2014 is going to be a year of change for 1st Little Stoke Scout Group. Michael Edwards-Jones, who was a leader when I was a scout in the group, has decided to step down as Group Scout Leader and we thank him for his years of service. David Hutton, who I’m reliably informed has held almost every role in the group is slowly handing over roles to a selection of new volunteers including myself, so expect some change in the next few newsletters. Our newsletters are going to be based online in future so expect a growing number of photos, and more about what our sections get up to.

Beavers
Last term we completed our Imagination Activity Badge & Creative Challenge Badge. The activities included making pictures of what life might be like in the future, learning how a magnet works & junk modelling musical instruments. We also made paper flowers & rosettes for Mothers Day & made pancakes for Shrove Tuesday.

Well done to Callum Smith & Harry Eccott who entered the Rotary Club Charity Swimathon on Saturday 15th March at the Bradley Stoke Leisure Centre.

On Saturday 29th March the Beavers visited Bristol Zoo on a District day out. The sun shone as the Beavers walked round completing their endangered animals & plants trails. We woke up the lion, screamed at the bats, laughed at the meerkats, admired the butterflies & watched the hungry gorillas & seals eat their lunch. It was a great day out for the Beavers & Leaders.

Beaver of The Month Woggle was awarded to Harry Davey & Louie Ash

Beaver of The Week Trophies were awarded to Ryan Donald, Matthew Rosling, Jack Waghorn, Billy Hopes, Samuel Lee, Dylan Maby, James Pearce & Matthew Williams

Winners of The Points Challenge – Blue Lodge (Dylan Maby, Louie Ash, Matthew Williams, Jack Waghorn & Alex Lovell)

Well done to Billy Hopes who was awarded The Chief Scouts Bronze Award & has now moved onto Cubs

Next term the Beavers will start planting seeds to sell plants at our stall at The Bradley Stoke Festival on Saturday 7th June.

Cubs
The cubs have had a packed term as always. On the 25th January the group attended the @Bristol Astronomy badge day where the group made rockets, had a go at animating and completed the astronomy badge by learning about the planets and stars in the planetarium.
Animators in training

More fun in @Bristol
Daniel Whitfield, Liam Underwood, James Williams and Luke Willman represented the Cubs in the annual Rotary Club Charity Swimathon helping to raise money for the both the Group and good causes supported by the Rotary club.

The Cubs have been working hard for badges this term with Ciaran Morley and Ryce Bath earning their Chief Scouts Silver award. The group have also completed the chefs badge that involved both learning about safety, the importance of a balanced diet and creating a two course meal
The group are now looking ahead to the Cubs fun day at Woodhouse park in June and planning the cub camp has begun with the intention of taking the cubs to Tintern in September.

Finally this is an ideal time to welcome our new Shere Khan (Gary) to the group as he has just been enrolled with us.

Scouts
Over the last few weeks leading up to Easter the Scouts have been to Woodhouse for an open fire cooking evening and to the adventure golf course in Hambrook. The older scouts have been assisted with their work to complete their challenge badges in order to gain the Gold Chief scouts award. The team of four scouts that had entered the County cooking competition had gone on to the Regional competition where they came 11th out of 14 in a very closely fought contest – their main course actually scored highest out of all 14 entrants. We shall enter the new term looking forward and planning our Summer camp to Parc le Breos and working to complete more challenge badges along with activity badges. Well done to two of our Scouts Kieron Obee and Tom Steadman, who have been selected to represent Avon District at the World Scouting Jamboree in Japan 2015. The Group will be fundraising to help support . We are now taking orders for the Scout Jamboree badge at a cost of £2.50 each. If you would like to purchase a badge please order through your section Leader.

Uniform Bank
We all like to see our young people looking smart in their uniforms and we encourage all members to wear the dark blue uniform trousers or something very similar. Youngsters have this habit of growing and so we have started a uniform bank so that uniforms can be recycled as children grow out of them. Please bring any spare uniform items to the Headquarters and leave them in the box provided in the committee room, making sure that they have been washed and are still in good condition.

Group Vacancies
We would like to say thank you to Group Scout Leader Michael Edwards-Jones who retired last term. Assistant Group Scout Leader Coralie Thompson will be acting Group Scout Leader until a replacement has been appointed. We need more adult volunteers to help at 1st Little Stoke

Group Vacancies – Group Scout Leader

Section Assistants – Scouts

Members of the Executive Committee
Waiting List – Thank you to Andrea Coffin (Scout parent) for accepting this position

HQ Cleaner – Thank you to Tracy Derrick (Cub parent) for accepting this position

If you would like more information about these vacancies please contact Coralie on 01454 615604 or 07806984014. The Group needs your support – every little helps.