Gold D of E – Practise Expedition

Well done to Charlie, Tom, Freya, Nathan, Franklin, Dylan and Joe who have all just successfully completed their Gold D of E Practise Expedition in Dartmoor which involves a four-day, self-reliant expedition with three nights camping. The Gold Expedition is considered the most challenging part of the DofE Award, but it is also the most rewarding. It can help participants develop skills like self-confidence, initiative, and problem solving. That concludes our units D of E expeditions for 2024 – stay tuned for our D of E programme for 2025! Thanks to everyone who has helped this year including Ben, Clair, Phil, …

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Halloween – Pumpkin Carving

On Monday, we had a Halloween themed evening. The Explorers carved pumpkins and played some traditional Halloween games including Stringed Donut Eating. The Explorers also wore varying levels of fancy dress – well done to all who won a best dressed prize!

Hunted

On Monday, we held a unit version of Hunted. This year was the first year all teams were caught and the hunters were victorious! You will need to use guile and cunning to avoid the hunter force who roam Crawley searching for your teams. You will be considered captured if a hunter team is able to gain a clearly identifiable photograph of one of your team whilst you are on the run.  You will not be notified if you have been ‘captured’ until you reach HQ.  Therefore, keep moving and stay stealthy and don’t assume you’ve been captured even if you’re seen, you may …

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Sweden 2024 Expedition Video

We are pleased to share our 2024 Sweden expedition with you all below to download and keep if you so wish. Stay tuned for more information on our next international expedition in 2026…

Shackleton ESU – D of E & Awards Evening

Last night, the Explorers started the meeting with an Explorer run debate night – well done to Chloe and Franklin who prepared and ran the first hour of the meeting. We then held our annual D of E Expedition Presentation evening which included our summer expedition to Sweden Video, several Chief Scout Awards, a young leader belt buckle, 2 investitures, explorer of the year and Downsman Hike Competition Presentations – all in all a very busy evening! Well done to all our Explorers who received awards: We also welcomed two new members – David and Saxon The final three awards, …

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Shackleton ESU – Downsman Hike

Well done to both our teams who took part in the Downsman this weekend. Shackleton ESU entered 2 B Class Teams – one completed coming 4th however the other had to withdraw after completing about 45 miles at Alfriston as they didn’t have enough time left in the 20 hours to get to the end. Class B is targeted at older Explorer teams with good hiking skills, experience, fitness and endurance. Total Route Distance 55 miles. With the rest sections, each person will hike less than the total distance Route Bignor Hill to Eastbourne Start times Between 0600 and 0630 …

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Archery and Spoon Carving

Over the past 2 weeks, the unit has been split over 2 activities. Half have been doing Archery at Stanford Scout Campsite – big thanks to Craig, Adam, Allen who instructed for us. The other half have been wooden spoon carving with varying results!

Master Chef

Well done to all of the teams this evening who managed to cook an edible Chicken Supreme in our master chef competition. Although the dishes were all edible (just), well done to those who came first and second who created very tasty and well presented dishes!

Silver D of E Qualifier 2024

Congratulations to 7 of our Explorers who successfully completed their Silver D of E expedition in the New Forest this weekend. Walking around 60km over the 3 days, the teams also demonstrated teamwork, navigation skills and excellent camp craft. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t kind to us and we had heavy rain on day 1 and 2 but that didn’t dampen the teams spirits and they pushed through to the end! A few photos are below:

Shackleton Programme – September – December 2024

We are pleased to share our programme for next term with you all as below. See you in a few weeks! Date Activity Location Other Details 02/09/2024 D of E Drop In (All D of E Participants) 4th Worth Casual 09/09/2024 Master Chef Under the Stars 4th Worth Uniform 16/09/2024 Archery and Wooden Spoon Carving Stanford / 4th Further details to follow 23/09/2024 Archery and Wooden Spoon Carving Stanford / 4th Further details to follow 30/09/2024 Geocaching Evening TBC Outdoor Clothing 07/10/2024 Explorer Led – Debate Evening 4th Worth Uniform 14/10/2024 Hunted TBC Further details to follow 21/10/2024 Pumpkin Carving …

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Volleyball and Expedition Cooking

Over the last 2 weeks, the explorers have had a volleyball evening where the teams battled it out to be crowned the overall winners and refine their skills ahead of the summer expedition! They also practised expedition cooking on the multi fuel stoves to diversify their go to d of e meal from pasta and tomato mix!

County Awards

Well done to one of our Explorers who has recently been presented his Duke of Edinburgh Bronze and Young Leader Belt Buckle. A Bronze DofE programme has four sections: Volunteering, Physical, Skills and Expedition. You must do a minimum of three months activity for each of the Volunteering, Physical and Skills sections, and plan, train for and do a two-day, one-night Expedition. The Young leader Belt and Buckle set is awarded if you have completed all modules and missions from the Explorer Scout Young Leaders’ Scheme. Both of these are big achievements so well done!

Young people first: Safeguarding and Safety in Scouting

Wherever we go and whatever we do, we put young people’s safety and wellbeing first. Here's how.