It’s been an incredible year of opportunities for the children at 1st Molesey.
The volunteers have worked hard all year to offer a fantastic programme of activities to well over 200 children aged 4 to 18 and we were thrilled to launch our Tuesday Beavers in the Summer Term.
My thanks to the volunteers who continue to make this such a fantastic group as well as our families for stepping up to help when it’s needed.
Thanks to some generous funding and hard-work behind the scenes, 2025 is shaping up to be an exiting year for us – we’ll keep you posted!
Have a great Christmas and see you in the New Year.
Liam
Group Lead Volunteer
An incredible turnout from our Scout Group at the Molesey Remembrance Sunday event.
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Squirrels
Another exciting and busy term for the Squirrels. We have made lots of lovely things, autumn leaf pictures, milkshakes, kindness keyrings, remembrance candles, christmas pictures and tree decorations to name a few.
The Remembrance Parade needs a special mention as the Squirrels were fantastic. They marched smartly down Walton Road and were so well behaved during the service – well done!
We enjoyed a visit to the Vet Station on Molesey High Street where the Squirrels learnt all about different pets, the operating rooms, X-rays and also got to bandage their own teddies and dress up in vet uniform!
Another highlight was the litter pick, always a favourite for the Squirrels, we managed to find 4 black bin bags of rubbish!
We enjoyed sparklers on Guy Fawkes night and had a large campfire with tasty smores.
Our last meeting was a fun Christmas party with pass-the-parcel, games and making reindeer food! We also helped out at the Christmas Bag Packing.
Monday Beavers
Monday Beavers began this Autumn term with learning about what it means to be a Scout and that we had recently gained a new Chief Scout, Dwayne Fields.
Some of the older Beavers were ‘kind and helpful’ by showing the younger Beavers how to roll their neckerchiefs.
Our Scavenger Hunt at The Wilderness allowed us to enjoy nature on our hunt for really small things that could fit into matchbox sized boxes. Little leaves, blades of grass, feathers and twigs were in abundance.
Whilst on our walk we also spotted berries, acorns, conker cases, chestnuts and different coloured leaves. It was a lovely way to commence the Autumn Term.
A couple of weeks later Beavers were cycling around Hurst Meadows, some showing us their already learned bicycle skills whilst others were gaining confidence taking part with their friends.
We had our a visitor from Wildlife Aid and the Beavers were engaged with his stories. Wildlife Aid is an animal charity dedicated to the rescue, rehabilitation, and release of British wildlife and runs one of the UK’s busiest wildlife rescue and rehabilitation centres in Leatherhead.
Another first for us at Monday Beavers was our meeting learning all about apples! Did you know that there are more than 7,500 varieties of apples in the world? If you tried a different one every day it would take over 20 years to taste them all! We tasted five varieties: Mona Lisa, Kissabel and Egremont Russet all from Kent as well as Cox from Suffolk and Golden Delicious from South Africa. What kind of apple isn’t an apple? A pineapple!
One of our favourite activities at this time of year is the annual Guy Fawkes campfire where Beavers enjoy hot dogs, hot chocolate, sparklers as well as making and burning a ‘guy’ effigy.
Beavers joined the other 1st Molesey sections to take part in the local Remembrance Parade and service organised by the Royal British Legion, which is well supported by local churches and the local community. We are very grateful to have this opportunity to remember the service and sacrifice of all those that have defended our way of life. As our Beaver meeting fell on 11th November, we were given another opportunity to discuss what Remembrance is all about.
Our oldest Beavers had a sleepover in our Scout Hut; which was very exciting but also a great opportunity for Beavers to complete a night away as an important part of their Scouting journey. Beavers set up their own tents and learned how to safely start a campfire before making (and eating) their own pizzas and toasting marshmallows before settling down for sleep after a story (or two). The following morning entailed a delicious breakfast, Beavers washing dishes, colouring crafts and before we knew it, being collected by parents for home.
We concluded our term with Christmas activities by creating decorations, having enormous fun Tenpin Bowling and enjoying a Christmas party together.
Tuesday Beavers
We’ve had a fantastic (first) Autumn term with Tuesday Beavers and now have 25 children regularly attending each week.
At the beginning of the term we learnt about some Paralympians and the children were able to participate in some Paralympic sports in the hall. We did a scavenger hunt at the Wilderness and learnt some basic knots whilst building mini rafts which we tested in a paddling pool at the hut. The children enjoyed seeing whether their constructions floated or not!
In October, the children had a visit from Wildlife Aid who are a local charity that look after wild animals and they had an international evening learning about other cultures around the world.
At the beginning of November, we had a Guy Fawkes evening and the children were able to safely enjoy sparklers and hot chocolate around a campfire. We had a great turnout for Remembrance Sunday from our section and the children enjoyed parading up the high street to the service at the war memorial.
More recently, our Beavers have had a Christmas craft evening along with a Christmas party and we also enjoyed an evening at Rock Up in Walton. The children had an amazing time there and are very keen to go again!
We were very proud of the Beavers that attended the Remembrance Sunday event.
During our final session we handed out various badges to the children including the Creative, Explore, International and Navigator badges.
Six of our Beavers are leaving us at the end of this term; Thomas, Miles, Molly, Felix, Samuel and Zepphiryn. They have all been fantastic members of Tuesday Beavers and we wish them well as they move onto Cubs.
Have a great Christmas break with family and friends and we’ll see you in the New Year!
Monday Cubs
We’ve had loads of fun at Monday Cubs this term!
The focus has been on new skills, and the term has featured plenty of outdoor adventure with regular visits to Polyapes in Cobham for survival skills, shelter building, whittling and fires!
We had lots of fun visiting the Safari Mini Golf in Hersham and also took part in 2 healthy lifestyle evenings – one where we made healthy smoothies, and another was an energetic drum fit session!
The Cubs have been working on their Local Knowledge badge and a chip-shop hike as well as an urban orienteering evening before half term contributed towards this.
After Half Term we took part in a senses challenge – great fun!
We have also completed our DIY badge by building (from scratch ) some incredible bird boxes. These involved practical skills such as sanding, painting and using power tools.
We ended the term with an evening of gingerbread house construction and Christmas games!
Have a wonderful Christmas and we’ll see you in the New Year!
Thursday Cubs
This term, Thursday Cubs have enjoyed learning new skills and making new friends. We’ve taken part in so many different activities together!
We learnt about leading healthy lifestyles by making fruit and vegetable creatures as well as taking part in an thoroughly enjoyable Drumfit session with Sarah.
We’ve further developed our Scouting skills by taking part in mapwork activities and finding out what it is like to be a pilot. The Cubs loved joining their friends at other groups during the district Sausage Sizzle!
We thoroughly enjoyed our ‘vintage’ pack meeting with Stuart who shared his memories of being a Cub. Playing conkers against each other was a very popular game!
We’ve enjoyed having the opportunity to take part in rifle shooting even though it has been extremely cold some nights in the boat shed. We’ve learnt to ‘be prepared’ that’s for sure!
The Cubs turned out smartly for Remembrance Sunday – always a special event in the autumn term calendar.
Our final night together was spent celebrating our Sixers. Our wonderful Sixers each prepared a game or activity for the whole pack to take part in, demonstrating their skills of teamwork and leadership. It was a fantastic night and we wish the very best of luck to those Sixers moving on to Scouts.
Happy Christmas from all of the Thursday Cubs and Leaders. We look forward to more adventures in 2025!
Tuesday Scouts
The Tuesday Scouts eased into the term with a troop forum, establishing ground rules for our sessions and empowering the scouts to be part of the boundary setting process. In mid-September, we were fortunate to squeeze in a final kayak, enabling our new scouts to get an early taste of water activities with the scouts.
We’ve had sessions on first aid and survival skills, focusing on how everyday objects (carrier bags and bin bags) can be compactly carried and used in an emergency situation.
Many of our sessions this term involved food, which always seems to be popular!
We hosted an early Halloween session, with apple bobbing and eating party rings without using their hands.
We made wood-fired pizzas, which were eaten by the bonfire on November 5th.
We made burgers, which included some “constructive feedback” on the choice of vegetarian tofu.
We had some creative gingerbread house constructions in the lead-up to Christmas – some houses looked like the picture on the box, others more like an Ikea flatpack (pre-assembly)
We went to Rock-Up in Walton one evening, where the scouts let were able to let their competitive energies flow on the climbing walls. For the record, there was only one instance of a scout (with untied laces) losing their shoe from the high-wire.
Our patrol leaders took charge one night, organising and leading five activities for the other scouts, providing them a chance to shape an evening and gain some insight into the planning that can (sometimes) be required for an evening.
2 of the Tuesday Scouts joined the Wednesday Scouts to represent 1st Molesey at the District Cooking Competition (which we hosted). They did a great job and came 3rd overall!
The Autumn Term always provides an opportunity to reflect on our scout values and we spent an evening collecting clothing for the night shelter in Molesey and reflecting how life can be tough for some people in our community.
Wednesday Scouts
Just before beginning the Autumn Term, we rounded off the summer holidays and enjoyed the best of the weather with some extra boating!
The first of these was a 37km Expedition Challenge for our Patrol Leaders. They paddled the entire length of the Wey Navigation from Godalming to Weybridge in 2 days – fantastic work and we are super proud of them.
A different kind of expedition followed – 4 powerboats and 30 Scouts over 2 days, Molesey to Windsor (and back)!
The weather was amazing so of course some time for ice creams!
The final water opportunity of the summer holidays was a sunny evening exploring Sunbury Creek by kayak – a fantastic chance for some of the Scouts to experience moving water for the first time!
Despite diminishing daylight and dodgy weather, our fab team have powered another action-packed term. Huge thanks to everyone that helps to give the Wednesday Scouts the best deal possible, this was a term of great achievment and the best experiences!
All but 2 of the Wednesday Scouts attended the Remembrance Sunday parade, a seriously impressive turnout!
Back to adventure… this term the Scouts have been rock-climbing at White Spider, explorered the Surrey Hills, visited Gilwell Park Activity Centre, completed an RYA Level 1 powerboat course and participated in 6-weeks of air-rifle sessions at the Hut.
Skills developed this term have including cooking, emergency aid, navigation and several parts of the Teamwork Challenge.
During October Half Term we took part in Scarefest, a halloween-themed activity camp at Gilwell Park. Loads of halloween fun, outdoor skills, adventure and an amazing firework display!
We’ve been fortunate with the weather on two visits to Polyapes this term where the Scouts have enjoyed survival skills, fires and hi-tec wide games.
A highlight this term has been trying out our new Digital Maker equipment kindly funded by the Digitall Charity. The Scouts completed the first stage of their soldering projects and learnt about 3D printers, what a cool new skill!
Professional dancer Don Rae ran an amazing Bollywood dance workshop for us. The Scouts got really into it and had a blast.
We ended the term with gingerbread houses and a Christmas party!
The Scouts achieved loads this term and we’re really proud of them – see you in 2025 for more!
Explorers
Explorers like a quiz! So, they organised their own and we learned a lot about sharks in one round!
We had enjoyed Stop Frame animation once before and so they decided to give it another shot. The explorers were very creative, coming up with some surprising storylines that turned out so well.
A chip crawl around Molesey seems to have become an annual event, however Molesey Fish Bar couldn’t win because unfortunately they were closed for holidays, which meant that they were replaced with the Kebab Guys, resulting in a controversial winner.
Cooking with Explorers is always popular, so the beginning of term included a cooking challenge and at the end of term they made yummy Christmas mince pies and chocolate truffles.
We thought ‘what is a life skill that would be useful to Explorers’? The answer: how to change a car tyre and how to use various devices to put air into them. Hopefully, this is one session that will come in handy when they are car owners in the future.
We won the district (air rifle) Shooting competition held at Polyapes, which was a great surprise. We visited Polyapes again when joining with a few other Explorer units for fifth of November fireworks, which was fun. Three Explorers took part in the first ever district painting competition, which was an evening of painting a Warhammer/Age of Sigmar figurine, which they completely enjoyed.
At other meetings, Explorers helped with the setting up of the Molesey Bee Festival, took part in air rifle shooting, and enjoyed an invigorating walk around Bushy Park.
To conclude, congratulations to five Explorers for successfully completing their DofE Gold paddle expeditions at the end of the summer and to two other Explorers for successfully completing their DofE Silver hike assessed expedition in October.
After having been cancelled twice due to weather conditions, the river was kind and we ran a DofE Bronze paddle expedition in August from Windsor to Molesey; well done everyone!
We also have four Young Leaders who have embarked on their YL Scheme journey by attending their first training conference and two who are nearing the end of the Senior Young Leader Scheme by beginning their BTEC level 2 Diploma in Teamwork and Personal Development in the community. It’s also very exciting to note that we have three Explorers and one Network who have commenced the Explorer Belt journey, which will culminate in an expedition in Poland next summer. More on that next time!
Fundraising
Thank you for all your support this term – we’ve had lots of events and raised nearly £1000 since September to support the activities our young people get to enjoy.
Cake Sale – One of our Scouts ran a cake sale at the AGM and raised a fantastic £200
Molesey Beer Festival – We ran a bubble tea stand and a kids festival and craft stall at this year’s beer festival and made £353. Thank you to all those who helped and made this possible.
Of course, thank you to the wider Molesey Beer Festival team for putting on another incredible event with fantastic feedback – proceeds to the group are still TBC but it’s looking promising!
Magical Molesey – Thank you to everyone for donating books and toys for Magical Molesey. Every single toy sold, and most of the books, making £226. There were a few adults and teens who were disappointed that we only had kids books, so we are going to expand the secret books to include adults and older kids/teens. If you have any books you’d like to donate, I’ll be collecting through the year. I’ll leave a small box in the office. If possible, please can you wrap them and write age, genre, and a clue on the front (or take a secret book sticker from the box).
Elfridges – The young people had fun choosing and wrapping gifts for their families. Thank you to everyone who donated, and the wonderful leaders for running the gift shop in their sessions – we made £216. Again, I will be collecting gifts throughout the year for next Christmas, so if you have any good quality gifts that you would like to donate, please bring them along to the Hut.
Second hand uniform – We have started a second-hand uniform shop (and by shop, I mean a clothing rail!). If you have any outgrown uniform (including wetsuits and waterproofs), please consider donating to our uniform shop. If you need uniform and don’t fancy buying new, you know where to come!
Thank you to Not Just Travel for their continued sponsorship
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