The 1st Derbyshire Dales Cyberscouts held its second meeting of the year in sunshine on Saturday 3rd May, using the 6th Form Block of Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School as its Headquarters. Tim Polkinghorne, Group Scout Leader, opened the meeting with the traditional recital of the Scout Promise and then each section were off and away!
Four children from Parwich are members; two in Beavers, one in Cubs and one in Scouts.
The Cubs and Scouts section (ages 8-10 and 10-14 respectively) made a sharp exit to Wetton, complete with backpacks jammed full of lunches, compasses, maps and cold drinks! Their mission was to navigate their way to Thor’s Cave (and back!) on foot which they achieved in an impressive time and with some interesting diversions! Fortunately, they also remembered to bring John Queening, County Commissioner, back with them as well as their Leaders, whilst also teaching them a few things about orienteering with a compass!
The theme for the Beaver section meeting (ages 6-8 ) was health and fitness, with each member bringing with them a healthy packed lunch which they had helped to make … not a chocolate in sight (well, except in the Leader’s lunch box!). Also attending as an honorary member for the day was Spencer the school bear.
The Beavers were lucky to experience a kickboxing session with Sabri who runs classes in the Ashbourne area. Not only did they learn they could kick higher than they believed, the Beavers also learnt a great deal about positive attitude and respect for self and others.
After tasting lots of unusual fruits over lunch and burning off some excess energy on the grass, the Beavers were ‘subjected’ to blindfolded food tasting – the most fun part of the day according to their Leaders! Some of the foods tasted were met with very interesting reactions, especially the gooseberries and cold baked beans. Hats off to all the Beavers for getting stuck in and tasting everything put in front of them.
Tim Polkinghorne and his team would like to thank Nigel’s Butchers in Dig Street for providing the Leaders’ lunches. Thanks also go to Sabri for the kickboxing experience – he is currently offering a 30 day free kickboxing trial in the Ashbourne area for adults or children and can be contacted on 07824 428843.
The next Cyberscout meeting will be held on Saturday 14th June. Cyberscouts meet nine Saturdays a year 10am – 3pm and fees for attendance are £10 per meeting. If you are interested in joining Cyberscouts either as a leader/helper, would like to reserve a place as a young person in a section or would like to sponsor the Group, please contact tim@reachnirvana.co.uk or 01335 348444. More information regarding each sections’ programme can be found at www.cyberscouts.me.uk.
Parwich Primary School 
If you go down to the woods today you will see – gnomes – and lots of them.
The weather this year is obviously perfect for dandelions and we are surrounded by fields full of them. They do look lovely but gardeners beware.
