Tales from the Scout Hut
As lockdown came into force from 5th November, the Scout Association in England moved back to a Red alert level which meant no face to face scouting again. So, during November all sections moved back to virtual scouting with weekly sessions on Zoom.
November also means Remembrance which is a very important time in the Scouting calendar although this year it would be different to any other year, as it was for everyone. We smashed our Virtual hike from Wingham to the Menin Gate. Leaders and young people walked a total of 150 miles which not only took us to the Menin Gate in Ypres (where four men from Wingham are remembered), but also into the Ypres Salient to the cemeteries of Hooge Crater and Nine Elms where Wingham men also lie. This was a brilliant effort by the hikers who visited many war memorials along the way including Wingham, Ash, Adisham, Aylesham, Ickham, Littlebourne and Sandwich – well done to them all. We also raised much more money than we expected – we set our target to raise £200 and we did that and so much more, raising a fabulous £620 (plus Gift Aid) for the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal 2020 – a huge thank you to everyone who donated.
We also undertook Poppy bombing of the old phone box in the High Street – with kind permission of the Parish Council. The phone box was filled with poppies, each one bearing the name of one of the men from the Wingham War Memorial. Each section also had Zoom meetings about remembrance. At the Beaver zoom meeting, they baked Anzac cookies which were popular with the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps in World War One and also enjoyed by the Beaver Scouts! The Cubs made paracord poppies; learnt about Remembrance and several of the stories of men from the war memorial; and shared their own stories. While the Scouts had an Allied or Axis quiz; learnt about the 2-minute silence and heard stories of men from the war memorial and also shared their own family stories which were fascinating and extremely moving.
Although we could not take part in any official Remembrance events this year, the young people were encouraged to put on their uniform at home and take part in the two-minute silence on Remembrance Sunday.
The sections have continued to have fun over Zoom with interactive quizzes, games and cooking. At Beavers they had an exciting Spy Mission Evening and Cubs have started some badge work. The Scouts had an Antarctic evening to complete their Naturalist badge and amongst other things submitted questions to a podcast interview that our District Commissioner is holding with the Winter Manager of the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station which will take place in a few weeks’ time. There were some great questions submitted including ‘What does the South Pole smell like?’ and ‘What do you most enjoy about your job?’ We can’t wait to hear the answers to our questions. Continuing with Scouts they also had a tri sports evening in which they did some Tai Chi, Karate and learnt about Ultimate Frisbee. Lockdown is no barrier to the range of scouting activities on offer!
In mid-November we held our AGM, this year for the first time on Zoom. Everyone was thanked for pulling together this year and we had a top 10 of the best lockdown Scouting activities, number one being our Virtual Remembrance Hike. Some awards were presented remotely. Lyn, who was our Chairman a number of years ago, and for ten years has been the District Secretary and has now re- joined our committee, was presented with the Chief Scouts Commendation for Good Service, and also her ten year service award. We also presented a number of Length of Service Awards: Harry received his 5 year award, James received his 10 year award and Babs received her 20 year award. A huge well done to all of them.