40 Beavers and Cubs from across Cambridge have celebrated the start of a new scouting century by holding a special Sunrise Sleepover at St Luke’s Barn in Cambridge. The event, which incorporated the district’s Sunrise Ceremony at Castle Hill, was held to mark the 100th Anniversary since the founding of the scout movement on 1st August 1907.

Starting at 7pm on the Tuesday (31st July) the Beavers and Cubs enjoyed a trip to a local recreation ground, where they were given an hour of freedom to roam around and relieve some of their energy. Many opted for the climbing frames, rope bridges and swings, but a few of the more daring Beavers opted to tackle the small climbing wall that was available. As a treat, everyone was given a portion of chip-shop chips before heading back to the barn for a game out in the dark, story and bed.

Early the next morning, the Beavers and Cubs had very little time to eat breakfast, pack away their belongings and get dressed before they were out the door and walking to the Sunrise Ceremony gathering point at St Luke’s Church. On arrival, it became clear that the ceremony would be big, with more than 100 fellow scouts and scouters already gathered. Before long the contingent marched to the foot of Castle Mound where, at 8am, everyone renewed their scout promise and welcomed in the new scouting century.

Collecting a bacon roll and a carton of juice before heading back to the barn, the Beavers and Cubs had three hours of activities to look forward to before it was time to go home. As a craft, they decorated international flags and learnt how to say “100” in many different languages. Outdoors was the giant pushball, in which small teams had to navigate it around an assault course before one giant game of push-football. The final base was making chocolate nests, which traditionally symbolises the start of something new.

To finish off, the Beavers and Cubs were challenged to a wide game. There job was to collect an entire suit of cards, from A-K in order, by approaching all of the leaders on site to see whether they had the next card in their sequence. After 40 minutes of searching, everyone gathered in the main hall for a goodbye ceremony and badge presentations. By 12:20pm it was all over.

The sleepover was the last event that Cub Scout Leader, Rebecca Miller, would be leading with the 18th Cubs before moving to Gloucester. Speaking after the event, she commented;

“It’s a nice way to finish off my time with the 18th, taking part in an event where both the 18th Beavers and Cubs were present. It’s been a good experience.”

The Sunrise Ceremony also featured the appointment of Charlie Brown as a fully-fledged cub leader, after receiving his warrant from the District Commissioner. Charlie is in-line to take charge of the 18th Cubs following Rebecca’s departure.

In total, 8 members of the 18th Cambridge Scout Group attended the Sunrise Sleepover.