Scouts

Scouts

43rd Oxford (St Nicholas) Scout Troop

43rd Oxford Scout Troop caters for boys and girls aged 10-14 and we meet at our headquarters in Boult's Lane, Old Marston on Thursday evenings between 7 and 9pm.

Our section follows on from the Beaver Scouts (aged 6-8) and Cub Scouts (aged 8-10) who also meet at our headquarters.

Scouts are split into patrols with a Patrol Leader and Assistant Patrol Leader, which forms the basis of their groupings for troop evenings.

Every term, the patrol run one activity of their own and the Patrol Leaders sit on the troop forum and help organise the activities.

We are fortunate to have a good leadership team consisting of Steve Clarke and a new student Mike who has just joined us from Oxford University.

Our troop evenings are varied and are based around the Scouts Programme Zones. This has included this year: wide games, first aid, camping skills, trading posts, swimming, visit to mosque, cycle ride, cooking, climbing, rifle shooting and canoeing.

Each year we also have 3 camps: Christmas Camp, Spring Camp and Summer Camp. The Summer camp is usually a week long and this year we went to the Brecon Beacons and did a range of adventurous activities including: rock climbing, mountain walking (Pen Y Fan - biggest in South Wales), trip to Big Pit, swimming, waterfall walk, cooperate challenge and lots of camping skills!

Scouts also have a range of "Challenge" badges: Outdoor, Outdoor Plus, Adventure, Expedition, Fitness, Creative, Promise, Global and Community. When four of these challenges + a personal challenge are completed Scouts can gain the Chief Scouts Gold Award. In addition, there are over 70 proficiency badges that can be gained in nearly every subject, and all scouts are encouraged to gain at least 2 per year.

If you would like more information about Scouting in Old Marston, please contact Mike Baxter 07979 334679 or mk.baxter@virgin.net

43rd Oxford Cub Scouts

This term we had 27 cud Scouts from ages 8-10 years old. Three are going up to Scouts after Christmas and we will be having some Beaver Scouts coming up to us too. We try to have a variety of activities each week to give the youngsters fun whilst learning useful skills. These will include learning about Emergency Aid with a qualified St. John's Instructor at the beginning of this term. They will learn some simple First Aid which is always useful and the Scouts will build on this to a higher degree.

The Cubs programme is built round challenges in a variety of subjects which they learn about at Pack meetings or camps. When they have conquered these, they gain the relevant badge. This year we had a District Camp with the theme of 'Dad's Army', and we have another camp in the planning.

Anyone who came to our Autumn Fair on 18th November will have seen the car track down which the cubs were racing their Canadian Cub Cars. They each made their own cars, to their own design, out of a block of wood, 4 nails and 4 wheels, with the help of their dads. I'm not sure who had the most fun - lads or dads, but we have raced them since at on a Canadian themed evening at the Pack. The cubs have been busy making gifts to take to Bradlands where they go to entertain the residents at Christmas -an evening enjoyed by residents and cubs alike. The cubs also plant bulbs and flowers for them each year.

In 2007 we made kites and flew them at Wittenham Clumps, had a picnic and then visited the Pendon Museum at Long Wittenham. So you can see there is lots of fun. Come and see!

I am waiting for details about the scouts, but for more information about the Old Marston Scouts, Cubs and Beavers please contact Group Chairman Pete Anderton on 01865-434912.

Click on the logos below for more information about the organisations

Old Marston Parish Council is not responsible for the content of external sites