Category: Events

Monopoly Run

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Last weekend, 29 Explorers took part in Monopoly Run Live.

Monopoly Run “Live” is an action-packed day visiting all corners of London. Competing against Scouts and Guides from all around the UK.

The app allows teams to play the game by geo-location check in at all the locations. It will also keep you up to date as a team with your current position in your game, as well as providing you with real-time information via the team statistics page and real-time push notifications.

In addition to the gameplay, teams will also have the opportunity to earn extra money by taking part in our team challenges and also our cryptic quiz.

Our teams finished as follows:

Click on the links below to view our team’s post-run analysis:

Quiz Night – Sweden Fundraising

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Thank you to everyone who attended our fundraising quiz and raffle last night in aid of our Sweden Expedition this summer. In total we raised around £691 from ticket sales and the raffle.

We have 59 people on expedition with a total budget of around £45k so every little helps!

Special thanks to Alex who hosted the quiz for us and the parents who organised the event.

County Awards Presentation

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Well done to our Explorers who attended the County Award Presentation at the weekend. We had members collecting their D of E as well as their Chief Scout Gold, Platinum and Diamond. We also had several collect their young leader belt buckle.

The CSA Gold is the highest award a Scout can earn. To complete it, you need to complete all nine of the Challenge Awards, plus six Activity badges.

The Chief Scout’s Platinum and Diamond Awars are open to Explorers and is linked to DofE. As well as completing some time volunteering, learning a new skill, getting better at a physical activity and a two day expedition as well as some activities from the International, Community and Values list.

The Young Leader Belt Buckle is awarded on completion of the entire young leader scheme (completion of ALL training modules and missions). This takes a lot of commitment over and above just attending Explorers.

Winter Camp 2024

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Last weekend, we held our annual winter camp at Bentley Copse. We were all very glad to be in a warm building as temperatures dropped into the negative outside!

On camp, the Explorers took part in variety of activities including wide games, incident hike, climbing, abseiling, caving and rifle shooting. We also had a traditional roast dinner (overseen by Phil!) and the infamous Saturday night fancy dress karaoke!

A video highlight of the camp is available below.

Drake MAW 2023

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Some members of Shackleton ESU joined Drake ESU for their annual mountain activity weekend in south Wales for three days in the Brecon Beacons. Having travelled down on Thursday evening, Friday they enjoyed hiking across Bannau Brycheiniog ridge. The cloud was below the summits so visibility bad, but YP navigated well and reached the finish ahead of schedule.

Whilst the young people and mountain leaders were up in the clouds, the support team made use of the area with some cycling along the Brecon canal while others walked in the Dare Valley Country Park.

Friday evening following dinner they enjoyed watching the bronze match of the Rugby world cup.

Saturday morning the group went climbed at Craig y Ddinas, including a speed climbing competition, congratulations to Paul who was fastest. Saturday afternoon the young people spent on a very wet waterfall walk, including exploring behind a waterfall.

Saturday evening following their roast dinner they enjoyed the Rugby world cup final.

Sunday morning following tidying up the bunk house, was planned to be a climb up Pen y Fan, but due to the high wind forecast this was cancelled and a visit to Abergavenny was enjoyed before the journey home.

County Awards Presentation

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Well done to our Explorers who attended the County Award Presentation at the weekend. We had members collecting their D of E as well as their Chief Scout Gold and Platinum. We also had several collect their young leader belt buckle.

The CSA Gold is the highest award a Scout can earn. To complete it, you need to complete all nine of the Challenge Awards, plus six Activity badges.

The Chief Scout’s Platinum Award is open to Explorers and is linked to Bronze DofE. As well as completing some time volunteering, learning a new skill, getting better at a physical activity and a two day expedition as well as some activities from the International, Community and Values list.

The Young Leader Belt Buckle is awarded on completion of the entire young leader scheme (completion of ALL training modules and missions). This takes a lot of commitment over and above just attending Explorers.

Downsman Hike 2023

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This year, we entered 2 teams into the annual Downsman Hike Competition.

Both teams completed Class E and managed to finish in record times for our unit. A big congratulations to you all and hopefully it doesn’t take too long for them to fully recover!

Some details are below:

Total Route Distance38 miles. With the rest sections, each person will hike less than the total distance
RouteSteyning Bowl to Eastbourne
Start timesBetween 07:30 & 08:30
Time allowedUp to 18 hours to complete the hike
Age restrictionsMinimum combined team age of 48 years and a maximum combined team age of 62, only whole years are added together. Each individuals must be under 18 years old.
Team composition4 people to a team, with only 3 hiking at any one time – the fourth will be rested and transported to the next designated Service Area with the Team’s Service Crew. When at a designated Service Area, the rested person will re-join their team, swapping places with a teammate whose turn it is to rest next
AwardsThe ‘Chief Scout’s’ trophy is presented to the team that completes the route in the fastest time. A Downsman medal is awarded to everyone who completes the hike

Survival Camp 2023

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This weekend, 18 of our Explorers braved Stanford for a survival themed camp. On Friday, they pitched hammocks and started fires to cook their evening snack. On Saturday, they had to cook all of their meals using only fires and no utensils. They also had to build a Bivi to house their group which would be their home for the second night!

On Sunday, they had to build a survival gadget and then watched a demo around how to skin and prepare a rabbit. Unfortunately this year the other rabbits didn’t defrost in time for the explorers to have a go!

We unfortunately didn’t get to complete some of our other activities as the bivi’s took longer to build. We also water tested the bivi’s today with varying levels of water tightness!!!

Silver D of E Qualifier Weekend – 2023

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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.

Summer Camp 2023 – Yorkshire

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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 on overnight expedition on Tuesday and Wednesday passing over Whernside Ridge. This turned into an eventful day where a medical incident resulted in us summoning mountain rescue to extract a party member (they are safe and well and undergoing further medical tests to understand what may have caused it!)

Later in the week, the groups split into 3 groups, one canoeing, one cycling and one climbing. This continued for 3 days and before we knew it, it was time to pack up and come home.

Summarising the camp as a challenge is probably an understatement – all of our Explorers did us proud and showed true resilience through some difficult situations. They adapted and just got on with what was needed – they were a credit to the unit.