Reminders & key information:
This edition’s reminders:
Beavers
Castors – will meet the police, so stay on your best behaviour!
Boomers – will be going on a festive walk to see some of the Christmas lights in the local area so will need to wrap up warm please and wear sensible shoes. We will need a couple of parent volunteers to come along to support the walk so please contact Amy if you are available to come along to help.
Millstones – will be making Christmas crafts at the school during normal meeting times.
Cubs
Alegre – will be visiting Penistone fire station this week – we will meet at the scout hut as normal and walk down to Springvale. Parents are asked to collect your cub from the fire station at the later time of 8.30pm, please. Please make sure your cub has a warm coat.
The address for the fire station is: Penistone Fire Station, Sheffield Road, Penistone, S36 6HN
Bella Vista – will be meeting at the usual times in the Scout Hut for a spot of Christmas baking.
Raptors – will be going to Swegway as a special treat given it’s the last meeting of 2018. There will be party food available and final details of times and any extra information will be sent via OSM later in the week.
Scouts
Enigma – will be meeting at the scout hut at the normal time for an evening of festive fun.
Wibbles – will be making Christmas treats. A separate email will be sent with details.
Viernes – This week is Richard’s surprise programme. It is based on previous ones and is going to be a balance of fun, challenging and could be potentially taste bud intriguing.
Christmas sleepover – if your child attends either the Enigma or Viernes troop, and is attending the sleepover on Friday 21st, can you make sure their monies are paid this week, please.
Explorers
Everyone
- There will be an EGM (Extraordinary General Meeting) of Penistone Scouts’ Scout Council on Saturday 5th January 2019 at mid-day. This will be held at the Scout Hut to allow the Scout Council to receive and consider the financial report for 2017-2018 as we were unable to table this at the recent AGM.
- Our group maintenance weekend will take place over the weekend of 5th to 6th January 2019. We’d love your support; please see the link for details and to let us know if you can help. We have a BBQ on Saturday night of the weekend as a thank you / social. Leaders, please send through to Laura and Rob details of things that you believe should be tackled during the maintenance weekend.
- We recently kicked off Penistone’s World Scout Jamboree 2019 contingent’s Christmas Tree collection service bookings system. If you’d like your Christmas tree to be taken away and recycled on the 6th January, please see this post for full details.
With the reminders out-of-the-way, let’s recap the week.
This week:
Bella Vista and Alegre Christmas Sleepover
This weekend, 29 cubs from Bella Vista and Alegre packs slept over for a weekend of festive fun at the Scout HQ. Activities included everything from crafts to cooking and everyone went home with lots of things to share with their families. Click here for the photos and more about what the Cubs got up to.
Group Carol Service
On Monday, we had the group Carol Service where members of the group gathered together to sing carols and celebrate the successes of this year. A post from the service was produced earlier on in the week which included photographs and an update on the collection for Ghana Outlook. A newsletter was also available for parents on the night which recapped the highlights of the year for each section. It was a lovely way to end another successful year of scouting in Penistone.
We have a New Group Scout Leader!
Earlier this year, after 37 years of dedicated service, Steve Roach stepped down the role of Group Scout Leader at Penistone. Until now, Mark Elliott, one of the Barnsley District Commissioners has been the Acting Group Scout Leader.
During the group’s annual Carol Service, we shared the news that we have a new Group Scout Leader. Formally in the role from the 1st January 2019, but acting in a designate capacity during December, Rob Robinson has been appointed as the Group Scout Leader.
More information about Rob’s new role can be found on the dedicated post, published earlier in the week.
Festive creativity
Boomer Beavers enjoyed their Christmas craft evening this week. They all had a go at making a snow globe, a bauble and a Christmas tree decoration with some tasty treats inside. A huge thanks to Rob, Shauna and Claire who stepped in to support this week so the Beavers didn’t miss their meeting.
Christmas around the World
Tuesday beavers had a great time as the young leaders Mabel and Martha ran the evening.
First was a PowerPoint on Christmas and how it was celebrated in different communities around the world. Then the beavers were split into smaller groups and each took a turn at a number of activities like decorating biscuits aided by Zack and Cameron, writing a Christmas carol with Martha, colouring in some festive figures with Cath, or doing a quiz with Mabel.
Penistone Line Partnership visit Bella Vista
Bella Vista Cubs has a visit from Penistone Line Partnership and had a very informative discussion on rail safety and completed booklets on the topic. They also designed posters around what people should not be doing at train stations.
Viernes’ Young Leader Quiz Night
Viernes’ programme this week, was led by the Young Leaders, Tom and Lewis. They did a great job running a quiz night with wrap around games. Thanks for taking the time and planning it; we are more than happy to keep giving you guys responsibilities.
Wibbles went to Laser Zone
Wibbles scouts enjoyed one of their favourite yearly activities last week at Laser zone in Huddersfield. Everyone enjoyed the evening including some of the parents who joined in. Thanks to parents for staying and supporting our scouts.
International Volunteer Day
Earlier this week we shared a post on #InternationalVolunteerDay. Within this we included information specific to our group and how we’ve several roles available (not all with young people) that we need your support with, please. We also spent some time debunking some of the volunteering myths or recruitment lines of days gone by. Please click through and take a look. Thank you.
And finally:
Ghana Outlook
Over the past couple of months, you’ll have hopefully noticed a reappearing name, Ghana Outlook. Penistone Scouts’ have a long history spanning twenty years; one that we’ve recently begun to refocus our energy upon – our key goal being young people supporting other less-fortunate young people.
Given the time-span that’s elapsed since Ghana Outlook began, we spoke with Richard Galliford (one of the original leaders involved) and are re-engaging the group to continue to offer our support through fundraising to this worthwhile charity.
To find more information about our group engagement with Ghana Outlook and to read about Richard’s experiences, please see the dedicated post, published earlier in the week.
