A Guide for new Members and their Parents

1st Stotfold Scouts are part of the Biggleswade and District.

Our members are aged between 8 and 10½, and they take part in an active, exciting, fun, and adventurous programme of activities.

• We camp at least 3 times every year.
• Older members, aged 9½+, get invited to a Challenge camp.  This goes towards the highest badge in the Cub programme - The Cub Scout Challenge Award.

The Pack uniform consists of:-

• Dark Green Sweatshirt
• A green and yellow neckerchief with woggle - to be supplied when invested
• Activity Trousers (Navy Blue)

Uniform may be purchased from our second hand shop run by the Scout Supporters, or from one one of the local Scout Shops. Click here to get details on the local Scout Shops.

Click here to be taken to the forms page where you can download a uniform information sheet with prices.

Click here for a diagram of where all of the badges go on the uniform.

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Camps and Pack holidays

Ask any Cub Scout what they like best about being a Cub and most of them will reply camping or Pack holidays.  Most youngsters love being out of doors and the camps and Pack holidays are very special - certainly very different from school trips!  It's a chance to try some special activities that cannot be done at regular Pack meetings.

Your youngster may have the opportunity to either camp in tents or sleep indoors on a Pack holiday.  The Cub Scout Pack may go away overnight, for the weekend or even for a few days or week in the School holidays.  The Cub Scouts may go away with their own Pack or they may have a chance to join in a much larger camp mixing with other Packs from the local District and making a few new friends.  The leaders are specially trained before they are allowed to take youngsters away on a camp or Pack holiday.  They take on the responsibility to look after the Cubs as if they were their own large family of youngsters.

The Leaders will often need to take along extra adult help to assist with catering or equipment.  This extra help may be Scouts, Venture Scouts, Instructors (for special activities) or parents/guardians to help with general supervision.

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Making Payments

We would be grateful if any payments, whether they be by cash or cheque, are placed in a sealed envelope with details of what the payment is for, and who it is from, on the front of the envelope.

Subs

Subs are collected each week, and are currently at £2.00 per week.  This money covers:-

• Annual fees to District, County and National bodies for insurance and leader training. Unfortunately, the group don't get to see a penny of this money.
• A small amount of the subs are kept by the group to cover running costs such as electric and water bills and the purchasing of equipment.
• Badges.
• Equipment needed for Pack meetings.

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If you have any problems or queries, please don't hesitate in contacting any of the leaders. You can find there details on the When and Where page. 

We are there to help you and your child.

Also, if you are interested in helping out with the Pack, or doing something else to help with the Group, lease contact us.  There are no payments for being a leader or helper, but what you get out of it is much better than that - seeing the children having fun and enjoying themselves.

The Scout Group is supported by the Group Executive Committee.  The role of the committee is to organise fundraising events to maintain the Group and to purchase new equipment.  If you can spare a little bit of time - a couple of hours one evening a month for a meeting, plus a few extra hours to help at events - please make yourselves known to one of the leaders.

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We do have personal information forms that we require to be filled in. These will give us all the information required should there be any need to contact parents or for medical purposes.

The forms list contact information and medical information. You will be given the relevent forms when your child starts at cubs.

Scouting was originally for boys aged 11 to 18, but Robert Baden-Powell was soon being asked by their younger brothers if they could join as well.  Baden-Powell was aware of the physical and mental differences of the younger boys and he designed the Taining Scheme for "Junior Scouts" (as they were originally called) to allow fir these differences whilst staying true to the principles and ideas of the original "Boy Scouts".

In 1914, he produced his plans for "Junior Scouts" in response to these demands from boys under 11 years of age.  The handbook for the "Junior Scouts" was based upon the works of Rudyard Kipling, who had already produced a number of books for the Scout Movement, and in particular on "The Jungle Book" for the Cub Scout Leaders and Helpers.

Cub Scouting began in 1916 when "Junior Scouts" became "Wolf Cubs".  The Original activities were constantly being changed and developed until, in 1966, a number of major changes were introduced into the Scout Movement as a whole and "wold Cubs" became "Cub Scouts".  New Activity Badges were added to the Progressive Training Scheme with the emphasis now on the individual to reach their own level dependant on their individual talents and abilities.

True to the original ideas of Robert Baden-Powell, Cub Scouting still seeks to meet the aim of the Scout Association to encourage the physical, mental, and spiritual development of young people so they may take a constructive place in society.  By offering Adventure and Challenge through the Progressive Training Scheme that leads the young Cub Scout through a series of tasks and duties that will test and extend their individual abilities and prepare them for their move to Scouts.

Cub Scouts are youngsters aged between 8 and 10½ years old, who are members of a Cub Scout Pack.  The Cub Scout Leader runs the Pack with a team of Assistants who all give their time freely and have had special training to help them do an effective job.  Because Cub Scouting, by tradition, has adapted many ideas from Rudyard Kipling's "The Jungle Book" many of the leaders are known to the youngsters by the names of the animals in this book.   The youngsters usually call the Cub Scout Leader "Akela", and other adults may be Baloo, Bagheera, Chil or Kaa.  The adult Leaders are responsible for planning and running the programme of games and activities for Pack meetings and special outings and events.  The youngsters work in small groups called Sixes which are lead by older Cub Scouts called Sixers.

The Cub Pack has several simple cerimonies, one of which is the Investiture to which you may be invited, when your youngster will be asked to make a promise and they will also be asked to try and keep the Cub Scout Law.

The Cub Scout Promise is adaptable to suit the religious beliefs of the individual Cub Scout and their Parents.  The Cub Scouts are a multicultural, multi-faith organisation as are all the sections of the Scouts from the Beaver Scouts through to the Explorer Scouts and beyond.

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What do Cub Scouts really do?

Cub Scouts will enjoy a great deal of fun and adventure whilst in the Pack.  They will also have oppertunities to gain awards and badges.  These awards are given in recognition of the effort made by each youngster at their own level of development and understanding.  The Cub Scout Programme includes such activities as:-

• Camping
• Caring for the environment
• Model making
• Cooking
• First Aid
• Exploring
• Helping others

The Training Programme

The four stages of the Progressive Training Scheme in the Cub Scout Section are:-

• The Cub Scout Membership Award
• The Cub Scout Award
• The Adventure Award
• The Adventure Crest Award

There is also a special Cub Scout Challenge for Cub Scouts over 9½ years old.  The progressive awards are supported by a large number of Activity Badges which the Cub Scouts can achieve.  They cover a wide variety of subjects.  Details of all of these awards and badges can be found in your youngsters Cub Scout Handbook.

You may ask the question

"How do I find out about these activities/events?"

The mailing service tends to be via your youngster with letters and notes. We now use this web site as a  newsletter which contains general information about the Scout Group and its activities.  However, if at any time you are not sure about the arrangements for a Pack activity, do have a chat with the Leaders after a Pack meeting or contact them at home.

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Your youngster may come home from a Pack meeting and say "I need a picture of a Panda for Cubs!"

Your youngster expects you to be interested and will get much more out of Scouting if you are prepared to offer your support.  There are lots of ways in which you can help, for example:-

• Offering a skill or hobby to train or test the Cub Scouts for awards and badges
• Helping prepare refreshments for a Group or Pack event
• Helping transport Cub Scouts to events and outings or move kit to camp
• Supporting the Scout Group Executive Committee to help them raise funds and manage the Scout Group.

The Group Executive Committee

Each year, the Scout Group elects an Executive Committee consisting of a number of parents and various Leaders in the Group to carry out the day to day tasks of running the Scout Group.  They are responsible for purchasing equipment and maintaining Group property.  The function of the Group Executive Committee is also to support and help the Scout Group Leader carry out his or her role in maintaining an effective and successful Scout Group.

What do you gain from helping?

You will have the oppertunity to meet a variety of new people and make a real contribution to help your local community.  Please do not be shy to offer your help and if you feel you have any skills to offer to the Cub Scout Pack please contact your Cub Scout Leader.  By playing your part and supporting your child you will share the enjoyment, friendship and fun of the family of Scouting.

Each Cub Scout may need his or her own copy of the Cub Scout Handbook which can be purchased from the County Scout Shop.  This book contains all the information your youngster will require during his time with the Cub Scout Pack.

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The Cub Scout Promise

It was a warm summer night then Tabaqui, the Jackal - the mean, sly mischief maker - crept to the cave of Mother and Father Wolf.  "Shere Khan, the tiger, has moved his hunting grounds.  He will hunt amongst these hills." he told them.

Father Wolf was upset, because Shere Khan killed cattle and angered the villagers, bringing trouble into the jungle.

As they listened, they heard the angry snarling whine of the evil tiger.

"He is hunting man!" said Mother Wolf.  "Listen - something is coming!"  Father Wolf crouched, and then halted just before he leapt.  "Man!" he snapped, "It's a man cub - look!"  His jaws closed very carefully over the little boys back and he carried him into the cave and placed him amongst the over cubs - the wolf cubs.

Then, a dark shadow crossed the doorway.  "The man cub is mine, give him to me!" roared Shere Khan.  But Mother and Father Wolf were not going to be bossed around by somebody not from the wolf pack, so Shere Khan crept away.

"I will call the little one 'Mowgli', the frog," said Rashka, the Mother Wolf, "because his skin is smooth and without skin like a frog."

So Mowgli stayed with Rashka and Father Wolf and their own four cubs.  When they were old enough to run a little, they set off on the night of the full moon, through the jungle to the Council Circle, where the wolves looked over the young cubs so they would know them if they met in the jungle.

Then Shere Khan roared from the trees: "What have the Free People to do with a man cub in the pack?"

Akela, the leader of the pack, reminded the wolves that if there was an argument about a cub, two people would have to speak for him.  So Baloo, the Brown Bear, stood up and said "I will speak for the man cub."

Then, a black shadow dropped from the trees.  It was the mighty hunter Bagheera, the panther.  "I have a newly killed bull to give you to save the cub's life," he said.

And that is how Mowgli was accepted as a member of the Pack, at the price of a bull and on Baloo's good word.  Mowgli then learned the laws of the jungle from old Baloo, and how to creep, stalk and hunt from Bagheera.

A lot of the ceremonies and names of Leaders in Cub Scouting are taken from The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling.  You may like to read the book or watch the Walt Disney cartoon film of the story to help you get to know the story and the characters.

Your Cub Leader is called 'Akela', and other leaders from the pack will each have their own names from the Jungle Book.  Why not ask them to find out what they are called.

This page was made by May Hill & Huntley Cub Pack and has been adapted for our group

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