A news letter of Great North Scouting

Closing date for next edition

25th August

June 2008

Edition 4 Issue 3

Smile with Bill

It`s Little me “Just for a Laugh”.Ted panicked because he couldn`t find a parking place. “Lord he said,” if you find me a parking place, I will go to Church every Sunday and give up Whisky. Suddenly a place appeared. Ted gulped hard and continued praying- “Never mind Lord, I`ve found one”

DC`s Report

DAY ACTIVITIES

Can I remind all Groups and Units that if you hold a meeting outside the normal meeting time or place , you need to complete One Day Activity Form and inform your GSL, who in turn will (as usual let me know), all Units to let Cas as well as myself know. It is not sufficient to be for me to be finding out the day before or even the day of a planned activity, as if this is the earliest information is getting to the DC, then the activity is not being planned correctly, and if things went pear shaped, then you as well as I would be a sticky ground. There are some Groups/Units that are very good at keeping me informed, there are some that are not. You will know which catagory you belong to, I am not into naming or shaming, but activity rules are there to be followed. Long may we continue to an active District, but the preparation paperwork must be correctly done.

This past two weekends, I have seen different ways that people are active in Great North. 1st Dinnington Scout Group was 75 years old, and celebrated with an Open day at their Headquarters. A lots of lovely displays were on the walls, and the commemorative tea towels are excellent. Congratulations to those Leaders past and present for all the hard work, I look forward to joining you for your 100th.

I joined the 49th Newcastle on their Lookwide Walk on Saturday, and would like to comment on the Scout Section, whilst Louis was doing the certificates etc, the young people had some free time in a Park, and when a young child came along, they immediately and without being prompted, helped the little one on an Arial runway and really took care of him. Well done, your kindness was noted. The weather was nice and a good day was had by all. On Sunday I visited the allotment that the 82nd Newcastle have, again it was good seeing young people parents and Leaders working together. Weeding, thinning plants and potting herbs, they are planning to cook the vegetables they produce. They have a big allotment and plans for even more fruit and vegetables next year. An activity I was not involved in but obviously was brilliant, was Gosforth Sea Scouts had a visit to HMS Exeter, I am sure you will remember this for a long time.

6 Groups and 2 Units attended Lookwide Marra, one Kielder and one at West Hall - all the same weekend, and I know of another planning Pack Holiday to London , and Sea Scout Troop doing the activity weekend . I know of other Groups wanting to do the BP Walk. One of the Units planned to go up Cheviot, and another is taking part in the County Explorer Scout Event. Good luck to our young people and Leaders who are going to Uganda , tell us all about it when you return, a `camp and trip` to remember. Finally, our newest Troop,from the All Saints School Group, has earned its first badges, congratulations, your names and more about you in the next edition of Lookwide.

Kath Tyson DC

Around the Groups

All Saints’ cubs are just back from the Lookwide Marra camp and what a fantastic time we had there! Every cub experienced something new and achieved their own personal success stories, whether it was spending three nights away from home, washing their plates and bowls for the very first time, cooking pizza in a backwoods oven, quad biking or abseiling from a scaffolding tower, despite being afraid of heights. It was also a tremendous experience to see so many cubs, scouts and guides, all in uniform, in the marquee at the end of the camp. The organisers had even arranged for dry weather! Leaders all know just how much work goes into even a pack or group camp, and the organisation that went into an event of this size must have been immense – a sincere thank you to everyone involved.

1st Dinnington's 75th Anniversary

Our Drop-in Day was well supported and lots of Scouting Friendships renewed.

It was nice to see Kath and Bob and our new District Treasurer Pat and husband Bob. Pat's late uncle, George West was SL at 1st Dinnington in the 1950's and his daughter Sylvia an ACSL for a short time in the 1960's (until she was poached by the Junior Red Cross!) Many thanks for your support.

Cub Scout Luke Brown sold a lot of souvenir T towels and Timothy Hastie and his Dad Peter made lots of money on the Tombola.

Gosforth Sea Scouts - Mountain biking at Simonside

Only the toughest of scouts and explorers turned out for this event. We cycled from Rothbury up and over Simonside, along the plateau to Chartners then the technical descent of Hepplewhitside, before retuning along the valley floor. 16 miles, 3 ½ hrs, nearly 3000 ft of ascent., and constant wind and rain. It was a very cold, tired and wet party that returned to Rothbury, but with high spirits and having had a great adventure. Particular congratulations to Gerry who completed his Fitness Challenge at this event.

HMS Exeter Visit

We owe a big thank you to the officers and crew of HMS Exeter who gave us the honour of an intimate tour of this magnificent warship. A Type 42 Destroyer who saw action in the Falkland's she is the second oldest ship in the Royal Navy, the oldest being the Victory! We were taken all over the ship including the helicopter bay, bridge, galley, ops room, and missile launch bay...not to mention the big gun at the front!

Everyone had a great time and now little Charlie wants to join the Navy!-Brian

Newbiggin Hall Scout Troop and Cub Pack recently went on a Ghost Walk around Newcastle keep and St. Nicholas's Cathedral. We discovered parts of Newcastle 's gruesome history and about some of the Ghosts that live in our City. The guide told us about the Witch trials, and a story about a Italian Pirate who was sentenced to be hung, drawn and quartered but asked for mercy as he had become a Christian. He was pardoned as long as he served the Cathedral, this he did by protecting the grave yard from grave robbers. Some people have seen his Ghost still patrolling the grounds. His grave stone has a skull and cross bones on it as well as a crucifix.

We also went to visit the famous Vampire Rabbit of Newcastle.

Later on the Guides used some of their ghost hunting equipment to see if there was any ghosts around. Jimmy (Scout leader) went into the pits or cellars of the keep where he said it got very cold and he felt someone or should that be something tug on his shirt.

We all had a good night out and are looking forward to returning at Halloween to see if we can spot any Ghosts next time.

Report by Aidan Gibbons

The 25th Newcastle Cubs are off on Pack Holiday in August to Baden-Powell House in London so we are busy planning all the places we want to visit. We are planning a walk round the local area practicing crossing roads to get us ready for the London streets! There are 32 of us including the 25th Brownies too.

This Sun 29th June we are doing the BP Walk to the Cairn. Our Beavers are coming with us.

Sat 9th July we are all going to Kielder for the day. We are going on the launch round the lake and visiting the birds of prey centre. We love our Scouting!

Angela Ryan, Akela

All Saints Cubs

We’ve just held a badge night – the cubs selected whichever activity badges they would like to try and worked on them at home. We then had an eclectic evening celebrating what everyone had done – with lots of parents there to act as badge testers. We ate homemade goodies, ran sprints and long distance races on the church green, painted pictures, held a book reading circle and lots, lots more. It would have filled an entire term, never mind packing it all into a single evening’s entertainment! We were looking forward to seeing Harry’s dog Monty, but he stayed at home.

The cubs had chosen such a diverse range of badges; I did wonder whether we could set ourselves a pack challenge. As part of the 2008 Northumberland celebrations, could we manage to be a pack where, between us all, we had earned every single one of the activity badges? Has anyone in Great North managed this? Just don’t ask Akela to do the musician’s badge – she’ll leave that one to her cubs. Thanks to all the parents who helped

All Saints’ cubs enjoyed a very blustery walk up to the Look Wide Cairn on Midsummer’s Weekend. The rain clouds threatened but a couple of beavers at the front set a cracking pace for us all to follow! 25 beavers, cubs, scouts, young leaders, explorer scouts and leaders made their way to the Cairn. Two cubs made their Promise for the first time and the rest of us renewed ours. One cub received her Chief Scout Silver Certificate and one of the Sea scouts gave us a presentation about the Cairn as part of his Chief Scout Gold Award. So thank you to Louis who showed us the route – it was a good afternoon and we’ll be wearing our Look Wide badges with pride.

Helen Langley, Akela

Congratulations

Kingston Park Scout Group.( Camp at Westhall Scout Camp)

Outdoor Challenge & Outdoor Plus Challenge - Lewis Holmes,Connor Farndale, Alec Graham, Stephen Duck, Jamie Brown, Luke Jordan, Hilton Sewell, Todd Rye, Fenwick Sewell, Mark Burns, Dylan Ayres, Matthew Duck, Anthony Shanley, Kieran Watson, Robert Sanderson

Camper Badge - Stephen Duck ,Todd Rye, Luke Jordan, Mark Burns, Connor Farndale, Lewis Holmes, Sam Foxen, Fenwick Sewell, Hilton Sewell

Hikes Away (1) - Dylan Ayres, Anthony Shanley, Mark,Burns, Matthew Duck, Lewis Holmes, Hilton Sewell, Kieran Watson, Sam Foxen, Robert Sanderson, Connor Farndale, Todd Rye, Fenwick Sewell, Luke Jordan, Stephen Duck, Alec Graham, Jamie Brown

Night Away(5) - Sam Foxen

Nights Away (1) - Anthony Shanley, Dylan Ayres, Robert Sanderson, Matthew Duck

Athlete Badge Plus - Luke Jordan,

Athlete Badge - Matthew Duck, Lewis Holmes Alec Graham, Connor Farndale, Dylan Ayres, Fenwick Sewell, Mark Burns, Todd Rye, Stephen Duck,

All Saints Cubs

Chief Scout Silver Award - Sophie Smith, Jonathan MacKenzie, Alison Briggs

New sixers:- Alison Briggs, Sophie Smith, Arthur Thorpe, Stephen Parkin

New seconders:- Jonathan MacKenzie, Charlie Moorin, Philip Christian, Fraser Moore

Global Challenge:- Jonathan MacKenzie

Artist:- James Proudfoot

Athletes Plus:- Arthur Thorpe, Fraser Moore

Athletes -Charlie Moorin, Harry Moorin, Harry Guthrie, Danny Guthrie, Emile Siou, Eliot Everton, Edward Stephenson, Philip Christian,

Chef -Thomas Proudfoot, Ben Procter

Book Lover:-Alison Briggs, Stephen Parkin, Sophie Smith, Jamie Elliott, Abhishek Kamath

Astronomy:- Philip Christian

Collector:-Ewan Bell, Stephen Parkin, Sophie Smith

My Faith -Sophie Smith

Equestrian – Alison Briggs

Musician Level 1- Cadogan Dethick

Musician Level 2 - Thomas Proudfoot, Jamie Elliott

Musician Level 3 - Jonathan MacKenzie

Home Help -Abhishek Kamath

Sports Enthusiast - James Proudfoot, Jamie Elliott

Swimmers Level 2 - James Proudfoot

Skater:- Charlie Moorin

Animal Lover - Harry Moorin

First night away – James Barlow, Jack Johnstone, Ben Procter, James Proudfoot

Five nights away – Thomas Proudfoot,

Outdoors Challenge - Philip Christian, James Barlow, Jack Johnston, Sam Johnstone, Ben Procter

Promise Badge :- James Proudfoot

Water Activities :- Thomas Proudfoot, James Barlow, James Proudfoot, Abhishek Kamath, Harry Guthrie, Harry Moorin

Outdoors Plus Challenge - Alison Briggs, Sophie Smith

Campers Badge - Thomas Proudfoot, Alison Briggs, Philip Christian

Emergency Aid 1 - Ewan Bell, Harry Guthrie, James Proudfoot, James Barlow, Philip Christian, Stephen Parkin, Danny Guthrie

Emergency Aid 2 - Sophie Smith, Arthur Thorpe, Jonathan MacKenzie, Alison Briggs, Charlie Moorin, Ben Procter, Thomas Proudfoot, Abhishek Kamath, Jamie Elliott, Emile Siou, Sam Johnstone, Cadogan Dethick, Edward Stephenson

Community Challenge - Abhishek Kamath, Sophie Smith, Arthur Thorpe, Jonathan MacKenzie, Alison Briggs, Stephen Parkin, Jamie Elliott, Harry Guthrie, Emile Siou, Harry Moorin, Jack Johnstone, Cadogan Dethick, James Proudfoot