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Group presents "Thank you" badge to town Vicar - Sunday 13th December 2009
Canon Westwood is soon to leave St. Peters for another appointment in early 2010. ‘100 Years of Scouting in Irthlingborough’ Book Launch - Friday 4th December 2009
Another highlight of the evening was the unveiling of a plaque recording those Scouts who had achieved the Chief Scouts Award, this being given in memory of Scout Matthew Skerritt who died in 1974 and is fondly remembered. Deryck Ingall – our longest serving Trustee and Matthews former Headmaster unveiled the plaque with appropriate words. This plaque leaves space for Scouts to achieve the new version of the Chief Scouts Gold Award –the challenge is there to have your name on the plaque! During the evening Andy Hunt presented Achievement Awards to several Young People from the Scout Section and after refreshments provided by the Scouts and their Leaders, a vote of thanks was proposed by a Patrol Leader from the Scouts. HOW TO GET YOUR COPY............ Sales are going well and you can get your copy from the Salvation Army Shop, in High Street – at just £14.75. We can mail a copy to you for an additional £2.75- so don’t delay! You can contact us on gsl@irthlingboroughscouts.co.uk We can mail a copy to you for an additional £2.75- so don’t delay! Or just to make life easier, you can now buy the book on ebay. Click here to purchase on line. Leaders recognised for good service - Friday 4th December 2009
Scout Group remembers those Scouts before them that fell for King and Country - Sunday 8th November 2009
On Sunday 8th November 2009, 94 current members of the 1st Irthlingborough Scout Group paraded from the Scout Headquarters to St Peter’s Church for the Towns Remembrance Service.
Arriving at St Peters, the Group made it’s way to the Scout Memorial Stone to remember those Scouts, who only a few years older than themselves, fought & fell in two World Wars.
James, Senior Patrol Leader, read out a small prayer, before the Scout Section released a Red Balloon for each Scout who never came home from the fighting. "We remember by name, those Scouts who died in both World Wars to protect our Country and release a balloon for each of them."
"May we remember them with Hope and Honour for their Valour and commend them to God’s eternal rest. Amen."
The Group then joined the Town’s Service where 3 Scouts read out prayers in front of the congregation. The Group then joined everyone else who paraded to the Towns Cenotaph in Finedon Road for the ‘two minutes silence’ and laying of the wreaths.
Rememberance Balloon update - 12th November 2009 Two of the balloons that were released have been found in Woodford Halse (between Banbury and Daventry), one in a field, the other in a horse arena on the other side of the road. The Scouts remembered on the balloons were Walter Meekins and Walter White. The finders were Erica and her friend Sandra. Group Big Barbecue - 4th July 2009
Thanks to all the Leaders & Supporters from arranging all the food through to arranging the entertainment & help in sorting out all the equipment ~ putting up / taking down the tents. Lastly many thanks to Mr Richard Ablett & his family for letting us use his land for the event - it couldn't have happened without them. Checkout the pictures below to see the fun!!
Irthlingborough Scout Group AGM 2009
Many Thanks to Tony Knott for attending and passing on the kind words of support from Nene Valley District. My Thanks also go to all the Group Members who attended & helped out with the arrangements GROUP RECEIVES £1,000 FROM NORTHAMPTONHIRE POLICE AUTHORITY
Click here to visit the Northants Police Authority web site.
This stone was kindly donated to mark and permanently record ‘100 years of Scouting in Irthlingborough 1908-2008’. The stone is sited here at a point which marks exactly half-way between the Scouts’ first meeting places, and an area surely used a meeting point for activities - as is the Cross today! Group colours – dating back to the 1920’s- were also paraded.
District St. Georges Fun Day 2009 Following the Commemerative Stone dedication, the Group went by coach to Raunds to take part in the Nene Valley District’s St. George’s Activity day. Beavers, Cubs, Scouts and (from the look of the pictures, Leaders as well) enjoyed an afternoon of activities after parading to the Raunds Manor School.
Councillors visit Irthlingborough HQ On Wednesday 15th April we welcomed the Chairman of East Northamptonshire Council, Cllr. Dudley Hughes and Cllr. Mrs Hughes together with the Town Mayor Cllr.Ron Silver. Other guests included several former members of the Group, Roy York from the Historical Society , Mr and Mrs Bob Fisher ( relatives of the first Cub Leader of the 1920’s) ,Celia Ingram retired Scout Leader and former Mayor of Higham Ferrers and members of the family of the late Richard Bugby. The evening was hosted by Secretary David Maddock and Mrs. Kathleen Maddock and the visitors were welcomed by Chris Ward and Lyle Abbott. The guests toured the building and saw some of the Beavers, Cubs and Scouts carrying out demonstrations of their activities – even climbing the Bouldering Wall! The visitors, however, declined an invitation to try this out! The guests pledged support for the Group and the evening was concluded by refreshments served by the Cub Leaders. Over 80 members of the 1st Irthlingborough Scout Group paraded from their Scout Headquarters at 9am on the 9th November 2008 through the newly refurbished town centre, past our new commemorative stone near the cross, then on to St Peters Church Cemetery. To recognise our 100-year celebrations we paraded all 6 restored 'old Scouting colours', which date from the 1920's.
As part of the yearlong celebrations, we have tried to involve all ex members, current members, friends & supporters. We therefore wanted to make sure we included those 11 Scouts that had fought for King & Country and had never returned from action in World War 1, plus those that had died in later conflicts. The Beaver Scouts had made a wreath of 100 poppies; they then laid the wreath at the Scouts Own Memorial in the cemetery and read out a small poem in front of the group.
The group then went on to join the towns Remembrance Service where some of our Scouts read out some prayers to a packed congregation - then as usual together with the congregation, took part in the Annual Town Parade to the Cenotaph where the service continued. After the Last Post, and the two minutes silence, a Beaver, a Cub and a Scout of behalf of the group, laid a wreath of poppies along with various other organisations to indicate our respect for the fallen Dear Sir, On behalf of the Group Executive Committee, Leaders, Helpers, Supporters and Young People of 1st Irthlingborough Scout Group, I would like to say a big ‘thank you’ to all those Past Members, Guests and friends who came along to support our 100th Anniversary Reunion Weekend. We especially thank our local MP, Phil Hope who came along to Officially Open the Weekend’s activities as well as to declare operational our recently refurbished Headquarters, made possible by generous grants and donations from local businesses, The National Lottery - Awards for All, and the Northamptonshire County Council. Visitors from as far as the USA, Canada, Spain and Italy were welcomed, and the Group would like to thank all of those persons whom made very generous donations to support our work with the Young People of the Town. Donations, not just financial, but pictures, memorabilia and stories along with generous offers of help and support were in abundance. We go into our 2nd Century, with the support of adult volunteers who make Scouting in Irthlingborough, available to all young people every week of the year! If you would like to get involved with one of the longest serving groups in the world, please go to our web site www.irthlingboroughscouts.co.uk for further information. Nick Powell The Camp of a Century (well so Nick says!!) The Bank holiday weekend of 22nd ~ 25th August 2008 saw the 1st Irthlingborough Scout Group celebrate its Centenary with a very special group camp. Section leaders, exec members and supporters laid on an action packed, and fun filled activity weekend at the Boyd Memorial Scout Camp site in Henlow, Bedfordshire. After all safely arriving on Friday evening we found that the Explorers had already set up camp so the kids got straight in to exploring the large site. After a quick briefing on what was happening over the weekend it was time for a hot drink & then off to bed to for a bit of shut eye!! (yeah right!)
Monday. Again everyone was up early for a nature walk. With Andy navigating ~ we wondered if we'd ever see the children again! After lunch the Explorers laid on a mini Olympics whilst the leaders packed up! Whilst packing up, the group colours were found, and general abuse was aimed at Lol for the rest of the day!!!
After some serious head scratching and discussions a date and venue were confirmed for the Family Barbecue. The date was the 28th of June at 'The Coneygeers' in Station Road. The 'Team' set up the field in the morning with mess tents, dining shelters and barbecues for the afternoon entertainment. Oops, nearly forgot the toilet tents!! The weather on the afternoon was sunny, but very windy. The beavers, cubs and scouts enjoyed the games and entertainment laid on by the leaders, while the adults enjoyed a social occasion sitting in the sunshine.
The barbecues were fired up and primed for action, I have never seen so many burgers, sausages and chicken legs before, these were served with fresh salads (Yes, the lettuce was fresh, it was still growing in my garden in the morning) and various sauces, which everyone seemed to enjoy, with people coming back for seconds and even thirds. This was followed with cakes and 'unripe' bananas, all washed down with various flavours of fizzy pop. I would like to thank, the County Commissioner, for donating £150 towards the event as part of our Centenary Celebrations, members of the group for helping out in any way they could to make the event a success and, finally, Mr and Mrs R. Ablett for their kind permission for the use of the field, which I think you will all agree was just about the perfect venue for the event. A letter of thanks and a small token of our appreciation have been passed to them for their generosity. Nick Powell (GSL) 1st Irthlingborough forges International Links - #1 Irthlingborough Scout Group is forging International Links with Scout Groups in Spain, hopefully to arrange future activities and exchange visits. Lyle (our retired GSL) has been involved in the formation of a new Scout Group to run alongside a well established Guide Group in Camposol (Mazarron) – Murcia. This is to be part of British Scouts Abroad. The have already started joint meetings and commence officially in September as 1st Murcia Sur - Guide and Scout Group. They will have a joint new neckerchief – maroon, the colour of the Murcian Flag, and edged with gold – just like the Irthlingborough 100th Year design! Here are some photos from their induction night. How lucky is this group to meet on the Beach??
Click on the images to enlarge them 1st Murcia Sur - Guide and Scout Group's first official investiture is planned for October 18th 2008. 1st Irthlingborough forges International Links - #2
Lyle was also invited to an Investiture of Scouts at a brand-new Spanish Group in St.Javier (Murcia) – Troop 909 - on 28th June at Rio Seco, a campsite near to his home.
Click on the images to enlarge them As you can see, a good time was being enjoyed by all the Scouts (30 plus young people in total).The Group Leader, Gines, has been in Scouting for 20 years and is keen to forge an International link. (Gines owns a very fine bar in St.Javier – so that’s a plus-point!) So, everyone, get on and brush up your Spanish!!! Come on over to our place ~ 1st Irthlingborough welcomes the rest of Nene Valley for St Georges Day celebrations St Georges day 2008 will go down in history as one of the best Scouting events ever. Not only did we celebrate our 100 years at the service, but also David Maddock our longest serving member kindly donated new Scout Colours to the group.
Once the service was over, 1st Irthlingborough invited across the whole of the Nene Valley District, of which over 600 young people turned up to join Irthlingborough's 80 plus members. There was a parade from St Peters Church to Huxlow Science college where there was another short service then various activities started, including a 'Road Traffic Accident displayed by the police, and the local Fire Brigade. A great day, and luckily the weather held out.
Irthlingborough Scout Calum King, 11, said: "We went to church and then we paraded to the school.". "The parade was exciting because a lot of people came out of their houses to watch, which made me feel special.". "When we got to the school we had lunch and then we got try things like archery and rifle shooting, which was a lot of fun.". Irthlingborough Scouts group secretary David Maddock said: "This is a particularly special day because it also marks 100 years of continual Scouting in the town.". Click here to see the Evening Telegraphs coverage. Ex-GSL Lyle is awarded the Silver Wolf Our Ex-Group Scout Leader Lyle Abbott has received the highest award which can be given by the Scout Association, a Silver Wolf. Lyle has been a member of the Scouts for over 50 years. He joined Irthlingborough scouts at the age of 11 and became a leader aged 18, something he continued to do for 43 years.
When Lyle retired from work he decided to retire from leading the Group too, but has continued to stay involved, even over the three years he has been living in Spain he has been helping a Scout/Guide group in Camposol and has remained a member of the Association. The Silver Wolf is awarded for service of exceptional nature. It is something you have to be recommended for by someone else, so the letter in the post announcing the award came as a complete surprise to Lyle, who comments “I was very pleased. I had received the silver acorn in 1993, but the Silver Wolf was a big surprise, I was delighted.” When asked what the Scouts meant to him, Lyle answered “Friendship and personal confidence, it’s a worldwide club that links you to people all over the place.” As a leader Lyle took groups camping every year on numerous occasions. The group meetings would take place week days, which was made possible as the group had its own building. “The activities were always within the youngsters’ pockets. Camping can be inexpensive and extremely fun.” The Scouts movement was started by Sir Baden Powell for young people with little or no privileges. Lyle believes the Scouts give children an opportunity to improve themselves and grow. Lyle returned to the UK to receive the award in April. The first presentation was in Northampton, then on Sunday April 20th a service was held at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, where other Scout award winners were also present, as was the Duke of Kent. “It was a great day.” Congratulations to Lyle!
Remembrance Day - November 2007 The group colours led over 60 uniformed members of the 1st Irthlingborough Scout Group, who proudly marched from the Scout Hut, with their parents to St Peter's Church, in Irthlingborough, 11th November 2007. They joined the town to mark the Remembrance Service, followed by marching to the town's Cenotaph, in Finedon Road. After the Last Post, and the two minutes silence, a Beaver, a Cub and a Scout of behalf of the group, laid a wreath of poppies along with various other organisations to indicate our respect for the fallen. Nick Powell, Group Scout Leader said, "it was a really great turnout by the group, one of the largest of recent times, and this shows the respect by our young people, to those that gave their lives for our freedom. It was an event where the young people behaved very well, despite the length of the event, and I know the groups leaders, supporters, helpers and parents are very proud of them." 1st Irthlingborough welcomes the next 100 years of Scouting Wednesday 1st August saw members, ex-members, leaders and supporters of the 1st Irthlingborough Scout Group join with 28 million other Scouts from around the world to renew their promise.
At the stroke of 8am the Scouts, Leaders and ex-members, led by Andy renewed their Scout promise at Irthlingborough's Cross Gardens. As an added twist and to welcome in the new Century of Scouting, Andy also invested Cath as a leader in the Scout section. What a great way to start the new century of Scouting by investing a new leader in to the group!! The Beavers and Cubs (having slightly different promises to the Scout Section) were led in their renewals by Cub Leader Lawrence and Beaver leader John.
The morning had started early with the leaders meeting at the Scout hut to prepare for the mornings events (in the traditional way by getting loads of kit out!!). With all the kit including our shiny new flag pole transported and set up at the Cross Gardens, it was time to sort out the young people. The young peoples had also had an early start as there was an inspection by the section leaders before the march from the Scout Hut to the Cross Gardens. At 7.20am the Sections set off (with the trek cart) along the High Street to the Cross Gardens. Once at the Cross Gardens, there was plenty of time to take photos of the individual Sections as well as the whole group before the formal proceedings began.
With the photos out of the way, it was time to get on with the business of the day. Group chairman Chris said a few words about the occasion before handing over to Andy, Lawrence and John to perform the renewal of the promises. Once the promises were out of the way it fell to Adam, accompanied by a Beaver, a Cub and a Scout to break the flag on the New Century of Scouting.
Lyle (the ex-GSL) then delivered a potted history of the 1st Irthlingborough Group (click here to read the full address). At the end of the formalities, parents, ex-member's, supporters and of course the members and leaders were all invited to the Sunrise Breakfast, lovingly prepared by Fran and Emma.
On 1st August 2007 Scouts of every age from Irthlingborough, will join with 28 million Scouts from around the world to celebrate the dawn of a new Century of Scouting. 1st Irthlingborough Scout Group will be celebrating this event by marching from Irthlingborough Scout Hut at 7:15am, to Irthlingborough Cross Gardens (High St / Finedon Rd / Station Rd). We would ask you if you could bring your child to the Scout Hut at 7:10am in full uniform to be included in this historical event. At 8.00am, we will be inviting all Beavers, Cubs, Scouts and former Scouts, along with all parents and guardians to join all the gatherings around the World, to renew their Promise in the second century of Scouting. This will demonstrate the solidarity of Scouting as the largest Peace Movement in the world, and to make a clear statement along with the adult members about the young people's commitment to the values of Scouting. After the renewal of the promise we will be providing a 100-year celebratory breakfast of bacon butty and a hot drink. We hope you can join us. Heres a brief programme of events for the morning 7:10 Arrive 7:15 full kit inspection 7:20 March to cross. In order 7:40 Line up Smartly, pictures etc 7:45 Chris opens ~ Speech about why we are here. 7:50 I'boro Scout History. This year. Next Year. 7:58 Chris to introduce one of the leaders to take the Scout Promise 8:01 Chris introduces one of the leaders who does Beaver Promise 8:02 Flag break 8:03 Chris. Closeing speech. Thank VIPs / Guests / Leaders / Supporters & so on. Invite them to 100 Year breakfast 8:04 Go for Breaky 8:30 Close 8:35 Young People picked up Nene Valley District Centenary Camp 2007 And so with dire weather forecasts ringing in our ears it was with some trepidation that a hardy bunch of leaders, helpers and parents met at the Scout Hut on Thursday 14th June. The mission they had chosen to accept was to get as much camping equipment as possible set up prior to the arrival of the Cubs and Scouts on the Friday. As these thing go, it all went well and the majority of the equipment was set up in record time.
Friday evening saw the arrival of the Cubs, Scouts as well as assorted leaders and helpers. The Cubs and Scouts, true to form, almost immediately got down to the important business of having fun. Rounders seemed to be the game of the weekend (every time I looked there seemed to be someone playing it!!). Mean while the Beaver Leader Wolf (A.K.A John) knocked up a barbecue to keep the kids going till bed time.
Saturday started early with some of the Cubs and Scouts waking up at a ridiculous hour (I think it was about 5 am!!). Following breakfast, the Beavers (who were visiting for the day) joined the rest of the sections for one of the formal parts of the camp, the opening ceremony.
With the opening ceremony over it was on to the activities. First for the Cubs and Scouts was Canoeing. Due to the previous couple of day's rain which had seriously raised the river level and a pretty stiff wind, most of the canoeing session was spent with the Cubs and Scouts battling not to get washed too far down stream!!
Next for all the sections it was on to the rifle range. This was a good opportunity for the Beavers to have a go at one of the more adventurous activities and some of them shot pretty well in my opinion.
As there were quite a few groups to be put through on the range, I took a wander over to the drop in bases which were housed in one of the marquees. There I caught up with Andy (the Scout Leader) and Richard (one of his helpers) who were running a drop in base making kites out of newspaper. I must say I was quiet surprised to see them actually fly!! I also ran into some of out Beavers who had already been shooting, they were happily making spring vases.
Following lunch, there were more activities for all the sections with the Cubs and Scouts Climbing and doing Archery while the Beavers visited the Doudomba drum workshop.
At this point (late in the afternoon) the weather (which had been pretty good up till now) finally closed in on us. With an outright downpour on our hands, activities were suspended and the young people from all the sections returned to base. Things could have been a bit boring for the kids, had it not been for the foresight of the leaders who had bough games and cards for them. One particularly successful 'tent bound' activity was provided by Fox (A.K.A Donna) who had bought her face paints. The Beavers Cubs and Scouts seemed to have great fun being painted and then painting each other (and some of the leaders - Yes Andy, Rob and I were all attacked by the girls, although I think Rob came off worst!!).
At the end of the day there was a camp fire, though due to the earlier rain, it was more of a camp sing-along. This was because it was considered too dangerous to use the camp fire circle, so the event was moved to one of the marquees.
At the end of the Camp Fire, the Beavers left us, though for the Cubs and Scouts, there was still enough light to get in yet more rounders Sunday was theme day. Each of the groups attending the camp had chosen a country and were putting on activities associated with that country. We were Spain, and as with so many things we sort of went to town with it. Adam and I made a huge flag pole for the Spanish flag. John had acquired loads of Spanish themed decorations, which the Cubs and Scouts had great fun in decorating our site with.
We had a Piñata, Passport Control, Tapas, a game that involved throwing water bomb things at each other (I think this was supposed to be based on the Spanish Festival where people throw tomatoes at each other, but I think it got lost some where in the translation) and of course Nick (the GSL) giving Spanish lessons (even if it was just adding O to the end of every word!!).
After lunch it was time to pack up all the kit (and my word there was a heck of a lot of it) and then go to the closing ceremony. The Cubs and Scouts left site happy and tired (and the leaders just left tired!!). 1st Irthlingborough Scout Group AGM 2007 Wednesday 16th May saw the 1st Irthlingborough Scout Group AGM. This year more than 100 Beavers, Cubs, Scouts, Leaders, Parents, Helpers and supporters along with Dave (the Nene Valley District Commissioner), were present for the event.
This normally dry affair was this year spruced up with members of each section helping to give their section reports. Once the formalities of the evening were out of the way (welcoming of visitors, Apologies received, the reading of last years minutes, the treasures report, the election of officers etc), it was on to the section reports. The Beaver Scouts report included some of the activities that they had been involved in this year. John the Beaver Leader (known to the Beavers as Wolf) said that over the last year and especially since Christmas the Beavers had had a very busy program. To illustrate this John had invited back some of the people from the last year to help show some of the activities that the Beavers had been involved in. Chris Puleston (from the Doudoumba drum workshop) bough some of his drums along and with the aid of some of the Beavers gave the audience a quite defining demonstration of what the Beavers had learnt. John and Donna (known as Fox) also recounted the Beavers trip to Berzerk, which sounded very tiring for the leaders (although it sounded like the Beavers were in no mood for sleep and just wanted to play!!). Finally the Beavers (with the help of another one of John's conscripts Jason) showed us what they had learned in First aid by demonstrating their mastery of CPR.
Sorry, had to use some picks from the orriginal Doudoumba night as it was a bit too crowded to get good pictures on AGM night. Lawrence the Cub Scout leader gave the Cub section report. I'm afraid I missed this bit, so I'll try and find out what happened and fill in the details when I have a better idea of what he said!! Finally (among the sections anyway) it was the turn of the Scout section (led by Andy) to give their report. As the Scouts them selves were busy sorting out the refreshments for the visitors, Andy gave a "death by PowerPoint" (where I got all the photos from) presentation of Scout Activities throughout the previous Year. There was supposed to be a Video that the Scouts had been working on for several weeks, but technical difficulties (something about the wrong whatsit for the whojimeflip) prevented this from being shown. Andy said that during the course of the last year, a varied programme aimed at developing our young people in accordance with the key Scouting principles had been delivered. Last year the Scouts main Activity was attending Nailer 2006. This is an international jamboree that is held every 5 years. The Scouts participated in many activities including, Climbing and abseiling, Water Sports, a Cooking competition, a tug of war as well as meeting lots of new and interesting people.
Other Activities that the Scouts had participated in included a Christmas Games Night, Camp fire lighting and cooking on an open fire, a tracking evening and the (now almost annual) Treck cart pull. During the Treck cart pull, the Scouts conducted a wildlife survey. This along with the training, 2 days expedition and a certain amount of fending for themselves has earnt 12 of the Scouts the expedition Challenge award.
Nick (the GSL) then gave his report. This was quite long and I've put the speech in a separate page (Click Here to read the full speech). In essence Nick said that the preceding year had been a year of consolidation, the middle floor refurbishment (aided by a National Lottery grant), had been completed and the leadership team had been stabilised and extended following his 'We are at massive risk' speech at last years AGM. A special award was made to Ken (Chris's dad) for all the help and expertise (not to mention countless hours of his time) that he had given to the group through out the middle floor refurbishment project. Ken was awarded the Scouting Friendship award in recognition of all the time and effort that he had put in to the project, this has been (and is) greatly appreciated by the Group. Lastly it was the turn of Dave (the DC) who said a few words and was very impressed by the progress that the Group had made in the last 12 months. Once the AGM had been closed Parents and leaders alike were served with refreshments by the Scouts and at the very end of the night (as more of an afterthought than anything else) Dave reopened the middle floor for use by the sections. (When Chris sends me the pictures of this I'll put them up on the site). Group Turns out for St. George - November 2006
The flag bearers then formed a guard of honor for all the parishioners who were attending the service, before handing their flags over to the Vicar for the duration of the service.
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