Categories
Explorers

Phoenix Explore Dunseverick Pools

On Sunday our Explorers went exploring at Dunseverick on our beautiful north coast. We took the opportunity to get our wetsuits on and swim in the many natural sea pools at Dunseverick harbour. Water pistols where a must to get each other even wetter. We even had a few seaweed wigs on display. After our swim we went to the harbour and relaxed around a campfire with s’mores and hot chocolate to get heated up again.

 

Categories
Explorers

Phoenix Explorers Beach Day Study Break

On Sunday some of our explorers took a much needed break from their studies to relax with friends at white rocks beach Portrush. This time of the year can be stressful with exams so it was good to see books getting temporarily closed even just for a brief period. The explorers and leaders played rounders, volley ball, explored caves  and even braved a swim. 73109B70-6F48-4A72-B388-9AA40F998A63 4B589DB0-EF17-4E6F-A3CB-E1D8448B7046 0D767DED-77FF-4743-A802-FD4AD1D09CB8 D86A9FBA-5B2F-4A4E-96A1-8083F5F65A4A 5CB12415-3D3F-4F8D-9F91-8354F4C0262D D533095E-31A8-4523-9FF6-D052677E0A1C 5DBBE06C-B942-4F19-9401-D1CDE38FFA5F

Categories
Executive News

New Leader Investiture

On Monday we had the privilege of investing 4 new Leaders into the group. They join the other 24 volunteers who, together, allow Ballymoney to run the sections and programmes they do.

There are over 50 million Scouts worldwide and only 5 countries that don’t have Scouts. Its a growing movement and Ballymoney has offered Scouting to members since 1921, and this is only possible because of our fantastic volunteers.

All leaders are volunteers who offer their time not only to plan and run the weekly meetings but also to undertake training, help other sections, run camps and events and help with District and County roles as well.

Becoming a newly invested Scout is the start of the journey, a promise is given and is lived with.

Welcome to the Group, County and Worldwide Family of scouts!

 

Categories
Camps News

Scouts and Explorers Winter Weekend

Last weekend the Scouts and Explorers packed up and headed off in the minibus for their winter weekend away at Dunluce Guide House. Once there, after setting up the hostel and unloading all the goodies brought by the Tesco delivery van, everything was set for a great weekend ahead.
On Saturday the Scouts headed off for various hikes around the North Coast. This allowed all participants to use and improve their map reading skills, as they each took turns to lead the group on the hike. Meanwhile the explorers went biking in the dunes. On returning to hostel, we welcomed two new scouts, four explorers and a leader, with their investiture ceremony taking place while abseiling the cliffs of Dunluce Castle. On Saturday evening everyone enjoyed a delicious Christmas dinner cooked this year by the explorers. This was followed by party games, including the After Eight Challenge, and ‘IbbleDibble’. After a leisurely breakfast on Sunday morning the Scouts headed out to complete an incident hike, including stretcher rescue on the cliffs, blind travail and dismantling a bomb. The weekend came to a close on Sunday afternoon when it was time to pack up and return to the scout hall. We are all looking forward to our next adventure! We would like to thank Carolyn, Trevor and Sarah for the goodies, and Helen, Jeremy and Sarah who joined us for dinner on Saturday.
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Categories
News

Opportunity for Volunteers

Ballymoney Scout Group has grown very successfully over the past few years to nearly 90 young people  being members across our 4 sections.  (Beavers aged 6-8, Cubs aged 8-10, Scouts aged 10-14 and Explorers aged 14-18).
As with all growth comes change.  We now have vacancies for Volunteers at all sections within the group. Not all volunteers have to work with children directly – we have need of fundraisers, committee members, supporters and community liaisons.  Everyone in the group is a volunteer working towards shared goals.
This is an exciting opportunity for you to bring your skills, knowledge and sense of fun to a dynamic group working within your local community. We recognise everyone has different levels of spare time they can commit, and as such have opportunities ranging from 2-3 hours a week to an hour once in a blue moon.
If you would like to know more, please contact us.
Did you know?

  • There are nearly 500000 scouts in the UK (all sections and volunteers)
  • There are nearly 30 million scouts worldwide

Some common myths?

  • Scouting is not just for boys;
  • Girls have been a part of the adventure since 1976.
  • Scouting is not a Christian Organisation;
  • We are a multi-faith movement.
  • Scouting is not for everyone;
  • Yet 30,000 Young people are desperate to join.
  • Scouting is not linked to the army;
  • We’re the largest membership organisation in the world working for peace.
  • Scout Leaders are not just male;
  • 44% of our leaders are female.
  • Scouts do not say dyb dyb dyb
  • They haven’t done so since the 1960’s…but they still do their best!
  • Scouting is not about Bob-a-Job week;
  • But it is good for getting you a job!
  • Scouts do not just wear green;
  • They think green too.
  • Scouts do not sing Ging Ganh Goolie;
  • The tunes of Paul McCartney and Jarvis Cocker belted out were far more popular.
  • Scouting does not just happen in a Scout Hut;
  • After all, you can’t do over 200 adventurous activities inside!
  • Scouting is not just about tying knots;
  • It’s pretty hard to tie one while sailing, climbing or parascending.
  • Not all Scouts can be cool;
  • But these manage somehow…

David Beckham
Richard Branson

Richard Hammond
Jamie Oliver
Norman Cook ‘Fat Boy Slim’
Bear Grylls

Whats in it for you?
With a waiting list of over 30,000 children and young people, the data from the impact study can help you to encourage more adults to join Scouting as volunteers. You can use this information in school gate conversations or your publicity material to show why being a volunteer in Scouting is a great opportunity for adults in your area.
A full package of benefits
Scouting can offer a unique and interrelated package of benefits, these include:

  • having fun
  • having good friendships
  • taking part in activities
  • contributing to the community
  • improving life chances in terms of education and employment
  • building confidence and commitment to others.

Over a third of adult volunteers said that it was unlikely or impossible that they would have had the opportunity to gain these benefits without Scouting.
Developing skills
Scouting helps adults to develop a range of skills. In particular:

  • 91 % of volunteers said that Scouting had helped them to develop key skills, such as leadership, teamwork, character development and social skills.
  • 97 % said that being involved helped them with relationship building.
  • 97 %  said that Scouting helped them develop their volunteering activity including contributing to the community, improved understanding of the community and improved skills for volunteering.
  • 95 % said that Scouting helped them improve their physical skills, including the improved ability to cope with outdoor condition
  • Some 41 %of organisations reported that a job applicant’s involvement in Scouting would be a positive influence on their appointment. Organisations felt that staff who had been involved in Scouting were above average across a range of key attributes related to key Scouting qualities, including understanding of values, respect for others, teamwork ability, confidence, social skills, leadership ability, contribution to the community.

We welcome interest from all members of the community, if you would like further information or to chat about different roles please contact us.

Categories
News

Patrol Leaders Training Day

The wet weather didn’t deter the PL’s & APL’s having fun on their recent leadership and team working training day.
The day was broken down into a series of sessions each designed to help the young people gain a better understanding of team working and leadership. The day started with a scavenger hunt followed by erecting a tent indoors – this might sound easy, but since the tent was new to all the young people, and a few of the pieces were missing, it proved to be challenging enough.

 
 
 
Other sessions during the morning included the tricky bomb disposal, the awkward leader, and building an egg parachute (which was dropped off a twelve foot wall!)  I’m glad to say that all the eggs survived, although a few were seriously injured.
After lunch of Pizza & Chips, the action went indoors with activities such as The Brain. The last session of the day was the Troop Leadership Forum (TLF): this is where the young people decide on how to run their patrols, help decide the programme as well as plan future activities. This session was aided by hot chocolate fudge cake and ice cream, always a good way to round off the day!