Over the last few weeks Cubs have been working hard on badgework.
For Remembrance Day they made poppies and displayed them as a picture of a soldier.
Following week they then had to make a wheelbarrow from a Stem kit.
Last night they practiced knots and lashings and made a tripod.
At the weekend some of our Beavers joined us for an ocean themed sleepover at the scout hall. They arrived on Saturday evening to find the hall transformed to an under the sea world with jellyfish overhead and sea creatures all around.
They enjoyed sea life scratch art, a turtle weaving craft, some YL ran sea themed games, a scavenger hunt walk looking for sea life facts around town followed by a quiz about the facts found, then a movie in the loft (finding Nemo) with pizza and popcorn!
After a good nights sleep they enjoyed a decorating shortbread sea animals and learned some map skills with an ocean themed map activity. Finally they had some snacks and chilled out with friends colouring in, drawing and doing puzzles.
Thanks to all leaders (including 2 squirrel leaders) and young leaders for all their help preparing, setting up and running camp. Also a big thank you to our brilliant Beavers who behaved so well for the duration of camp 🦫 🐟 🪼 🦈
For the last 2 weeks Chris has been guiding our youths through the global issues activity badge We had log chews on recycling and endangered animals, learned about Fairtrade and tasted some fairtrade goodies. We made water filters and endangered animal masks and played some related games throughout. Well done everyone 😃
Well done and thanks to all youths and adults who turned out to remember the fallen. Lest we forget
Squirrels worked on their Let’s Celebrate badge tonight by learning all about Diwali. We read a story together to learn about the meaning of Diwali, tested our dancing abilities by learning a Bollywood dance routine, made Diwali lanterns and chocolate sparklers and lit some real sparklers to finish up.
Squirrels had a mini soccer training session this evening led by Coach Lee from TW Sports. They had great fun playing sneak tag, Toy Story and Superhero themed games, before having a halftime snack and finishing up with Wacky Races. Thanks to Coach Lee and TW Sports for a brilliant night!
Cubs had their first camp. Cubs started by preparing their own lunch to take with them on train ride to Botanic. We explored Ulster Museum. Once back in hall we enjoyed dinner, played games and set up tents for good nights sleep. Next morning after breakfast and tidy up cubs worked on some DIY skills.
Beavers enjoyed lots of fairground style games at their Halloween party night. There was mummy bowling using a pumpkin as a bowling ball, pumpkin toss, feeding stick people to the one-eyed, one-horned flying purple people eater, a pumpkin shooting range, toss the rings onto witches hats and a gross feely box alongside colouring in and tabletop games. Lots of sweet treats won. Finally some party food and balloons.
Our Phoenix ENSU had asked to attend Fright night at The Jungle NI when gathering ideas at the beginning of this year. Therefore we planned our Autumn camp around this activity!!
After setting up camp, they had time to explore the site, chill out, face paint and play before dinner time. After a hearty dinner (sausage baps, potato waffles and beans) it was time to experience Fright night 🤡 🧟♂️ They took part in the woodland trail and a couple of scare attractions. They also enjoyed the entertainment provided by Reggie and the freak show – getting up on stage to sing and dance along, and take part in some challenges. Finally all back to camp to sit around the campfire until they all eventually drifted off to their tents to sleep.
Sunday morning lie-in!! It was 9:00 before the bell was rang to get ready for breakfast. Last few activities (pumpkin carving, rounders and dangling donuts), another couple of investitures before dropping camp for home.
Lots of laughs throughout camp, a fantastic bunch of youths! Check out the YouTube video below ⬇️
Squirrels enjoyed a Halloween party this evening, with face painting, smores, a game of Pass the Squirrel, and turning leaders (and themselves) into mummies!
Beavers have been very busy recently, earning a couple of badges and starting another!!
Our fantastic YLs planned and ran the experiment badge. Good work guys 👏🏻
Then coach Rob started them off on their Health and fitness activity badge with fitness fundamentals and some fitness games. They also made tasty rice cake fruit faces.
Martin from the ambulance service guided them through the emergency aid level 1. Covering what an emergency is, who to contact in an emergency and teaching the recovery position.
Finally we invested all our new beavers and our newest assistant beaver leader ⭐️ 🦫⚜️
Great work everyone!! Thanks to our guests and YLs for all their help 😊
Last weekend 29 scouts caught the train to Helen’s bay then walked to Crawfordsburn scout centre for an overnight camp, in tents outdoors. Shortly after they arrived they had a tour of the site and then it was time for some archery and tomahawk/angel throwing. After setting up tents there was some free time before dinner. Then scouts were split into small groups to complete a blind trail before everyone headed off along the coastal path for a short night hike. Back to camp for hot chocolate and s’mores before heading to bed with temperature of 2 degrees. Up next morning for breakfast and exploring Crawfordsburn Forest before lunch and packing up ready for home.
Our Phoenix ENSU recently took part in a hike around some of the Glenariff forest park trails. While lots of our YLs were attending County 1st aid training the others were tasked with taking photos while on their hike. The prize for best photo (voted by leaders from our other sections) went to Aaron. Well done on winning your Greggs voucher. Robyn took 2nd place and Adam got 3rd. We also invested some of our new members during the waterfall walk.
Our scout section has grown since last year, with 36 youths now signed up. Therefore the emphasis has been on teamwork and getting to know our members
We had a snowball fight for part of our 1st meeting. Each snowball contained some information about each scout that they chose to share with the troop. We had a silly relay race to collect and solve the scout law puzzle. Then our YLs gathered ideas of what our scouts would like to do. At another meeting we had team building activities after being assigned patrols (minesweeper, team mazes, mini gem towers and hats of different varieties). We had an introduction to compass skills working in patrols to complete compass pictures in the dark at the park. Then our awesome young leaders taught the scouts 6 figure grid references to continue the navigator staged badge. Lots of games and lots of new scouts invested too 😃
Squirrels completed more work on their Go Wild badge by taking a trip to a local dairy farm. We got to see the milking machines in action, feed the calves, make our very own Scout scarecrow and finished the evening off with fresh hot chocolate and biscuits in the yard. Huge thanks to the farm for hosting us!
Squirrels have had a busy few weeks working on their initial badges, making sure our new Squirrels were ready for their investiture and making bird feeders to hang in their gardens. Parents were welcomed to our last session to see the investiture and hear about our planned farm visit next week.
Beavers have been meeting for two weeks now. Last week we had getting to know you parachute games, meeting lodge members making family crest shields to learn about each other. This week we had log chews about the beaver promise, learning about their wild beaver counterparts, enjoying lots of games and a go on our bouldering wall!
Great teamwork from our leadership team and young leaders 😎
We welcomed Squirrels back after the summer break and it was great to see so many returning faces, and plenty of new ones. We had a fun evening learning our Squirrel promise, learning about the badges we will be covering over the coming months, and decorating campfire biscuits.
Leaders spent 6 months planning summer camp for our Scouts and Phoenix Explorers in Newcastle, County Down. We got to the site and set up for the week. Unfortunately Storm Betty (just named after our arrival) had different plans. The campsite started to flood around 23:00 and so we were all evacuated offsite to take shelter overnight in Newcastle Scout hall. Thanks to Peter from Newcastle Scouts for supplying some tea bags and milk. Checked the site and equipment the next morning and concluded that camp had to come to an end 😢
However, leaders got together and planned 3 days out so the young people could still get together for some fun. A morning shopping in Belfast, a visit to Botanic gardens then onto airtastic in Bangor, a day pass to Let’s go hydro and finally a trip to Prison Island for some team challenges and problem solving.
#resilience#stormbetty#itscharacterbuilding#survivors#itsrobsfault
Click on the link below ⬇️
On Sunday our Explorers went exploring at Dunseverick on our beautiful north coast. We took the opportunity to get our wetsuits on and swim in the many natural sea pools at Dunseverick harbour. Water pistols where a must to get each other even wetter. We even had a few seaweed wigs on display. After our swim we went to the harbour and relaxed around a campfire with s’mores and hot chocolate to get heated up again.
Last weekend cubs enjoyed summer camp at Lorne estate. We started Friday with train trip to Cultra. After setting up camp cubs explored local beach and Lorne estate grounds finishing night with camp fire and songs. Saturday was fun filled with lots activities. First we did climbing tower followed by abseil. After lunch we returned to archery and zip line. Saturday was finished with Smores and campfire songs. Sunday we left Lorne estate and went exploring Ulster Folk museum. We took train journey back home tired and soak through.
On Sunday Explorers dodged the weather and went for a beautiful walk from Castlerock around the coast to Mussenden House then onto Dungannon Hill in Downhill forest. Then we relaxed with a BBQ and are usual laughs.
Ballymoney Scout Group enjoyed an all section camp at the weekend. Smallest squirrels (4 year olds) to our tallest explorers (17 year olds) and leaders/network/executive helpers took part!
Friday – Cubs, Scouts and Explorers arrived on site and listened to camp rules. Scout sections worked on pioneering wash stands. Explorers discussed DofE for September, cooked and sampled different ration packs on a jet boil. Cubs enjoyed a movie in the Hen Hoose.
Saturday – relaxing morning, then Beavers and squirrels arrived just after lunch time. Phoenix Explorers and some scouts helped to set up camp for the wee ones. Busy day doing crafts, bouncy castle, face painting, laser tag and team games. BBQ for dinner then Squirrels enjoyed a mini campfire before heading home. Main campfire led by our fabulous explorers (renamed Phoenix entertainers by our Beavers) with campfire cones, songs, skits, dancing and singalong!
Sunday – Breakfast then pack up before wacky relay races 😂😂
Well done to all the young people, your behaviour on camp was exceptional!
A HUGE well done to our older sections for all their help and entertainment throughout the weekend. You guys are awesome 😎
Again, massive thanks to Lislagan Farm for allowing us to camp at their farm. Also to all the volunteer leaders and executive. Well done to our newest section leaders (squirrels) for getting stuck in 🌟
Also thanks to #limitless for running laser tag. Thanks to a friend of the group for a donation of £40 towards food.
We had some silly games this week to finish up for the year. Balloons were used for the over and under game, pairs race, balloon hopping race, longest keepy uppie and other fun games. Good work YLs. Then some party foods and social time followed by badge awards.
Well done to 10 of our Beavers who managed to complete their Chief Scout Bronze during their time with us 👏🏻👏🏻
Squirrels spent time in the hall this evening working on their All About Me and Feel Good badges. We built a den out of chairs, blankets and mats and sat inside to have a special snack pack, before learning how to roll our neckers properly. We then got to spend some time on the hall’s new bouldering wall, which proved a bit tricky but very popular!
On Sunday our explorers were out enjoying the beautiful weather once again. We took the opportunity and stayed local at Riverside Park. The explorers split into teams and erected some new tents ahead of our group camp. We then played rounders and tag rugby before heading back to base. There was some minor maintenance carried out by way of weeding and general tidying up out side the hall before they finished up with a good old bounce on the bouncy castle 👌
This week Beavers met at the hall. They enjoyed an ice lolly on arrival before starting into activities. They were working in their lodges to build a machine out of Lego. They discussed their ideas in their lodges, drew their design and then attempted to create them from Lego.
At the same time they took turns in their lodges to conquer our new bouldering wall. Well done to our YL Lotars for running this activity with leaders assisting.
Some very interesting machine ideas, especially the diamond making machine and the teleporter car which send people who are bad to jail and people who are good to their favourite place. Well done to all lodges for presenting their machines at the end of the night to all the other lodges and leaders 👏🏻
Next week is our end of year party and awards and group camp at the weekend 🏕️
Finally we say goodbye to one of our leaders, Ash, who will be missed by all. Enjoy your chocolates 😋
Tonight, Squirrels headed to Riverside Park again to work on their Explore Outdoors badge. We played games and then split into teams to take on a treasure hunt where they worked together to find minibeasts hidden in the trees. We ended the evening with some time in the playpark as a reward for working so well together.
This week our young leaders were running the show. They sent through activities and risk assessments earlier in the week then took the reins tonight. We think they might appreciate the struggle of getting young people to listen now 😂😂 Some beach games and a water fight enjoyed by all. Well done guys 👏🏻
This week Cubs learnt all about good teamwork. They played multiple games each time trying to improve they’re teamwork skill, adapting to new challenges and appointing responsibilities within teams.