The Woggle

GSL's Update

What a Summer!
We hope you had a great summer - we did and although it is holiday time the Group has continued to be very active.

Scarecrow Festival

Thanks to everyone who put in the work for our entry in this year's festival.

Carnival Float & Crockery Smash

We also joined in with the Hayling Carnival which was enjoyed by all.
Whilst the Beavers and Cubs joined in with the procession, our Explorers were running a Crockery Smash stall on the main field. Over £300 was raised towards their expedition to Switzerland in 2009. At the end of the Carnival, the Explorers jumped onto a Ferry with bikes for their summer expedition cycling around the Isle of Wight.

An evening Mackerel Fishing
The Scouts of Eagle Troop spent an evening on Hayling Seafront catching Mackerel with the help of Dave Rigden, a father of one of the Scouts. During the evening 40 fish were caught and the Scouts then learnt how to skin and cook the fish for their supper!

Scouts Summer Camps
Both troops camped at a great site near Aldershot this year on consecutive weeks. Each camp was based on traditional lines with the Scout patrols being self sufficient, cooking over wood fires and learning about teamwork and leadership. Both troops spent 24 hours living without a tent and utensils, having to build a shelter from natural materials for sleeping. During the week both troops went swimming, held hikes with Lion Troop also trying Water Skiing.

Scouts Community Service with RNLI
During the past 3 months, Michael Kenny and Joshua Haines have spent much of their spare time at the Lifeboat Station on Hayling carrying out various tasks as part of their top award. In addition to helping around the station, Michael and Joshua also received instruction on reading charts and learning more about the operational side of the Lifeboats. They would like to thank Linda and the crews for their help and support and offering something different.

100 Club Results
Congratulations to Sandra Reed, Jan Allgood and Jill Edmeades who each won £25 in the July draw and to Brian Smith, Susan Nuth and Nigel Kenny who each won £25 in August.

Help at Skittles Evening
Robert Durrell and Barnabas Pycroft helped out at the Naval Associations Skittles evening recently by being responsible for replacing the skittles and returning the balls. In addition to being fed they both received a donation towards their expedition to Switzerland in 2009. Thank you to the Naval Association for their support.

Businessmen's Club BBQ.
Once again this year the Scouts and Explorers of Hayling played a big role in the annual HIBC BBQ. They helped clear the barn and set up on the Thursday and Friday, organised the Car Parking and ran some of the side stalls during the event and packed away afterwards.

Although hard work this event is always enjoyed by the young people probably because they get well fed!

I would like to thank HIBC for allowing us to be part of this event and for the very generous donation made towards Group funds.

Harvest Festival
Our Beavers and Cubs have been invited to join the St Andrew's Church Harvest Festival which will take place on Sunday 21st September. We hope to see most of you and please bring tins or packets of food for the collection.

Never Challenge a Leader
I shouldn't have said anything when I saw James, Jim and Tom of Lion Troop hacking at a very large log on camp. They told me they were making a chair and I said, "You'll never complete it this week". You can see James modeling the chair with his new home made broomstick - wizard or what!

Quiz Night
Our annual quiz night takes place on Saturday 11th October. Why not assemble a team of 8 people and enjoy a fun evening. Cost is £8 per person including a hot meal. For more details call 92462786 or visit our web site.

Fireworks Display
Our annual fireworks display will take place on Friday 7th November. Details of locations and times to be sent later but please make a note in your diaries.

New Cub Pack Opens
We have seen a large growth in requests for places in our Scout Group. Over the past few months the Leaders and our Group Development Team have been looking at how we can best offer Scouting to more people. From September 25th we will be opening a 3rd Cub Pack to be known as Mars Pack under the leadership of Jan and Sarah. We will now work on the growth in demand for Scouts and Beavers!

80th Birthday Celebrations
2009 will be a special year for the Group as we celebrate our own 80th Birthday. Our main Birthday event will be a Group and Family camp to be held near Fareham.

Dates for your Diary are Friday 26th June to Sunday 28th June 2009.

The Cubs, Scouts, Explorers & Leaders will camp for the whole weekend and the camp is open to all families. Our Beavers may only camp if their parents or an assigned guardian are camping (hopefully all of them!) otherwise they are invited to join us for the activities on both the Saturday and Sunday.

The camp will take place on an official Scout Camp Site which provides a wide range of activities which we will supplement with our own ideas.

You will receive a lot more information later this term but in the meantime please make a note of the dates.