In the News

October 2021

With the night’s drawing in and being outside feeling like a distant memory, we look back at the 15th Oxford Summer of Scouting.

Summer Camp

The pinnacle of our year and every leaders favourite week of Scouting is our annual Summer Camp, which this year took place at Hill End. In a large field complete with fire pit, and with use of the acres of land they have, we took 10 Scouts and 6 Cubs away to sleep under canvas. For most this was not only their first night in a tent but also their first night away from their parents! Here is how one Scout summed it up;

As a first time camper with the 15th this is my record of all the ups and downs (not that there were any downs it was great) and the great experience.

For 4 and a bit days we camped in a field at Hill End. The Cub pack even came for a day. We all learned a lot of important life skills. We cooked our own food and put up our own tents. Afterwards I felt a lot more independent. I don’t think a better learning experience for children of a wide variety of ages exists.

And that’s without mentioning they completed obstacle courses, a climbing wall, silly sports, practical first aid, pioneering, team building, glowstick games in the dark and much more!

Away Day

This year we embarked on a trip into Oxford with the Scouts and a few Cubs. The day started with a treasure hunt, taking in many landmarks and tourists spots with questions and clues along the way to test their observation skills. No trip to Oxford would be complete without delving into history so time was spent in the Ashmolean museum, which invariably turned into ‘ghost stories’ as we passed the Ancient Egyptian Mummies. This was followed by a refreshment break at the Westgate Social, with the Cubs putting into practice their recently learned Money Skills badge. Lastly was a round of Junkyard Golf, with the consensus being that more ‘sports’ should use UV lights and cheesy 90’s disco music to attract a younger audience.

It’s amazing what we at the 15th Oxford Scouts can fit into a Friday evening, a day trip or weekend away or week long camp.

July 2021

New members

We’re so pleased to be able to welcome many new faces to the troop this year, and seeing the first of the new Cubs since it’s reincarnation move up to the Scout troop. At the start of the Summer term we invested 7 new Cubs and 4 new Scouts. This means they have taken the Cub or Scout promise with their leader, got their very first badges and our purple neckerchief that you may have spotted young people wearing on the estate on a Friday evening. Even better news is we have spaces in both Cubs and Scouts for new members. Contact details can be found at the bottom of the article.

Euro 2020

By the time you read this Euro 2020 will be in full swing, and hopefully football is close to coming home. Before the tournament started we ran an evening based on the fixtures, giving each Cub and Scout countries to ‘predict’ who will be victorious in the final. After some hard fought rock/paper/scissors that saw 1 pair get 7 draws in a row, mental stamina was tested with connect 4 and 3D connect 4 to whittle the teams down further. Some early favourites were eliminated and Scotland beat England! Onto throwing darts at a board of balloons, each one containing a number of goals scored for the team. An eye catching result of Ukraine beating Austria 7 - 5 was not enough for them, as the less fancied North Macedonia and Slovakia had to be decided on penalties for the Cubs and Turkey came out victorious for the Scouts. You heard it here first.

Troop history

The 15^th Oxford Scout Group was founded and registered with the local Oxford City Scout Association in 1915, meeting at the Baptist Church school room in New Inn Hall Street. There have since been 9 Scout Leaders, a Cub pack registered in April 1920 and a move to elms parade. We are now helping a former Scout with their archaeology and history degree dissertation about army and pow camps at Youlbury Scout Camp during WW2. They have already found a number of items through metal detecting there and we are now asking anyone local who has memories of Youlbury, the 15^th Oxford or Oxford in the war to get in touch and hopefully help with the dissertation.

Contact for the troop is XVOxfordScouts@yahoo.co.uk

November 2020

Oh, it’s good to be back! After many months of online meetings, the 15^th Oxford Cubs and Scouts are back together and meeting face-to-face, kind of. Sure, we’re wearing masks, and keeping to 2m social distancing but as an organisation we’ve always been adaptable and resilient in order to deliver a programme that builds Skills for Life.

Now we can meet up together, we’ll find ways to teach first aid from a distance, pioneering projects will involve members building different elements that come together at the end, map skills will be individual so there is nobody to blame if you get lost (or on a scenic route as we like to say). We’ll be doing wide games in the fields and woods around Botley that involve camouflage, sneaking past each other without being seen or heard, treasure hunts and torch games.

We’ve only been back 2 weeks and we’ve already done car repair with the Cubs and a photography challenge round Botley with the Scouts.

The jamboree’s and the district events and the County camps may be on hold, but we’ll still be working through badges that culminate in the Chief Scout Silver and Gold awards. There are plans for movie nights, a mock UN council based on building your own country, sign language, paper airplanes, a Halloween themed night, bonfire night and breaking Guinness World Records.

There is so much planned, and if any of it sounds like something that your child will be interested in then come and join us. We have spaces, you can join our bubble and see what Scouting is all about. I’m biased of course but I couldn’t recommend it highly enough. If this is what we get up to from a socially distanced and sanitized 2m, imagine the adventures we have on our camping and residential trips, resuming in 2021 we hope!?

We meet every Friday evening during school term time at Botley Baptist Church. Cubs is for children aged 8 – 10.5, Scouts aged 10.5 to 14. For more details please contact XVOxfordScouts@yahoo.co.uk

September 2020

The 15^th Oxford Scout Troop is based in the New Baptist Church at Botley Parade.

Unfortunately Covid has meant a ‘new normal’ of virtual activities since April that the Cubs and Scouts have embraced and excelled with. Zoom meetings have included mini raft building, quizzes, battleships, bingo and socializing with each other from a safe distance. In between meetings, a Badges at Home programme has been in place that has seen 60 badges awarded to the Scouts and 30 to the Cubs! We’ve now got cyclists, collectors, chefs, gardeners, DIY-ers, and meteorologists amongst others in our troop.

The fun hasn’t just been confined to a laptop though. We’ve had a virtual Spring Camp over the VE day weekend that saw all ages; building dens or pitching tents to camp out, designing bunting, baking cakes, sending Morse code messages, hosting tea parties, taking part in online escape rooms and most importantly learning about Scouting during WW2. Summer Camp at Home included more den building, more camping out, sign language, taskmaster tasks, nature trails, international cooking, virtual sports day and campfire songs.

Our traditional camping under canvas hasn’t taken place this year, but we have plans in place for it to return next year when the Scouts will have a weekend camp at a water activity centre in Wales and the Cubs hopefully visit the South Coast and Brownsea Island (the site for the first ever Scout camp). Both age groups will camp on a farm over the summer under canvas. Further down the line we have made enquiries about an overseas expedition. All our activities are run to the highest safety standards, focusing on fun for all.

We have places for new children to join us and enjoy these amazing experiences in 2021. Cubs meet on a Friday night between 18:30 – 20:00, Scouts follows on a Friday between 20:00 – 21:30. For more info email xvoxfordscouts@yahoo.com.

Equally we are always on the lookout for new leaders or adult volunteers, no matter how much or little time you can give we promise it is an experience not to be missed.

As Scouts, we believe in preparing young people with skills for life. We bring communities together and contribute to society. Above all, we aim to build better futures.