By Tania McLaughlin
It’s always interesting watching our youth members on the first night of term as they happily catch up with their fellow Scouts to find out what they did during holidays. There is usually a lot of smiling, chatting and laughing, sometimes there are new youth members to meet and sometimes they are just thankful to have a place to chill out and recover from back to school shock. Then they all settle in, to play a game or activity before they sit down and brainstorm ideas to fill up the rest of the term – and sometimes longer.
The Cub Scouts decided they just wanted to play games and have fun with our newest Cub, Sia, before planning out their term and deciding what activities they’d like to lead for their fellow Cubs. Our Scouts and Venturers first week of term was spent making ANZAC biscuits and chatting about what they’d like to do while they ate biscuits and drank billy tea. That was a great introduction for our new members Felix and Elizabeth. Because our Joey Scouts are way more organised that the rest, they had already figured out what was going to happen and happily spent their first visit back learning about ANZACS – they invented a new game, practiced marching and changing over guard duty ready for ANZAC Day, mixed their ANZAC biscuits and read a story about ANZACS while enjoying their biscuits and billy tea and making friends with Evalina and Ansh.
By the time ANZAC Day arrived, our youth members were ready to march and participate in the Inala ANZAC service. Our Scout, Dakota, led the march carrying our flag and stood stoically at the base of the flagpole for the whole service – giving her flag party role the respect it deserved. Meanwhile, the rest of our group, from our youngest Joey Scout right up to our Leaders took turns guarding the memorial. Each year, we teach our youth about the history and importance of commemorating this occasion, and are always proud of how they present themselves.
Following the service, our families made their way back to the hall for a shared lunch and playtime for the youth while the adults attended the Annual Report Meeting. All sections decided the following week was a time to lighten up and get creative. While the Joeys focussed on crafting something special for Mother’s Day gifts, the Scouts and Venturer Scouts revisited a favourite activity with a modified Sip and Paint night (with mixed results) and the Cub Scouts decided to let off steam with a pyjama party disco.
We welcome all of our new youth members across all four sections, and say goodbye to those who have moved on to other adventures. For more information on how to join Scouts, check out our facebook page or Scouts Qld website to see how your family can join the adventure.
