Last weekend 23 members of the Scout Troop went to Downe Activity Centre to complete their Expedition Challenge Badge. They all arrived on Friday evening, set up camp, made a fire to keep themselves warm and also played a wide game.

They were all up bright and early on Saturday morning, the Scouts went through their route cards and marked their checkpoints before starting their days walking. They had to take their kit with them and the four patrols were set off in 15 mintue intervals. Throughout the day they had three checkpoints to visit, where they had to complete a number of challenges which included:

• Communications challenge – half the patrol built a Lego structure that was being described to them by the other half
• Pioneering challenge – Build a freestanding square out of pioneering polls and get all of the patrol though it
• Expedition catering challenge – Make a cup of tea using the portable burners

The patrols safely returned back to site, and after around 6 hours of hiking they had some well-deserved rest and free time. Each patrol then cooked meat stew for dinner on portable stoves, before everyone spent the evening relaxing around a campfire.

Sunday saw the Scouts plan another short route to walk, which took them to Downe village to complete a photo challenge.

Well done to everyone who completed their Expedition Challenge over the weekend, you all did an awesome job.

You may have seen a familiar face on your TV, or heard a familiar voice on your Radio, earlier this week. After impressing on the GLSE Scout Speak Up Training, and then be chosen to meet Ellie Simmonds, one of our Explorers, Katie Ainscough, was part of the Scout Associations recent press coverage.

Katie said: “I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to be on Sky News, BBC Radio 4, ITV News and BBC News all in one day. It was an amazing day even though I had to wake up at 4:30am!”

You can watch the interview on ITV News at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXeNiNHpj20

You can listen to a short clip from the BBC Radio 4 ‘The Today Programme at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04zqnrz 

She went on to explain: “I was doing all of this to broadcast the Scout Associations need for more adult volunteers. Even though we’ve had a record amount of adults volunteering in the UK over the past year, there are now even more young people wanting to join Scouting, with waiting lists being at record highs as well. The only way that Scouts continue is because of all of the great adults giving their time and volunteering, this highlights the great need for volunteers!”

It was a great honor for the group to have someone selected to appear on national TV and Radio to represent the Scout Association. Katie did a really good job and a number of people took to Twitter to comment on how well she did:

Great to hear @hpkentish & Katie from @23rdBromley talk about our increase in Adult volunteers and our need for more on @SkyNews pic.twitter.com/umwziewIAS

— Simon Carter (@Scoutsscarter) April 11, 2017

Watching back to @hpkentish and Katie on TV and radio demonstrating #SkillsForLife today – brilliant spokespeople for @Scouts – very proud!

— David Hamilton (@DavidHamilton) April 11, 2017

@hpkentish @23rdBromley Katie brilliantly articulating the arguments for becoming a @scouts volunteer on @BBCr4today #skillsforlife

— Matt Hyde (@matthyde) April 11, 2017

Katie finished by saying: “I had so much fun being on TV and helping the scouts media team to advertise scouting and the needs for volunteers. However I was definitely tired after a very long day!”

The 23^rd Bromley are always on the look out for new adults to support us, whether that’s being a leader at a section, helping with paperwork or organizing fundraising events. The group is fully run by volunteers, if anyone is able to give some time to support us then please come forward.

In August 2018, the Explorers will be going on an expedition to Kenya, alongside Harambee for Kenya. They are a UK based charity who have a number of safe houses in Kenya where they take homeless boys off the street and give them accommodation and education. More details about the charity can be found at: http://www.harambeeforkenya.org/.

We ran a similar expedition back in Easter 2012 – more details about that trip, including pictures, can be found at: http://www.23rdbromleyscouts.org/kenya.

This trip of a lifetime will be open to anybody over 14 as of 11^th August 2018, who is a member of the 23^rd Bromley Explorer Unit. A detailed itinerary will be developed over the coming months, but it will involve time at one of the Harambee for Kenya safe houses, as well as getting to see various different parts of Kenya to get an appreciation of its culture.

A number of leaders and Network members from the 23^rd Bromley will also be a part of the expedition, but will complete a slightly different itinerary.

If you would like more details about the trip, please email kenya@23rdbromleyscouts.org

Please keep the evening of Wednesday the 11^th October free. The 23^rd Bromley Scout Group Fund Raising Committee is holding a Fashion Show.

Helen Smith a member of the Fund Raising Committee has booked “Travelling Trends Ladies Fashion Show” for that evening , more details will follow, but at the moment please put the date in your diary and keep it free.

If you would like to be a part of the Fundraising Committee then please get in touch.

On Saturday 11th March the Fundraising Commitee put on a Coffee Morning and Bric a Brac sale at the HQ. The car park was packed with larger items and crockery, whilst there were over 30 large boxes of books on offer.

In the weeks previous the Group has been collecting items ready for the sale, and the team met early on Saturday morning to set them all out. Late morning the doors opened and punters came flooding in. A large number of items were sold and people could refresh themselves with a coffee & hot cross bun.

The current total raised currently stands at over £300, however a number of leftover items are being sold online afterwards so we expect this figure to rise slightly. The money raised from events such as this go towards the upkeep of the HQ, and mean that the Group can keep subs at a reasonable level.

Thanks to all who supported this event, in particular the members of the Fundraising Committee who put a lot of effort before and during the sale.

A number of Young People from the group attended Scout Speak Up training at Wilberforce Camp site in February, where they learnt lots of new skills about how to promote scouting and about public speaking. Following on from the Scout Speak Up training, Charlotte Miles and Katie Ainscough were asked to meet with a special guest of the Scout Association.

We have had to keep things secret up until now, but can now reveal that Charlotte and Katie were selected to meet Ellie Simmonds as part of Ellie’s new role as an Ambassador to The Scout Association.

The Paralympic gold medallist joins, Olympic gold medallist Helen Glover, TV presenters Anita Rani and Steve Backshall, and adventurer Megan Hine as new Ambassaors – all of whom will work as positive role models for young people.  Bear Grylls has also accepted an offer to remain as Chief Scout until 2020.

A number of photos of the girls meeting Ellie have been used by The Scout Association, National and Local Press in order to promote the news of Ellie’s new ambassadorial role.

Below are the thoughts of Charlotte and Katie:

“It was yet another amazing opportunity given to me through Scouting. It was a great experience to get to know more about her and chat with her. She was so down to earth and nice, she was interested in what we had to say about scouting and she even let us hold her medals!” – Katie

“We spent over an hour talking about Scouting and why Ellie wanted to become an Ambassador, as well as all the swimming that Ellie does, and everyday things such as school and hobbies. We taught Ellie how to do a friendship knot on a scarf and explained why there are different coloured scarfs. I learnt lots of things about the swimming and training she does, and what it felt like to go to the Paralympics. I really enjoyed meeting her as she really inspired me and it is something that I will never forget.” – Charlotte

A number of articles were published about this in the local press:

• http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/yournews/15163410.Bromley_Scouts_meet_Paralympic_gold_medalist/
• http://www.bromleytimes.co.uk/news/bromley_scouts_meet_new_ambassador_paralympic_gold_medallist_ellie_simmonds_1_4938919

The 23^rd Bromley are honoured that two Young People from the group were selected to meet Ellie.

Over the weekend of 25th and 26th February 2017 four members of the group attended the GLSE Scouts Speak Up Training.  It was put on by the UK Scout Association in order to train Young People to be confident spokespeople, find out how to talk to journalists and get their message across in front of the camera.

Charlotte Miles and Matthew Higginbottom from the Troop attended, along with Katie Ainscough and James Fairhurst from the Explorer Unit.

Below are the thoughts of Charlotte Miles:

“I attended Scout Speak Up training at Wilberforce Camp site in February, where I learned lots of new skills about how to promote scouting and about public speaking.  We did several activities where we were interviewed for the radio and TV by the Leaders and were then given feedback and tips about how we can improve our performance.

I had a fun weekend meeting Scouts, Explorers and Leaders from London and the South East and made some great friends who I will keep in contact with. “

The Fundraising Committee organised a fantastic evening of Rock & Roll – Saturday Night at the Scout HQ! The Hall was transformed into a Fifties’ Night Club with candle lit tables, a wonderful DJ (Charlie) and a marvellous mixture of fast and slow records from the Rock era. People were dancing the Jitterbug, the Lindy hop, Boogie-woogie and Bop.

No-one actually turned up in an Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini, but there were Rara dresses, drainpipe trousers, gold lamé tops, bobby sox and winkle pickers galore!
The period atmosphere was authentically re-created and it was easy to believe that the table food was actually cheese and pineapple cubes on sticks, spam canapés and peach melba, washed down with Watney’s Red Barrel!

The event raised just under £250 for group funds – thanks in particular to Charlie and Linda Lawn for organising this event. We are already looking forward to the next Rock & Roll evening….

On 25th March two of our leaders, Ellie Howard and Paul Bartlett, are completing a 10k Mud Run in aid of Royal British Legion. For those who don’t know, Ellie is the Section Leader at Hurricane Beavers, whilst Paul is the Section Leader at Kim Pack.

They are putting themselves through the hellish course in order to raise funds for such a great and worthy cause. The Royal British Legion are the UK’s leading charity providing financial, social and emotional support to millions who have served and are currently serving in the British Armed Forces.

If you would like to sponsor them you can do so here.