Winter Camp 2022

From 2nd to 4th December, Shackleton Explorers enjoyed a winter camp at Bentley Copse Scout Campsite. Staying inside in Palmer House, the cold didn’t bother us! Activities including a night hike, zipline, crate stacking, climbing, abseiling, rifle shooting, karaoke and lots of food! It was a nice relaxing camp to celebrate a successful year with successes at the Downsman, Rifle Shooting Competitions and D of E. Thanks to the leaders for supporting the activities this year, here’s to a successful 2023!

Jamboree Led Evening

Last Monday (28th), Joe, Tom and Leo who are off to Korea next year led the evening. They gave a short presentation about the jamboree, led a jamboree quiz, taught some basic phrases and led a couple of Korean themed games. All in all, a very educational evening!

Rifle Shooting / Tennis

Over the last few weeks, we have split into 2 groups and alternated rifle shooting and Tennis/Chip Shop Hike. Well done to all the shooters who improved over there turns!

Halloween Wide Games

On Monday 31st October, we held a Halloween wide games evening. Several of the Explorers dressed up in fancy dress (some costumes were questionable!). We played traditional games such as apple bobbing, eating the donut from the string plus capture the pumpkin / cone. A few photos are below:

Indoor Caving

On Monday 17th, we visited some indoor caving to see how our explorers could navigate through dark, tight spaces! After familiarisation, we had some head to head races before Avighna was named the overall winner. Well done all for giving it a try, next year we will have to find some real caves!

Chief Scout Awards / Investitures and D of E Expedition Reports

On Monday 3rd October, Shackleton Explorers had a very busy evening! We started off with a brief lesson in Heraldry before the Explorers started to design their own coat of arms to represent them. We then moved onto a more formal part of the evening where we had expedition reports from our 2 D of E Bronze groups and 2 D of E Silver Groups (which parents were welcome to attend). At the end of the evening, we were joined by Robert Sawyer (our County Commissioner) who presented Chief Scout Gold Awards to Ash, Kevin, Ben and Samuel. He is …

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Downsman Hike

This year, we entered 2 teams into the annual Downsman Hike Competition. One team competed in Class E and one in Class B. Both teams completed the competition which is a first for Shackleton. A big congratulations to you all and hopefully it doesn’t take too long for them to fully recover! Class E – Joe, Nathan, Corey and Charlie Class E is suitable for Explorers with hiking experience. Total Route Distance 38 miles. With the rest sections, each person will hike less than the total distance Route Steyning Bowl to Eastbourne Start times Between 07:30 & 08:30 Time allowed …

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Inter-District West Sussex Shooting Competition

On Sunday 2nd October, West Sussex Scouts held their first inter-district Explorer shooting competition. 3 teams entered after a 4th had to withdraw at short notice. They took part in various events including 6yrd rifle and pistol, 10yrd rifle and pistol, crossbow and sprint and shoot. Congratulations to Crawley Scouts Team for scoring the highest combined score across all of the events which consisted of Freya, Olivia, Jack and Mirjam. We wish our team luck for the national championships in a few weeks time!

Archery and Fire Lighting

Over the past 2 weeks, the unit split into 2 and did fire lighting and archery at Stanford Scout Campsite. The explorers started fires using a variety of techniques including flint and steel, exothermic chemical reactions and electricity! Congratulations to Nathan who was our most accurate archer!

Taskmaster

This evening we held a taskmaster evening. 5 different challenges to compete to be crowned the winners from the evening and secure lots of sweets! The tasks were varied including potato art, creating a like for like portrait of the unit leader using only natural materials, eat one, balance 1 and throw, egg chariots and story time. We also spoke to several of the Explorers and managed to sign off 4 CSA platinums by looking back at the last 18 months of their scouting. There are 4 more close behind so keep getting those D of E sections signed off! …

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Silver D of E Qualifier Expedition

Congratulations to both of our groups who successfully completed their D of E expeditions in the New Forest this weekend. Walking around 60km over the 3 days, the teams also demonstrated teamwork, navigation skills and excellent camp craft. We had excellent weather and both teams actually looked like they were having fun most of the time!!! A few photos are below. It was more hard for the supervisors who spent the weekend visiting local cafes, eating ice cream and making new friends!! And one team had so much energy at the end they decided some slow motion action shots were …

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Autumn Term Programme 2022

We hope you have all had a good summer. A new term means a new programme which we have attached below. Take note of some key event dates to get these in your diary now! See you all in September. Sean, Clair, Phil, Ben, Nicole, Elliott and Katie Date Activity Location Other Details 05/09/2022 Monopoly Run 4th Worth Full Uniform 12/09/2022 Task Master 4th Worth Full Uniform 19/09/2022 Archery / Fire Lighting Stanford Scarves / Outdoor Clothing 26/09/2022 Archery / Fire Lighting Stanford Scarves / Outdoor Clothing 03/10/2022 D of E Reports / Heraldry 4th Worth Full Uniform / Investitures 10/10/2022 Phil’s Practical …

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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.