7 Beavers and one Sectional Assistant swam up to Cubs at the end of this term, including the last members of our original colony. Two Beavers achieved their Chief Scout Bronze Award this term. Congratulations to them!
Three leaders still remain from the original Beaver leadership team, which is superb as we are able to draw on this wealth of experience. At the same time, we are super excited to see our team continue to grow in strength and numbers.
Lee remains BSL and our nights away permit holder for sleepovers and camps. Julie, as ABSL, coordinates our programme, events and badges. David, as ABSL, attends additional meetings, oversees the personal challenge badges, birthday cards, songs and our mascots – Woody and Waddle. We also continue to have a YL of 2 years, and he is currently looking to meet with the YL coordinator to complete his YL missions. Duncan, as SA, leads our hikes, cycling badge and pretty much our summer term programme. For our newest team members, Clare has taken on the role of ABSL, Helen the role of SA, and Tom has stepped up from occasional helper to SA.
In January, we will be welcoming 7 new Beavers to our colony. During the spring term, we will be working towards achieving our Digital Maker stage 2 and Builder Activity badge by creating stop motion films, which we will then invite our families to view. We will also be using micro:bits to create leaf identifiers and a music maker. We will begin working towards our Animal Friend activity badge by making bird feeders and participating in Bird Watch week. We will also participate in Fare Trade Fortnight as we continue to work towards our Global Issues Activity Badge, finish off our Gardener activity badge by finding out what happened to the plants growing in our terrariums, and practise our knot tying skills. Hutch will be running a physics night and hopefully we will have someone visiting us to talk about looking after our teeth.
We have several events planned. A woodland creatures sleepover in St Neots during February half term, the annual District Beavers night hike at Hinchingbrooke Country Park, a day trip to Herring Green Farm in Bedford and on Shrove Tuesday the Beavers will be holding a joint event with the Courtyard Cafe – serving pancakes to the community as part of a fundraising venture. More details to follow!!
The Beavers will also begin to work towards their Community Impact Stage 1 badge as they take on A Million Hands Project – Protecting the Environment. We are hoping to engage with the St Neots based 0% Emissions Project as part of this.
Things are already taking shape for the summer term. A hike from St Ives to Swavesey is in the pipeline, Hutch is coming to teach the Beavers how to light fires using a flint and steel, plus do some knife work to make pointy sticks, and we will be looking at bike maintenance before showing off our cycling skills. We are also looking at options for time on the water. We hope to attend the All Sections District Camp, the planned Group Family Camp and BiTs – lots of camping opportunities to look forward to!
