Scouts Celebrate Centenary With Sponsored Walk

As part of the 100th anniversary celebrations of the Group, members from all sections met at the HQ on Saturday 11th July for a sponsored walk. Over 50 Beavers, Cubs, Scouts, Seniors and leaders took part on the 12.87 mile hike starting and finishing at the HQ. Each section walked a different distance.

After a group photo, we started with a lap around Cockerton Green. Then we walked down through the cut and onto Staindrop Road heading towards Mowden Bridge. Follow-ing the footpath along Baydale Beck, we ended up at the Northumbrian Water Treatment Works at Broken Scar who kindly gave us permission to use their facilities. This is where the Beaver Colony ended the walk.

After a short break, the remaining sections headed towards Broken Scar Picnic Area. Once we arrived at Broken Scar, the Cubs, some Scouts and a Cub sized Senior (Maverick) instantly headed towards the play area. Scout leader John Newton said “I can’t remember the last time I enjoyed myself with such wonderful people”.

We followed the Teesdale Way along the river Tees for about a mile until we reached a large open field on one of the rivers many meanders. At this point, we looped around the field, with Neil making sure that everyone went right to the end of field, and followed the same footpath back up to Broken Scar. Once we returned to the picnic area Neil swiftly made sure that no one went back onto the play equipment and quickly continued back towards the Northumbrian Water facilities where the Cubs completed their section of the walk.

 About 15 members continued on from the treatment works back towards Coniscliffe Road and then back onto the Teesdale Way heading towards High Coniscliffe. After about 45 minutes of walking the group stopped for lunch by the river, about half way between High Coniscliffe and Low Coniscliffe. During the lunch break some members of the group started skimming stones followed by a competition to find out who could hit a half-submerged log on the other side of the river with Tom being the first to hit it.

After sandwiches had been eaten and stones had been thrown, the group continued back along the path towards High Coniscliffe. On this leg of the journey the girl Scouts and Seniors started chasing Chris Hewins leading to him tripping over a rock embedded in the ground and doing a rather good impression of superman and saying as he fell “Oh for God’s sake!”. Once in High Coniscliffe the group was met by Leader-In-Charge Alec Llewellyn who provided them all with water and copious amounts of penguin biscuits. A group photograph was also taken before 12 members of the group continued back to the HQ with the departure of the Robinson trio.

The group continued up past The Mill House and followed the footpaths up towards Hall Moor Farm. At this point the group could see the end of the walk as DSMS (previously Branksome School) came into view as the group crossed a bridge over the A1(M) motorway and followed the footpath down past the radio mast near Coniscliffe Grange and back onto Staindrop Road. From here,the group walked down to Mowden Bridge and back through the wooded area towards the HQ. At this point, the Scouts and Seniors felt like Chris Hewins needed to cool down a little so proceeded to throw whatever water they had left over at him. Nevertheless everyone returned to the HQ to complete the walk. Tim Hewins, Panther Pack Cub Leader, said “I had an enjoyable time with pleasant company” and one of the Scouts was heard saying “I enjoyed the walk”.

June Camp 2015

Thanks to the addition of three new girl Scouts who had recently moved up from Cubs, June Camp 2015 at Spennithorne was the first camp where there were more girl Scouts than boys. The campers met, as usual, at the Den on Friday evening and packed the van before setting off to the site where they have been camping most Junes since 2002.

There were three Scout kitchens which were led by Ben, Holly and Patrick (with Liam acting as a camp consultant as he was the only Senior). The ground at the camp was extremely hard thus difficult to penetrate with the spades to dig pits. Despite this, kitchens were successfully set up and wood collecting along the river Ure commenced. Whilst searching for wood, Scouts came across a dead bird which they immediately felt the need to investigate more closely with spades.

Scouts were sent to bed shortly after sunset however, much to the annoyance of leaders who wanted to sleep, they talked late into the night. Just before midnight, a bunch of Scouts were spotted wandering around the campsite claiming that they couldn’t sleep so they had decided to get redressed and go for a walk! Once caught, they were sent straight back to bed and told to attempt not talking as a method of drifting off to sleep.

The star trails on Friday night over camp

Scouts crawled out of their sleeping bags on Saturday morning and tucked into bacon sandwiches before packing a bag with their lunch in and setting off on a 6.5 mile hike. During the hike, they took it in turns holding the map so they could practice their map reading skills. The weather was so glorious on Saturday, the group took a prolonged lunch so Scouts could paddle in the water to cool down.

Although almost all the Scouts returned from their hike exhausted and with pink faces, that didn’t stop them from playing football in their free time before tea.

For tea there were a ton burgers and sausages which were cooked on the barbecue. After they’d had their portion, Scouts could return for seconds, thirds and some even fourths. Despite their greediness, there was still food left over at the end! Following the burgers, Scouts were given a chocolate biscuit to finish off with which Liam compared himself to since he had been deserted by fellow Senior Maverick who pulled out of camp only a few days before.

On Saturday evening, everyone in camp gathered around the campfire for a hybrid X-Fire/Campfire with a mix of traditional camping songs and modern hits. At first, some of the new Scouts were mortified by the loud, out of tune singing (95% of which was coming from Mark), but it wasn’t long until they were ardently belting out Hey Jude, In the Jungle, The Great American Railway and Music Man with everyone else. Holly, Holly and Caitlin even debuted their new song about biscuits and chicken nuggets…

On Sunday morning, Scouts discovered something very strange had happened to the middle kitchen overnight: Patrick had presumably turned into a spider because a web of sisal had been woven through shovels, watercarriers and kitchen posts making the kitchen almost inaccessible. He had also stolen the billies from all three kitchens and wrote his name out of them — consequently dobbing himself in. The mess was hastily cleared away by Ethan, Matthew and Kieran suspiciously without fuss early that morning. Were they trying to cover for Patrick’s arachnid tendencies? And might spider-Pat make a return at Summer Camp? If he does, read it first in the 8th Mag.

For breakfast there was eggy bread and beans which was followed by an informal inspection to ensure high camping standards were being retained. Then they got some free time.

Scouts hadn’t only been creating food related tunes at June Camp, they also created a new game which entailed squatting down and grasping on to the grass on the hill as tight as they could then leaning back as far as they could before the grass tore and they fell down the hill backwards narrowly avoiding thistly injuries.

Throughout the morning, Scouts also completed badge work with some of them learning about the country code with Erika whilst another group were tested on their knowledge of British wildlife.
Reflecting on their first weekend camp, Nicole and Annabelle (ex-Tuesday night Cubs) were quoted saying: “It’s alright”. If that verdict doesn’t class a camp as a success — what does?

Garden Fete 2015

In the week building up to the 64th annual Garden Fete on Cockerton Green, members of the group nervously watched weather forecasts to see if the rain which was predicted would hold off so the fete could be held outdoors. Thankfully, on this occasion, the weather man was wrong and the decision to hold the fete outside was made early on Saturday morning. (This decision was also influenced by Maddie’s petition for an outside fete which had a whole seven signatures.)

From around 8am, leaders, Seniors, parents, Scouts, and the committee worked together to prepare the usual variety of stalls, games, tents and – to celebrate the group’s century year – a bell tent with a replica camp kitchen. The kitchen, which was manned by the Seniors all day, was packed full of gadgets and cooking equipment so it was an accurate representation of life at camp.

Above descending: The PR tent, Punch and Judy,
Charlie on a Pogo-stick

The kitchen drew attention from ex-members of the group, one being Russ Wilkinson who praised the good spirits of the people in the group. Arthur Morgan, another ex-member (and retired teacher), commented: “It's nice to see the Green being used as it should be used for everyone in the community.” He also explained that the current bell tent was used when he was a Scout!

The newly opened Milk Shack in Cockerton was kind enough to offer any member of the group wearing uniform a discount on their milkshakes. This offer was taken up by the Scouts… numerous times by some.

Although there were some intermittent drizzles of rain throughout the day, somewhere in the region of £4285 was raised (and that’s not including program selling). Puffed out from packing away, Alec Llewellyn, leader-in-charge, said he was extremely pleased with and thankful for everyone’s efforts.

Neil prepares to release a Chinese lantern

May Camp 2015 (Croft-on-Tees)

On a slightly rainy Friday 15th May, our group departed to Croft-on-Tees for the second year running. When we got there, the estate manager kindly brought all the equipment and personal kit through into the field where we would stay for the duration of the weekend. Despite the random bursts of rain as we were erecting the campsite, we managed to get everything done swiftly thanks to Liam and Maverick’s tent pitching advice: "if it's not a right angle, it's a wrong angle".

After sausage rolls and assorted pastries for supper, the Scouts and Seniors continued pitching kitchens and wood collecting before bed.


After a 7:30am start on Saturday morning, fires were lit and morning flag break commenced. Bacon sandwiches were cooked and eaten as the Scouts and Seniors prepared for the arrival of the Beaver colony and the two Cub packs later on that morning.

Inspection took place shortly after breakfast during which Erika spoke some words of wisdom: “If you need to keep someone’s feet on the ground, you need to put responsibility on their shoulders”.

Shortly after inspection, that's when we heard the shouting and screaming of small children - and we knew the Cubs and Beavers had arrived. We all gathered around the flag where Alec Llewellyn, leader-in-charge, welcomed everybody to camp and where there was a going-up ceremony for members moving up to the next section.

The Cubs and Beavers were then split into three teams: Maddie's Mammoths (the best team), Maverick's Monkeys, and Liam's Loch Ness Monsters (the worst team) to compete in a number of relays including running, jumping, hopping, skipping and taking your entire team there and back holding hands. A game of three way football followed afterwards.

During this time, the Scouts cooked up a lunch of sausages, beans and bread rolls which Tuesday night Cub Elliot described as "very enjoyable". The Cubs and Beavers then got a visit from the game keepers who brought their dogs. Some Scouts hid a scented item in the field and the dog had to find it. However, when it was clear that the dogs wouldn’t find it Neil quoted "Well done!! The Scouts have broken the dog".

A game of tug of war followed where Maddie's Mammoths triumphed. Shortly after, the young visitors returned home after a very enjoyable day in camp. A Scout and Senior game of non-stop cricket was played to relax after a busy day looking after the Cubs and Beavers. Tea that night was spaghetti bolognese with apple pie for pudding.

Later that evening, we all gathered in the Senior kitchen for a campfire. Traditional campfire songs were sung such as: ‘Campfire’s Burning’, ‘The Great American Railway’, ‘Cow Kicked Nelly’ and ‘In the Quartermaster’s Stores (behind the door)’ and also some less traditional ones such as a mashup of ‘I Like the Flowers’, ‘Merrily-Sing-the-Donkey’, ‘John Brown’ ft. ‘Ging Gang Goolie’. After all the singing, we fell asleep.


We awoke early on Sunday morning for a breakfast of bacon grill and vegetable omelettes. Inspection was very quick and afterwards everyone helped to put down tents, dismantle kitchens and return unused wood to the forest. Camp soup was for lunch which had been cooking all morning.

Once everything was packed away, the estate manager arrived with his trailer to take equipment up to the van and we all made our way back to the HQ.

Written by Maddie Simpson - the least smelly Senior

Centenary Celebrations

Years of planning, preparation and nervous anticipation all came down to one bright but windy day. Saturday April 11th was the date of the 176th annual Grand National at Aintree and it was an unforgettable race! Many Clouds won the race with odds of 25-1 and, in the last race of his career, AP McCoy finished 5th riding ShutTheFrontDoor.

Meanwhile, more importantly, 734 furlongs away in Cockerton Green, the celebrations for the 8th Darlington Scout group’s 100 year anniversary were in full swing.

Planning for the centenary started several years ago when it was decided that to get people engaged more with the group, four teddy bears were to be made and named after four significant members from the group. (Lishman: Founding members of the group. Brigham: One of the first Cub leaders in 1917. Beadle: the longest serving Scout leader. And Pawson: One of the first Scouts in the group.) Between the four of them, they have travelled to all four quarters of the globe, took part in a diverse variety of sports from skiing to rugby, been pictured next to an infinite amount of beverages and sweets, met celebrities, cross-dressed, and even been kidnapped. It has been a busy yet fun year for the bears – as it has been for the Group also.

Since the start of 2015, in preparation for the open day, Seniors, Rovers, Leaders and Committee members have worked together to clean up, redecorate – and in some cases – rebuild parts of the Den to make the grade 1 listed building presentable. The group’s efforts and enthusiasm were unsurpassable. Neil, Group Archivist, summarised it best: “Everyone did a fantastic amount of work and had fun at the same time.”

One day before the open day, 8th members were out in force building gadgets for the mock camp kitchen, setting up seats for the screening of ‘The Camp 2014’, and filling notice boards full of information and pictures about the different sections. A Cypress Oak tree was also dropped off by Darlington Borough Council which was planted outside the Den next to Cockerton Green. “Hopefully this will last another 100 years” remarked the council employee who dropped it off. Despite initial worries about the roots of the Oak growing too close to a underground drainpipe, the Group is now proud to associate the tree with them.

It was an early start for members on April 11th. Bacon sandwiches were served as final preparations for the day were made – now members just needed to hope that people turned up. In his latest newsletter before the open day Alec, leader-in-charge, said “I don’t know if 2, 200 or 2000 people will turn up.”

At 11am-ish ex-members and locals started to trickle in. In the entrance way stood a trek cart that Scouts used to fill with their equipment before heaving it to camp in the good old days. It had been repainted and refurbished this year by Tom Milner and Tom Dodd.

However, it was the brand new museum room which was the highlight of the day for many people. The room, a result of Neil’s hard work over the past two years, contains a wide variety of artefacts, records, pictures and documents which are significant to the Group. Also, in the committee room, dozens of historic log books and photographs were brought out of storage so ex-members could look back and reminisce.

Upstairs, the 25 minute film documenting life at summer camp 2014 was being shown every 45 minutes. The film, which was shot, edited and directed completely by the Seniors, was well received and impressed most viewers. Others were apparently so emotionally touched by it that they had to leave before the end… Or something like that.

In the Main Hall, stalls displaying what different sections of the group do were bring manned by the Leaders. At the Beaver’s stall, guests had the opportunity to decorate their own cupcake. The Scout stall was very Scouty as it encouraged people to learn five knots and then be timed doing to ‘Five Knot Challenge’. And, the Cub stall had a dead frog. It is estimated that several hundred people turned up in the end.

Outside, the Seniors had built a mock camp kitchen, complete with a green box, gadgets and a fire. The previous weekend, at Easter camp, they had practised backwoods cooking (which is cooking on an open fire without using utensils) and they had successfully made tasty twists, garlic bread, eggs in oranges, and pigs in blankets. They attempted to replicate that accomplishment at the open day. James, Rover Squire, admitted though that the consistency of the mixture for the twists was wrong so they gave up on them. However, the garlic bread was a huge success.

The Mayor and Mayoress of Darlington arrived at 1pm to officially open the museum. Poppy, a Senior who met the Mayor, described shaking his hand as ‘fabulous’. The Mayor and Mayoress toured around the Den before finishing in the main hall for Alec's speech and the cutting of the dark blue, birthday cake shaped like an 8.

Alec talked about the evolution of the group, decade by decade: the characters over the years, the building's incredible story in the 1960s, and the group's struggles with scouting associations before finally becoming independent.

Merida and Maddie in the mock camp kitchen

He explained why he thinks the group is special and why it has lasted 100 years. “A key part to me is our style of camping. And what makes us special is the people. I always think of the group as an extended family.” This was reflected in the atmosphere throughout the open day: Viv and Neil’s continuous organisation, the infinite energy of the Cubs who darted around the Den carrying messages, the Committee and Seniors singing to each other via the radios, and everyone’s perseverance to knock Erika off the top stop in the Five Knot Challenge. It's undeniable that it is people who make the group great. Yes, they have their differences at times and Scouts make mistakes but Alec spoke for everyone in the concluding line of his speech: “I feel so proud to be a part of this family.”

If you enjoyed the 100 year celebrations, clear your calendar for the 150th birthday celebrations! The current Scouts and Seniors promise teleport trips to Hunger Hill (despite it still probably being boggy), holographic Lishman bear, iSisal, and ‘The Camp 2065’ (in 4D and 80K-HD)streamed straight into your brain. Also: guided tours by the RoboNewton – the Robot that replaced John.

Easter Camp 2015 (Boldron)

On a nippy Friday morning in early April, after only just securing transport to get the camping equipment to the site in Boldron, the small group of scouts, seniors and leaders were raring to go for the first weekend camp of the year.

In true camping tradition, the weather was abysmal. The sky was grey, the field was boggy, and the gate to the field was on top of so much soft mud and dirt, it would have been impossible for the van to go through it. Thankfully, the farmer, whose field the group would be camping in, offered his tractor and trailer as means of getting the equipment onto the field.

Scouts learning about British wildlife

Despite the woeful weather, camp was almost fully erected by around lunchtime. So the scouts and seniors were rewarded with fish finger sandwiches which were fried in the marquee. Veteran scout leader, John, commented on how impressed he was with everyone: “The weather was treacherous but everyone pulled together to put camp together.”

Scouts and seniors alike partook in a British wildlife test during the afternoon where they needed to identify over 30 specific species of animals and match them to their natural habitat. Some campers were better at this than others.

Before tea, there was a game of ultimate Frisbee which left many of the campers filthy after sliding, diving, and falling in the mud. Although Tom’s team got more points (7, in total), it was Neil’s team who won the game (despite only scoring 4 goals). Before being allowed to go back to camp, everyone needed to head down to the river for a wash.

That evening, Neil hosted a quiz in the marquee where the general knowledge of the group was tested. Maddie, smelly senior, said “the quiz took my mind off the cold and the hot cross buns we got for super were tasty.”

Liam wearing knee pads to
keep his knees clean

Saturday morning seemed to drag. It took ages for the fires to be lit (in spite of the knee pads certain seniors were modelling so they wouldn’t get their knees dirty), ages for breakfast to be cooked, and then ages for the kitchens to be tidied up afterwards. Inspection took place so late in the morning, to save time, uniform tops didn’t need to be worn and the making of soup for lunch commenced straight after inspection finished. However, leaders were pleased to see high camping standards being maintained despite the difficult weather conditions.

With an open day at the scout HQ planned for the week following Easter camp to commemorate the centenary of the 8th Darlington Scout group, the Seniors started practising their backwoods cooking – as that is what they will be demonstrating in a mock camp kitchen at the Open Day. Using the hot ashes in their fire pit, they practised making eggs in oranges, twists, and sausages wrapped in bacon. The seniors were shocked with how much the backwoods food exceeded their expectations of it. Poppy went so far to say that her twist tasted ‘really nice’!

Meanwhile, the scouts listened to the knife and saw talk by John to ensure that they are safe when using sharp tools around camp followed by doing map and compass badge work.

On Saturday evening, everyone was invited into the marquee for a camp fire. Classic favourites such as ‘I like the flowers’, ‘You'll never go to heaven’ and ‘merrily-sings-the-donkey’ were belted out alongside some new songs including ‘Geordie Alouette’.


Scouts thought that bacon grill sandwiches and beans couldn’t get any better but when the sun came out as well – as it did on Sunday morning – the scouts were happily proved wrong. There was a spring in John’s step as everyone made their way around the back of the marquee for a scout’s own Easter service. Lishman the bear even came out to listen to the hymns, prayers, and an Easter story.

The rest of the day was spent dismantling tents and packing up camp. And then moving equipment from camp to trailer, from trailer to van, and finally from van to the Den. Once everything was unpacked to where it lives in the Den, everyone was allowed to go home to enjoy their Easter eggs.

The Seniors' night club bell tent. Complete with fairy lights.

Christmas Carol Concert 2014

Twas a week before Christmas, when all through the den

Not a Scout was stirring, not even a Fen.

The tinsel was hung by the girders with care,

As the Christmas carol concert was being held there.

In the bleak midwinter, the 8th welcomed over 135 people into the main hall was decked in the traditional mix of tinsel, trees and decorations for the annual carol service. The evening was anything but a silent night as sections of the group rocked around the Christmas tree to jingles including ‘Rudolph the Red Nosed Cowboy’ and ‘Santa Claus is coming to Town’. The Squirrel pack’s rendition of ‘Do they know it’s Christmas’ was described as a joy to the world. After the festivities, mince pies, biscuits and drinks were available where everyone wished each other a merry little Christmas in dulci jubilo (in sweet rejoicing) before going home.