Come on over to our place ~ 1^st 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.

Beavers outside the Church		Cubs outside the Church
Scouts outside the Church		David presenting the new Scout colours after they were blessed in Church

Once the service was over, 1^st 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.

The district parading up Finedon Road		The Cubs do "Lunch"

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.

1^st Irthlingborough welcomes the next 100 years of Scouting 

Wednesday 1^st August saw members, ex-members, leaders and supporters of the 1^st Irthlingborough Scout Group join with 28 million other Scouts from around the world to renew their promise.

	Members of 1st Irthlingborough renewing 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.

		Andy leading the Scout promise
Cubs renewing their promise		Scouts renewing their promise		Beavers renewing their promise

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.

The Group "marches" to the Cross Gardens		Two Scouts with the Trek Cart		The Group at the Cross Gardens

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.

Adam breaks the flag on a new "Century of Scouting"		Lyle gives his Group history

Lyle (the ex-GSL) then delivered a potted history of the 1^st 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.

Fran and Emma cook breakfast		Some of the Scouts helping to serve breakfast

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 14^th 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.

	Welcome to Irthlingborough "On Tour"

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.

John cooks up a storm		Cubs tuck in to tea

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.

Beavers	Cubs	Scouts
	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!!

One of the Scouts poses for the camera		Jake (the instructor) tows back an escapee

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.

	A Helping Hand from the Instructors!!

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.

Andy shows his "Creative" Side		Nice 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!!).

	A bit of a "Rogues Gallery" here!!

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.

	Laurence in full "Sing-Along" mode

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.

	My, what a big pole you have!!

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!!).

	Andy's attempt at Salsa Dancing
"Hit it"	I said "HIT IT"	Where have all thoes water balls gone Rob?

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!!).