It’s been a while since the last update and there have been plenty of exciting new developments in the past year. We now meet at Southgate Methodist Church, providing us with quick access to the park opposite for games.
We have also been on plenty of trips with our friends at the 14th Southgate.
Scouts trip to Austria
After years of planning and a 2 year delay the 4th Southgate Scouts were finally able to go on their trip to Austria this July. With Covid having impacted the trip the past two years, flight cancellations threatened to derail the trip this year as well. Fortunately the Scout leaders are a stubborn lot and after manoeuvring Dover and 1300 km of driving the Scouts finally made it to their destination, Zellhof international scout centre.
At Zellhof, the Scouts quickly took to making new friends and enjoying the lake on 30o C + days. Each day the Scouts took part in a different activity, which included a visit to Salzburg, Hallstatt and it’s Salt mines, Cycling, Canoeing, Hiking and organising a Volleyball tournament for Zellhof’s Austrian, German and Irish scouts.
A silver-lining to the cancelled flights was that the Scouts also got to visit many new places and countries on the journey there and back with Durlach and Munich in Germany being particularly memorable. France, Belgium and Luxembourg were but bit players on our trip and hopefully we get see a bit more of them on future Scout camps!.
Now taking Beavers!
The 4th Southgate Scout Group is very pleased to announce that from Monday the 5th September 2022 young people aged from five and three quarters to eight years old will once again be able to become Beaver Scouts in the Group. We are starting a new venture involving an integrated section with Beaver and Cub Scouts together, so we will have vacancies for both Beavers and Cubs in this Section which will operate in the school term from 6.00pm. on Monday evenings in St John’s Church Halls, Beavers will go home at 7.00pm and Cubs at 7.45pm. To support this new venture we will be looking for volunteer parents to join a rota of occasional helpers, coming perhaps once a month to assist the leaders. If you have any questions or want to know more please do not hesitate to contact us. Enquiries to Roger Gardner (aka Rama) at rogerthelighter@hotmail.co.uk.
Wet weekend away at Rammey Island
The 4th Southgate Scouts spent the last weekend camping at Rammey Island on the River Lea Navigation, taking to the the water on the Saturday in canoes and kayaks on a 6km round trip to Herts Young Mariners Base. They were joined by Scouts from the 20th Southgate and 23rd Southgate and although many had never met before, they quickly became a cohesive unit. In particular the meals served up by the Scouts on Saturday and Sunday certainly raised the bar in terms of camp cuisine. The scouts also tried their hand at crayfishing with varied success and wide games on the bleak wilderness of Rammey Marsh.
The Scouts can now rest up before their big trip away to Austria at the end of July.