Cracking Fundraiser

I recently did some eggcellent fundraising by holding a couple of Easter raffles. To make my prizes look pretty we grouped a couple of different sized eggs together and wrapped them in cellophane and tied them with raffia ribbon. The eggs were bought when the first offers were good earlier in the year with about £10 spent on each raffle.

I held one raffle through the Scout Group where I am a Young Leader. The Beavers were very keen to win and I sold raffle tickets at £1 a strip. The only downside was having to ‘turn out’ every Thursday for a few weeks so that the Cubs got to take part, but even that wasn’t too bad as I got to see the Cub Young Leader who I went to Scouts with but don’t see very often as we go to different schools – who is now begging me to lend her some walking trousers for her DofE.

I held the other raffle at my school and my friends really wanted to win the delicious chocolate prizes. At school I did it slightly differently so as too maximise my profits, 50p a ticket or 5 tickets for £2 (to get the odd change left over from bus money!)

Congratulations to all my winners.

Together the raffles raised nearly a 25th of my fundraising goal so I’m already planning on doing it again next year and have bought (in the Easter sale) some very large cuddly bunnies to include as prizes.

Young Leader

When I am not spending a weekend camping in the snow to prepare for a sunny and humid campsite on the Jamboree, I am a Young Leader for my local Beaver unit.

Last week, I participated in my second Young Leader training module (after completing module A in January) not knowing anyone going apart from my fellow Young Leader.

However when I arrived I knew most people in the room. Some from Jamboree and another from school. I have been friends with this person for a while and had no clue they were part of my Scouting family, needless to say we’ve got a lot more to talk about in class now.

Some upcoming activities as a Young Leader include:- running my very first meeting with my fellow Young Leader and also going on Beaver camp! I am thoroughly looking forward to this and I will blog to keep you up to date.

Explorer Scout 84 meets the mini beast from the East

Once upon a time there was a young girl who’s dream was to go to the World Scout Jamboree in 2019.

She passed the first test by getting selected to represent her County and started doing lots of fundraising.

Then the time came to go to her second whole unit meet up training camp.

The weather forecast was for it to be cold, some parents queried whether it was still going ahead (not hers though!) and they were met with the answer ‘there is no such thing as bad weather, only bad kit’. They are Scouts after all and so should ‘Be Prepared’. At this point I think I should mention that I’m not sure if Baden Powell had this in mind when he started Scouting 111 years ago.

Anyway with 2 sets of thermals, 2 sleeping bags (each able to cope with below zero temperatures) and various other layers to put on should it be a little chilly, she set off for a nice weekend away camping.

The first evening passed without any hiccups and Explorer Scout 84 settled down to sleep, nice and cosy in her 2 sleeping bags. zzz zzz zzz

The next morning they discovered that weather hadn’t been very kind to the cooking tent which had blown across the campsite but Explorer Scout 84 silently reminded herself ‘there is no such thing as bad weather, only bad kit’.

Explorer Scout 84 ate breakfast and then received her new unit necker and they were so pretty. A sprinkling of snow start to fall and they continued with the day’s activities which now included making mini snowmen and going on a walk as opposed to a hike, owing to the weather conditions (Remember – ‘there is no such thing as bad weather, only bad kit’).

The evening came and so did the mini beast from the East, except there was nothing mini about it. It was cold, it started snowing more heavily and Explorer Scout 84 just wanted to go to her tent where her 2 cosy sleeping bags were. (Remember – ‘there is no such thing as bad weather, only bad kit’ and her cosy good kit was waiting for her in her tent!).

After a roaring campfire with toasted marshmallows she settled down in her tent to sleep zzz zzz zzz

The next morning she awoke thinking she had been transported magically to Arendelle as it was very white and cold. Thankfully the kettle was already on so she made herself a good brew.

After a hearty breakfast she sat down to listen to a brief lecture talk about personal development, remembering the key rule ‘there is no such thing as bad weather, only bad kit’ she carefully produced six personal developments.

After taking a few photos in readiness for this year’s fundraising Christmas card she helped break camp.

Explorer Scout 84 returned home safely with a great appreciation for the British weather, chanting to herself ‘there is no such thing as bad weather, only bad kit’.

The End

NB The above is a true story of this weekend’s camp, the only thing that didn’t happen was the marshmallow toasting

#UK24WSJ

Anyone else been to a consultation day?
Because I have …
And I’ve seen some kit ideas, but I’m not allowed to tell you as it’s super secret!
I can tell you that when we got there we had pastries for breakfast and M&S sandwiches and crisps for lunch as well as as many Percy Pigs that I could eat. Yum.
I also had the opportunity to go ‘Speed Scouting’ a bit like speed dating but no date at the end ;-(
We created a graffiti wall of ideas for the post event and even took part in our own dragons den pitching our ideas on HoHo.
They asked us what activities we wanted in our jamboree in a box so we could teach Beavers, Cubs and Scouts about the Jamboree.
I had a fantastic time contributing to the jamboree and eating the M&S sandwiches ;

-)

#youshape #uk24wsj

It’s a long way to West Virginia, it’s a long way to go

Today while I was shopping in an outlet shopping centre I spotted another WSJ participant, busy cycling his way to West Virginia to aid his fundraising.

His Mum was very happy to share fundraising ideas especially as she is a fundraising expert having been through it all before with the WSJ to Japan with her older son.

A big shout out to Unit 77 and good luck with your future fundraising.

Catch Up

I managed to complete my #UNPLUGGED week without getting a perm and singing 80s songs at the top of my voice. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be.

To catch up with my jamboree story I recently held a quiz night and have signed up for more bag packs.

I have also been selected by my unit to attend a consultation day with the UK’s unit team. I will go along with my other representatives in my unit and we will meet up with other units in our region to help make some of the big decisions regarding kit etc.

I have also come up with some more fundraising ideas, including an Easter raffle at my school and another with my Scout Group and have started to make kumihimo bracelets and paracord people. We’ve been on the lookout for Easter egg offers in the supermarkets and thanks to Hobbycraft having a 20% discount day which enabled me to buy craft supplies.

 

#UNPLUGGED

This week I will be going undercover and back to the 80s. I just hope I don’t end up with a perm and shoulder pads!

I will be completing the #UNPLUGGED challenge by turning off my mobile phone for a whole week and not using social media.

It’s a great opportunity to be sponsored and fundraise.

So here’s to getting through the week. I should be so lucky, I’m never gonna give you up …

The 12 days of Christmas

My first county meet up got cancelled because of the weather – we got snow which rarely happens which meant traveling would have been dangerous.  I spent the day making a snowman and having snowball fights with my sister.

In the evening I had to attend my Unit Carol Service, which despite the snow went ahead and made it feel very festive. My fellow Jamboree Explorers and I set up a stall selling Christmas items and sweets to help our fundraising.

Also in the run up to Christmas I had the opportunity to help Santa raise funds for charity.  The local Round Table’s Santa goes round collecting for charity with a door to door collection, I was able to help with this to add to my own fundraising on a 50/50 basis with another local charity.

Further fundraising during December was by putting on a pyjama movie night for the local Beavers, Cubs, Scouts and Rainbows and Brownies.  We ate hotdogs and popcorn and had a thoroughly enjoyable time.

More Bag Packing opportunities at yet more ‘local’ supermarkets, 40 minutes away, where on the weekend before Christmas people were donating generously.

After reading this post for so long I guess I ought to tell you why it’s titled 12 days of Christmas. Well … since my first joint meet up where we sang the 12 days of Christmas, I’ve since sang it at the Unit Carol Service and at my school Christmas show. I don’t think I’ve ever sung it so many times before. On the first day of Christmas …

 

 

 

A Weekend of Fundraising

The weekend started early on Saturday morning when I had a tombola stall at a Christmas fayre. I raised a modest amount and I was really pleased given it wasn’t that busy.

In the afternoon I travelled 30 minutes to my next ‘local’ bag packing. I was suffering from a cold so people took pity on me and donated generously.

The following day I had yet another bag packing fundraiser but it was a double shift so I stayed all day in another ‘local’ supermarket 30 minutes drive away.

Whilst doing these bag packs a lot of people were telling me how some of their family had been on a jamboree and others had themselves been to a jamboree. I met people who attended the UK Jamboree in 1957 and Australia in 1987. It was very interesting to hear where everyone had been to.

Joint Unit Meet Up (Day Two)

Getting up at 7:30 to cook breakfast at 8:00 was exhausting having only had a few hours sleep but I survived.

We cooked bacon sarnies and then created menus in more groups. We played ‘Drop it, Catch it’ and ‘The Ninja’ game before it was time for lunch.

We had sandwiches for lunch. We then tidied the halls we had been using and cleared up the space. With a goodbye song of Take me home, Country roads, we then headed back to the minibus and drove back home.

I had a wonderful time and enjoyed making new friends from my joint unit. We have already kept in contact with each other by creating multiple group chats on social media.