WYRE DISTRICT ARCHERY COMPETITION

105 Cub and Scout toxophilites took part in a new competition to Wyre District during the week of 5^th to the 9^th of June. There were 81 Cub and 24 Scout archers who attended the event at Great Eccleston, the majority of whom arrived on the Tuesday evening, which of course caused chaos and gave the organisers a big headache! Cub Packs from Calder Vale, 2^nd Cleveleys, 1^st Fleetwood, Garstang, Great Eccleston, Thornton, Thornton Cleveleys and Hambleton took part in the week long event. Scouts from Calder Vale, Great Eccleston, Hambleton and Thornton took part.

The results were as follows

Cubs. First place with a score of 92 was a tie between Sam Brough of Great Eccleston, and Daniel Selby of Garstang Vikings. So because of the tie next with a score of 88 was Mark Church of Great Eccleston in third place.

The team event was won by Great Eccleston with a score of 258 The scorers were Sam Brough, Mark Church and Robert Lloyd.

Second place was Thornton Cleveleys with 198 and third Garstang with 191.

Scouts from Calder Vale, Great Eccleston, Hambleton and Thornton took part and the results were as follows:

First place with a score of 158 was Samuel Watson of Calder Vale, Second with a score of 152 was Alexander Lumsden from Great Eccleston, Third with a score of 141 was Stuart Miller also of Great Eccleston.

The team event was won by Great Eccleston with a score of 433. The scorers were Alexander Lumsden, Stuart Miller and Alexandra Butcher pictured below. Second place was Calder Vale with 335, and third 1^st Thornton with 196.Thanks go to all those who gave up yet another week to Scouting, and to Geoffrey who allowed us to use his field for the event.

BACK WOODS CAMP

Once more after being offered the use of a wood by a local landowner, the scouts used the opportunity to practice their back woods cooking, and camping skills. Although the event was to take just one day they set up camp as for a weekend, having chosen an area in a small clearing they quickly put up their kitchen tarp, and built themselves a fire, which had to be lit with a flint. All the cooking was to be done on fires the first meal was fish with vegetables; each patrol was given a trout and a herring, which had to be cooked in foil. It wasn’t what they were cooking that was important, it was what they had to do to cook it, from gathering the wood, to cleaning up at the end they all had to work as a team, and there’s no better way to learn where food really comes from, than having to gut and clean a fish.

But it’s not all work, because after they played a wide game, apart from two who decided to have a go at baking bread in a Dutch oven over the fire-delicious. Obviously there was a bit more to the camp than just that, but the main thing was everybody learnt something, and will carry the memories for many a year, but best of all every one enjoyed themselves, and are looking forward to the next one.

COUNTY RALLY

Again this year County Rally was held during the same weekend as the Lord Darby Regional Scout skill competition. We all look forward to this camp because it marks the beginning of the Scout year, with well over 1000 Scouts attending from all over the County, besides its one of the best camps the scouts attend with the emphasis being on fun.

Unlike last year we decided not to take the tepees to the camp instead the boys used one of the patrol tents and the girls used the new Colman. We also used the opportunity to try out our new dinning shelter, and cooking equipment. Another advantage to this camp is you can put the tents up the day before, so when you get there on the first night there’s no tents or equipment to unload and set up. This year there was to be ten scouts camping with six going to the Lord Derby competition on the Saturday held in East Lancashire, but two days before two dropped out leaving just eight. Normally the first night is usually spent getting thing ready, and deciding who, and what activities we are going to attend?

During the weekend there are knockout games of volleyball and tug-of-war, with other things including archery, shooting, mountain biking, assault course run offs, cooking, chess, and even a sedan-chair race not to mention all manner of fun activities etc. But this year having won the opportunity to represent West Lancashire, they decided not to do it because doing so would have meant leaving two Scouts on site by themselves. Besides they wanted to do all the other team activities, because they were for teams of six, they were still unable to do them because of our mixed age range. Fortunately there were other things to do but somehow it took the edge off it this year, nevertheless everybody enjoyed themselves, and they even managed to win the bake a cake competition.

Scouts who have left and will be missed

This year has been a sad year with a number of Scouts leaving for one reason or another, one Scout in particular is Lauren. She was our Scout of the year for the last two years and also Wyre Scout of the year during the same time, but this year having reached the age of 14 and because of the new age range she decided to leave rather than stay as a young Leader. All the best in the future Lauren.

We will also miss all the above Scouts this year the complete Patrol that won the County Backwoods

But on a brighter note we have had a record number of Cubs come up this year, and for the first time in years we have more younger Scouts than older ones. Given us a new troop of almost all young Scouts, who all needing to be trained in scout skills, so if you are aged 10 or over, boy or girl, now is the ideal time to become a  Scouts because every one is of the same age and experience. Also if you have ever thought of becoming a Scout leader and you are over 18, then now is the best time to join, I promise you it will be a very rewarding experience training the young troop of Scouts so once more 1^st Great Eccleston Scouts can say they are one of the best Troops in West Lancashire.

We are now taking girls in the Cub section and it is going from strength to strength but we need new Leaders can you HELP?

We now have over 27 cubs, but unfortunately leaders Liz, Paul, and Stuart, have all decided to leave so we are now looking for someone to replace them.  The Group are busy preparing the end of year’s programs, with the Cubs having already completed a number of interesting activities and camps, which include County Cub Camp, , but still to do, are the District competition Camp Swimming Gala, Cub Challenge, Craft Competition, to mention just a few. With all this and the Cub progressive training, Badge work, and all the fun and games the new leaders will have plenty to do.  If you want to help by becoming a Leader or Helper then all you have to do is contact Alan and we will do the rest