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Sue Baker, a Beaver Scout leader and Michele Grattidge, Scout and Explorer Scout leader were presented with awards in December for their dedication and support to scouting in Stoke Gifford. Michele started as a parent helper at 1 st Stoke Gifford Beavers in 1997, when her son Chris joined the colony. She soon went into uniform as an Assistant Beaver Leader and from there has been a Cub Leader and then on to be a Scout Leader with the 1 st Stoke Gifford School Scouts, based at St Michaels Primary School. In addition, she was a founding member of the Solar Explorer unit in 2007 and was an Assistant Explorer Leader until 2020. She is a trained Duke of Edinburgh assessor and played a leading role in many Solar D of E expeditions and camps as well as supporting other groups with their assessments. She has been on more camps than she can remember and played a part in the growth and development of so many young people over the years. She is the first person to be a leader at all our units, i.e. Beavers, Cubs, Scout and Explorers. Chris has gone on to be a Scout and Explorer Scout Leader himself, keeping up the family tradition. Michele was given an ‘Award for Merit’. This award is given for outstanding service of not less than 12 years. It rewards keen, conscientious, imaginative and dedicated service over a sustained period.  Sue was a founder member of the 1st Stoke Gifford Beavers in 1993 and is the longest continuing serving member, having done all of her 27 years’ service with the Group. She still loves the interaction with the children and cannot remember how many sleepovers and camps she has done, though she does say not much sleep was had on any of them! Her husband Lee has been a Cub and Scout Leader and as a result her children Lauren and Daniel have spent more nights under canvas than most children! In fact she jokes than Daniel probably had his “Nights Away 50” badge before he even joined Beavers, aged 6! Sue says that she sometimes thinks of retirement from Scouting, but would miss the friendship and the camping too much. Sue was awarded the ‘Award for Merit’ in 2015 and this year was presented with the ‘Bar to the Award for Merit’. This was awarded in recognition of her further years of outstanding service.  We are very proud of and grateful to both Sue and Michele for their many years of service to the 1st Stoke Gifford Scout Group and delighted that this has been recognised accordingly.
Another great night at 1st Stoke Gifford Cubs. Both packs went on a joint ice skating adventure at Cribbs Causeway Winter Wonderland. There was some wobbly legs, squealing, slips & trips and that was just the leaders! Well, Raksha! All the cubs had a fabulous time and were once again so wonderfully behaved. Next week we are at our separate bases. Old School Room Cubs are covering Banksy & St Michaels Cubs (AKA Wolf Pack) will be covering country code & Banksy – Recommend the cubs wear an old t-shirt under their uniforms next week. Disability Awareness Evening These evening both packs were lucky enough to have a visit from Carol and Wilson. Wilson is her 4th dog - but first male dog she has had.Carol is an ambassador for the National Institute for the Blind. Carol talked to cubs about the training a guide dog needs to go through before they live with blind person. When puppies are ready to leave their mothers they go and live with a puppy walker. Puppy walkers help house train the puppy’s teach them obedience and socialise them. They take the puppies onto trains, buses, into supermarkets and some even get to attend parties. They stay with their puppy walkers until they are about a year old. It is at this point they attend Guide Dog School for about 15 months. They learn how to guide a person outdoors, cope with traffic and watch for obstacles. Wilson was a gold star pupil. Once training is completed, puppies are matched with their new owners. A further 10 days’ worth of training is then undertaken with their new owners so they can get used to one another. The cubs also asked some very interesting questions:-
It must be noted that the cubs were exceptionally well behaved tonight – Well Done Cubs. Next week both packs will be ice skating at Cribbs Causeway – please check your emails for your OSM invite – more information will be sent out this week. Today saw the beginning of the 2nd Cub Pack. The pack leaders are Akela (Chris), Raksha (Jackie) & King Louis (Ty). We currently have 12 eager cubs who are split between Orange and Purple Sixes. Today, we checked our pulses to see what happens when we exercise - involved an energetic game of dodge ball and lots of running. We challenged the cubs to complete electronic circuit boards and make sandwiches using only one hand! Their sandwiches all looked delicious - especially the chocolate spread and banana! Lots of good team work, having to work together to open packet and peel bananas. Time was then spent understanding the meaning of the purple Membership badge worn on the front of the cub jumpers & problem solving - how to get King Louis, Raksha and a banana across the river - ask the cubs - King Louis will eat the banana if left alone with it. Finally - badges were handed out and homework set - Parents - please see email that will be sent from Akela. |
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