Scouting Snapshots

Beaver Scouts have become serious nature lovers after an evening of making bird feeders for their gardens.

11th Blackpool Beaver Scouts worked towards their nature badge last Wednesday evening.

The Beaver Scouts had a fun, learning evening by making balls of fat and putting them into plastic meshing, with a tie so that they can hang them on their trees in their gardens.

They also put together hoops of corn on string so that the birds would have two different types of food to feed on.

However some of the youngsters live in accommodation without gardens, so with the help of their adult family members, they will hang them outside their windows.

At the same time another group were learning about nature through photos and trying to identify the type of birds that nest and live in their area.

They were also looking at other creatures such as hedgehogs and squirrels.

Then the groups switched over.

The 11th Blackpool Scout Group meet on a Wednesday evening at St Kentigern’s Parish Church Hall, Newton Drive, starting at 6pm with the Beavers Scouts aged six to eight.

An ingenious balancing game

Scouting is not just badge work all the time, it’s also about having fun by playing games with an element of team work and confidence building.

Youngsters at 13th/16th Scout Group were challenged with getting to the other side of a room without walking across it. In this case get four young people, with five chairs, and create your bridge, so everyone moves up a chair and the person on the end passes the empty chair to the front.

It’s great fun, excellent for your balancing skills, and very competitive if you race against another three teams.

13/16th Blackpool Scout Group meet at Waterloo Junior School, Ansdell Road, Blackpool, on a Thursday evening from 7pm onwards.

Training day to challenge Scouts

Thirty-two Scouts met last weekend to test their skills.

The youngsters, aged between 10.5 years and 14, represented 20 Scout troops from all over Blackpool, in various activities from pioneering (which involves lashing large wooden poles together with rope) to problem solving.

The youngsters were challenged with trying to light a wick attached to a pole from a tea light, building wooden blocks, directing your friend over an assault course who is blind folded, orienteering with a compass, first aid, and a challenge based on television programme The Cube.

The training session started at 10am and lasted until 7pm,

The final part of the day was a forum where the young people discussed what they liked and disliked about the day, which was led by Deputy Youth Commissioners for Blackpool Jordon Shuck and Emily Platt.

, both, to discuss “ Youth Shaped February”, a national initiative, and Emily also spoke about her experiences in the next Section of Scouting called “Explorers”, with ADC Scouts also present in the form, to listen to the feedback the ......The each Scout was then presented with a Certificate for Completion of the Course.