1st Stocksbridge Scouts

At the beginning of the school holidays 16 scouts, 2 Young Leaders and 2 Leaders undertook 3 days of activities in South Yorkshire, all returning to their homes each evening. During these three days they took part in .....deep breath ..... canoeing, kayaking, rafting, swimming, bus jumping, singing, karting, climbing, caving, bob sleighing, fire lighting, cooking and campfire.

Day one saw us at Underbank Reservoir for water sports. Although it was a typical summers day, it chucked it down, the scouts enjoyed an action packed day laid on by the staff at Thornbridge Outdoors. Rafting (yes the lashings held) was a major highlight with everyone getting soaked. This was followed by canoeing and Kayaking. To finish off the scouts splashed around in the dam getting even more soaked. It was at this time that the sun came out!

Day two saw us catching a tram bus into Sheffield. The aim of the morning was to catch as many buses as possible within 85 minutes. The winning patrol did really well smashing the previous record and managing to travel on 16 buses! Then it was on to the station to catch a train to Swinton for the Go-Karting. All the scouts and leaders had a fantastic time racing around the indoor circuit before travelling back to Stocksbridge by train, tram and bus.

The final day we travelled to Hesley Wood for Climbing and caving before we tried out their new bob sleigh run. The patrols then took part in a Ready Steady Cook competition before the parents arrived for a camp fire and presentation evening.

Many thanks go to the Bridge shop for their grant towards these activities. Without their help we would never had been able to do so much. 16 scouts are most grateful for their kind gift.

Our Scout troop attended the District Scout and Cup camp at Walesby Forest at the weekend. Arriving on Friday night the first job of cause was to get the sleeping tents up. This was followed by both scouts and cubs having some informal races to get their appetites up for a supper of hot dogs served by the District catering team.

On the Saturday with the sun out. Scouts met in the huge marquee for breakfast. The whole day was taken up with the Iron Scout competition. We entered two teams. The first event was a run up the track to the furthest camp site (about a mile away). Matt Codd came second out of all the competitors in this event.

The second event was the cycle element. Relay races between the teams were held with each scouts getting numerous heats. Dinner was brought to the scouts before they walked the short distance to the boating lake for the canoeing. Scouts spent the afternoon engaged in various canoe races before going back to the camp site for a much needed break.

After an excellent meal (the District Catering team doing us proud), we went to the campfire where Liam Price entertained a crowd of about 300 with a joke. After that it was either games or the Disco (Ben A managing to attract the interests of several girls) and to bed.

A bit of rain in the night gave way to the sun once again on Sunday. Scouts then went into the 'solar heated' swimming pool for the swimming gala. Our scouts did really well winning all their races except one (where they were second!). After this all scouts played rounders before a late lunch.

As parents arrived the results were announced. Our scouts raised the District Swimming Gala trophy whilst our friends at the 82nd won the Iron Scout. Roll on next year! More photos in our gallery.