Hello and Welcome to the 1st Harston Scout Group
Thank you for visiting the 1st Harston Scout Group's Site. The main feature of our group is that we run both a cub pack for boys from 8 to 10.5 and a scout troop that takes boys from 10.5 up to the age of 14.5, and because we are a small group we are able to offer smaller sections so as to encourage all our members to join in all the activities and have lots of fun whilst learning new skills.We meet at the Harston school hall on a Wednesday evenings and are able to offer scouting to a wide range of youngsters from the surrounding villages, such as Hauxton, Harston , Foxton and some others.
Roger Summerfield is our Group Scout Leader (GSL). Our scout leader (SL) is Gerry Collison and our assistant scout leader (ASL) is Tim Anderson. All of whom attend every meeting, work permitting, so that a good ratio of scouts to leaders is maintained and every scout has an even chance of joining in. The cubs are run by Brenda Free (Akela) assisted by Colin Free (Baloo), Amanda Free (Kaa) and Michael Cornell (Mowgli). Since they took over the cubs Brenda and Colin have increased the numbers attending each week and now have a waiting list.
We have at our deposal a wide range of camping equipment, a selection of canoes, lots of pioneering equipment etc , All the leaders have recently undergone, and passed, The National Small-Bore Rifle Association certificate, which means we are able to offer rifle shooting as an activity, subject to parental permission.
All this helps us to be able to offer a wide and varied programme of activates through out the year aimed at different ages and abilities. We try and go on a few camps through out the year and in May 2007, along with nearly 1000 other Cambridge scouts; we took part in the Centenary Camp at Cherry Hinton Hall.
We work on a selection of badges though out the year and at camp, but scouts and cubs are encouraged to try and find badges that interests them such as sports, musician or any hobbies, which they would like to do on their own and at their own pace. When they are ready they can ether bring the work they have done to a meeting or in the case of the above mentioned examples get them signed by their coach or teacher.
For all badge requirements and general information about scouting please go to the Scout Association's web site @ www.scoutbase.org.uk and follow the links.
If you have any other question or would just like to know more please do not hesitate to come along one troop night and one of the leaders will be pleased to help.
1st Harston Scout Group, A brief history.
The first recorded scout group was back in the 1920's and lasted for about three years. The troop was reform on the 21st February 1934 and finally closed sometime during the war.It wouldn't be until March 1969 when a need was identified in the area and Dave Clark was asked to help run a new scout group that the troop was once more reformed and has gone from strength to strength. After three months Dave went from helping out to running the whole show. His back ground in the Army established the policy of the Group from day one, providing a programme of well organised adventure and fun in a controlled and safe environment.
David finally retired as Group Scout Leader in December 1995 and Roger Summerfield, having been one of his leaders, took over in January 1996. Rogers scouting history, no he didn't know Baden Powell, goes back to his cub days in 1948, thorough scouts, senior scouts and the world jamboree of 1957 up to him joining us here at the 1st Harston as a leader in 1972
The records for our cub pack start in 1973 when Betty Holmes was Akela, a job she did up to when she reached the Scout Associations official retirement age for leaders in 1996.
The group owes both Dave and Betty a great debt of gratitude.
The group continues to runs both a cub pack for boys aged 8 to 10.5 and a scout troop for boys aged 10.5 to 14.5. The group caters for the villages of Harston, Hauxton, Newton and Foxton but also have members from other villages as well.
The cubs are run by Brenda Free (Akela) assisted by Colin Free (Baloo), Amanda Free (Kaa) and Michael Cornell (Mowgli). Since they took over the cubs Brenda and Colin have increased the numbers attending each week and now have a waiting list. Our scout leader is Tim Anderson (SL) and his assistant leader is Gerry Collison (ASL). The troop is feed mainly by boys from the cub pack but also takes boys coming into scouting for the first time and as with the cubs the numbers have grown over the years and we currently have four patrols.
We are very lucky that we have a long serving scout member, Nigel Tebbit, who not only helps out at camps but allows us the use of his field in Shelford for outdoor cooking and other scouting activities.