2nd Southwater Scouts - A week In France

Last year during a very wet camp in the New Forest 2nd Southwater Scout Troop hatched a plan to have warm and sunny camp in 2013!

Read about this year's exploits including misfiring trebuchets, lessons in Anglo-French relationship building and ....... a crow!

Follow this link -  http://www.westsussexscouts.org.uk/news/2nd-southwater-scouts-french-camp.aspx 

 Well done 2nd Southwater - what a great adventure!

Roffey Guides Family Fun Day - 15th September 2013

Louise,Alex, Alice, Freya, Georgie, Jaida are members of 1st Roffey Guides are who are joining the Girlguiding Sussex Central & CoCo’s Foundation Service Project to Africa next year.

The Guides are holding a Family Fun Day on Sunday 15th September at Broadbridge Heath Leisure Centre between 11 am and 4 pm to raise funds and they would appreciate your support. 

Please let other know about this event.

The girls have asked if anyone is willing to lend them a gazebo for the day or provide any of the following items to help raise as much money as possible;
Soft Toy, Empty Jam / Sauce Jar, Small Cracker like toy, Full Bottles of any kind,Chocolate Item, General Tombola, Crockery (Cracked, Chipped or Broken), Good quality Second hand toy, Second Hand Books, Handmade Craft items - knitted,  patchwork or  wooden items.

  

If you can help please contact Louise on
roffeyguidescoco@hotmail.co.uk, 07582 389014, drop donated items off at 7 Wain End, Horsham or call to arrange for a collection to be made.

 For more information about Coco Foundation follow this link -
http://www.cocosfoundation.co.uk/

 

WS 2013

Scouts, Explorer Scouts and Young Leaders from Horsham Weald joined more than 2000 other Scouts and Guides from West Sussex and around the world for another successful WS International Camp at the South of England Showground.
The weather was very kind with just a few showers of rain and a lot of sunshine to help make the camp a glorious celebration of all that is best about being a Scout or Guide.
The opening ceremony was rounded off with a surprise visit from Bear Grhylls (Chief Scout) who flew in on his familiar helicopter accompanied by newly appointed Scout Ambassador David Walliams. Everyone was thrilled to welcome such distinguished celebrities to the camp. The next day the UK Commissioner, Wayne Bulpitt, visited various activities on the site.
Horsham weald was represented at the camp not only by our youth members but by adults leading camps, sub-camps and assisting with activities.
5th/10th Scouts were joined by a group of Explorer age Scouts from Portugal and the Horsham Weald District contingent were host to a Mexican Scout - Maxi. His sister - Alexa-  joined the 1st Roffey Guides. 

Maxi, Alexa and their sister, Arantxa, who is a Brownie in Mexico entertained the camp with their traditional Machete Dance - but as Maxi pointed out it would have been difficult to bring 2 machetes through customs so he had to make do with drum sticks.

During the camp there was a WS Has Talent competition which showcased some amazingly gifted young people from among the Scouts and Guides. 
The competition was won by Tabby Hall from Europa Explorers with a song she composed around the campfire the night before.


For WS 2013 Highlights follow this link:
WS 2013 Highlights 

Nijmegen 2013

In July 2013 a Group of Explorer Scouts took part in the International Four Day Marches at Nijmegen, Holland.This an annual event which started in the early 20th Century comprises four days of walking distances between 30 and 50 km a day draws so many participants (40,000 from 30 countries) that it has become the worlds largest walking event.
The Marches are gruelling and present a real challenge to the participants many of whom take part to raise funds for charity. 
Here is the account of Zoe Clayton - Pegasus ESU.

It’s really hard to sum up Nijmegen because it is such a surreal experience but it’s probably one of the best experiences I have ever had and I recommend anyone who has a chance to do take part in the marches to do so.

Although I was pulled out on the third day of the marches due to knee problems, I don’t think I could ever say that the trip was pointless because I didn’t complete it, I am generally just glad that I was a part of it.

 
During Nijmegen I met lots of wonderful people from all over the world and I think that one of the main things about the Nijmegen marches which will stick with me is how kind and friendly people were. 

Every morning the locals would be up at 5am just to cheer us on and every town we walked through people would be on the streets handing out food and offering encouragement. 

On the second day we even made a friend while walking through a town, on local walked with our group for an hour just to chat before he turned back to walk back to his town. However I think I am most grateful for those people on the third day, who even though I was a complete stranger still offered chairs, support and encouragement to me when I was really struggling.


As well as doing the marches we also visited the war graves at Groesbeek and were able to places flowers at some of the graves which were quite emotional seeing the amount of graves with “unknown” written on them. However I think this visit added on to the overall experience of Nijmegen.



Next year I am hoping to go back to Nijmegen and become part of the Scouts medical team because they helped me so much and I don’t think I could of got as far as I did without their help and even though I would be in the marches I still want to join in with the amazing atmosphere and be a part of the Nijmegen marches again

To read more about Nijmegan 2013 follow this link to the West Sussex Scout County Website - http://www.westsussexscouts.org.uk/media/11465/nijmegenexperience.pdf