Since the much loved Roger Elkins went home, Scouting in Enfield has missed Bangers & Mash…. So welcome to the new edition, we hope to carry on Roger’s great work. If you have any information that you would like to share with the district, please send it to [email protected] & we’ll try to fit it all in. We need items about what sections have been doing, funny news, awards that our young people have achieved, historical events, in fact……..anything that the district might want to read or hear about. Also, if you or you know of someone that wants to be on the mailing list, please send their email address to the one above & we’ll add them. Thoughts & Prayers Christmas is the time of year where we tend to think of family, friends & loved one’s on a bigger scale. This was in evidence on the evening of Sunday 9th December when members of 12th Enfield Scout Group, Gough Park EXU & a few people from the district turned out to support one of our scouting family who has been unwell lately. Tina Beckford (Fox), leader of the 12th Beaver Colony has been battling cancer for a while & people wanted to show support for her at this time of goodwill. Darren Leonard from 23rd Enfield, kindly brought along their Santa sleigh & sound system, which provided the music for the assembled to sing Christmas Carols & more modern songs, this included a rousing rendition of Band Aids ‘Do They Now It’s Christmas’. During the gathering, Tina was presented with a Commissioners Commendation from Corinne Dowsett— district training manager. 100+ people turning up outside someone’s house on a Sunday evening to support one of our own, shows what a great scouting family we have in Enfield. Jaz. GSL from the 12th said ‘I would like to express my thanks & gratitude to the beavers, cubs, scouts, explorers, leaders & their families for coming tonight. People in Scouting really are great & care about the friends around them’. Please join us & keep Tina in your prayers this Christmas, along with everyone who isn’t as fortunate as us whom are healthy. Also at this time of year, we remember our friends who have also gone home in the last year or so: Roger Elkins, Beryl Davis & Val Gleave From the DC Happy Christmas and Happy New Year As your DC I have to tell you that I hope to move to Kent in the New Year, if the house sale and purchase go through. I have enjoyed being your DC and will miss the many new friends I have made. Thank you for all your great work and keep on enjoying it. Charlie 12th Enfield Beavers go Rafting! On a balmy September evening, 23 Beavers took to the water at Tolmers. Despite six of them only joining the Colony a week earlier, everyone had a great time, practised tying square lashings and clove hitches... and were thrilled with their Time on the Water badge. Harry’s raft-building skills proved to be reliable, as our lashings held firm and the buoyancy was enough to stop anyone falling in. This trip is definitely on the planning for next year (thanks of course to the Tolmers team!). Badger 12th Enfield GeoCaches GeoCaching is a worldwide ‘treasure hunting’ game where you use GPS to locate caches and you swap small ‘treasures’. The 12th Enfield Scouts have placed 4 GeoCaches in local woodland. The ‘Bowline’, ‘Sheet bend’, Figure-of-Eight’ and ‘Reef knot’ caches can all be found on a 4km circular walk starting from the Whitewebbs Park Golf Course car park off Beggars Hollow (51.672438, - 0.082342). Let us know if you manage to find them all. In addition, whilst on our summer camp this year, we placed a travel bug in Clovelly in Cornwall. Clovelly is known for its steep pedestrianised cobbled main street where they use donkeys for delivering goods to the local residents. We dropped off our TravelBug in a GeoCache nearby. TravelBugs can be given a mission - we gave ours a mission to travel around the world before returning to a cache in Enfield. So far, it’s been to 8 countries around Europe and covered over 8,000 miles. OSM has an introduction to GeoCaching and you can also find information about it at www.geocaching.com 10th Edmonton 90th Anniversary Back at the start of summer over 250 people, young and old, celebrated the 10th Edmonton Scout Group’s 90th anniversary, finishing off with a rousing chorus of “Happy Birthday”. Current and former members plus invited guests including Deputy Mayor of Enfield Kate Anolue were warmly welcomed as they arrived for an afternoon of fun and friendship. They learned that ninety years ago, the local community wanted their own Scout Group, on the corner of the field next to the A10 and that has remained the case ever since. During those ninety years, no less than 2,500 local young people have gained the vital life skills and confidence which Scouting offers. Jackie Wheeler, Group Scout Leader, spoke eloquently about the Group. She said “We have gone from strength to strength thanks to an innovative Leader Team who are constantly working with their Beavers, Cubs and Scouts and taking them out and about at every opportunity”. Her Group membership continues to grow with numbers up 21% in the past year. Paul Symons, then Enfield District Commissioner offered his personal congratulations to this dynamic Scout Group. He said “The 10th Edmonton leads the way, thanks to its great Leaders. There is always a superb family atmosphere within the Group”. Mick Janes, who has been the Group President for the past twenty years said “I have been connected with this Scout Group for over sixty years, and it has provided me with a social life with a purpose. Back in 1975 we needed a new headquarters, so all the parents got together to form a fundraising committee. Not only did they raise the money, they also helped to build the new place. We are all delighted that 43 years later, the building still looks modern and fit for modern day Scouting”. The Deputy Mayor was asked to not only cut the huge cake, but also presented two Scouts with their Chief Scout’s Gold Awards, the highest award they can achieve in the Scout Section. She then told the packed crowd “This has been a huge honour for me. I am delighted to have met so many young people today from this Scout Group who have achieved through Scouting and have learned vital citizenship skills”. Yours in Scouting Ali F. 10th Edmonton ASL. Right: 2 big cakes & cup cakes celebrating the anniversary. 10th Edmonton Scouts Summer Camp 2018 On the morning of the 3rd August at 05:30am the 10th Edmonton Scout section departed for our summer trip to Belgium. We arrived in Ypres in the heart of beautiful Belgium around midday to glorious sunshine, and as is normal for the Scouts their unpacking didn’t take very long! Throw your bags on the beds and we’re ready....! After lunch we headed off out to the Flanders Field museum, then did some chocolate tasting, had a scavenger hunt, and then onto the Menin Gate for the last post ceremony carried out every night at 8pm, 365 days of the year to remember all the fallen hero's from the 1st and 2nd World wars. Over the next week we visited many of the war graves in Belgium and France. Tyne Cot, The Somme, Langemark, Flanders Field and Hill 60, where the Scouts got to pay their respects. It was very humbling to see the thousands of graves and trenches where many soldiers lost their lives. We also got the chance to take part in the Menin Gate Parade, which is a fabulous experience for any Scout or Leader to be part of. Other days out included a day at the beach in Du Panne, swimming in the North Sea on the west Belgium coast and a day out to the local theme park called Bellewaerde. We spent our last couple of days in tents at the Lammerland campsite, which is a traditional Scout camp, (and yes as always) the weather changed and the heavens opened but this didn’t dampen our spirits or spoil our week. Leaving Belgium behind after a weeks long trip on our return journey home to Edmonton, the Scouts were quiet and had time to reflect and appreciate what our fathers and fore fathers fought for and they all enjoyed their trip to Belgium and France. Many thanks go to Martin Lambert and Angela Jones who organised every aspect of our trip to Belgium. Karen Fletcher, Scout leader 10th Edmonton Scout Group Gough Park Explorers in Ypres, Belgium 11.11.2018 Over the Remembrance Weekend, Explorers from Gough Park EXU in Enfield, travelled to Ypres in Belgium to take part in the parade to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the end of the Great War. During their trip, the explorers visited cemeteries and monuments to pay their respects to the fallen, these places included Poelcapelle British Military Cemetery where the youngest to die in WW1, John Condon (14) is buried, Langemark German Military Cemetery and the memorial to Harry Patch, the ‘Last Fighting Tommy’. Hannah Mallett (16) said “it was important to visit the graves from both sides to remember the sacrifices that they made. It was quite upsetting to see so many graves”. Another place that the unit visited was a small monument in Hollebeke, dedicated to where the Indian forces first encountered the German army.