Summer Camp 2023 – Yorkshire

This year 23 Explorers from Shackleton ventured to Yorkshire with Drake ESU for a joint summer camp. In total, we had over 50 people in our party! We set off in minibuses on Saturday 22nd July and on arrival at Thornthwaite Scout Camp, we setup our site and had a quiet evening on site and cooked our first dinner. On Sunday, we sent out our D of E Gold practise expedition. Others on site did some onsite activities including crate stacking, caving ladder and wobbly pole! On the Monday, we had a day trip into York before setting out on …

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End of Term BBQ

As is tradition, we celebrated the end of the summer term with a BBQ and water games. At the start of the meeting, we allowed the Cubs to take on the Explorers in a game of musical hoops which quickly descended into the Cubs soaking the Explorers thoroughly with their water guns! We also played a few other water based games before much food was consumed cooked by the leadership team. We hope you all have a great summer and see you next term.

Extreme Pioneering

This week, we set the explorers a challenge of building a rope bridge and swing which actually held their weight and worked unlike previous years attempts!!! With the help of the leaders giving some direction, a 30 metre rope bridge was created which actually supported up to 3 of them at anyone point! A swing was also successfully constructed which worked for 2 Explorers at a time! We also presented YL buckles to Joe and Mark, Well done!

Volleyball

Last week, Explorers played Volleyball at Grattons Park. It was nice to see everyone back post exams finishing. However, lots more practise would be needed before any of them started playing at a competitive level as it was rare for more than 2 or 3 consecutive volleys!!!

Crawley Monopoly Run

On Monday 19th June, we held our own Monopoly Run Crawley Edition! Well done to all the teams although the scores were very varied!!! As it was the first night back for many from exams, we had over 30 members back again which was nice to see! A few pictures are below.

Climbing and Abseiling

Last night Shackleton ESU visited Copthorne Prep School for an evening of climbing and abseiling. We also invested one of our new Explorers part way down the abseil tower! Thanks to Alaric, Ivo and Russell who all came along to help instruct for the evening.

Backwards Cooking

This evening we did backwards cooking at Explorers. After we had the fires going, we set out making chocolate cakes in oranges, nachos and cheese, bread twists and camp cones. Each group tried each of the recipes with varying success!

D of E Bronze Expeditions 2023

Congratulations to our explorer team who completed their Duke of Edinburgh Award Bronze expeditions in Ashdown Forest this weekend! The Duke of Edinburgh programme gives young people aged 14-24, the opportunity to develop themselves in scenarios they would not normally experience. The fun but challenging expeditions take young people out of their comfort zones, whilst building confidence, teamwork, life skills and friendships. If you interested in joining us, get in touch today.

Rounders

On Monday 15th, Shackleton had a game of rounders at Grattons Park. Teams were formed evenly however the results were very one sided even after the rounders pitch was expanded to resemble a 400 metre running track!

Silver D of E Practise – New Forest

10 Explorers and 4 Leaders have just returned from the New Forest on a D of E practise expedition. Both teams successfully completed the three day expedition during which we had beautiful (if slightly cold) weather. We stayed at Ferny Crofts Campsite and Wilverley Campsite which gave a varied experience. Well done to both teams and here’s to the assessed expedition in August.

Dragons Den – Camp Gadget

This evening, the explorers designed and created Camp gadgets to be pitched to our panel of dragons in hope of securing a chocolate prize! The teams came up with some interesting ideas but the Sean Sitter scoped the first prize and secured the chocolate investment!

Shackleton Summer Term Programme 2023

Apologies for the delay, please find our next terms programme. Please also get future event dates in your diary now! Date Activity Location Other Details 17/04/2023 Wide Games – Stanford – Leaders Stanford Outdoor Clothing 24/04/2023 Hike (Charlwood) – Sean Charlwood Hike Clothing 01/05/2023 NO MEETING – BANK HOLIDAY N/A N/A 08/05/2023 NO MEETING – KINGS CORONATION N/A N/A 15/05/2023 Rounders @ Grattons Park – Elliott Grattons Park Sports Clothes 22/05/2023 Backwards Cooking @ Stanford – Phil Stanford Full Uniform 29/05/2023 NO MEETING – HALF TERM     05/06/2023 Fitness Training / Media & Film Making – Phil / Sean …

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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.