The autumn began with Operation Commando in the Hafren Forest where our scouts set out in a single group through the forest pursued by teams of Explorer Scouts. The weather was great and everyone got round safely although rather exhausted and hungry as they missed the hot dog base.

Our key activity for the autumn term was the production of a silent movie inspired by Kenny Everett. The movie contains sketches involving DIY tasks which rather predictably end in disaster. Each scout had to create a task involving ladders, hammers, drills and all manner of tools which was then set to Kenny’s famous tune. At the end of each sketch the scout was seen phoning 999. Its on the website.

Our annual bonfire night with the Cubs and Beavers was held at Dolforgan Hall in Kerry with a BBQ at Geoff Williams’s yard. It was a great success and everyone enjoyed watching the fire and fireworks. It was followed by Remembrance Sunday and a Christmas Party at the Kerry Lamb.

The Spring term included a 4 hour Night Hike from Pen-y-Bryn to Mochdre  in which our Troop took an interesting route bypassing our own base completely and finishing at 2am. It was a clear night so navigation by stars might have been an option for them but not on this occasion.

We took the scouts to an activity weekend at JCA in Condover as a combined event with Llanidloes Scout Troop. Scouts enjoyed wall climbing, bugging building, Jacob’s ladder and a range of other outdoor activities and there was an added element of competitiveness between troops.

The start of the summer term included activities designed to contribute towards the Chief Scout Gold Award. Our 2 most experienced scouts, Steffan and Jamie, led a meeting each to explore the diverse topics of the Tour de France and the Pepsi / Coka Cola rivalry respectively which culminated in them completing their Gold Award. Other scouts are well on their way to completing their Gold Awards too and the plan is for them to achieve this before they move on to Explorers next year.

The summer included the All Wales Camp in Builth Wells which was, as ever, a great success with over 1500 scouts attending from across Wales. Although smaller in scope than in previous years there were a lot of things to do including car driving and wheel chair basketball.  We camped alongside Llanidloes Scouts which again added to fun of the event.

Over the summer a number of scouts reflected on their commitments with school and other clubs and sadly only one felt able to return in September. With only 3 Cubs due to move up to Scouts it was not possible to run an effective Scout Troop so we were forced to suspend Scouts for the autumn term. To provide an interim solution and continuity until Spring a new Scout/Older Cub group was formed and this meets on Wednesdays.

We thank the parents for their continued support and we hope to see Scouts back soon.

AGM - Report 2015

Last year we had our largest scout group to date peaking at 22 scouts but reducing to 16 at Christmas with 2 scouts moving on to the new Explorers group in Newtown. The autumn began with Operation Commando in the Dyfinant Forest where our scouts set out in 4 groups through the forest. They got round safely and tried to avoid capture by Explorer Scouts but sadly did not hold on to many tokens. It was followed with an activity weekend at PGL near Shrewsbury for the whole group; scouts, cubs and beavers. We took part in a variety of activities such as raft building, abseiling, climbing, high ropes, jacob’s ladder; all brilliant.

Our annual bonfire night with the Cubs and Beavers was a great success and everyone enjoyed watching the fire and fireworks. It was followed by Remembrance Sunday and a Christmas Party at Mirrens. The Spring term included a 4 hour Night Hike from Penstroed Quarry to Mochdre and a visit to Cae Post Recycling Centre. We undertook ecology projects including habitat boxes for bats and conservation work here at Abermule School.

The start of the summer term included a look at third world issues which contributed to 3 scouts achieving their Gold Awards which were handed out at the AGM in July. We are proud that these scouts were able to achieve the Gold Award before moving on to Explorers and we hope that other scout will be inspired to do the same. The summer included a camp at The Forest, a hike to Dolforwyn Castle and some bush craft activities. A very wet charity car wash raised £50 for the Nepal Earthquake Relief and we ended the term with the ever popular off road karting activity in Aberhafesp. A video can be found on the Scout Events page of our website.

The autumn term has seen a reduction in our numbers to 7 but we expect this to rise again over the year. All 7 took part in Operation Commando and we enjoyed a camp and fun day at Broneirion with scouts and cubs from other groups in Montgomeryshire. The fun day raised a further £128 for Nepal Earthquake Relief. The year promises to be just as busy, including another attempt at a silent movie, this time inspired by Kenny Everett.

AGM Report 2014

We currently have 22 scouts. We’ve had a busy year in scouts with some excellent activities.

The autumn began with an activity weekend at PGL near Shrewsbury where the scouts took part in a variety of activities such as kayaking, abseiling, climbing, orienteering and travelling on a zip wire. PGL was brilliant and the scouts were so keen that we returned again this year with Cubs and Beavers.

The following weekend 5 scouts took part in Operation Commando and found out why paying attention to orienteering sessions is a good idea. They all got round safely but did not hold on to many jewels.

We celebrated our 60th anniversary in style with an all day party.  The weather was kind to us and parents and former scouts joined us to take part in various games, sports and a hog roast. It was opened by Russell George.

Our annual bonfire night with the Cubs which was a great success with our best ever fireworks display and everyone enjoyed watching the fire and roasting marshmallows. The meetings leading up to Christmas were used to shoot a Benny Hill style silent movie in the form of sketches which the scouts had to prepare and act. It was great fun and can be viewed on our website. A Christmas dinner at The Kerry Lamb rounded off the year.

The spring term began with a focus on communication where we looked at Semaphore, Morse code and digital technology. About half the troop took part in the Incident Night Hike which was quite a challenge but they rose to the task and used their orienteering skills to get round safely.

We made a visit to a local farm to see how a modern free range poultry business with 16000 hens is run and had the chance to see some new born lambs including one born while we were there. This was followed by a DIY task to build habitat boxes for bats where the scouts showed imaginative ways to use a hammer.  Later in the term we went to McDonalds for a tour around their kitchen and to carry out a litter pick for them.

This year promises to be just as busy. A total of 12 scouts took part in Operation Commando in September and we returned to PGL Activity centre in October. Parents are invited to see our diary with details and pictures of events on our website.

AGM Report 2013

The scout troop has had an eventful year which kicked off with a medieval theme. We attempted a 13th century castle siege using egg boxes and paper catapults before joining the cubs and beavers for a scavenger hunt and hike at Dolforwyn castle. The warm weather allowed us to have a camp at Bosun’s house where scouts planned and cooked their own meals, enjoyed nettle soup and learnt how to make a mug out of a lump of wood. After some medieval games and heraldry we moved on to IT skills and we looked at computers from the 1980s to Windows 8, code breaking with the enigma machine and WW2 gas masks.

We held 2 events with Cubs; Bonfire night which was as ever a fun event with a fire, hot hogs, toffee apples and marsh mallows  and a Christmas party at La Terrazza for which we all made decorations and invited local illusionist Kelvin Dean to entertain us all throughout the evening.

We were invited to visit Hafren Radio and had the pleasure of recording our own advert which was aired on the radio. Charlie became the voice of the troop and you can hear the ad on our website. A movie night was held looking at the films of Charlie Chaplin with a view to producing our own silent movie which we have just completed.

A highlight of the year was a visit to RAF Cosford with the whole group and 2 large coaches took us there. It was a great opportunity for members of Abermule scot group to do something together and the museum was a real inspiration to them. An Orienteering and map reading session was followed by a hike over Pennaron Hill in Kerry using GPS navigation tools to find hidden Geocaches.

As the term came to an end we enjoyed a  street sports session at the Skatepark in Newtown, more camp based outdoor activities and a laser shooting session at uStrike.  We rounded off the year with a charity car wash by which we raised £40 for Air Ambulance followed by the ever popular Off Road Karting experience in Aberhafesp as a final treat.

Next year promises to be just as busy, with big events including, the PGL Activity weekend and Operation Commando in September and the All Wales Camp in June. Parents are invited to see our diary with details and pictures of events on our website.

AGM Report 2012

Since two new leaders (David Hill and Paul Martin) took over the running of Abermule Scouts last September 2011 things have been busy busy busy!! Initially we started the troop with a number of around 8 Scouts and at the time of writing this our numbers have increased to a fantastic 18.
Our highlights for the year include Bonfire night, the silent movie, Christmas meal, visiting McDonalds, visit from Red Dragon Bushcraft, bowling, night hikes, geocaching, and much much more! We ended the year with Off Road Karting which was brilliant fun !!!

Our first camp this year was to Staylittle Outdoor Centre where we took part in archery and team building tasks and this was followed by the All Wales Scout Camp which hosted 1000+ Scouts!!!

AGM Report 2011

Abermule Scouts restarted in September 2011 with two new leaders so this report covers only the first 5 weeks. At present, we have 10 Scouts but this number is due to increase between half term and Christmas.
My name is David Hill (Skipper) and I’ve been through the ranks for Scouting, I was a Cub, Scout and Venture Scout in Newtown and now I live in Abermule.

I run Scouts with the assistance of Paul Martin (Bosun) and have had good feedback from the parents on our first few meetings. We have been running a mixture of events ranging from pioneering skills, craft skills and team games and have been getting the Scout records up to date and creating structure within the Patrol.

Our first major event is a Fire Skills Night in October in preparation for bonfire night. We will be building a bonfire and learning different techniques for fire making. The Cubs have been invited to join us on bonfire night to enjoy the fire and watch a fireworks display. Both Cubs and Scouts made a Guy to go the top of the fire and went on the building a bonfire. Bonfire Night was a huge success with fireworks lighting up the sky. There were hot dogs, toffee apples and scouts enjoyed roasting marshmallows on the embers.

Our plans for the future include Camping, Hiking, Climbing, Sailing, getting involved in local community conservation projects. Other plans include fund raising for the Abermule Scout Group, inviting local professional people such as Police, Firemen and Ambulance men to carry out sessions.

This report will be updated with more information about the activities we undertake

The Abermule Scout Group would like to invite new members aged 10½ to 13 to join our Scout Troop. Please contact us for more information enquiries@abermulescoutgroup.org.uk

We look forward to welcoming new members to the troop.

Address: Abermule Community Centre         Email:enquiries@abermulescoutgroup.org.uk