On the first weekend of October, 1st Little Stoke Beavers attended an amazing event, the Beaveree, at Woodhouse Park, near Almondsbury. This is a Jamboree for Beavers, organised by the Brunel Scout district and themed this year around the Beavers’ Global badge.
During the day, seven different Beaver groups from across the Brunel district took part in a range of global-based activities. There were seven different stations for the Beavers to explore and enjoy. The activities ranged from creating masks of endangered animals, learning about the importance of recycling and the impact not recycling can have on the environment, to the teamwork activities of building a water filter and making a catapult to transport goods.
The daytime activities were concluded with a large wide game, which saw the 80 plus Beavers taking part in an exciting game which helped explain the importance of fair trade. Everyone then moved to the campfire area where the leaders taught them songs from around the world, finishing with a rousing chorus of ‘Campfire’s Burning’.
Two Beaver groups, including 1st Little Stoke, elected to enjoy an overnight stay at Woodhouse – all the other groups decided it was too cold! While the Whitehall pack enjoyed the pre-erected ready-made tented glamping-style village, 1st Little Stoke enjoyed the real camping of the pack tents their leaders had set up the previous evening.
Before a dinner of hot dogs, the Beavers all enjoyed exploring Woodhouse on a treasure trail, working as a team to find the clues to solve the mystery. After dinner was tidied away, the Beavers enjoyed playing parachute games before joining the other Beaver pack for more songs around the campfire and, of course, hot chocolate and s’mores.
Then it was off to bed in the newly bought blackout tents. Woodhouse was filled with excitable giggles as the Beavers snuggled into their sleeping bags, told stories and looked after each other. This camp was a first for five of the Beavers, with three of them only being with the pack for just over a month. All the Beavers enjoyed a lovely night’s sleep despite the noisy owl waking some of them at 2am!
The morning arrived and saw the excitable Beavers enjoy a breakfast of cereal and freshly cooked pancakes, and a visit from Dan Shadbolt to assess the camp, as Beaver leader Gemma Oram was completing her outdoor permit. Dan was thrilled with the way the camp had been organised and could see that despite the rain the Beavers had all thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Dan concluded that it was “another brilliantly organised camp by Gemma” and informed her that she had been successful in gaining her permit.
10am arrived all too quickly with the parents arriving to collect their children, then the leaders set about breaking camp, in the drizzle. One parent commented: “It is lovely to see that the friendships they make are maintained outside of the meetings, and they all look out for each other.”
As he was leaving, Louis, on his first Beaver camp (a requirement to achieve his Chief Scout Bronze award) said: “This was the best fun ever, I wish I’d been camping sooner.”
Beaver leader Gemma Oram said she would like to thank Scout leaders John and Simon for their help organising the camping equipment to take away, as well as setting up the tents, and all the parents who helped transport, set up, and take down the tents. “Events like this would not be possible without the help and support of others, “ she added.
Looking ahead, having now secured both her indoor and outdoor permits, Gemma is now considering an outdoor camp at Slimbridge.
If you would like any more information about getting involved with 1st Little Stoke Scout Group, please contact group Scout leader Tony Edmonds on 07957 880503 or tonyedmonds108@yahoo.com
Photos – Top: Camping under canvas. [View hi-res on Facebook; Google; Flickr] Above: Building a water filter in a teamwork exercise.
This article originally appeared in the November/December 2019 issue of the Stoke Gifford Journal magazine (on page 22). The magazine is delivered FREE, EVERY MONTH, to over 5,000 homes in Stoke Gifford, Little Stoke and Harry Stoke. Phone 01454 300 400 to enquire about advertising or leaflet insertion.
