Explorers

Our official title is Mid Cheshire Explorer Sea Scout Unit, but we decided to shorten it a bit and are now generally known as Endurance Explorers.

Although Explorer Scouting is a district provision and we are not technically members of Weaverham Sea Scouts, we have Partnership Agreement with the group which allows us to use the hall and equipment and the Treasurer collects our membership fees.

Membership of the unit is open to anyone from 14 to 18 years old and previous scouting membership is not a requirement.  Our current members come from scout groups at Davenham, Barnton, Comberbach and Weaverham and a few who have never been in scouting before.

Meetings are usually held on Friday nights at 9.15pm, after scouts.

Explorers are encouraged to take a more active part in their programming and this allows them to develop their leadership and organisational skills (supposedly) as they mature.

All the Unit members are working towards their Chief Scouts Platinum or Diamond Awards.  Seven Platinum Awards were presented in December 2011 and all those Explorers are now on the verge of completing their Diamond Awards.  Others are hoping to complete their Platinum Award early next year.  Most of the group also undertake the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award alongside the Chief Scouts Award.

Several members are also acting as Young Leaders with other sections and other groups.  The Unit as a whole also helps at District and County Scout Events, such as providing bases at the District Survival Camp or refreshments at the District Wide Game and fire lighting at Born Survivor.  They have also helped to run programme nights for the Scout section.

Like all the other sections, we do wear uniform which is the same as the Sea Scout section but with a different neckerchief.  Our official district neckerchief is Royal Blue with the Wyvern logo on the back. However, for Unit activities the Explorers wanted their own identity and so wear black neckers with a Hi-vis border.  The difference is that we do not wear uniform every week.  Usually about once a month or for any ‘official’ meetings.

Explorers have a very varied programme which changes to reflect the interests of the membership.  For instance, for the last two years, the focus has been on Outdoor skills as Kathryn, one of our previous leaders, had completed a Ray Mears Survival course and everyone was keen to acquire some of those skills.  Although their fire lighting skills were not quite good enough to light a fire in torrential rain in the dark, they did become very proficient in knife and axe skills.  We did of course make sure they all completed a first aid course before they started on that particular training!

They also like cooking and have done everything from the Ready Steady Cook activities creating imaginative meals from random ingredients, to providing a three course Christmas Meal for 20 invited guests!  For that one they worked just like any restaurant. They all had to apply and be interviewed for their chosen role be it a Chef, Waiter or Front of house manager  They planned the menu, sent out invitations, did all the shopping, then prepared, cooked and served the food.  All the leaders had to do was to carry out the interviews, provide transport for the shopping and as everything was going so well, sit down and enjoy the food!

Explorers are like everyone else in scouting, they love to go camping.  The unit have had the opportunity to take part in survival camps, indoor camps, wild camps, hammock camps and international camps.  The furthest we have travelled so far is to Sweden when we also took the opportunity to visit the World Scout Jamboree.  A memorable trip for everyone!  Next year we are planning to join the Sea Scouts at their camp at Waddecar.  There are also plans  to join up with Cestrian Explorers for a weekend in Wales and maybe take part in an international jamboree in the UK as well as our own unit weekends.

Latest news from the Explorers

(To see all Explorer news, click here.)

AGM 2021

We held our AGM in the new Hall on 10th November, and here are the following Section reports: Explorers Like many of the other sections, Explorers saw a reduction in numbers when our meetings went online.  We now have 13 members registered and usually get at least 10 at our regular Friday Night meetings. We …

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Welcome 2021!

Well, we hope you all had a very Happy Christmas and New Year – or at least, as happy as you could given the circumstances. 2020 is now behind us, but we have immediately entered into a new lockdown as we start the New Year. Once again, this means that face-to-face meetings have had to …

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Scouting during lockdown: November 2020

Update November 2020: It all started on 18th March 2020 – Scouting in the UK was suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic as the whole country goes into lockdown.  No face to face meetings, no  outdoor activities, no camping!  At this stage, no-one knew how long the lockdown would last. Whilst everyone adjusted to the …

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Virtual Family Camp: 23-24th May 2020

Well, we did it!  Nothing like being ambitious.  Despite our lack of experience in the finer workings of zoom, we decided to offer our sections the opportunity to take part in our virtual family camp.  If things had been normal the cubs and scouts would have been away at Blackwell Court for their annual Camp. …

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AGM 2020: Chairman’s Report

So has it been another good year? Scout Hall.   Plans for the replacement hall are progressing under the continuing expert oversight of Brian.  He has relentlessly pursued funding sources with some disappointments despite huge efforts but also some notable successes.  To date, including funds held before fundraising began, we have reached about two-thirds of our …

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