It was a fun-packed day of adventure for 26th MK Scouts Coniston Cubs as they took part in their first ever day trip for an exciting programme of outdoors activities at the Leslie Sell Activity Centre near Bedford.

The day kick-started with a Grand Howl, and then the wonderful welcoming of Ashley R as a new Cub pack member. Ashley made his promise in an investiture ceremony, and was presented with his necker by his Sixer, before the group moved off to start their adventures.

First up was the bouldering wall challenge. Cubs grappled with different type of hand and foot holds to traverse the wall. It was challenging, but there was still time for several goes and even ‘Spiderman’ poses!

After testing their strength and stamina on the bouldering wall, and a quick pit-stop for snacks and drinks, it was time for pedal car racing in the woods. The Cubs had a great time doing laps of the off-road track. In a series of closely-contested team races, the girls team came first!

Additional excitement was to be had as leaders then lined up for the final race. Sixer Jessica timed the event to ensure all was fair. After a series of competitive overtakes — including an overtake of both Akela and our 26th MK Scouts Group Scout Leader (GSL) Jenny on the inside track of the same corner — Bagheera was crowned winner!

Cubs then learnt a new skill as they all had a go at archery. The centre’s specialist instructors taught the Cubs how to hold a bow, the correct stance for aiming, and how to fire arrows safely. As Cubs gained confidence, they honed their skills with many managing to hit the golden middle of targets – well done Cubs!
It was then time to sing happy birthday to GSL Jenny and have shortbread with smarties baked by Akela (who doesn’t like chocolate?), before moving on to the final activity of the trip — the artificial caving system! Ten Cubs at a time took the challenge of entering the caving tunnels and finding their way through the maze. They voted this the most fun adventure activity of the day!
Great friendship was shown today as Cubs helped each other with their helmets, collectively searched for a missing woggle in the cave, shared a torch, and formed buddy groups to provide reassurance for anyone who was afraid of the dark, space or even spiders! Akela was super proud of 26th MK Scouts Coniston Cubs today for demonstrating such wonderful Scout values of friendship, respect and care. 26th MK Scouts Coniston Cubs are amazing!
Despite the Met Office forecast of more than 90% to 95% chance of rain, we were so lucky (particularly after getting SUPER soaked at our last meeting in Campbell Park) as it only rained twice on us, once during our lunch break whilst we were under the picnic shelter and the second time was when we were all in the caving area.

Some of Akela’s favourite Cub quotes today included:

“Today I made a new friend.”
“I had lots of fun. The cave was the best!”
“Yeah, I hit the yellow middle of the target in archery.”
“I’d give today a score of 9.5 out of 10! It could have been improved if it was even longer and if we did even more activities…”

We look forward to many more adventures outdoors this coming Autumn term and maybe even camping :0) Watch this space…