Scout Report 2023-24 

This year we held our registration in September and we were delighted to open an Explorer Unit alongside the Squirrels, Beavers, Cubs & Scout sections.  We had 75 young people register this year. 

We held our Investiture Campfire in November with the whole group coming together for a night of fun activities before joining up with family & friends for the actual Investiture.  Our County Commissioner, Stephanie, came along to invest our new Explorers as well as all our Squirrels, Beavers, Cubs, Scouts & Leaders before leading us in a campfire. 

In December we held our Candlelight Christmas Service.  We were overwhelmed with the fantastic support we received from our Scout families, friends and parishioners.  This year at our Service we collected gift bags with tea bags & biscuits to be donated to the housebound, elderly & local nursing homes within the community.  A massive thank you to everyone who donated gifts 

In addition to our weekly meetings and activities our young people have attended NI and County events, enjoyed outdoor & indoor camps, went on outings and had lots of adventures: 

The Squirrels had a great year covering various activity badges. The highlight of the year for the young people was the Teddy Bear Hospital evening.  This year they presented 6 Chief Scout’s Acorn Badges. 

The Beavers section was delighted to welcome Catherine, from Limavady, and Andrea to the team as well as 3 young leaders, Megan, Charlotte & Tom.  During the year the Beavers took part in a Space Camp, visited Limavady Police Station, went orienteering in the country park, surfing at Benone & an activity day at Jungle NI along with the Cubs.  In addition to numerous activity and challenge badges, 6 Beavers were presented with their Chief Scout’s Bronze Award. 

Activity badges completed by Cubs during the year included Artist, Scientist, International, Local Knowledge and Personal Safety alongside various requirements for the Challenge badges. They also had a one night indoor sleepover in Ardinariff as an introduction to Nights Away for the younger cubs. After Easter they joined with the Beavers for an activity day at the Jungle before concentrating on requirements for the Outdoors in 24 Challenge badge. In May they headed up to Crawfordsburn for a 2 night outdoor camp where the cubs enjoyed onsite activities on the Saturday before calling in to Airtastic, Newtownabbey for Lasertag and food on the way home. After awarding 3 Chief Scout’s Silver awards, we ended the year with our infamous messy games night! 

The Scouts had a busy year, they completed a night hike at Rigged Hill Windfarm, a trip to Limitless Activity Centre, orienteering at the County Park.  Over the summer they took part in a weekend camp at Magilligan learning back to basic skills and went on a hike of Binevenagh Mountain, Numerous activity and challenge badges were issued. 

The newly formed Explorer unit focused on their young leader training and worked towards their International & Chef activity badges.  They completed an indoor camp in October and took part in the JOTA / JOTI weekend and they also completed a two night camp at Lorne Girlguiding Centre, Belfast where they explored the city.