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1st Aldermaston Scouts celebrates opening new Squirrels section




The 1st Aldermaston Scout Group is overjoyed after opening its new Squirrels section, one of the first to form in the Pang Valley district.

The group has steadily risen to around 90 members over four sections since its inception nine years ago.

And it hopes this latest addition will attract even more new faces, each driven by adventure and learning new skills.

Squirrels celebrating their investiture ceremony on March 25. The adults L to R are: Bruce 'Badger' Jackson, Darrell 'Silver Birch' Weston, Ben 'Akela' Green, Katie 'Maple' Reed and Tamsin 'Ash' Haynes
Squirrels celebrating their investiture ceremony on March 25. The adults L to R are: Bruce 'Badger' Jackson, Darrell 'Silver Birch' Weston, Ben 'Akela' Green, Katie 'Maple' Reed and Tamsin 'Ash' Haynes

After holding a successful open day in early February, 16 boys and girls signed up to the new section, or drey (squirrel nest).

The group then hosted an investiture ceremony on Saturday, March 25, to welcome its new Squirrels.

And new Squirrel Scout volunteers also joined the section. These are Darrell 'Silver Birch' Weston, Katie 'Maple' Reed, Tasmin 'Ash' Haynes and Amelia 'Willow' Keightley.

Group Scout volunteer Ben Green joined the Scouts to support his children almost six years ago.

He explained the new section started after local development officer Kelly Fricker and acting district commissioner Simon Pickett, of Berkshire Scouts, recognised the group's potential for expansion.

"We were identified as an area where growth was needed," said Mr Green. "We already had a list of children waiting to go into Beaver section, which before Squirrels was our youngest one."

The section engages in all kinds of crafts and outdoor activities from den building, mini hikes and its Let it Grow programme, which four-year-old Clark particularly enjoyed.

"It's fun, I love it," he said. "I like building a bridge and getting my badges and growing my grass head. He is so tall now, I can't see his eyes anymore."

Clark, aged 4, showing off the grass head he created
Clark, aged 4, showing off the grass head he created

His father, Nigel Anderson, added: "My son has been attending Squirrels for several weeks now.

"The volunteers who run it are friendly, patient, knowledgeable and create engaging activities that are both fun and educational.

"Squirrels is a valuable asset to our community and we're lucky to have it."

Many members have already been awarded their first two badges, and all are currently working towards achieving their Acorn Award, their highest honour and a tough nut to crack.

"We're quite a small community and one of the things that's really been great with this process is that its brought in a lot of new people from the community we didn't know," added Mr Green.

"There's 16 new young people who have signed up, and only a couple of those have got siblings who are already members."

And the group hopes to welcome many more as it prepares to run further meetings and activities.



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