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In the Christian calendar, 2nd March is St Chad’s Day which (according to Wikipedia) is said to be the most propitious day for the sowing of broad beans.  After the day I have had I would suggest it would also be a very good candidate for the start of the new Scouting year

This weekend sees one of our county badge weekends being held at Cranham Scout Centre.   30 Scouts from across Gloucestershire have been working towards either their Pioneer or Electronics badges – a fine demonstration of the range of activities offered by the Movement today.  Having mastered the basics of constructing an A-frame the pioneers were busy honing their gunnery skills as they pelted each other from their catapults, while, indoors out of the cold wind, the electronics course were carefully soldering components onto boards to create a “guy line detector” – not so much to detect guy lines as to prevent campers from tripping over them.

While I was outdoors with the pioneers, a group of Explorer Scouts then arrived, having hiked with full kit from Penn Wood on a practice expedition for their Bronze DofE awards.  Although they were not exactly thrilled with the prospect of having to pitch camp and cook their evening meal they seemed quite proud of their achievements so far and I think they were looking forward to a somewhat chilly night under a very clear sky.

From Cranham I made my way to Bentham Domes to catch the final matches in Gloucester District’s Cub Football Competition.  The enthusiasm, energy and in many cases skill of the Cub Scouts was great to watch and the expressions on the faces of the leaders and parents watching is always entertaining too.  Congratulations to the Cubs from 45th Gloucester (Abbeydale) who won the trophy and to the runners up from 1st Upton St Leonards who only lost by a golden goal in extra time.

It is therefore amazing to think how much Scouting was going on today within less than 5 miles of my home.  How much more Scouting was taking place in your part of the County?  And it doesn’t stop there.  Tomorrow will see the Regional Scout Cooking Competition taking place in Shurdington when we will again welcome teams from across the region to present what I am sure will be top quality culinary creations which always impress the parents and leaders who attend.

So, having survived  a very cold winter, can we now look forward to Spring at last?  I think we can, at least as far as Scouting is concerned.  Thank you to all of you who have been planning and organising these and the other events that have taken place over recent weeks and I look forward to hearing about and visiting more Scouting activities over the coming weeks and months as the days lengthen and hopefully the temperatures rise.