We said farewell to Nico at the Pinewood Derby today. He’s moving on to become the Southampton City District Training Manager. But after 16 years as Chairman, Scout Leader and Group Scout Leader he leaves behind the legacy of a Scout Group that reflects his personality – warm, welcoming, friendly and fun! We wish him every success in his new role but hope that he will keep strong links with the 14th.

As well as engraved whisky glasses (and whisky!) we presented him with a display of individual thank you cards that had been made by our Beavers, Cubs, Scouts and Leaders.

And all this on top of another exciting, colourful Pinewood Derby. 32 Fantastic Cars entered the competition. Results to follow.

Exploring the woods, making survival shelters, climbing, GPS-ing, Wide Games, Campfires and much, much more – Cub Survival Camp 2011 had it all!

Here’s some more photos on flickr P.S. It rained a bit too!

We had a great time learning to climb at the 11th Southampton’s climbing wall – many thanks to Russ and Mike of the 29th Southampton for making it possible.

We challenged the Cubs to solve a series of clues around Highfield and to take a photo to prove that they’d solved the clues.

They were also given a series of special Challenges – including, as a Six, creeping up on a Cub Mum on a bench without her realizing that they were coming…

It was a beautiful evening and the Cubs took some great pictures, here are the rest of their photos on flickr

The scout section will shortly be losing a valuable member of our team (Jack) so we need to find someone willing to have a lot of fun, take part is some great adventures, go camping and do all sorts of fun and exciting things in our weekly evening meetings.

We have a brilliant troop full of kids who want to be there and who are a pleasure to be around. Take a look at the video below to see some of the things we have got up to this year. (It was produced for an AGM, not for recruiting!)

If you are interested, please get in touch – drop me an email – ed AT highfieldscouts DOT org DOT uk

Thanks,
Ed (Scout Leader)

Don’t be deceived! We arrived on Brownsea Island by ferry like everyone else does (except for Anders who sailed his Dinghy over) but the Cubs did spend a lot of time on – and in – the water.

We camped on Baden-Powell’s original campsite, all 25 Cubs came and all 25 Cubs were brilliant! The programme was pretty full on – but lets hear what some of the Cubs made of the whole experience…

Matthew liked “everything” but especially “peacocks everywhere, having our own campsite, all the activities”. Matt’s Mum said that Matt’s Camp by numbers was – 48 hours, 6 sausages, 43 cakes, 0 soap!
Thomas liked “seeing Red Squirrels and enjoyed the archery but not the midges!”
Frankie said “It was awesome, fun, adventurous and increases your lack of fear (helps you overcome your fears)!!”
Quinn said “The fun, the peacocks there were loads of peacocks. The freedom to walk off to the shop with friends”
Ned, who came to camp with a bandaged knee said “I liked brownsea, even though I had a bad leg. I enjoyed it by helping people make the den and chatting to friends. I also was able to do the activities.”
Greg, liked “the Wide Games, the Food and the Peacocks”.

Thanks to everyone who put in so much time to make this ambitious camp work so well. Thanks especially to the Leaders and Parents who camped with us and a special thank you to Maggie, Susy and Paula for the fantastic food!

Follow this link to see the Photoshow on YouTube.

Follow this link to see the Photos on flickr.

No – I hadn’t seen water come out of a Cubs elbow before either – particularly when its been poured into a tin can on his head!

We’ve had a really busy Spring Term at Cubs – taking in everything from exploring a flying boat to singing “Waterloo” in pink wigs, from playing Harry Potter Wide Games in the Dark to watching Ed, our Scout Leader, work his magic, from Cubs playing Kubb to Cubs meeting Guide Dogs, from Lady Gaga puppets to blindfold jelly-eating, not to mention 10-pin Bowling and Chess, Cross Country and Football Tournaments – a real mix of fun-stuff, which is, of course, what Cubs is all about 🙂 And then there was Project Parrot where our Scout Group did something a bit special…

I’d like to say a particularly big thank you to my excellent assistant Leaders, Debra (Kaa), John (Jacala), Kylie (Kylie) and new recruit Liz (tba) without whom none of this would have been possible. Similarly I’d like to say a massive thank you too to our fantastic Young Leaders – George, Naomi, Jamie and Hugo who make Cubs fun and exciting as well as being brilliant role models.

Thanks too to our Cub Parents and Families for their fantastic support through the term and well done to our constantly amazing Cubs for doing everything with their customary panache! Just noticed that one of our year 5 Cubs has clocked up 61 successive Tuesday Cub meetings. And three of our year 4s have done 47 successive Tuesdays. Awesome!

Cub Spring 2011 photos are here

I am so excited that our Scout Group has been chosen to pilot the widescale use of the iWoggle. Here’s the official press release from the Scout Association.

The iWoggle

We are thrilled to be able to announce that a collaborative effort between the Scout Association and a leading Technology Solutions Provider has resulted in the advent of the iWoggle.

The Scout Association has felt for some time that the humble Woggle needed reworking for the 21st century. Many Scouts have been choosing to wear Friendship Knots in preference to Woggles – we are now able to offer our Scouts a truly innovative alternative which will impress their friends and enhance their Scouting experience.

Key iWoggle Features:

-> USB or FireWire Connectivity: FireWire provides fire lighting facility
-> iTunes compatible but optimised for iYarn.
-> iYarn; Database of an initial 10,000,000 campfire songs and yarns. More added all the time.
-> Headphone cables fully integratable with Scout Scarves (Neckers)
-> Powerful built in Speakers: volume graduated in easy to understand increments:
Peaceful – Quite Noisy – Pneumatic Drill – AC/DC Concert – Jumbo Jet taking off – Cub Pack

iWoggle Testimonies:

> Beaver Scout Leader Stu Piddley-Bouncey was involved in some of the earliest iWoggle trials. “We’re all delighted with our iWoggles. We did have one or two nose bleeds in the early days. The first prototype iWoggles were the size of an old ghetto blaster, so quite cumbersome and heavy. The Beavers would periodically topple over”

> Cub Scout Leader, Ivor Scruloose is delighted with his iWoggle. “My vocal delivery has been compared to the sound of a large, lethargic, low flying bumble bee. I’ve been using the iWoggle to mix my voice with Lady Gaga. My Cubs never used to listen during Grand Howl, now they stare at me in open-mouthed wonder. My Lady Gaga accessories possibly help too.”

> Senior Roving Commissioner Neil Beforeme-Underlings has been trialing the high-end iWoggle with built in hard drive, “I’ve stored all my favourite boyhood Scout Camp experiences on my iWoggle. When there’s nothing to watch on the telly, I can think of no better way of spending time than listening to my own witty stories delivered in my own inimitable voice on my iWoggle. I can hardly wait for the upcoming 160GB version of the iWoggle – I’ll be able to store a selection of my Cub Camp stories too”

A number of Scout Groups throughout the UK have been chosen to pilot the next phase of iWoggle delivery.

A group of Beavers visited the Piam Brown Ward at Southampton General Hospital this afternoon for a double presentation.

We were delighted to be able to present William with a Scout Bravery Award. And William joined with the other Beavers to present Jane Buchanan, the Ward’s Fund Raising Manager, with a cheque for £4,512-75 from Project Parrot.

Well done to all four of our Beaver Scouts who were fantastic ambassadors for the 14th Scout Group 🙂

On Sat 16^th October 2010 the 14^th Southampton City (Highfield) Scout Group held their ninth annual Pinewood Derby and Fete.

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Everyone bought a wooden car kit and made their own wooden cars which we raced down a track under power of gravity at our Scout Hut. There was an amazing variety of designs and there were prizes not only for the winning cars in the races but also for the best and brightest cars. We also had a barbecue, a raffle, bouncy castle, cake stall, and chocolate tombola plus our tin can football alley on the go so everyone had a lot of fun and we raised money towards some new camping gear.

The winning cars 2010 were:

First: Carrot#7 by Jim
Second: Rocket by Liran
Third: Astronomer by Daniel

Best looking car:
First: Submarine by Chris
Second: Cool Runnin’s by Josh
Third: Tay1 by Taylor

Most original design:
First: The Electric Car by Michael
Second: Dot by Finn
Third: Fail to plan, plan to fail by Joe

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Brightest coloured car:
First: Eco Warrior by Matthew
Second: Kez-i-kar by Keziah
Third: The Banana by Robert

“Mad Mad Mad”:
First: Three-wheeled tank by Gregory
Second: Schnitzel von Krumm by Ben
Third: Racing Rapids by Ethan