17 months on...

Wow, it's been almost a year and a half... where did that time go?

Well, the temporary 'two terms' in Eastbourne went very well, (more details on my primary school teacher blog), but to cut a long story short, I applied for, and was successful in achieving a permanant position in the school. From September, staff meetings have moved to a Thursday which meant I cannot physically get to the hall before 6.35 on a pack night, so Sarah has now officially taken on the role of CSL, and I am ACSL, helping when I can.

Camp this weekend! Reading about the last camp, having 30 Cubs, oh how times have changed. But in my 10 years of being in Cubs (almost 11 actually!!) I have seen peaks and troughs in terms of attendance etc. We currently have about 20ish on roll in the pack, but this camp sees 11 attending, which is slightly small, but will be nice, as hopefully we will get to know individuals much better. Although, with only 3 leaders, we're still going to be quite busy!!

What has the last year and a half seen happen? Well....

My first venture into Scoutdom in 2009 was a Cubly Bug Ball meeting in Hampden Park, but first meaningful one was at the end of Jan/early Feb at Scientist badge camp which two of my Cubs attended. It was a great weekend, with explosions, mess and lots of learning (from me especially). We also played UNO for Skittles (sweets) [and I lost], and I beat Penny yet again at Mega Rainbow dust. (Still undefeated but she's getting closer).

The end of the weekend brought a light snow shower which developed so much I couldn't get into school the following day.

In May, we had a weekend camp, memorable for RAIN, and wet tents. In half term, I cleaned all of the tents in my garden, which was memorable.

In June, we attended Cubly Bug Ball at Broadstone Warren. Chris picked me up from school at 5pm to take me from school to camp, I got home at 7pm Sunday - don't ask. It was a great weekend, despite a serious head injury to one of our cubs. A particular highlight for me was the duck game where children try and win a rubber duck, but it mostly involves them sitting in a paddling pool while us leaders pour buckets of freezing water over their heads. To win the duck, they had to get the 'lucky' ace which means a whole bucket of water is administered. Brilliant fun to do! It amazes me how children come back time and again to do this!!

As a result of this cruelty, the enthusiasm for a 'wet and muddy' evening at Parkwood a couple of Thursdays later was understandably strong especially as the children billed this as the chance for them to get revenge on me! I arrived, and had hardly stepped out of the car when water pistols were being fired directly at me. However, by the end of the evening, and further rounds of the duck game, the children were still a LOT wetter than I was!!

Summer Camp was good fun, with new leaders, a new location, but I fear in order for me to do it justice, it requires another blog at another time when I am fresher, and have actually done some of the planning I need to get done today. So my 2009 catch up will continue soon...