We started the term with being able to meet face to face but we were restricted in terms of the number we were allowed to have at our sessions. We split into 2 bubbles and held our sessions at Earlywood. It was great to be back together and especially enjoying be outdoors. There was lots of measures put in place to keep everyone safe but the Beavers and parents were all great. Charlie and I had help from Dougie Webb at our sessions and it was great to have him with us. We enjoyed games, scavenger hunts and cooking on fires.
Following half term we went back to Zoom Sessions but we were still able to have fun and earn lots of badges such as digital citizen and our space badge. We also prepared for the big family quiz night where we hosted “Family Fortunes”. We enjoyed Christmas crafts run by Dougie and a visit from Fred in the Shed.
As we were still in the midst of the pandemic we set up for another term on Zoom. Our first session back gave the Beavers the chance to show and tell their pets! Children and animals always make for a fun session and we can’t wait to run this one again at the hut!! We earned our emergency badge
followed by our experiment badge. We were very lucky to have Hilary take on the challenge of the experiment badge – A pandemic, home schooling and full time work for Charlie and I, meant we were grateful to have a night with no planning! The second part of the term started with the survival camp and it was great to see so many Beavers participating. As I walked round the trails with my 2 scouts, I saw lots of beavers out with their families enjoying solving the clues. We also enjoyed a fantastic guest, wildlife photographer David Fettes (aka Ben’s grandad). We saw lots of his amazing work and he set us a photography challenge to help us earn our photography badge. We also virtually achieved our explorer badge, completed a health and fitness session and made amazing cooking with our explorer Joe.
Joe Cullen joined us this term to complete his D of E volunteering and we said goodbye to Dougie so he could focus on his studies. Joe has stuck with us as he enjoys it so much.
The Summer term allowed for us all to be back together again. We block booked Earlywood and had the best time having the whole place to ourselves nearly every week. We recruited two new leaders first Andrew and then Chan – both have young people in the section. This term was jam-packed with all sorts of activities including making and eating jam sandwiches using only our feet, this was particularly challenging in the tiring rain and it turns out that beavers are not very self sufficient at putting wet socks back on their jammy feet! We also put up tents for the first time, played crazy golf, went orienteering and played many games of Eagle Eyes.
Our last saw session of the term saw a mass investment and cooking smores on a huge fire.
