Taceham Hundred District

This year's District Cub Quiz was held at Thirtover House on the 16th of March

Nine teams of Cubs from around the District took part.

In addition to answering questions in the the quiz itself the Cubs had to solve 9 different puzzles and challenges in their teams and against the clock.

The winners were 2nd Thatcham with the winning team members being Darryl Butcher, Luke Payen and Troy Flitton. This team will go forward later in the year to represent the District in the County Quiz.

Everyone who took part received a certificate which was presented by the District Commissioner, Pete Kearley.

Diana Steele (ADC Cubs), who organised the event, thanked everyone for taking part and for the adult helpers who had given their time to make this a successful event.

Here are some of the Cubs from 2nd Thatcham following a very successful bag packing at Sainsbury’s held on 6th October.

Beavers, Cubs and Scouts from 2nd Thatcham took part and managed to raise a magnificent £720.

On the 13th October, as part of the Festival of the Arts, over 25 Scouts from the district abseiled down the church tower at St Mary’s Church in Thatcham to remove ivy growing on the tower.

Even the District Commissioner, Pete Kearley, got to have a go and show us how it should be done!!

Click on the small picture on the right to see a larger image.

16 Beaver Scouts from 2nd Thatcham and their families took part in completing their leg of the Walk across Berkshire.

They walked from Woolhampton to Thatcham railway station and took this opportunity to raise money for 2nd Thatcham Beaver funds.

Earlier in the month the Fellowship had completed the section from Woolhampton to Theale.

It's now an annual event in the Scout section calendar; October Outdoors is aimed exclusively at the Districts Scouts in the 12 - 14 age group and is an adventurous activity weekend in the Forest of Dean.

This year, 33 Scouts from all four of the District's Troops took part in the weekend which was based at Wyedean's Holly Barn near Symond's Yat. The old barn has dormatories with bunkbeds and a separate kitchen block capable of accommodating up to 50 people.

The activities are run by the leaders within the District with additional instructors brought in for some of the more technical activities. The Mountain Biking activity covered 20km in two sessions with Scouts riding through huge forest expanses. This involved a lot of uphills and downhills! The Climbing and Abseiling activities use local rock faces, including the rocks at the Yat and gave the Scouts a chance to do some ropework outdoors.

The Caving sessions included a visit to the old iron ore mine complexes at Wigpool. Caving was one of the most popular activities on offer. The backwoods cooking sessions involved preparation of rabbits and the baking of scones in a box oven. Finally, one of the Hiking sessions was run as a 'blind-hike'; the Scouts were blindfolded and taken by minibus to a location where they had to not only work out where they were, but then to navigate their way back to base. The Scouts on Sunday morning were dropped off in Wales!

Thanks to all the Scout leaders who gave up their time to make this weekend so successful.

At our County Fellowship meeting earlier in the year, we thought it would be nice for the Fellowship to Celebrate the Centenary in some way and at the June meeting, it was decided to attempt a "Walk Across Berkshire", from one end of the County to the other, mainly on the Kennet & Avon Canal and the Thames towpaths. Districts could choose which part of the County they wanted to cover and Taceham Hundred Fellowship took up the challenge by agreeing to walk the length of its District - from the A339 (by Victoria Park) to Theale.

The original date suggested at the County meeting was 14th July, but inevitably Districts were already committed to other things and it was agreed that the walk could be done on a date suitable to the participants, but before the end of the Centenary year. The walk was open to all Sections and families and in this District we have one Cub Pack (1st Thatcham)walking from Newbury to Thatcham on 14th October and one Beaver Colony (2nd Thatcham) walking from Woolhampton to Thatcham later in October.

The District Fellowship said they would cover the remaining length of the towpath, from Woolhampton to Theale - which we did on 30th September; we were also joined by 2 Cubs from 2nd Thatcham. The youngsters taking part in the Walk will get a Certificate from the Fellowship later on.