| By webmaster
On Sunday 3rd July, four Sixers from 5th Guildford ‘Lions’ were invited to Blackbushe Airport to go through the air activities badge.
As well being able to site in a plane and learn the controls they learnt the phonetic alphabet, recognised tail fins from ten commercial airlines and learnt which part of the plane does what. Thanks goes to Rikki (Paul Wakely) and Tony from Blackbushe Aviation for organising this visit.
| By webmaster
On March 25th fifty-one scouts from all scout troops in the District took part in the district night hike from 5th Guildford HQ to Normandy HQ for an overnight camp. Six of the eleven teams walked without adults and the other five walked with leaders or parents. Points were awarded for how quickly the teams completed the hike; for kit at the check in; and for attitude, teamwork, and success in the activities at the bases.
All teams deserve congratulations for walking the whole route, for learning and improving skills, and for remaining cheerful when they were tired or were put back on route after getting lost. In the scouting spirit of helping others, leaders and scouts helped to put up the tents for the final two teams who finished at 1.30 Saturday morning.
Of the competition teams, 2nd Guildford A was the fastest and scored the highest competition team result on bases. St Nicolas A came second and scored maximum points at check in where they were judged the most polite.
St Nicholas B scored the highest points on bases and Stoughton B was the fastest of the training teams.
Thank you to the supporting team of 35 – leaders, adult helpers, young leaders and explorers – who helped to run the event.
| Team | Walking score | Base score | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | 2nd Guildford A | 138 | 212.50 | 774.50 |
| E | St Nicolas A | 153 | 194.70 | 741.70 |
| B | Stoughton A | 171 | 207.25 | 736.25 |
| J | Normandy C | 192 | 208.58 | 716.58 |
| F | 2nd Guildford B | 280 | 106.00 | 526.00 |
| C | Rydes Hill A | 306 | 100.00 | 494.00 |
| Team | Walking score | Base score | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | St Nicolas B | 127 | 205.75 | 778.75 |
| H | Stoughton B | 123 | 187.70 | 764.70 |
| G | Normandy B | 131 | 190.70 | 759.70 |
| D | Normandy A | 145 | 195.79 | 750.79 |
| K | Stoughton C | 140 | 174.83 | 734.83 |
| By webmaster
Eight teams from Guildford West battled it out to see who was the brains of Guildford in last nights district quiz.
This years competition was hosted by last years winners St Nicolas/9th Guildford and was held at the URC in Guildford.
Teams from 5th Guildford, 1st Rydes Hill (St Marys), 2nd Guildford, St Nicolas/9th Guildford, 1st Stoughton and 1st Normandy answered questions on Science, Spring, Sports, General Knowledge, Famous People, Geography, Outdoors and Scouting.
It was a close competition but 5th Guildford came first by just 1 and half points with last years winners St Nicolas/9th Guildford coming second.
| By webmaster
Networking is one of the many advantages of taking part in County-organised events and at Cyclo-Cross 2010, a chance remark led to 3 older scouts and a leader from 2nd Guildford taking up spare places on a ski trip with Phoenix Explorer Unit. Tom, Matt, Oliver and Liz Pritchard spent half term skiing on the Italian/Slovenian border.
The coach drivers kept us entertained on our coach trip through France, Belgium, Luxembourg, German, Austria, Slovenia and Italy, which we shared with a school party from Solihull. Reclining seats, DVDs and frequent stops at service stations across Europe helped to make the journey bearable.
The journey was worthwhile because the snow conditions were excellent in both Sella Nevea, the resort where we were staying, and in Tarvisio, which we visited for a day. Everyone had 6 days of ski lessons in both the morning and afternoon over so most of those who had previous lessons on dry ski slopes as well as some complete beginners quickly advanced from snow ploughing to parallel turns.
We were in rooms on the same floor as the school group so soon got to know them well and a corridor culture developed with more and more furniture (sofas and chairs) finding its way from stairways to the top floor.
After skiing each day we retired to our favourite restaurant where scouts enjoyed coke and chips and more discerning leaders drank hot chocolate with cream. Après-ski time was spent ice-skating at Pontebbe, sledging, karaoke, quiz night and a disco on the final night.
| By webmaster
Surrey Scouts Frost Camp was a great success with approximately 400 Scouts, Explorer Scouts and Leaders enduring the wet and windy conditions at Bentley Copse Scout Camp Site, Shere.
Scouts from Guildford, Godalming, Dorking, Farnham, Woking, Reigate as well as other areas in Surrey, Kent, London and Hampshire camped over and participated in over 50 activities.
The Scouts enjoyed Archery, Air rifle shooting, Climbing, Abseiling, Go Karting, Ariel Runway, Adventure Course, skittle alley, circus skills, backwoods cooking, pool, table tennis, campfire, a big wide game and much more with evening entertainment.
| By webmaster
In true Blue Peter style, with egg boxes and sticky backed plastic, six teams competed against each other to design a Christmas Mobile, Table Decoration and a Christmas Tree Decoration.
The teams had to design and build a Christmas Mobile (similar to the Christmas advent used by Blue Peter), a table decoration and Christmas Tree decoration using tinsel and other Christmas materials.
At the recent competition, held at 1st Normandy Scout HQ, six Teams from 5th Guildford ‘Lions’, 1st Normandy, 2nd Guildford, St Nicolas/9th Guildford, 1st Rydes Hill (St Marys) and 1st Stoughton. The teams were marked on teamwork, behavior as well as there finished products.
The results were:
1st – St Nicolas/9th Guildford
2nd – 1st Normandy
| By webmaster
Over 60 Scouts, from all of the District’s Scout troops, enjoyed this year’s activity camp at Bentley Copse.
On Saturday the scouts were kept busy with pioneering, climbing, archery, air rifle shooting, frisbee golf, lighting fires, a wide game and a campfire.
Leaders from the District ran all of the activities. Mouse and Tim helped Paul who supervised the climbing in spite of a bad back. Jonathan led the pioneering activity constructing a circular obstacle course from A-frames, ladders, beams and ropes, Chris and Kevin ran the shooting, and Neil the archery. Quentin and Charlie taught fire lighting ready for the cooking competition on Sunday. Craig and the 2 Rydes Hill young leaders, David and Stephen, organized the Frisbee golf.
On Sunday, nine teams entered the backwoods cooking competition, which was judged by Kevin from the Bentley Copse service team and won by a team from Stoughton. A Scout from Stoughton also gained his master at arms badge over the week-end.
Thank you to the 20 leaders and other adults, who helped at various times from 9 am Friday to 6pm Sunday, particularly Richard Cant and Mouse who complained that it was still dark when asked to help with breakfast. They both helped with transporting the mess kit and the shopping (including 160 eggs, 160 sausages, 8.5 kg of chicken, 24 loaves of bread, 32 litres of UHT milk, 24 litres of milk) that we managed to squeeze into Richards pick-up. Amazingly there was little left after Richard and various leaders had fed everyone.
| By webmaster
On Saturday 2nd October, Cubs from the Guildford area congregated at 1st Normandy Scout HQ and grounds to participate in a backwoods day.
The Cubs from 1st Normandy, 5th Guildford, 1st Stoughton and 2nd Guildford learnt some new skills as well as having a fun day.
Inspired by the new Chief Scout Bear Grylls, the Cubs Participated in backwoods cooking, pioneered, constructed biviouacs, lit fires and undertook an orienteering course
Despite the short showers the Cubs enjoyed the day finishing off with a campfire
| By webmaster
Beaver Scouts from 2nd Guildford, 5th Guildford and St. Nicolas 9th Guildford; 23 Beaver Scouts in total descended on Bentley Copse camp site.
The evening started with the mandatory safety talk and a walk around the site. We then waited for our camp fire to be lit by Akela Tony and Adam Lees, they were struggling, due to the wood being wet (note for future- take some dry stuff!) but perseverance paid off and the fire was roaring, an energetic camp fire commenced, rounded off by having roasted marshmallows.
To calm the young people down after the fire they watched a DVD of the film ‘UP’ Believe it! they were settled by 11:15 YES that’s correct 11:15 they didn’t wake until 06:45 How brilliant is that?
The day started with a visit from the ACC for Beavers Sharon Andrews and our own DC. Sharon had the great pleasure of awarding Swallow, Janis Payne with her award of merit.
The day continued with karting and the adventure course, remembering that the sun shines on the righteous we had lovely sun all day.
The Beavers left at four O’clock tired but very happy and excited, It was a wonderful sleep over and I would like to thank all those who helped make it a great day!
ADC Beaver Scouts
| By webmaster
The County Scout Expedition Challenge is an annual event for teams of between 4 to 6 Scouts from the same District. This year the challenge was held from Friday 21st to Sunday 23rd May and the ten teams, including a team of 6 from 2nd Guildford scouts, completed 2 hikes of about 18km on the Saturday and 9km on Sunday.
Scouts work hard to complete the challenge. Apart from hiking, they pitch their tents each evening, cook all their meals on lightweight stoves, and each evening they complete their route plans for the walk the next day. On Saturday and Sunday mornings they cook their breakfasts, pack up their tents and other kit and set off on the hike.
Competition teams carry their food, stoves, tents and sleeping bags and walk without a leader between the checkpoints. Mobile phones are used if they get lost or are late to arrive at checkpoints. Training teams have a leader with them and only carry their lunches and emergency kit.
This year’s route was circular starting from St John’s Seminary in Wonersh, to Bentley Copse for Saturday night and back to the seminary on Sunday. At the end of the weekend teams were hot and tired as they inspected their feet for blisters and cooled off under the trees.
Father Jonathan gave a guided a tour of the seminary including the library and chapel. Richard Shortman, the County Commissioner, presented with teams with their certificates. The 2nd Guildford team got a silver award again and is already planning how to get extra points and a gold next year.