Raven - Rainow

Thinkingof OthersBeavers report by Richard BeswickSince our last Raven article a lot hashappened both Worldwide andRainowwide.....the fabulous 2012Olympics and the very wellorganised (and slightly soggy)Rainow Fête. Within Beavers we've hadsome very busy and fun sessions; we'vesaid goodbye to some of our Beavers andour parent helpers (thank you to SuzanneTobin and Karen Roberts for all their helpand support), welcomed some newBeavers and welcomed two new parenthelpers, myself and Kerry Burdock.Rainow Fête as ever proved incrediblypopular with the Beaver entrants for theProcession and subsequent Fancy DressParade. As the theme was AlternativeSports (in line with the Olympics) we wereinundated with Footballers, Swimmers,Surfers, Triathlon competitors and evenJohn McEnroe..."You cannot be serious".Everyone looked great and the Beavershad really worked hard at their outfits.We were back in September with energy,enthusiasm and ready to face some newchallenges and learn new things. We'vehad great fun making air powered carballoonsand straws – this caused greatamusement as the cars hurtled around theInstitute – decorated our boxes for Harvestand learnt new skills such as putting up atent. Harvest Festival gave the Beavers theopportunity of thinking about others andafter decorating the boxes they were askedto take them home to fill with nonperishable items so that they could then bedonated to a worthwhile cause. Anotheropportunity of thinking about others wasthe Remembrance Sunday service where,after practicising their marching skills theprevious Wednesday, the Beavers wereable to reflect on those service men andwomen who had fought in Wars, past &present. There was a good attendancefrom the Beavers and through the Serviceand procession to the Memorial they wereable to reflect on what the day means tous all. The remaining part of Autumn Termis being spent completing Badge work,Games Nights and getting festive withChristmas crafts. The Beavers will beattending the Toy Service at Church on9th December where once more they canthink about those children whoseChristmases are very different to theirown.We return on 16th January and await ourschedule from Willow with anticipation.Brownies Drum Up a BusyProgramme!by Brown Owl, Susan NormanAs we started the September term we decided to make the most of what daylighthours were left before the clocks changed and the Brownies enjoyed anautumn walk in the village gathering leaves and seeds and things of interest tomake collages in their Sixes. We also took the opportunity to attend WackyWoods’ assault course, thankfully a dry evening after the days of torrential rainbeforehand, and we were well prepared with wellies and waterproofs. We finishedthe evening in the dark playing torch light games and toasting marshmallows.On another evening we enrolled three new Brownies who chose the theme of rollerbladesand skating and pizzas for the evening and who also completed theirHostess badge minus the roller-blades and skates! Tea and coffee served byBrownies to their parents on trays is a shaky business but always appreciated andthe Brownies enjoy feeling grown up. On the same evening we also decided tomake cakes just to add more chaos to the proceedings. The following week weheld a ‘Rainow Brownies Got Talent’ evening judged by the leaders and parentswith buzzers in hand. We have an amazingly wide variety of talent within theBrownie Unit and our winner was Beatrix Haigh who sang beautifully.For Halloween the Brownies dressed up in fancy dress and took part in a range ofgames and challenges organised by Monika that included apple bobbing, dress themummy which was very funny and a squirmy search creating lots of mess! InNovember we started World Traveller badge, speaking certain phrases andgreetings in different languages; we made our own passports with stamps to showwhich countries we had already visited and designed a postcard with message.Kirsten showed the Brownies her New Zealand Passport so they could see thedifference between it and a British Passport.We attended the Remembrance Day parade in Rainow with some of our otherBrownies attending their own churches elsewhere. With the elections taking placeat the Institute we changed our venue to Hurdsfield Holy Trinity Church classroomwhere we welcomed a new Brownie and we all experienced a workshop on Africandrumming. It was great fun and very loud and the Brownies all received a certificateof achievement at the end of the evening.It is hard to believe we only have another three weeks before we break up forChristmas and these weeks will be filled with Christmas craft, celebratingSt Andrews Day with a Scottish theme and a Christmas party disco.As we have a successful Brownie and Guide Unit in Rainow our DistrictCommissioner is looking at the possibility of starting a Rainbow Unit, if any femaleaged 18 - 64 years is interested in training to become a leader and helping to set upa unit please contact me? See www.girlguidinguk.We currently have vacancies for girls wishing to join Brownies. I can be contactedon 01260 223793 (Work) or 01260 223695 (Home) or by emailconquest.plants.nursery@hotmail.com.16