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The Queen met Cubs in Yeovil on her Jubilee tou
600 year old sleep over
P
itching these 2011 World Scout Jamboree tents for a sleep over are Cubs from St Andrews in Yeovil.
The group decided they wanted to do a camp somewhere a bit different and the 600 year old Priory near Stoke-Sub-Hamdon was their choice. Leader Mandy said: “It was a fantastic night away despite the weather (hail, thunder and then frost) and not too spooky for our intrepid lot!”
Olympic torch in Somerset
T
aunton is one of just 70 towns in the UK to host part of this year’s Olympic Torch Relay. On May 21st the torch will arrive in town and be paraded down North Street in the town by Young People from across Somerset. The event is open to all and no doubt Taunton will be busy but the town centre are encouraging as many people as they can to take part in the celebration.
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Hiking for Shelter Box
Paddling to Brownsea
S
couts from Sedgemoor have been getting poetic. A hike through the Quantock and Brendon hills this Easter followed in the footsteps of Samuel Coleridge (Blossing of The Solitary Date Tree and others).
Spurred on by the promise of an Easter egg at the finish line 29 Scouts covered 36 miles on foot. And all the while raising money for Shelter Box by carrying a Shelter Box the length of the walk and finding sponsors. The walk ended at Horner Woods and the Scouts from groups 1st Bridgwater, 1st Huntspill and Highbridge and 1st North Petherton were rewarded with chocolate eggs!
O
ver the Easter holidays 23 Explorers and leaders from Taunton, led by our Somerset kayaking expert Jim Padfield, headed to Poole harbour for a rather special camp. They packed their camping gear for the weekend into the kayaks and paddled from Hamworthy out to Brownsea Island campsite. Overnight, the camp was visited by peacocks and deer and at least one red squirrel was glimpsed! The group also ventured further out of the harbour to paddle around the coast. The plan had been to paddle to Old Harry but the wind was too strong so they paddled the opposite way taken instead! Coming back home upwind was hard work but the team managed the trip with no capsizes and no wet kit. A team of tired but happy Explorers.
Huish Woods YL camp
Somerset’s Young Leaders had a ‘fantastic’ skills camp up at Huish Woods in April. “We put up the new Huish Woods sign up, and it looks amazing, tested the Ariel runway, trained as Archery and Climbing Assistants and not to mention a fun with glow sticks/balls, a cooking challenge, quiz and the odd bit of sleep!” Taunton Young Leaders.
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A
nd he did, all 26 miles of the London Marathon this April. Tom, a Somerset Scouter from Lympsham is in the business of raising money for local Scouting in his community. “The money raised from this event will go towards continuing the impact that scouting has on it’s member’s lives... through my time in Scouts I took part in activities that I would never have tried otherwise, spent countless nights camping away from home and visited Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden and Poland... all of which grew my confidence and have prepared me for the hectic life I now lead.” Meanwhile Scouts from Cheddar welcomed their local MP Tessa Munt into their HQ to chat and they got on so well Tessa invited the Scouts to visit her in London.
The guys met Tessa in Parliament for a tour and were invited into Downing Street to visit number 10. Our Cheddar Scouts are making a real difference in their community by engaging with Tessa in this way. It gives the young people a chance to question and speak up about what matters to them in their local places. Over in South Petherton these Beavers planted 100 trees at Barcroft Hall in the sunshine. A hundred! That’s a lot of trees.
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In Wellington Cubs turned out with trowels and wheel barrows to help transform the garden at their local nursing home for the benefit of the residents.
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y Week Somerset Already our Scouts are contributing to their communities, how will you make a difference in Somerset? nity: u m m o c r u o y n i Impact MP visit your local
Gardening for the folksl at your loca nursing home
Do
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Scout Community Week
14-20 May
Planting 1 0 South Pe0t trees near herton
1553 climbs of the Huish Woods Climbing Tower = Everest.
Tower: 5.7 m Everest: 8848 m
The new climbing tower at Huish Wood was well and truly climbed by 1st Wilton during their Everest Equivalent Event.
W
e managed our original aim of an ascent of Everest midway through the afternoon of the first day (612 climbs, 3484m) so went on and completed the full height of Everest from sea level to the summit (1553 climbs, 8848m). All the sections took part and we were really pleased with the way the Explorers threw themselves into learning to rig and belay the tower. Along the way we had a few investitures
halfway up the tower and some of the Explorers learnt some climbing rescue techniques as well (in practice, not for real!). The final number on the counter was 1631 climbs, and we had a total of 89 youngsters taking part (in addition to the invaluable support of numerous adults). Some managed just one or a few climbs, some came back again and again and the highest individual tally was 200 climbs!
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Y T N U O C E TH DIARY
c
t s e F t u o Sc
The adventure is nearly here
and you can still be a part of it.
Make a day visit or watch this extraordinary Jubilee celebration unfold online.
FRI 1/6 to 4/6
ScoutFest
SUN 8/7
6 a-side Football
FRI 5/10 to SUN 7/10
Young Leader’s Training Weekend
SAT 3/11 to 4/11
Explorer and Network 10th Birthday
Four days of the largest event to take place in the South West this year. Celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee with Scouting adventure.
A footy tastic Cub event with full details being released shortly. A must for all tennis players.
Huish Woods for the Young Leader event of the year, meet YL’s from across the County and get all your training done and dusted in one fun weekend.
This time last year they were only 9 - and now they’re 10! Don’t miss the Explorer / Network event of the year guaranteed to rock.
Videos, pictures and live stream
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Day Visits
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somersetscouts.org.uk/ scoutfest/day-visit
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scoutout@somersetscouts.org.u
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