A news letter of Great North Scouting

Closing date for next edition

24th May

May 2006

Edition 2 Issue 1

From Your Editor

Would you believe it- I`ve been relegated to the back page (only in the paper edition. BTS). I don`t mind however, because Kath had so much to write about in her notes, that I had to give her a full page. So many things going on, so many awards made to Scouters,- I don`t care if I have to give more space. I had written my notes- it`s a good job I didn`t print them. I was most disappointed that no one in the groups concerned took the bother to write to Look Wide and give a bit of praise to these worthy award winners- it took a very busy DC to write about them.

Come on everybody, it doesn`t take long to pen a few notes---or don`t you care any more??

By the way, Kath does make a comment that it is nice to see awards going to younger leaders as well as “more mature” leaders in the same group. If you turn to page 2 of this months Look Wide you may be surprised to see that one of “Mature Leaders” appears to have started Scouting again by being invested. I found out however that it is not the case. Stephen Duck invested his grandson( same name) last month. You see there`s all sorts of interest going on. Let`s hear about them.

Read, think and laugh with Bill.

 

What do you get if you pour boilng water down a rabbit hole?

Hot cross bunnies!

When is the best time to buy budgies?

When they are going Cheep!

“Doctor, doctor, I keep thinking I`m a goat.” “ How long have you felt like this?” said the doctor.

“ Ever since I was a kid”

What do you call a blind dinosaur?

I-don`t –think- he-saurus

What goes “tick,tock.,woof”?

A watch dog.

Teacher-“Where are the Andes ?”

Pupil “ At the end of my armies”

 

DC`s Report

It is another month when we can congratulate and celebrate with Young and not so Young Members of our District. At the St Georges Day Awards at Morpeth, Her Majestys Lord Lieutenant, Sir John Riddell presented The Queen`s Scout Award Certificate to Daniel Lawson and Jonathan George both Members of the 49th Newcastle Scout Group, The second highest Award an adult can gain is the Bar to the Silver Acorn, and I was delighted to see Malcolm Landreth of the 74th being awarded this. It was special seeing young and a more senior member of the same Group being honoured at the one ceremony.  The other Awards presented on the same evening to Great North Adults were, Medal of Merit to Kathleen Swallow (Brunton Park Beaver Scout Leader), Ian McBean (Scout Leader at the 47th Newcastle ) Angela Ryan (Cub Scout Leader at 25th Newcastle ) and Paul Frost (Scout Leader at the 49th Newcastle ). The Chief Scout`s Commendation for Good Service is awarded to Melanie Coward (Assistant Cub Scout Leader at All Saints Pack, Central Gosforth) and a 40 year Service Award to Stephen Duck (Cub Scout Leader at Kingston Park) both Melanie and Stephen elected to have their Awards presented locally.

Congratulations to Caroline Emmerson on achieving her Scout Leader Wood Badge.

I must thank Stephen Barnes, Vince McKell, Bob Tyson and two young men from the Griffin Explorer Unit,  Mark and Andy (sorry I forgot your last names) for all the hard work done in a mornings sort out at House on the Hill, an enormous amount of throwing out was done,  Mark and Andy enjoying finding out how to compact a three piece suite so it took up minimum space in a skip. After a hard working morning we led Vince off the straight and narrow by having a McDonalds for lunch!! A sincere thank you to you all for your hard work.

House on the Hill is now being used by Rainbows and Brownies from a local Group who are not able to meet in their usual venue, it is good seeing the building being used.

The training that was organised by Brian Smith for Epipen Training was very informative, and I am sure all who attended learnt a lot, thanks to Lucia Russell of The Childrens Department at the NGH for giving her time to come and explain how and why Epipens are given, also to Brian for the contact and handout supplied.

Finally a reminder The District AGM is MAY 18th at The British Legion Club, Lansdown Terrace, Jesmond (Near West Jesmond Station), 7.15pm please come along, uniform and awards to be worn if you are warranted, if you are not warranted then please come along and wear anything you would like to. If you would like to be a Sectional Representative, please contact me preferably before the 10th May. If you would like to be a Lay Member on the Executive, but are not sure of what is involved, again please contact me or the District Chairman, Richard Gee on 01665 574236

I look forward to seeing you all on the 18th May.

Kath Tyson DC

Congratulations

 

Brunton Park Cub Scouts

Art Badge: Sean Rae
Chef Badge: Tom Punshon
Hobbies Badge: Adam Cogdon, Sam O'Neil, Ethan Tennant, Michael Waddell

Home Help Badge: Harry Baker, Sam Berry, Joe Brankston, Daniel Campbell,Chris Carter, Connor Chapman, Sam Cogdon, Jack Cornell, Sam Cornell, David Coulson, Aidan Finden,Connor Gaffney, Jonathon Lewis, Matthew Long, Sam O'Neil, Joe Park, George Porton, Tom Punshon, Sean Rae, Alex Robertson, Bryn Tennant, Ethan Tennant, Michael Waddell

Sports Enthusiast Badge: Ross McLeod

Creative Challenge: Harry Baker, Joe Brankston, Daniel Campbell, Chris Carter, Jack Cornell, Sam Cornell, David Coulson, Jonathon Lewis, Matthew Long, Ross McLeod, Sam O'Neil, Joe Park, George Porton, Sean Rae, Alex Robertson, Bryn Tennant, Craig Wright

New Sixer: Jack Cornell

New Seconder: Aidan Finden

All Saints Cub Scouts (Central Gosforth)

Scientist Badge - George Dobson. Henry Everton, Jonathan McHugh, James Myers,Nick Partington, Stephen Heirons, Edward Langley, Christopher Heirons, Sean Wrenn, Thomas Moorin, Tony Jiminez, Adam Redford, Jonathan MacKenzie, Tom Jackson, Jamie Butcher, Arthur Thorpe, Paul Thompson, Sophie Smith, Josh Parker

Chef`s Badge - Jonathan MacKenzie

Martial Arts Badge - Paul Thompson

New Sixer - James Myers

New Seconders - Thomas Moorin, Nick Partington

Kingston Park Cub Scouts

Invested: Todd Rye, Nicholas Whitbread Ethan Okai, Stephen Duck

Global Challenge: Stephen Duck, Daniel Jordan, Brandon Cooper, Robert Mole, Jonathan Robson, Andrew Wynne, Ethan Okai, Bradley Craig, Ben Mackett

 

District Explorer Scouts

Ever thought of trying Rock Climbing?

Well there are at least 3 possibilities in and around Newcastle . 2 are indoors so it does not matter about the weather. They are 1-Newburn Activity Centre

2 -Eldon Square Leisure Centre - Berghaus Wall and 3- Whickham Thornes

Newburn recently opened and offers a Real - Form (feels like rock) 12.5m wall with 13 routes, 4 of which are equipped with an automatic belay for individual climbing. A safety introduction is required before using the wall and then it's up to you. Climbing courses can be arranged for groups to use the wall.

Eldon Square and Whickham Thornes offer climbing and bouldering and in addition Eldon allows you to watch 5-a-side while you wait you turn.

If you are looking to climb higher then the County has organised a climbing training weekend on 24/25 June 2006 at Corby Crag, Edlingham, Northumberland. The training will cover selection of anchors, rope systems, belaying, group management, crag conservation. Contact County :-Office or Stuart McKay, County Climbing Advisor on 01670 812277 or

07788 731744 if you are interested.

If you want to see what some of the Explorer Scouts in Great North are doing then pay a visit to http://www.gosforthexplorers.blogs.com/

Cycling Workshop - Thanks to the Gosforth Sea Scouts for making me welcome when we covered cycle maintenance. We shall be doing a follow-up session followed by a trip into Northumberland.

If you want any further info you can contact me via County Office or give me a call on 07795 290378

Andy Castling (Cas) DESC

 

 
Around the Groups

Central Gosforth Sea Scouts

In early March we had a weekend at Barrasford . For anyone who doesn't know Barrasford is an old railway station converted into a bunkhouse. We arrived on Friday night and went for a night hike, punctuated by Brian's somewhat dodgy ghost stories. On Saturday we had a trip along Hadrian's Wall from Houseteads. In the evening we had a great indoor campfire followed by the now legendary hot chocolate with squirty cream! On Sunday we woke to a gentle covering of snow. Our planned hike to Swinbourne Castle turned into a very long snowball fight. Needless to say we only got half of the walk done so we'll have to go back so that we get to the castle next time!

Later on in March we took part in the County 5-a-side competition. Well done to Lewis, Ryan, Harry, Andrew and little Adam for stealing the show and taking the magnificent winners trophy. They all played superbly against some stiff opposition and were deserving winners. Many thanks to Paul Capstick for organising the event, everyone had a great afternoon.

 (Brian Smith)

All Saints Cub Scouts

Our Cubs have been busy pretending to be mad scientists and the Church Hall has

been home to exploding volcanoes, crystalline growths, crazy coloured flowers and even a bread making session ( with thanks to ASDA`s bakery department for supplying us with real live yeast which was proving very difficult to obtain) Some of the cubs had to be dissuaded from turning their yeast mixtures into beer instead of bread but the finished product was extremely tasty indeed.

We finished the term with an Easter Egg trail around Central Gosforth , ending up with a mad dash search for chocolate eggs. The Sea Scouts hid the eggs for us, found some truly evil hiding places, and, true to their Scouts Honour, didn`t consume any of the eggs before we arrived.

(Helen Langley)

Brunton Park Cub Scouts Creative Challenge

Last term the Cubs were busy working towards their Creative Challenge Award.
They designed and made Mother's Day cards and produced very colourful, computerised posters to advertise a concert which they planned themselves and then performed for parents on the last night of term.  There was an impressive range of instruments played- the recorder, flute, saxophone, trombone, violin, guitar and keyboard - with poetry reading, jokes and magic tricks interspersed. Each Six planned and introduced their own performances which were greatly enjoyed by the parents. (Jackie Morley)