by Melanie Baumeister
Many who witnessed our more-than-impressive troop of Scouts parading through the village on Saturday, 26 February, will have no doubt that Sedgefield is fast shaking off the last remnants of its ‘retirement village’ status.
The Scouts marched through town with the fire engine heralding them, from the Village Green up around the Main Road to the CBD and then back along Kingfisher Drive. A growing group of community service-orientated youngsters proudly showing off their uniforms.
Since the beginning of February, Sedgefield First Scouts have been at it without stopping. Every weekend they are doing and gaining and growing in leaps and bounds.
The weekend of Friday, 4 to Sunday, 6 February, the Scouts attended their first official camp of the year, held on a farm just outside George. Whilst the Scouts were out testing their survival skills, the Cubs did their Swimming Badges at Turtle Aquatics, right here in Sedgefield. The attainment of this proficiency and water-wise badge ensures the safety of the Cubs and, in turn, others around them.
The Scouts, Cubs and Meerkats meet every Friday night at the Lions Clubhouse, where amongst other things, they have Pow Wows and plan how to achieve their next badges. February was a big month for them as it is also ‘Founders Month’. Lord Baden Powell’s birthday is on 22 February and is celebrated every year by the Scout movement all over the world. Our Sedgefield Scouts are no different, and each one of them wore their khaki uniforms, and yellow and green bandanas, to school to represent our local troupe.
Finally, on Saturday, 5 March, the Scouts tried for their swimming badges at Pine Lake Marina. Ten Scouts completed the Swimming Scoutcraft badge, which included 300m of swimming, basic rescuing and staying afloat using an item of clothing.
One of the senior Scouts completed the Swimmer Scout Interest badge, which included 1.45km of swimming. Incredibly, Deena Colloty was seen walking and interacting normally after this feat, and we look forward to seeing more of her badges as she accrues them on her Scouting journey.
Watch this space for more of the doings and servings of this group of community-orientated individuals and their young charges as things gently change back to life before the global pandemic. If they manage to establish this much under the levels of restrictions imposed by pandemic life, imagine what they can do with free reign. Hang on to your bandanas!
A very special thank you is in order; to our local fire station for being a great leader in community events and always willing to help.
For more information about joining Scouts, Cubs or Meerkats, please contact Kevin ‘Griffin’ Scanes on 079 498 8581
