Hope Valley Mountain Bike Challenge 2016

This coming Saturday Cub Scout Leader, Steve Garratt, will be taking part in the Hope Valley Mountain Bike Challenge. The event is an annual off-road technical ride which takes in some of the area’s most iconic trails and locations such as ‘The Beast’, Jaggers Clough, Edale, Jacobs Ladder, Hayfield, Rushup Edge, Hollins Cross and Mam Tor. 

The route is 28 miles with nearly 5,000 feet of climbing involved and will likely take over 5 hours to complete.

Steve is raising money for 1st Taxal Scouts trip to Norway next Summer, any donations will be most gratefully received, either personally or via their new fundraising page*:

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/1stTaxalToNorway

Keep an eye on the new section of the website for more Norway 2017 fundraising activities!

*online donations are subject to a 5% JustGiving admin fee

Carnival 2016 - A Scout in Space

Top 3 lamp-post design

This weekend was the annual Whaley Bridge Carnival and, once again, it was a great success. The rain just about held off and the children had a great time.

Can we send out a quick, but huge, thank you to all those who contributed to the carnival float and lamppost this year. We achieved a 1st prize for the float and a 3rd for the lamppost, these are results to be proud of and it would not have happened if it were not for a lot of effort behind the scenes pulling everything together (quite literally up to the last minute!). It was really great to see so many parents coming down to help on Friday night and Saturday morning.

Finally, thanks to the kids who turned out brilliantly dressed for the occasion - there's no point having a float if there's nobody to fill it!

Already looking forward to next year! Here are a few more photos of the day.

A salute to a Scout in Space!

Crowds were lining the streets

The winning float in all its glory

Why have no children heard of the 'Men in Black'???

1st Taxal Scouts' AGM

Dear Parents,

We would like to invite you to the first ever Group Presentation Night and AGM at the Scout Hut on Thursday 12th May. The evening will be a review of the many activities each section has taken part in along with the presentation of Chief Scouts Awards to some of the young people in the Group. 

The Chief Scouts Award is the highest award which can be achieved in each section and recognition of a young person completing a number of activities and challenges. If your child is to receive a Chief Scouts Award you will be informed under separate email.

The evening will commence from 6:45pm with refreshments, ready for a 7pm start. We are aiming to close the evening at 8pm. 

Please come along and see what the Group has been involved in over the last year. 

Yours in Scouting

Steve Sidebotham                                    Linda Birch
Group Scout Leader                                   Ass. Group Scout Leader

Memorial Day

Despite some horrible weather earlier in the morning we had a fantastic turn-out for the Memorial service in the park on Sunday. 

The group met at 10:30am by the Wheatsheaf Road entrance and we marched in formation up through the park to the cross. 

The service was, as always, very humbling as we listened to the long list of names of the fallen. Heartbreaking to hear the same surnames repeated over and over again, you cannot imagine the pain some families must have endured. 

I am glad to report that the children were impeccably behaved and we received many compliments at the end of the service. Thanks to all those who attended.

UPDATE: You can see more photos on the Whaley Bridge site:

http://www.whaleybridge.com/2015/11/the-young-honour-whaley-bridges-war-dead/

Bonfire night success

On Thursday night we held our annual Fireworks display and it was a great success. The weather held off after a particularly murky day and we had a great turn out. 

We've still got to tot-up everything but we will make a healthy profit for the group, with some £200 collected in the buckets and around £250 from the barbeque sales. That plus money from the raffle and refreshments/sweeties inside will make for a nice amount to invest back into the Group. 

The display was brilliant, and the night passed without incident, so I hope everyone feels they got great value for money and had a great night. Thanks to everyone who made it such a success.

Coffee Morning Success

Wendy and Dave Hall

We have now added up all the money from Saturday's coffee morning and it was a great success. In all we have raised nearly £250 for the group.

We had a fantastic turnout of people, donations of raffle and tombola and some wonderful cakes. Thank you to everyone who helped in any way especially to the people who helped on the day.

The 1st prize in the raffle (one night's Bed and Breakfast at a Hallmark Hotel) was won by Wendy and Dave Hall (pictured being presented with their prize). Many congratulations and we hope you enjoy your trip.

A new term is upon us!

As quickly as they came, the Summer holidays are gone and 1st Taxal Scouts are back until Xmas. The section nights will be returning from next week and the leaders will be in touch soon with more information on the packed schedules.

As an early heads-up we have several activities in the coming weeks:

• October 17th is the Scouts Coffee morning at the Mechanics Institute
• November 5th is bonfire night at the scout hut on New Road
• November 8th is Memorial Sunday in the Memorial Park

More information will follow but get them in your calendar now.

As always the group remains incredibly popular and we have a large waiting list for spaces, we will be in touch to offer what few spaces we have to people on the waiting list shortly. 

We would very much like to set up a second Cub and Scout pack but we cannot grow any more without more volunteers. If you are able to help in any way then please email join@1sttaxalscouts.org.uk. 

Many thanks for your patience and assistance

Tesco bag packing

1st Taxal Scout Group will be visiting Tesco Whaley Bridge on Saturday 13th June to help customers to pack their bags throughout the day.

This is an invaluable opportunity to publicise the group and raise much needed funds to help maintain our Scout Hut.

It would be great to see you and have your support. If you are able to help out on the day then please contact Steve Sidebotham or Linda Birch.

Thanks.

Waitrose Community Matters

The Waitrose Store in Buxton have put forward 1st Taxal for this month’s Community matters, where three local charities receive a share of £1000. 

The share each charity receives is based on how many Green tokens they are given by customers of the store. Tokens are handed out at the checkout when you make a purchase.

Please could we ask that everyone encourages friends and family to head up to Waitrose this month and support the Group with the Green tokens.

Thanks

Scout's Coffee Morning - Please help support us

We hold a coffee morning each year, at the Mechanics Institute in Whaley Bridge, to raise funds for the Group and we need your help to make the morning a success. You can help in one of four ways:-

1. Help on the day serving drinks, cakes and selling raffle tickets - To help put your name on the list in the Scout Hut, if you can’t help all morning just an hour would be great.
2. Bake a cake/buns to sell on the day - Please bring these to the Mechanics at 9 am on the Saturday morning or if you can’t make it Saturday you can drop your cakes to my house anytime on the Friday 17^th, (I’ll be baking all day) 182 Buxton Rd, Whaley Bridge (yellow house).
3. Donate a raffle or tombola prize,  If every beaver/cub/scout/explorer could donate one thing that would be fantastic, please drop any donations to the leaders room at the hut  before 18^th.
4. Support us on the day and head to the Mechanics for a drink!

Many thanks,

Heidi (cub leader)