Scouts
Where did the year go? With so much going on it flashed by all too quickly. As always much fun & adventure has taken place across the whole county on both section nights & away on camps/outings which is what scouting is all about.
All that hard work providing the fun & adventure is purely down to the continued commitment & dedication of all adult leaders & helpers. Your efforts without a shadow of a doubt have a very positive & influential impact upon our young members & once more on behalf of all the scouts across the county I would just like to say “thank you” to each & every one of you involved at whatever level.
District & county events have once again been well supported & enjoyed enormously by all participants.
The annual County cooking competition at Millpool Woods attracted the largest number of entrants to date from across both districts. Despite the mixed bag of weather very impressive team efforts made for an exciting & very competitive event where all teams had to prepare & cook using an open fire a two course meal for 4 people.
“Operation Chameleon 2018” was a huge success.
Over 600 scouts, explorers & leaders boarded a fleet of coaches & minibuses from Blythe Valley Business park & headed off to a new secret location to play one huge game of “hide & seek”. The venue for the event was the beautiful Forest of Dean & the Wye Valley. For those unfamiliar with the concept teams of scouts & explorers meet at Blythe Valley. Upon arrival, they receive a kit check & briefing before being put on coaches & taken to a mystery drop off point. Maps are then provided & the challenge is to make their way to Mission Control by a given deadline whilst avoiding capture from one of several catching teams also out in the play zone. There are also challenges along the route to undertake. The scout & explorer teams caught the least pick up the trophies as do the catching team who successfully capture the most teams.
Planning for Operation Chameleon 2019 is already well underway…
The county night hike took place on a Saturday night back in February based in a new area near Corley. This event is open to both scouts & explorers. Approx 400 participants took on the 10 mile or 13 mile routes in the race to pick up “The Boot” trophy for the fastest scout team & “Walking Stick” for the fastest Explorer team. Many thanks as always to the huge leader support team, Network & finally SAS who start cooking breakfast for all in the early hours of Sunday morning.
The scouting highlight for me has to be the visit to Solihull Council Chambers for the presentation of Chief Scouts Gold certificates by the mayor. The recipients were then also invited into the mayors’ parlour for a unique photo opportunity. My congratulations go to all the recipients – an awful lot of hard work, time & effort goes into achieving this award, the highest to be presented within the scout section. It is indeed a proud moment for the scouts, parents & leaders alike.
Finally, I just wish to thank the ADC scouts for Blythe (Pete Austin) & Cole (Michael Blake) for their continued help & support. Both work hard to motivate, support & share resources across the troops within their districts.
Paul
Assistant County Commissioner Scouts