accuracy. Then came the scoring round where we all tried our hardest to hit a least one clay and what a great feeling it was when we did.
One or two of the explorers are thinking about using clay pigeon shooting as their skill for their awards.
Our thanks go out to Richard and Anne and everyone at Route Gun Club

 
 
 
 
 

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News

This week in Cubs

Tonight the cubs started working towards their science badge. They got to experiment with making volcanoes erupt, making their own floating compasses, blowing balloons up with hot air in bottles and growing their own cress. All in all a busy night..