Giant Sleepover - Ashworth Valley Scout Camp

On Saturday 14th June 2008, Baxenden Beavers participated in the Guiness Book of World Records Giant Sleepover Event.

This event consisted of thousands of children all around the world joining together to have lots of fun and hopefully break the 2006 Guinness World Record for the 'biggest simultaneous sleepover across multiple locations'.

We also undertook the Cheeky Monkey Marathon Challenge, which is a registered charity for children with Leukaemia, we got the beavers completing a short running circuit - 13 times and also 13 times round the adventure playground, which was easier and far more fun!

For the few that still had some energy to spare we also did 13 trips down the slide!

The Beavers had a fab time, and all eagerly finished the course with big smiles.

Hopefully they will be able to generate a nice amount of sponsorship for the charity (Please)

Whilst on our sleepover we also completed the Ashworth Valley Scout Camp Beaver Hunt, did some grass sledging, had a BBQ, sang about squashing bumble bees at our camp fire and generally had a fun time running wild!

Thanks to Stuart and Craig for all their help over the weekend you where both real stars! Thanks especially to Tracy for her ongoing support and valuable expereince in helping me organise and run the sleepover.

Thanks also to Skip for being so patient with me and going out of his way to help us give the Beavers a really great expereince of Scout Life !

Water World Day 7th June 2008

The Beavers Scouts gathered in the 100s for the Water World Day at Bowley Scout camp on Saturday. We had a fantastic afternoon, with loads of water activities for them to take part in. It was fun filled, wet and really exhausting with the beavers having the freedom to take part in as many or few of the activities as they wanted.

I think the biggest hit was the pirate raft - Baxenden managed to dunk the pirate (who did look vaguely familiar???? whoo hoooo - well done boys !!

All the Beavers who attended received the Adventure Activity Badge and a bag of sweets for the journey home!

Thanks to all the parents for braving the traffic and car parking nightmre !! I think it was worth it overall, the beavers behaved exceptionally well and where a pleasure to be with !



Fianlly, just to let you know that a donation of 10p from each ticket sold will also go to Water Aid - so thats good too!

Hyndburn Community Fire Station

We recently undertook a visit to Hyndburn Community Fire Station, as part of our Friendship Challenge and Safety Badge.

The fire officers gave us a brief talk on fire safety and rules of the station before we where whisked off in our groups to explore the fire station.

We explored the fire engines, including testing the sirens and looking at all the cutting equipment.

We dressed up in the fire fighters outfit complete with breathing apparatus and boots. We took turns using the hoses to knock over large stacked barrels and best of all we all got the opportunity to go up in the Bronto Skylift high above the fire station roof!

We had a fantastic time, and was even lucky enough to be able to see the engines go out on call whilst we where there!

I think I can see some budding fire fighters in our colony!

Thanks to all the officers at Accrington for their kindness and spending their valuable time sharing their knowledge with us.

St Georges Day Parade - 2008

The parade was led by St George on horseback followed by Scouts, Cubs, Beavers, and a few Brownies, each section carrying their own section flag and we all marched along, rather quickly to the bagpipes - not sure if that was because it was so cold and wet or whether it had something to St George at the front ???

The service was held at St Charles Church, Rishton. Each of the Laws where read by a Beaver, a Cub and a Scout and the Promises where also renewed, led by the respective Commissioners.

Three of our Beaver Scouts received the very high achievement of the Chief Scout’s Bronze Award presented by the Assistant District Commissioner for Beavers, Tracy Shaw, in the absence of the Mayor.

I also received my Certificate and very sought after Wood Badge for completing the Scouts Adult Leader Training modules, presented by our District Commissioner Jennifer Turner - thank you Jennifer!

Thanks to all the parents who brought the children, many of you also walked along with us throughout the parade - it was lovely.

The Mobile Zoo

This week, we really had a treat instore for the Beavers!

John, who owns a Mobile Zoo, very kindly offered to come over to us and show us a small selection of his fantastic rescue animals.

All the beavers very bravely took it in turns to hold and stroke them, not always aware of what they were letting themselves in for!

I think the pics speak for themselves!!

Woodlands Trust Visit

On Saturday 1st March 2008, leaders and scouts from the Beavers, Cubs and Scouts Sections of 1st Baxenden Scout Group went along to plant trees at the Woodlands Trust at Earby.

We had a fantastic turnout from all the sections, especially the Beavers, who brought along their parents too to help out - even though the cold windy weather threatend to beat us !!

I think it was safe to say that we generally had a fun time and we managed to cover quite a large section of turf too, so also quite a productive morning for a Saturday!!


Thanks to everybody who attended, especially the parents who came along, spade in hand and helped the group achive the Group Environment award.

A Busy Start to 2008

A new year and a fabulous start! Some of our Beaver Scouts attended the "We're all in this Together" Show at King Georges Hall at the end of January to celebrate the end of the Centenary Year of Scouting. The show was sensational and the cast, which included some of Baxenden’s finest, was fantastic!

The focus for this term has been developing team building skills. The Beavers have enjoyed activities, crafts and games that have encouraged them to work together and gain as many stars as they can for their own lodges.

We’ve also been busy working towards their challenge awards and this had included oodles of fun picking up Maltesers with chop sticks, food tasting and decorating biscuits with squishy icing!!

Baxenden took part in the District Beaver Akeema competition on the 9th February 2008. We had such a good turn out that we entered two teams! They certainly appeared to enjoy all the events, and excelled at curling!! Unfortunately, neither team won the trophy, but they did receive certificates for taking part.

Thanks to Michelle Thornton for helping us out with Baxenden’s base at such short notice – you really where a star!!!

Thanks Also to Martin Rothwell for escorting one of our teams round the competition and being so supportive !!

December 2007

The Beaver Scouts have been as busy as ever this last month with lots of special events, but they’ve managed to squeeze in their Hobbies badge, and gave us a great presentation of some of their extra curricula activities which was thoroughly enjoyable.

We also invited one of the leaders from a Scout Group in Darwen to give us an entertaining evening of unique warm-ups and campfire songs! Thanks Mick!!



The Christmas Experience at Bowley was yet another successful event which the boys really enjoyed albeit with a couple of surprises on the way. Thank you to Andrea and Craig for undertaking the tour for us with the group, to enable Tracy and me to participate in the Experience for the week!


The Christmas party went with a bang. We had Jacobs Join which the parents kindly provided, traditional Christmas games and lots of little cowboys running round with very loud gun’s, needless to say they had a great time! Leaders had headaches all round!!

To finish off the year in true Hyndburn Beaver Scout style, Baxenden joined in the trip to Blackpool Tower Circus Panto as a special day to celebrate the end of our Centenary Year.

Many thanks to our Tracy also (ADC Beavers) who arranged this trip for the whole of Hyndburn (111 Beaver Scouts attended), you did a sterling job, and it all went fantastically well! Everybody who attended also received a unique commemorative badge for the occasion.

Last but certainly not least, thank you to Susan, for all her help throughout the year, and for the fabulous craft activities that she provides on a regular basis for us.

October 2007..

Trying to catch my tail here and catch up. We've had such a busy time during October:-

The Beavers have completed their Animal Friend activity badge, they undertook a 2 week diary of activites for their pet descirbing all the things they needed to do to ensure that their pet remains happy and well.

They've also completed both elements of the Safety Badge one part being the green cross code, and we invited our local neighbourhood lollipop lady to help us with this.

The second part of the badge incorporated a discussion in small groups around general water safety and the understanding of the warning signs displayed at beaches and rivers etc.

For a more creative evening, we invited the ladies from the local linedancing club to join us and teach the beavers (and us) some simple dance routines. Although they may not admit it, the beavers really quite enjoyed themselves, as did we!!!! (Honestley)

We've also completed the Hobbies activity badge. The beavers individually, gave a small demonstration or talk about their chosen hobbie to the leaders and a small group. Its clear that we have variety of talent in the colony including:- cricket, fishing, football, swimming, gymnastics, walking and various collections. Quite amazing!

Fundraising Event

Fundraising event - Sunday. All sections of the Scout Group joined in and helped with the planning and preparations. The weather was fantastic, which was a god send, especially for the children participating in the sponsored runs. The over 8's did a mini run of approx 2 miles on a planned course, whilst the under 8's sprinted round the edge of the school field. Winners of both runs and runners-up where presented with medals.

There where some great activities including sponge throwing and elastic band shooting, beat the goalie and the human fruit machine which all the children thoroughly enjoyed.

Thank you to everybody who helped with the event, either by attending and spending money or with preparations, contributing gifts and or time etc. A special thank you to the parents and volunteers who helped on the day, and Sarah who made all those fantastic biscuits for us the week before!