Hi all!
A longer update today, partially as I forgot to add an update from the start of the year!
Back in January 2025, we brought back the group’s Winter Sleepover at Hesley Wood Scout Activity Centre, no snow this year but thankfully the rain held off, allowing the Scouts to do some archery, zip-lining and den building… and of course roasting marshmallows.
Sidenote: Freezing leftover Angel Delight overnight *almost* works like an ice cream / lollypop combination, try it!
Our Scout section was able to place two teams into the District Indoor Cooking competition in February this year, with both teams taking first and second place!! Bring on the outdoor cooking competition later this year!
Into March, the 61st regularly celebrate Up Helly Aa, a Viking festival to welcome in the Spring (we were just a little late celebrating this year!). A whole group effort making shields, axes and helmets – with a nice longship to burn at the end. Up Helly Aa is a great night of food, games and shield walls, and is always a highlight of the year. Sadly, too many member’s faces in every photo to edit out, so here’s me setting fire to something.
Later into March, Scout Leader Richard was able to provide another guided tour of the local power station at Blackburn Meadows, which is always an interesting and informative time for the members (and leaders!).
In April, we had several Chief Scout awards issued to our Scout section patrol leaders, with a few members being invested into Cubs and Scouts. St. George’s day this year was held in a local park in Chapeltown with each group running loads of fun activities, alongside a treasure trail, and the usual renewal of promises. The 61st were playing rounders and put on a pop-up coconut shy, using tins instead of coconuts (easier to carry around!).
On to May, the yearly district Cub Scout Scrapheap challenge steamed on ahead. This year’s theme was transport and the 61st team took away gold with their train and station! Well done, team!
Graham (ACSL) was also issued his Wood Beads for completing all of his Leader training, welcome to the 1st Scout Group, Graham!
To round off May, the group held a ‘Camp in a day’ to celebrate 61st’s 110 year anniversary of bringing adventure to Wincobank. Camp in a day is a great chance to show parents and carers what the Group gets up to on a normal camp: We start the day splitting into patrols, pitching tents, and preparing wood for fires. The group then enjoyed a feast of steamed fish, handmade flatbreads with bacon and sausages, topped off with chocolate bananas. To finish the day, we had a pioneering competition making sudan chairs, some more comfortable than others!
To finish off the term, the Cubs and Scouts took part in the district 5-a-side football competition. The Cubs did well, making it to the semi finals, loosing out to the eventual tournament winners. The Scouts section however took home gold, winning every game and only conceding two goals in total. Well done, Scouts!
Over the coming months, the group has some great events coming up. The Scouts and older Cubs have our Summer Camp, a 5 day camp in August; we are looking to arrange a group camp for a weekend in late September, and the Beavers have the district sleepover in October. We are likely to look into another Winter sleepover for December or January due to how popular this year’s went.
We hope everyone has an enjoyable summer coming up, with many adventures ahead!
Yours in Scouts,
Alex James – 61st Beaver Scout Leader
Bonus spaghetti marshmallow “tower” image from the Beavers
61st Sheffield Scout Group 