A small group of Explorers from Kennet were amongst the thousands who braved the elements over the 8th-10th January to have a MUDDY time, at Wintercamp 2016.

Wintercamp is an activity camp running right in the middle of winter, and you can certainly expect the extremes of British weather. This year we had torrential rain, and bright sunshine. Combine that with the best activities going and we’ve got ourselves a very exhilarating weekend.

At Gilwell Park they were able to try a number of activities including the usual favourites: shooting and archery, crafts, white water rafting off-site at Lee Valley, water slide, prusiking, radio orienteering, wide games, quad bikes, go-karts and a disco as well as 2 new activities for 2016, curling and MAD DROP – both of which went down a treat. There was many others too. Once it got dark the fun didn’t stop either, with a disco, cinema and some campfires of course.

Wyvern ESU visited Braggers Wood Campsite over the last weekend in January.
They enjoyed the luxury of staying indoors in the recently built Beech Lodge, with bunk rooms and a well equipped kitchen.
On Saturday they went cross-country Quad-Biking and had a thrilling (although muddy experience!)

On the way back they stopped at a swimming pool for a shower and a swim in the warm pool.
Sunday consisted of a trip into Bournemouth for a game of Laserquest and a McDonalds before travelling home.

Cubs from 4^th Newbury and Wash Common (Dalby) cub packs recently visited the INTECH Science Centre in Winchester.

The visit was part of the activities that the cubs were completing for their science badge and coincided with the World Space Weekend being held at INTECH. The cubs met space engineers, scientists and robots who were celebrating our connection with the Universe. Special exhibits were organised by Astrium, Rutherford Appleton and Arqiva and the cubs were able to control Mars rovers, make rockets to shoot in to the sky and to learn all about satellites and the role they play in everyday life. Some special Star Wars guests were also on hand to make sure everyone enjoyed the day. As well as the special activities for the weekend, the cubs also enjoyed some of the other experiments, learning about electricity, sound waves and  radio communications.
The fantastic setting of INTECH was also used to invest 10 new cubs into Scouting and no doubt they will remember the day they were invested. The cubs even managed to find a new storm trooper cub scout!  Lots of budding scientists enjoyed a fantastic day.

The Kennet District Scout football competition took place on Sunday at Battery End in Wash Common.

The Weather was perfect as some 150 plus young people from Beaver, Cub and Scout sections across the District took part in this annual football 6 a side competition organised by 1st Wash Common Scout Group.
Medals were awarded to the runners up and the winners in each division received medals and a team trophy.

While the Dalby cub pack won the Cub competition, teams from 4^th Newbury Scout Group won the Beaver and Scout competitions and both teams completed the competition unbeaten with the Beavers keeping clean sheets in every game.

This is the 6^th consecutive year that 4^th Newbury Scouts has won the scout competition.

On Saturday the 8th June 2nd Newbury Beaver Scouts had a family trip to Brownsea Island.

There were 17 Beaver Scouts but with parents, siblings and leaders we had 51 people on our trip.

We met at Poole Harbour then sailed over to the Island where we hiked to the Scout stone and did an hour long Red Squirrel hunt with the National Trust Education officer.

The weather was glorious and everyone had the most fantastic time.

It was a long day but well worth it. We will definitely be going again.

Sharon Chapman

2nd Newbury Beaver Scout Leader

Scouts from the Newbury/Kintbury/Hungerford area recently held a  district camp in the fantastic surroundings of the  Englefield Estate near Theale. This District Camp, with the kind permission of Richard Benyon and the Benyon family saw over 350 young people enjoy a fantastic 2 day camp. The older Cubs, Scouts and Explorers camped from Friday evening until Sunday afternoon and they were joined by the younger Beavers for an action packed fun day on Saturday.   Apart from some showers on Saturday morning, the weather was fantastic and all those attending had a brilliant weekend.

The fun filled activity day saw the young people enjoy a wide range of activities including an Army assault course provided by The Rifles, Archery, Laser Quest, Bouncy Castles and other fantastic inflatables - alongside a number of traditional scout activities such as Pioneering - crafts  - games etc.   The day closed with a traditional camp fire provided by campfire master Bruce Meldrum and attended by everyone on site.   Sunday saw the Cubs and Scouts enjoying a traditional it’s a knockout competition while camp sites were being dismantled and packed away.

130 adults, all volunteer leaders and parents, made this weekend possible. Without them and the dedicated organisation committee, none of this would have been possible.

Alison Taylor,  District Commissioner for Kennet District said “The young people had a brilliant weekend. There were lots of smiles on faces over the weekend and some very  tired young people on Sunday. District camp was a fantastic chance for the young people from the different groups in and to the West of Newbury to come together for a weekend of fun and adventure, learning new skills and making new friends.  It was also an opportunity for parents to have hands-on experience of scouting“.

Scouting for young people is only possible with adult volunteers and more adults are needed to support local scouting and to help us open new groups and to grow existing groups. If you would like to learn more about these volunteering opportunities, then please contact Alison, the District Commissioner on [email protected] This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Diana Wheatley is awarded with the Silver Acorn for her tremendous work for local scouting

I have been lucky enough to be awarded the Silver Acorn by the Scout Association and was invited to go and watch the Parade of Queen's Scouts at Windsor Castle on Sunday 21st April and to attend Mattins in St. George's Chapel.   The Duchess of Cambridge took the salute at the parade and afterwards we sat on the grass outside St. George's Chapel and listened to the Queen's Scout Service relayed to us. It was a wonderful day and the weather was just right.

These photo's were taken by my son Andrew Dyer who is ACBS in Bristol and accompanied me for the day.

 Diana Wheatley

District Appointments Secretary.

2nd Newbury Scouts entered the County Quiz on Saturday 17th November.

We competed against 10 other teams and came 2nd only losing 1st place by 1.5 points.

We're getting closer each year to winning.

Well done to Eddie, Amy, Alex and William.

The event took place on Sunday 30^th September 2012 at the Thirtover Guide Camp site. All groups in District attended the event as well as Explorers from across the district. Three archery ranges were used throughout the day with 292 young people from the 7 Scout Groups attending for 1.5 hour time slots throughout the day. Young people had a chance to practice prior to taking part in a competitive round which produced the following results:-

Now in its third year the event has grown in popularity and this did produce a problem on the day resulting in some young people having less time to practice prior to their competitive round, clearly an issue to be taken on board by the organisers for next year.

Next year’s event will once again be at Thirtover and will be held on Sunday 22^nd September.

Particular thanks go this year to Paul and Rachel Fisher for running the administration, booking and scoring process, to Diana Wheatley and Alison Taylor for manning the refreshments throughout the day, to Mark Taylor for producing the certificates for the Archers and to the Archery Instructors Martin Turner, Marcus Brind, Anita Lemoine-Wright and James Fisher and to the two Range Assistants Sarah New and John Baston.

Next year I hope that we will run a training session for additional adults to be able to assist the Archery Instructors on the ranges and perhaps we may have new Archery Instructors able to help in running the ranges throughout the day.

Well done to all the young people who took part in the event and see you all there next year.

Eugene Futcher

GSL 1^st Wash Common Scout Group

KENNET DISTRICT SWIMMING GALA 2011 – RESULTS

The Swimming Gala this year proved to be yet another popular District event, and it
was heart-warming to see so many young people, Leaders and parents supporting
the event. Special thanks go to Martin Turner and Gerard O’Neill for organising and
running the event so very well, and also to Diana and Richard Wheatley for once
again ensuring the scoring was properly recorded. Also, thanks go to the team of
Leaders, Explorer Scouts and parents who kept the whole event running smoothly.

A special mention needs to go to 1st Inkpen & Kintbury, 1st Newbury Sea Scouts,
1st Wash Common and 3rd Newbury for entering Cubs and Scouts from all
sections, which made the event what it is all about – getting as many young people
participating as possible. Congratulations to the winning teams, and to all who took
part.

So that you can see just how close some of the placings were, please see below the
results for the four categories entered:

Cubs:-

1st – 2nd Newbury – 53 points
2nd – 1st Hungerford – 38 points
3rd – 3rd Newbury - 37
4th - 1st Newbury – 35 points
5th – 4th Newbury – 23 points
6th –1st Inkpen & Kintbury – 22 Points
7th – 1st Wash Common Dalby – 13 points

Scout Under 12 ½ :-

1st – 1st Wash Common – 52 points
2nd – 1st Hungerford – 26 points
3rd – 3rd Newbury – 25 points
4th – 1st Newbury – 22 points
5th – 2nd Newbury – 20 points
6th – 1st Inkpen & Kintbury – 16 points

Scout Under 14:-

1st – 1st Wash Common – 17 points
2nd – 1st Inkpen & Kintbury – 11 points
3rd – 3rd Newbury – 10 points
4th – 1st Newbury – 3 points

Explorers (Individual Event):-
1st - Connor O’Neill
2nd – Michael Osborn
3rd – Callum O’Neill

The newly introduced Best Group Participation Award 2011 goes to:-
3rd Newbury – see the table below for the placings order based solely on competitor
numbers entered:

1st – 3rd Newbury
2nd – 1st Newbury
3rd – 1st Wash Common
4th – 1st Inkpen & Kintbury & 1st Hungerford - joint placing
6th – 2nd Newbury
7th – 4th Newbury