Our family recently went on holiday to Abingdon, Oxfordshire in England to visit family. As we would be there for a month we decided to make contact with the local Scouting group. The Scouting structure is slightly different in the UK with Squirrels age 4-5, Beavers age 6-8, Cubs 8-10.5 and Scouts 10.5-14 so we joined the Squirrels.
Our contact with Scouting UK began early in the trip when we discovered on our flight that our air hostess was a leader of a Beaver colony!
John was welcomed to the 11th Abingdon Squirrel’s Drey and attended their meetings for all four weeks of our trip. At the first meeting he presented the group leader Jack with the 1st Claremont scarf, Scouts South Africa keyrings for the leaders and Fizzers for all the Squirrels. The children were very interested in his uniform, and most especially his hat (hats are not part of the Squirrel uniform). Activities included designing and making boats and floating them on the stream, having a fun fair and having a sports day. In his last week at Squirrels he was presented with the necker (what they call their scarf), did his Squirrel’s promise and was made an honorary Squirrel.
We were also fortunate to be in Abingdon when they had a big Scouting recruitment event in the town. The Scouting leaders presented John with a Scouting UK necker. It was good to be reminded that at 1st Claremont we are part of a global Scouting family.
Kirsty and John
