The Parish Magazine April 2024

20 The Parish Magazine - April 2024
around the villages — 2
This year, 1st Sonning-on-Thames Scouts celebrates its 90 th birthday! Since 1934 many Sonning 'alumni'
have been involved creating memories to treasure. Today, the group continues offering its scouts, cubs and
beavers a host of activities that the children may not otherwise experience in school and other clubs.
A biannual family camp brings together the scouts,
cubs and beavers and their family members, to have
fun together through a variety of fun activities.
SCOUTS
Scouts, age from 10½ to 14 years, meet on
Wednesday evenings in Beech Lodge Sonning and, as
well as camping, enjoy many other outdoor activities
such as abseiling, axe throwing, caving, climbing, fire
making, katakanuing, pioneering, and raft building,
Holly said, 'I like Scouts because I get to do new
things like camping, fire lighting, cooking and eating,'
while Keiron likes it 'because we have winter camps,
when it’s cold!'
CUBS
Cubs, aged 8 to 10½ years, meet on Monday
evenings and get involved in many of the outdoor
activities with the scouts along with their own
activities including: camping, climbing, cooking, firelighting,
hiking, having fun on the water, and indoor
games.
Indya said, 'I was told by a boy called Josh about
the good things like camps and learning knots and even
cooking, so I joined cubs to learn to become a better
person. I like learning how to do things and to earn
badges, and it makes me feel happy. My friend Cicely said
she wanted to join so she can learn many things as well.'
'I like going to cubs because I like the outdoors and
adventure. I also like learning survival skills and having
fun,' added Josh.
BEAVERS
The beavers, aged 6-8 years, meet on Thursday
evenings and have recently been involved in learning
about their local community by meeting different
groups such as the emergency services, and local
sports groups such as Sonning Cricket Club and
Berkshire Country Club Tennis Club. They recently
visited Sonning Gardens Care Home where they
enjoyed craft activities with the residents.
Beaver Wilson said, 'I love beavers because we get to
see lots of people, and it educates our mind while we are
not at school. We learn things that you don't already know
about. I enjoyed the firefighters visit when we learned
about how they dealt with fires and what they do.'
Sonning Parish Council and Sonning Twinning
Association members have also visited the beavers to
explain how they help serve the local community.
Whether playing giant noughts and crosses with
pioneering poles, designing, and making Lego
models or preparing and munching fruit kebabs
while thinking about how to eat healthily, every
session is a big hit with the beavers.
Beaver Noah summed up one session saying, 'It
was fabulous because we built bridges out of newspaper
and tape and tested them w
played stave hockey!'
ADULT L
Looking to the future,
Scout Group's treasurer, c
looking forward to building
future. However, we are cur
beavers and adult leaders fo
need help to keep this sectio
especially as we look toward
years’ time.
SQUIRR
'We’re also want to start
year olds called Squirrels an
skills for life at a time when
it's most needed, and we req
it' he said.
CHAIR AND
'
Additional support is inv
whether in a uniformed cap
or non-unformed where th
chairperson and a group sc
HOW TO GET
If you have a child intereste
or squirrels or you would lik
see https://sonningscouts.org.u
sonningscouts.org.uk or call A