Scouts

THIRD LAOIS DURROW SCOUTS:

Beavers: At present we have 22 beavers on our roll books with four dedicated Scouters. Over the last six years they have taken part in various activities such as slumber nights in the Den, National Beaver Zoo day each year in either photo wildlife park or Dublin zoo, county events such as Beaver fun days, Christmas fun days, etc… Since the introduction of the “One Programme” our beavers have made history in Durrow when they did their first camp out of doors locally and since then they have also done one in Camross and Srahan (Roscrea) on 17th of December.

This year, on 4th June our Beavers attended Jamoige, this is a National Camp for Cubs and also Beavers. We had fifteen beavers travel to Ardgillian Castle, Dublin for there first National camp all went well and they had a great time. Our beavers have been out paddling on the river Erkina twice this year with thanks to the Wooden Bridge Paddlers. This new programme is great and it just show that the Beavers are as capable as any to participate in all of the activities.

Cubs: We have at present 23 cubs on our roll and with nine moving on from beavers in September this will bring us up to 32. We have five dedicated Scouters in our cub section. Over the last six years our cubs have been busy taking part in Cuboree in Limerick in 2006. This is a National Camp for cubs and after Cuboree they changed the name to Jamoige. Our cubs participated in Jamoige in 2009 which took place in Co. Meath. In 2010 they camped at Larch Hill – The National Headquaters of Scouting and National campsite. Our cubs have done a lot of county events over the last six years also with County Quizes, Cub, Olympics and Track and Trail days being held.

This year we were very busy as we hosted the County Track and Trails Day. This went ahead on January 15th in Dunmore Woods. The visiting group were very taken aback with our great amenities and praised the day. Our cub won the Track and trails Day and our second six came second placed. This meant that our Cubs went on to the National Challenge to represent the Slieve Bloom County and they did us proud. Well done.

We also hosted the county Cub Olympics in The GAA ground thanks to the Harps GAA on the 10th of March and again all visiting groups were impressed with our lovely village, so much so, that our County programmer has requested that we Host the Scout section County Camp on the May Bank Holiday 2013. We have located a site within walking distance to Dunmore wood and we will be hosting next years county camp.

Scouts: We have 16 Scouts on our book this year and seven dedicated Scouters in this section. Over the last six years, Scouts have also taken part in numerous activities including, orienteering, hikes, night hikes, rafting, pioneering, canoeing, rock climbing, abseiling, backwoods, camp craft, coastering, river walk bivvy nights and lots, lots more. Some of these events were county events and some local. In 2006 we attended a County Camp in Ballykilmurray Co. Offlay and our Scouts won three trophies – two for pioneering and one for soccer. We did not attend another county camp until 2010 where again we came home with a trophy – this was for “The Spriit of Camping” that was held in Portlaoise. This year’s County Camp was in Srahan (Roscrea) and again they received a Trophy for their achievements and next year we will be hosting this event. Our recent Summer camps have been held at The Burren, Co. Clare (2006); St Petersburg, Co Kerry (2007); Gorge du Tarn, South of France (2008) Achill, Co. Mayo (2009); Sealyham, Wales (2010); Killaloe Water Activities Center (2011).

Our Summer Camp 2012 is taking us back to Gorge du Tarn, South of France from July 14th to 23rd. We have our deposit paid already for summer camp 2013 where we will be attending the International Jamboree held in Stradbally Hall and we are all looking for to this event with great anticipation.

Ventures: In December 2010 some of our older scout expressed an interest in forming a new section; Ventures. We did the research into this and in September 2011 we formed our new venture section recruiting 8 ventures, all of these had come up through the scouting system and returned to us when we formed our new group. Our ventures have been great helping out with group activities such as Track and trails for Cubs, Cub Olympics, fundraising etc… This is all as well as running there own programme Our Ventures took part in a Provincial Event “An Pobhal” where they hosted a youth here in Durrow.

One member of ventures is our county youth representative and has a great interest. Our Ventures have taken part in a weekend camp locally and various scouting activities throughout the year. We have two Venture Scouters – one male and on female. This year sees our ventures reaching 18 which is the age they leave Ventures, but they have expressed an interest in forming the new “Rover” section. This is a new addition to the scout programme as this section is for 18 to 25 year olds and we are hoping to have this up and running in January 2013. Our 18 year olds also have the option of becoming a Scouter as well as a Rover and a few have expressed an interest here too. This will mean we would be providing for our youths from the age of 6 to 25 with an active program, which is great to be reaching that many youths in our area.

New Beaver and Cub Sections: The demand in Durrow for people to join Third Laois Durrow scouts has been huge in the past three to four years, with our waiting list reaching new highs. At present the wait is three years, therefore we are hoping to open a new beaver and cub section before Christmas to help facilitate the youths on the waiting list. We have a number of Adults on a list to become scouters, we just need a few more. So hopefully this will work for us as we take in members from around the area. We also have members from Abbeyleix, Cullohill and even as far away as Crosspatrick, Co. Killkenny. Demand has never been as high.

One Programme: Our one programme was introduced in 2010 with our group begin the fourth in the Sleive Bloom County to take part in the transition training. This is a new and exciting programme aimed at youths aged from 6yrs to 25yrs. This programme saw the introduction of numerous badges including the new Chief Scout Award, which is available to all youths in each section in their final year with that section. We currently have three beavers, two cubs, one scout, one venture taking part in these awards and they should have them completed by November 2012. Best of Luck to them all!

SQS: This is our quality system and we have a certain criteria to meet. Each year, we get a visit from the County Commissioner in December where he checks everything out. From 2006 to 2008 we got participation awards followed by two quality awards in 2009 and 2010. We are still awaiting the 2011 award, which we will shortly receive. We are hoping for quality award again in which case it will transfer to excellence. If you receive quality three years in a row it means we are providing our youths with an excellent programme so here is hoping we can achieve this level of Scouting for our youths!

Contact Details:
Phone: Maureen Campion (085) 8060287.
Address: Erkindale Drive, Durrow, Co. Laois.
Website: None
Email: mcmcampion@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/3rd-Laois-Durrow-Scouts/163943260356143

 Photos: Top – Scouts Family Fun Day on Durrow Square; Bottom – Scouts participate in fun games.