Our Cubs are loving to Bake and Cook

Many of our Cub Scouts are busy baking at home; some for their Chefs badge, some for fundraising, one or two to simply give cakes to neighbours and others just to enjoy themselves. We've seen many very tasty examples of both meals and cakes!

Lockdown Scouting!

And then, on Monday March 16th 2020, our World changed. Scouting in person was suspended because of the Coronavirus pandemic. We had to cancel a couple of meetings, but by Tuesday 31st March we were up and running Online! We held our first meeting, told the Cubs about doing their badges online and started planning The Great Indoors as a style of Scouting.

March Badgework

Wow! We only held two meetings before all the restrictions around Coronavirus were introduced and that meant that we had to re-think and plan a little bit differently. Scouting in person was suspended across the UK and our meetings on 17th March and 24th March ware cancelled.

However, we managed to do a Book Reader badge night and start the Navigator badge.

February's Badgework

The main badge activity this month was the Astronomer badge. It involves looking at the planets, the moon and its phases, learning about stars and aspects of space such as exploration. It's a great badge for those who love looking up and night and wondering about all those different planets and star formations.

Our first Chief Scout's Silver Award of 2020.

We were delighted that Edie was our first Cub of this year to be presented with her Chief Scout's Silver Award. She was presented it by the Reverend Dr Paul Edmundson from the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. He conducted the Plough Sunday service and Edie received her badge and certificate towards the end of it.

As a reminder, Cubs need to complete all seven Challenge Awards (Adventure, Outdoor, Personal Skills, Teamwork, Team Leader and World) plus at least 6 Activity badges. The congregation laughed at that last part as Edie had an armful of Activity badges. Well done Edie!

January's Badgework

Tin Can Cooking has become a bit of a tradition now as one of our first meetings of the year. There's no doubt that this would make many of our Cubs' top 5 favourite things.

We also used January as a time to challenge the Cubs with their teamwork skills and catch up on badge work that some of them had missed.

January - Plough Sunday 2020

The observance of Plough Sunday on the First Sunday of Epiphany goes back to Victorian times, but behind it there is a much older observance, associated with the first working day after the twelve days of Christmas (hence ‘Plough Monday’ in some places). In medieval times, many ploughs were kept in the parish church, and some churches kept a ‘plough-light’. In days when work was scarce in winter, the observance looked forward to the time of sowing with the promise of a harvest to come. The blessing of the plough was very important, as the village was primarily dependent on a good harvest later that year.

In Wilmcote, Plough Sunday is celebrated on the third Sunday in January and again this year, our Cubs (and Beavers) went along to Mary Arden's Farm in Wilmcote and paraded behind the plough as it was carried aloft by the farm hands.

December badgework

Christmas was in our mind all this month and, over a couple of meetings, Cubs made a large decoration to go somewhere in the house. We had lots of great feedback and the photos of them in place in homes showed how attractive the Cubs had made their's look.

October & November badgework

In October, we concentrated on the International badge ahead of our trip to France. This included food tasting.

In November, we had a Harry Potter themed night for one of our meetings.

Remembrance Sunday

As usual, we attended the service at St Andrew's Church in Wilmcote. Four of the Cubs spoke about their visit to Vimy Ridge Memorial as part of the service.

Well Done Harley! Chief scout Award holder

Harley was presented his Chief Scout's Silver award by James, a Guide at the Vimy Ridge Memorial in Northern France. Congratulations Harley - another deserved Award holder.

October - Trip to France (Day 4)

After a magical Wednesday, we had to set off home. But - its an important time of the year - so we stopped off and spent a thought provoking two hours at the Vimy Ridge Memorial in Northern France. This was the scene of a tremendous four day battle in April 1917 which the Allies (mainly the Canadians) eventually won and they took Vimy Ridge, an area held by the German Army for nearly two years. Its a "wonderful" place; go there if you ever get the chance.

October - Trip to France (Day 3)

If Tuesday was a long day, Wednesday (Day 3) was even longer1 We spent 13 hours at Disneyland Paris. What a GREAT day. Out of the 32 Cubs & Beavers, 26 had never been to a Disneyland Park before, and they all had a magical time. They went to both the main Park and the Studios. Again, we're only showing 4 photographs, but trust us - many more were taken1 A lovely day.

October - Trip to France (Day 2)

On the second day, we got up early and after breakfast, spent the day in Paris. The Cubs and Beavers went on a boat trip, climbed the Eiffel Tower and explored the area around Montmartre. a very long day!

October - Trip to France (Day 1)

32 of our Cubs and Beavers enjoyed a fun filled four day trip to France during their half-term week. On Day One, we set off from Wilmcote by coach, crossing the channel by boat and then drove through the countryside on fast roads towards Chateau du Romaine, just south-east of Paris. Lots of travelling, but also fun stops and several dvds! No four photos will do any of the days justice, but here's a flavour...

County's Kenilworth Castle Challenge event on 5th October 2019

Our County, in association with English Heritage, laid on a Challenge event at Kenilworth Castle. We took part on the morning of Saturday 5th October. Fourteen Cubs came along and having travelled there by coach, had to do a quiz inside the Castle for 90 minutes followed by an Activity Hike that they were only allowed to do for another 90 minutes. This had four bases at various stages. At each one, they made part of an emblem for a shield. It was all successfully completed and they all had great fun. It ticked off some badge work for them too.