Flitwick Scouts show off stay-at-home skills to earn badges during lockdown

Flitwick Scouts have been in engaging in lots of Scouting activities during lockdown.

In March, face to face Scouting was suspended due to coronavirus, so scouts in Flitwick turned to Zoom, which became a very popular resource for children, young people, adult volunteers and parents/carers.

One of the highlights was the virtual family camp, which included making water rockets, a garden obstacle course, scavenger hunt, cooking, quizzes and making gigantic bubbles.

A large number of children - boys and girls aged 6 to 14 - have taken the opportunity to work towards different activity badges at home.

These have included Artist, Astronomer, Chef, Collector, DIY, Global Issues, Home Help, Personal Safety and Scientist.

It has also meant that children have built their confidence by talking to a large group of people about what they have done to achieve the particular badge.

Cub Scout, Thomas Hendry said: “I’ve missed seeing my friends and playing games and so I’m really looking forward to going to Cubs and doing lots of different activities and playing some games with them.”

Several children have taken the opportunity to get some exercise by going on walks with members of their family. These have resulted in many Hikes Away badges being gained.

Adult volunteer, Nicky Taylor said: “The last six months have been very testing but all of the children, young people and volunteers have risen to the challenge.

"One of my favourite activities was seeing some of the children show things they had made for their DIY or Artist badge or talking about their hobby.

"We have just had risk assessments approved which means we can start to get back to face to face Scouting.”

For further information about Flitwick Scouts, please visit www.flitwickscoutgroup.org.uk.