CUBS

The Abernethy Cub group meets on a Tuesday evening from 7:30pm to 8:30pm in the Pavilion during term time.  We're open to all boys and girls aged between 8 and 10 years and provide a variety of adventures and fun!!             INGA

MARCH 2014

As some of you may already know, I am pleased to inform the readers that the Cubs and Beavers are again running in Abernethy. The Beavers and Cubs are held on Tuesday evenings during School term time at the Pavilion in Powrie Park and are open to both boys and girls. The Beavers being for ages six to eight and Cubs from ages eight to ten and a half years respectively, hopefully in the future we may even grow an Abernethy Scout Pack.

The Cubs and Beavers are doing the Scottish challenge badge this term and I write this after our successful Burns supper which saw some great recitals from the Cubs after they enjoyed their haggis neeps and tatties washed down with our other national drink of Irn Bru ( sugar free I hasten to add), I would also like to thank Ian Bett and Jimmy Swan for attending on behalf of the Abernethy Burns Club.

Part of the Scottish challenge is to learn about our local community and as well as our planned walk around the village in conjunction with Abernethy Museum, I have challenged the Cubs to find the oldest Scout and the oldest surviving Scout in Abernethy. From the records available we have been able to ascertain that the Scouts were first registered in Abernethy on 29th September 1923 being held at the then Abernethy School, although it has been suggested that they may have been running for a couple of years before they officially registered. so if you have any memories that you would like to share about your Cub / Scout experience or any photos or momentos than please get in contact.

I would also like to thank Mr Alan MacGregor of Binn Skips who has kindly offered to give the group a donation which will allow us to operate without too much concern regarding the Scout group Funds, this in turn allows us to fully concentrate on the Cub and Beaver evenings and the training required as leaders.

Lastly I would like to thank James Cook, Stephen Trotter and Lorraine Kinnear ( who likes to be addressed as Baloo if you see her in the street) and for the Committee for their time and effort for starting the group up again.

Gordon Miller

SEPTEMBER 2015

Abernethy Beavers and Cubs have had another great year, with the Beaver Colony having the third biggest growth in the Perth and Kinross area. We currently have 18 boys and girls in the Beavers with the Cubs having 16. We also now have 5 Adult leaders as local lad Gavin Robertson has recently been recruited to the team and is a great asset along with our two young Leaders Jude Trotter and Rachel Miller. A special thank you has to go to Alice Illingworth who spent 4 years as a young leader but has recently left to go to study at University. We wish her all the success possible with her studies.

   The cubs enjoyed a weekend camping in June at Fordell Firs Activity Centre, Dunfermline, which was great fun apart from the Cubs getting up ready to start their day at 4.45 am on Saturday morning! During the camp the Cubs participated in abseiling, the adventure challenge course and caving. The caving brought much amusement when the boys noticed on the map that a certain tunnel was called "the Miller Squeeze" and was deemed not suitable for anyone with a larger waist then 34" however no matter how much they tried to persuade me there was no way I was putting it to the test.

The Cubs also participate in the cub football league and I'm delighted to say that they recently won the league, something that has never been done by any Abernethy Cub team before and I can remember playing in the same league in the late 70's. The trophy is not quite as old as the Scottish cup but was first won by a Cub Pack in 1972 so it's old enough in its own right. Thanks go to Brian Stewart for all his help with the running of the football and I can honestly say that by winning the league this will have helped him with his disappointment of the Scottish cup final of 2014 when that little Tayside team missed out to the Super J's.

I would also like to make mention of the late Dave Stalker who was Abernethy’s oldest surviving Scout. Dave was kind enough to come along to the Cubs and tell them all about his adventures of being a Scout in Abernethy and he will be sadly missed.

Finally if you are interested in helping or becoming a leader and would like to join the adventure, please get in contact with myself or any of the other Leaders.

Gordon Miller (01738 850 869)

DECEMBER 2015

This time of year is always a good time to reflect back on the past year and remember what an exciting year the Cubs and Beavers have had with their varying activities and camps and the laughs that we have shared with the boys and girls along the way. I always feel that the children are a great reflection of their families and the wider community in which we live and what a great community we have in Abernethy something we often take for granted. The Beavers had their first taste of camping under canvas in September with a parent and child camp at Powrie Park which was a great success. The Beavers were at fever pitch at the prospect of camping and had great fun around the camp fire with hot chocolate, marshmallows and campfire songs. All the parents agreed in the morning that despite their greatest fears they had actually enjoyed the experience of camping.

The Cubs have just completed their Outdoor Challenge Award which was 6 months of work and are now undertaking their Teamwork Challenge Award which consists of trying new team sports and games. They are scheduled to have this completed by December 2015. Three of our older Cubs, Andrew Kinnear, Jamie Stewart and Ross Stewart are close to achieving their Chief Scout Silver Award which is the highest award that a Cub Scout can achieve and will be the culmination of all their hard work over the last 3 years.

The Cubs are currently sitting top of the Cub Football winter league but only by a point and are being pushed all the way by Bankfoot for that privilege. The great thing about the cub football league is that the football is played in a sporting manner with the boys learning to win and probably more importantly how to lose well, something that seems to be sadly lost in today’s modern game. 2016 is a big year in Cub Scouting with this coming year marking the celebration of 100 years of Cub Scouts. With this in mind we are appealing to the community of Abernethy to share any photographs, stories or other memorabilia involving Cubs in Abernethy or Cubs in general. We are hoping to hold some form of celebration possibly in the summer, celebrating Scouting in Abernethy and intend inviting ex-cubs, leader’s volunteers far and near and indeed the community of Abernethy along to celebrate this unique occasion in Cub Scouting, so please get in touch if you have photographs and other memorabilia to share.

Finally if you are interested in helping or becoming a leader and would like to join the adventure then please get in contact with myself or any of the leaders.

Gordon Miller 01738 850869 / gordonmiller146@aol.com

SEPTEMBER 2016

ABERNETHY CUBS NEWS

Abernethy Beavers and Cubs have had another great year and we look forward to the coming term. The Beavers and Cubs now have a waiting list which is unfortunate but we are restricted to the amount of kids we can take in an evening.  However I am pleased to say that the Leadership team continues to grow and welcome Susan Poots and Jude Tait to the team.

The Cubs enjoyed a weekend camping in June at Fordell Firs Activity Centre, Dunfermline, which was great fun. Apart from the Cubs breaking their previous record set the previous year by a whole 25 minutes by getting up at 4.20am on the Saturday morning. So needless to say there were a lot of tired Cubs and Leaders come the Sunday evening.

Although it was a damp weekend the Cubs kept their spirits up and during the camp participated in climbing, crating and the adventure challenge course. All these activities test the kids confidence as well as relying on team work.

Below Right some of the Cubs take on the Jacobs ladder. This challenge requires concertation, problem solving, team work and out right bravery.

Below Left Crating the object is to keep adding to the crates whilst standing on the top crate. It requires a lot of concentration and balance. The other Cubs help by handing up crates using a long pole and each one is added in turn whilst standing astride of the top crate whilst trying to keep your balance without the stack falling over. A few of the Cubs managed to get the maximum of 16 crates before the stack fell over.

The Cubs also participated in the Spring Cub football league and took the league to the final day only to narrowly miss out to Bankfoot Cubs on the final Saturday. The Cubs certainly played some great football during the league and were very unfortunate not to have won the league this time round, but you don’t always get what you deserve from football as most of us know.

Thanks go to Brian Stewart for all his help with the running of the football and I can honestly say that he enjoyed the distraction of the Cub Football as it held his attention away from his beloved Dundee Utd who did ultimately get what they deserved last season.

 Below left some happy faces and some tired as the photo taken at the end of our camp.

Below right the Cubs that took part in the final day of the football season which was held on the Playing Fields at Glenalmond College.

100 Years of Cubs

2016 is a special year for Cub Scouts as it marks their centenary. With this in mind Abernethy Cubs are planning to hold our own celebration of Scouting in Abernethy at the Pavilion at 1pm on Saturday 10th September. So if you were a Cub or a Cub Leader or a helper at any time then please come along and share in the celebration.  We are especially interested in any photographs, story’s or indeed memorabilia that anyone would like to share, so please get in touch beforehand as we hope to have a display on the day.

Although it is a celebration of Scouting in Abernethy if you were a Cub elsewhere then please come and share in this celebration.

Finally if you are interested in helping or becoming a leader and would like to join the adventure, please get in contact with myself or any of the other Leaders.

Gordon Miller (01738 850 869)

MARCH 2017

Letters from the cubs

Doctor Booth's Visit to Abernethy Cubs

Dr Booth came in to talk to us about his job being a GP (general practitioner). He told us about all the different types of doctors you can be, such as a surgeon. We played a game where he picked somebody to stand in the middle (that was me) and he stuck pictures of body parts on me and the rest of the cubs had to guess what they were.

   By Dougal.

Abernethy cubs visit to the mosque

When we arrived evening prayer was about to start. We were very lucky the cubs because we got to see them do their evening prayer. We all had to take our shoes of for the politeness for God. The children have to learn Arabic to pray. At prayer they had to listen to the Imam. They prayed in different ways. They washed 3 times before and after praying. Everyone was very kind to us the cubs. It was very exciting to see them pray because we never knew what it looked like to pray. Arabic is a special language.  At the end they gave us a tasty packet of crisps. It was very kind of them.

   By Cameron

100 Years of Cubs

The cub scouts started back in 1916 by Robert Baden Powell and has been going since then.

There are loads of cubs everywhere. For the 100 years of cubs, everyone was given neckerchiefs that had 100 years of cubs written on them. We also had a special celebration at the pavilion with the Brownies and Beavers .

We ran lots of stalls such as fun activities, games, books, cakes and some other stalls. The Cubs, Brownies and Beavers had to work on the stalls. Most of them were in pairs. There were lots of things to do like eat cake and play games. When we were on our break it was so much fun doing everything that we did do and I really enjoyed the day.

  Reporter:  Josh Porter

JUNE 2017

SCOTLAND’S NEW SIGNING

One of Abernethy Cubs, Alex Cook (10) represented Scotland as the mascot when they played Canada on Wednesday 22nd March at Easter Road. The game finished in a 1-1 draw.

Alex when asked about the occasion said he really enjoyed the experience but thought he was going to have to go on as a sub at half time due to Scotland’s performance!

Cub Leader Gordon received the following letter of apology:

Hi Gordon,

Apologies from Alex for missing Cub Football last Wednesday. He was participating with a different team. I've spoken to him and it won't happen again. Regards,

Jim (dad)