Beaver Scout Dukeshouse Wood Adventure

Consett Beaver Scouts had an activity packed camp that had four seasons in 24 hours! We had around twenty Beavers, the youngest having just turned 6, and the oldest just moving into Cubs (8 years old).

Each and every child, and grown up, was challenged through adventure and activities. Whether it was the indoor problem solving, wall climbing or laser quest, to the outdoor zip line or high rope challenge. Every child went back slightly muddier than when they arrived! This was courtesy of a horrendous downpour on the first day, which didn’t deter us from a blindfolded ‘Nightline’ exercise through a military style obstacle course of ropes, mud and water! Great fun, but a bit messy!! The kids took it in their stride, and loved every minute.

We have another camp planned for Halloween, where more outdoor adventure awaits.

Great Tower Quest

Last weekend Consett Scouts took part in an adventure quest to find the Cup of the Great Towers.
During the weekend at Great Tower Scout Camp they had to complete the training which included Tomahawk throwing and climbing the Jacobs Ladder, solving clues and codes and tracking a dragon, before they could complete the challenge on the Sunday.
All the scouts survived the tasks and the Cup was recovered!

Going from Strength to Strength

1st Consett is continuing to grow! We have submitted our annual census, and our membership has increased again. 
We now have 117 members enjoying the Adventure of Scouting. This means that since 2013 we have trebled in size, from 39 members.
Scouting is not just for children; we would never have achieved this success without our amazing team of adult volunteers .
With 35 children on waiting lists, to cope with this increasing demand we need more adult volunteers to come along and join us and do something amazing for their community. Why not give it a go? Volunteering is easier than you think!

Cub Scout Halloween Adventure

30 Cubs and Leaders from 1st Consett spent an amazing Halloween at Hawkhirst Scout Activity Centre at Kielder.

During the three day camp the Cubs (and leaders) took part in many activities and spooky challenges.  These included climbing the forty foot tower, zooming down the zip wire, driving the boat on Kielder water, walks through the scary woods, shelter building, cooking on open fires and a trip to the Birds of Prey centre.

As one parent said "Just a quick note to say a huge thank you to the Consett cub team taking our children to Kielder this weekend.

Dirty, stinky and very happy children have returned and I wouldn't want it any other way!

Thanks for giving up your time and making it possible."

Scouts' Awesome Summer Camp

Consett Scouts have just returned from an "awesome" week long summer camp to Kibblestone International Scout Camp, in Staffordshire.

During an adventure packed week the scouts spent a day sailing, visited RAF Cosford museum, spent a day at Alton Towers, built (and sank) rafts, cooked over open fires and played wide games.

To fit so much adventure in to one week took a lot of planning and organisation, thanks to the leaders. But it is worth it when the scouts described the week as awesome.

Planning has already started on next year's summer camp.

Scouts Jump in to Adventure!

1st Consett Scouts enjoyed an amazing day jumping off waterfalls and sliding down rocks, during a day of Ghyll Scrambling.

The 12 intrepid scouts and 1 leader and 1 young leader (2 leaders decided to be on photographic duty) started off walking under a waterfall on Ashgill, before plunging in to the pool below. They then scrambled downstream to the first of the waterfall jumps.

With everyone successfully negotiating that jump it was onwards and downwards, with the waterfalls becoming ever bigger, and some you had to slide down backwards! The last jump was in to a seemingly bottomless chasm!

Congratulations to all the scouts who bravely took part, and to Marc who reluctantly wore the wetsuit for the leaders, but ended up wanting to do it again.

Scout Camping Success

A team of Scouts from 1st Consett has come second in the County Dryburn Cup Camping
Competition at their first attempt, achieving the coveted Gold Standard for camping.

The Dryburn Cup is a very difficult event, in which the scouts have to plan the entire weekend themselves, devise a menu and then camp without adult help for the weekend. This year was the first time Consett have entered, and they were just fourteen points behind the winners.

The competition is open to teams of Scouts from across Durham County. The hope is that next year we can go one better.

We have Done It! The New Headquarters is finished

After almost ten years of planning and fund raising, and two and a half years of construction, our new headquarters is finally completed, and we are in it.

The new headquarters will help us provide the adventure of Scouting to more children for many years to come.

The building has two halls for activities and games, a large kitchen, reception room and store rooms, as well as a grassed area to the rear for pitching tents, open fire cooking, activities and games.

The new facilities will enable us to carry out a greater variety of activities during our meeting nights.

The also hope the building will be used by other community groups, as well as for birthday parties and functions. Anyone interested can email us.

The building would never have been completed without the help of local businesses and individuals who have donated time and materials.

To mark the opening of the new headquarters we are holding a Family Summer Fair on 11th July from 10 a.m. to 12 noon. Everybody is welcome to come along and look around our fantastic new facility.

Over 500 attended Consett's St. George's Day Parade

Start of Parade on Middle Street

Thursday 23rd April saw over 500 people attend the District St. George's Day Parade, which was hosted this year by 1st Consett.

The parade started on Middle Street. Led by Consett Scouts we walked to Christ Church, via our new headquarters, which had just had its new sign put up the day before by Spoton Displays in Stanley.

After the parade there was the opportunity to have a look around the new headquarters, which is about a month away from being finished.

Parading past our new headquarters

Thank you to all for putting on such an excellent display.

One Hundred and Counting – Come and Join the Adventure

1^st Consett Scout Group is celebrating after passing the 100 members milestone in this year’s annual Scout census. 

With 87 children and 15 adult leaders the group is the biggest it has been since Scouting started in Consett in 1910, and is the most successful scout group in Derwentside.

We recently opened a second Beaver Scout colony to cope with demand for 6 to 8 year olds, and are now hoping to open a second Cub Pack for 8 to 10 year olds as the current Cub Pack is full. 

To enable this to happen we are looking for adult volunteers to come and join the adventure of Scouting. No experience is required, just a willingness to join in and have fun! 

Group Scout Leader Keith Slater said, "2015 is going to be an amazing year for Scouting in Consett. We have set a new milestone in numbers, and after Easter we will be opening our amazing new headquarters, which will enable us to deliver even more exciting activities. Our next goal is opening the new Cub Pack in September, and we are looking for adults with a sense of fun and adventure who want to be part of something amazing to enable us to do so".

Visit www.consettscouts.org.uk for more information.

First, Second and Third in District 5-a-side

1st Consett Scouts and Cubs are celebrating after amazing success at the district 5-a-side competition.

The two Scout teams dominated the competition and came first and second, beating teams from Dipton, Blackhill, Annfield Plain and Burnopfield. Our winning team did not lose a match against the seven other teams. Our "B" team only lost one match, and that was against our winning team. Our top scorers were Joe Marshall for the "A" team and Will Blighe for the "B" team.

The Cub Scouts also came close to victory, eventually finishing third in the close Cub competition.

Congratulations to everyone who took part.

2015 - A Year of Adventure

Cub Scouts at 1st Consett are looking forward to a Year Of Adventure in 2015. 

This year has been designated as a warm up to the Cubs 100 birthday celebrations in 2016, where we will commemorate one hundred years of Cub Scouts with local and national celebrations.

Between March and December 2015 the Cubs will do at least two adventurous activities a month. The Year of Adventure is all about giving Cub Scouts the opportunity to enjoy the excitement, exhilaration and challenge of adventurous activities.

As well as all the activities during the year, in October the Cubs will be taking part in an amazing Halloween Adventure Camp at the Scout Activity Centre next to Kielder Reservoir.

As we approach 100 years of Cub Scouts the Year of Adventure takes us back to what Scouting is all about. Fun and Adventure.

First Members of our New Beaver Scout Colony Invested

1st Consett has successfully opened a new Beaver Scout Colony to cope with the demand for Scouting in the area, and on Monday the first ten new Beaver Scouts officially joined 30 million other Scouts around the World, as they made their promises and were invested in to 1st Consett Beaver Scouts (Steel) Colony.

So far the new Beaver Scouts have taken part in a visit to the planetarium at Hancock Museum for the Space activity badge, and over the coming weeks they are visiting an aircraft museum for the Air Activities badge, the local Tesco to learn about healthy eating, and they have camps planned as well.

Micky and Stu, our new volunteers

The opening of the new colony was made possible thanks to Micky and Stu, who volunteered be our new Beaver Scout Leaders.
Group Scout Leader, Keith Slater, said "Opening a second Beaver Scout Colony is a great achievement for us. Our numbers have been growing very quickly over the last few years, and we were having to turn children away. The new colony means we can ensure that more young people enjoy the fun and adventure Scouting offers".

The group is now seeking adult volunteers to enable it to open a new Cub Pack for 8 to 10 year olds, as the current pack is full to capacity. If you are interested in joining our team of fifteen adult volunteers please contact us: info@consettscouts.org.uk

Join us for a Summer Camp Adventure?

Our Scout Troop is planning an amazing Summer Camp Adventure in Staffordshire. 

The camp, which is held in August 2015, will be at Kibblestone Scout Camp near Stoke on Trent. Activities during the week could include climbing, abseiling, raft building, sailing, survival skills, The Eliminator as well as a day at Alton Towers.

The Summer Camp is the most important event in the Scout calendar. It is the opportunity for Scouts to put in to practice everything they have learned during the year.

As well as all the amazing activities, the scouts will be camping and sleeping in tents and cooking their own meals.

Excellent turn out for Remembrance Parade

We would like to thank all the Beavers, Cubs and Scouts and parents who attended the Remembrance Parade last Sunday.

We had an excellent turn out, with around 60 members parading. All of the Beavers, Cubs and Scouts were exceptionally well behaved throughout and looked very smart. A special thanks to our flag carriers and wreath layers.

A Nice Surprise at Opening of Fawcett Park

An invitation to the opening of Fawcett Park near Tesco in Consett brought an unexpected surprise; donations of £7,000 towards the new headquarters.

Representatives of Consett and Blackhill scout groups were invited along to the event, were not told why. Morris Muter, Chairman of the Dysart Group, presented a cheque for £5,000 from Project Genesis and Steven Masters from Absolute Civil Engineering presented a cheque from them for £2,000.

Needless to say Carol Smith, our treasurer, was over the moon with the donations, which now mean we only need a further £11,000 to finish the building, and should ensure we will be in for the New Year.

After the presentations there was a chance to look around the fantastic installations in Fawcett Park, which are well worth a visit.

Full Steam ahead for Canal Holiday

Congratulations to the Scout leaders Marc, Tori and Sean for completing their RYA Inland Waterways Helmsman Certificate. 

To gain the certificate the they spent two days mastering the control of a narrowboat, and navigating the obstacles of the canals, without sinking!

Marc, Tori and Sean are taking 21 Scouts from 1st Consett on the canals for a week around Staffordshire and Cheshire in October and the course will enable them to pass on the skills they learnt to the scouts. 

During the week away the scouts will work towards the Power Coxswain badge, and will be carrying out all the jobs on the boat, from steering the boat to operating the locks.

Another step forward for new HQ

Following the hard work of the scouts, parents and leaders the new grass is growing well around the new headquarters.
It took one and half days of clearing stones and levelling, but now the grass is growing it was worth it. The grassed area will create a fantastic space to pitch tents, play games, have BBQs, or just relax.

Building Update

Work is still progressing on the new headquarters, thanks largely to JKD Electrical Services of Blackhill who are doing all the electrical work for free!
First fix electrics and heating are now just about complete and we are planning the next stage, of insulating and plasterboarding.
We have also had some great news this week. Lottery fund Awards for All has offered us almost £10,000 towards the fitting out of the headquarters once the building work is complete.
With all the fund raising as well, we now just need around £20,000 to complete the work, and start using the building.
We are still hoping to be in by September, but need some good luck on the grants front to keep the momentum going.

Scouting for Volunteers

Did you know that 1st Consett is the largest Scout Group in Derwentside? Or that we doubled the number of young people in the group last year?
This success does not happen by chance. It is down the to fantastic team of adult volunteers who provide the challenge and adventure every week.
We are now looking for more people to come and join our family of volunteers. The success of our sections means that our Cub and Beaver sections are full, and we have enough children over 6 years old on our waiting lists to fill a second Beaver colony immediately.
We need your help to make sure that these children do not miss out on the adventure of Scouting!
There has never been a better time to be a volunteer in Scouting;

• you can decide how much or little time you wish to give and how you spend that time. It could be an evening a week or one weekend a year.
• you’ll have fun and feel rewarded
• you’ll learn new skills
• you’ll make new friends
• you’ll gain externally recognised qualifications
• you’ll add to your CV with membership of professional organisations such as the Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM )
• you’ll make a difference and give something back to your community.

For more information go to www.consettscouts.org.uk/volunteer