On Friday 16th March the scouts visited the church of St. Michael and All Angels in Sandhurst. We were hosted by the Reverend John Castle, rector of St. Michaels, who among other things invited the scouts to wander around his church to find unusual things of interest. One of the most amazing facts we found out was that although the church looks medieval it is in fact only 150 years old. However it was built on a church that goes back to the Norman Conquest in 1066.

We then enjoyed a torchlight search of the churchyard, looking for the 'oldest resident'. Louis Doran found the grave of a person named Mary who died in 1857, aged 80. As she was born in 1777 we realized that St. Michael's has been a cemetery for the people of Sandhurst for at least 250 years.

We finished the evening with a tour of the bell tower, where all the scouts (and Den) had the chance to wind up the church clock. Finally all of the scouts were shown how to ring the bells and each had a turn to entertain the residents of Little Sandhurst.

We learned a lot about an important place in our community, and had fun at the same time!