Ajax News
December 2008
Welcome to the latest edition of Ajax
News which aims to keep you abreast
of what’s happening in the Group. In
this issue we have a report on SIX
recently presented Chief Scout’s Gold
Awards – news about how the
Explorers are working towards their
Duke of Edinburgh’s Bronze Award –
and a wonderful article by Group Scout
Leader George Barber on his family’s
55 year history with Ajax. Do let me
have any comments or contributions
for future issues. You can email me at:
[email protected]
Sue Hawkings – Editor.
Chief Scout’s Gold Awards
What is the point of Scouting? It is all too easy for
pressured parents to see Scouting as just another
‘after school activity’ to be somehow fitted in amongst
the rugby sessions or ballet lessons, or as just
another organisation wanting your money or your
time for fundraising. The Chief Scout’s Gold Awards
provide a reminder that Scouting can be so much
more. The original idea for Scouting came entirely
from one man, Lord Baden Powell, whose leadership
during the siege of ‘Mafeking’ in 1899/1900 made
him a national hero and celebrity. His aim in founding
Scouting was to give direction to disaffected
youngsters hanging around on Edwardian street
corners. He sought to teach leadership,
resourcefulness, determination and how to learn
through taking part in challenging activities such as
camping and trekking. Sounds familiar? A hundred
years later, the Chief Scout’s Awards give recognition
to young people who have succeeded in a varied and
demanding set of challenges.
Recently six Sea Scouts from Ajax (the greatest
number in the history of the Group) were among 60
others from Surrey to be awarded their Chief Scout’s
Gold Award. Hearty congratulations to Laura Bevan,
Dan Cornwell, Sian Davies, Ben Farmer, Rebecca
Freeman and Sophie Peel. All except Becky (who
sadly could not be there) attended a special
ceremony at which the High Sheriff of Surrey, Mrs
Sally Varah and the Scout County Commissioner for
Surrey, Richard Shortman presented the awards.
Back row left to right: Dan Cornwell, Ben Farmer, Mrs Sally
Varah, Richard Shortman, Laura Bevan; front row: Sophie
Peel, Sian Davies.
Describing their experiences, Laura Bevan explained:
“You had to gain five Challenge badges out of a
possible eight. These Challenge badges include the
Community Challenge which involves giving
community help (at Cubs for example) for three
months; the Expedition Challenge where you have to
go on an overnight expedition; and the Fitness
Challenge where you have to take part regularly in at
least one physical activity”. For Dan Cornwell, the
most memorable part of gaining the award was his
participation in the Great River Race, a four hour
marathon row down the Thames from Richmond to
Greenwich. Ouch! Again, congratulations to all!
Who’s next?
District Cross Country Run
On Sunday 8th February we look forward to the
maximum possible participation in the annual
District Cross Country Run. This event is open
not only to the members of every section but
also to Leaders and Parents! It’s a great day
out, plus the chance to get a little fitter and most
importantly the opportunity to win fiercely foughtfor trophies in competition with other District
Groups. There are different length courses for
different age groups and parents can
accompany the little ones if preferred. Let’s see
if we can equal last year’s record with individual
winners in Beavers, Cubs and Scouts. The
minute the Christmas pudding has settled it’s
the perfect time to get those trainers out!
Cubs Out and About
Ajax Cubs have been immensely active since the
summer, mainly focusing on the Swimming and
Home Safety badges plus the Fitness Challenge. The
Cubs have put a lot of effort into their swimming
which has been great to see. Several of the Pack
who will shortly be progressing to the Sea Scout
Troop have gained their Stage 4 Swimming badge,
an excellent achievement which will stand them in
good stead as they become totally immersed (not
literally of course!) in water-based activities.
A few weeks ago six lucky Cubs attended the annual
Sausage Sizzle at the Dittons Shack where they
enjoyed an afternoon of games with 70 other Cubs
from around the District and then cooked (and of
course ate) some sizzling sausages on an open fire!
Most recently the Pack has been working on the
Emergency Aid badge and getting into the seasonal
spirit with some festive musters involving Christmas
crafts and of lots of mince pies! To end on a really
high point, for their final pre-Christmas muster our
Cubs descended on Sandown Ski Slope for some
traditional sledging fun!
Explorer Unit up to the Challenge
The Ajax Explorer Sea Scout Unit has just doubled in
size with eight new members arriving in September
from the Troop. Explorers are a relatively new
development, evolving out of the old ‘Venture Scout’
section where the minimum age was 16. With
Explorers, those aged 14 plus are now able to gain
all the excitement and challenge that they need.
Dinah Mallet, Leader of the Ajax Unit, explained that
underpinning most Explorer activities is the goal of
achieving the various levels of the Duke of
Edinburgh’s (D of E) Award. Just like ‘Scouting’, this
is excellent to have on your CV or university
application. It is similar in format to the Chief Scout’s
Award, but naturally more demanding.
Currently our Unit is working towards the D of E
Bronze Award where learning new skills is one of the
four key elements. To achieve this, our Explorers
have started out by developing new kayaking skills.
They have already been working on their rescue and
rolling techniques both in the pool and in open water.
Other skills that will be developed include navigation,
communications, first aid and lifesaving skills via the
Royal Life Saving Society Bronze Medallion award.
A second element of the D of E is the expedition.
This involves planning the event, which must be at
least 26km in length and must include an overnight
camp – and then walking it as a group without
accompanying adults and whilst carrying all food and
equipment. This is something the older Explorers
successfully completed last summer when they
managed to set up their overnight camp, cook a meal
and strike camp the next day leaving no trace of their
overnight presence – an excellent achievement! As
practice for the D of E expedition, District activities
take place throughout the winter, including a night
expedition in deepest Surrey and a winter hill-walking
weekend in the Black Mountains in January.
And if all that isn’t enough there have been plenty of
fun events to take part in, including the District Night
Hike and Five-a-Football competition and an evening
at the Ember Court fireworks display.
A warm welcome to new Explorers Mark
Bartholomew, Laura Bevan, Sian Davies, Ben
Farmer, Becky Freeman, Robbie Mallet, Robert
Norman and Sophie Peel – we know you are up to
the challenge!
Beavers Leave Us Breathless!
At full capacity with 26 members, our Colony has
been incredibly busy in recent months with our
Beavers having masses of fun as usual and working
towards their Promise and their Outdoor Challenges
– not to mention their Healthy Eating badge!
They have also made and launched rockets, learned
about the work of the RNLI during a visit to the
Teddington lifeboat station, sledged at Sandown
(thankfully no broken
bones!) and they have
made bird feeders from the
heads of the sunflowers
they grew earlier in the
year! On fireworks night
they celebrated by making
blow paint pictures and
launching a Chinese
lantern. They have also
learnt (and tied themselves
in) knots and they have
gained their Emergency Aid
Level 1 badge, (Ed.– What
a breathless pace!) To
finish the year with a festive
flourish our eager Beavers
enjoyed an evening of
Christmas crafts and party
fun.
Three metre sunflowers
grown from seeds by
Beavers earlier this year
Since the summer, most
Beavers have gained their
Friendship, Fitness,
Creative and Outdoor Challenge badges as well as
their Explore and Creative badges. Quite an
achievement! Early in the new year, with a little hard
work, we are hoping that as many as 20 of our
Beavers will achieve their Chief Scout’s Bronze
Award – the highest award in the Beaver section. For
so many to achieve this challenging award will be a
truly great achievement – and another first for Ajax.
We currently have three uniformed Leaders and
three regular Assistants (one of whom is helping with
the Colony as part of his Duke of Edinburgh’s Award)
but if anyone else is interested in joining us then
come along – the more help we have the more we
can achieve.
Three Generations of Ajaccios!
GSL George Barber writes:
Back in 1953 when I was a lad of eleven, I decided I
would like to join the Sea Scouts instead of
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progressing from Cubs to Scouts in the 7 Malden.
Could it be that I was influenced in my decision by
my dad, Reg who was ex-Royal Navy and, at the
time, working as a tug skipper for Tough Bros. of
Teddington? Some (very) old Ajaccios may
remember the tugs he skippered: - the steam tug
‘Barnes’ and the diesel tug ‘Sheen’ which was
converted from steam sometime in the ‘fifties’. Dad
told me that I could join Leander in Kingston or
perhaps I might consider a fairly new Group called
Ajax that had an ex-World War 2 Motor Torpedo Boat
(No. 747) as its HQ in Surbiton. This was a ‘no
brainer’ for me since the thought of Sea Scouting
based on an MTB seemed very exciting. I was
‘interviewed’ and accepted into Ajax by Chiefy
Sharman who was a founder member of Ajax and at
that time a young man of 31!
Thames Ditton Marina. Then we built a brick building
with an ‘H’ shaped layout which was located where
the riverside houses in Ditton Reach now stand.
Finally we moved into the splendid building where we
are now headquartered and which we have recently
named the ‘Chiefy Sharman Water Activities Centre’.
It was a particular joy to me that my oldest grandson
Tom joined the Ajax Beavers in January of this year
and that his dad Nick has become an Assistant
Beaver Scout Leader. With Tom’s arrival in the
Group there are now three generations of Barbers in
Ajax. Nick is enjoying being back in the Ajax crew
and the Beaver leadership team is organising an
imaginative and diverse programme. Great that
young Tom is beginning to enjoy his Sea Scouting at
an even younger age than did his grandad. My other
son Matthew has been an Instructor and Assistant
Scout Leader with the Troop for 14 years and I am
particularly grateful for the solid support he has
always given me, particularly when I stepped in to
run the Troop from 2000 to 2003.
I had a great time as a lad in Ajax, sleeping on board
at weekends, learning to row and sail and generally
keeping myself out of mischief. These were austere
post war years when there was not much money
about and so I consider myself very lucky indeed to
have been able to spend my weekends on the river
with my Ajax mates.
The years rolled by and I stayed in Ajax, progressing
to the Senior Sea Scout Section (a forerunner to
Explorers), gaining my Queen’s Scout Award and
then becoming Assistant Scout Leader and Scout
Leader and finally Group Scout Leader with over 40
years in total as a Leader. I have always wanted to
put something back into Scouting since I had such a
good time in Sea Scouts where I made some great
friends, many of whom I have kept in contact with to
this day. In all of this I have been blessed with an
understanding wife, Jan, who has always supported
my attachment to Ajax. Chiefy handed over the
GSLship to me when he was forced to retire at 65
after 39 years at the helm (no such compulsion these
days unfortunately!). That was 20 years ago and
Chiefy supported me in his retirement by doing most
of the admin until 2005 when illness prevented him
from doing any more.
My two sons Nick and Matthew joined Ajax and
progressed through the Troop and Venture Sea
Scout Unit. Both of them had a good time as boys in
Ajax but sadly without the benefit of the old MTB
which, by the time they joined, was a distant memory
having succumbed to dry rot in the late 1950s.
Strangely, it was dad in the Sheen who towed it away
to a scrap yard down river. Dad would have found it a
lot easier if we had not removed the ship’s steering
wheel (which, after going missing for 50 years has
now re-emerged and will shortly be on permanent
display in the Ajax Foc’sle!). Ajax is now in its third
headquarters since the MTB days. Initially we
erected a wooden hut at the west end of the Thames
Ditton Marina which is still there and now owned by
Three generations of Barbers:
Left to right: Nick, Tom and George
At 66, and although I am still Group Scout Leader, I
have of late scaled down my ‘hands on’ involvement
and the Group is now led on a day-to-day basis by
my long standing colleague and friend, Assistant
Group Scout Leader Mark Marriott, whose
organisational and leadership skills are first rate and
who, with our current team of Leaders and lay
members, is steering Ajax to new levels of
achievement which Chiefy, our driving force for most
of the Group’s history, would be very proud of in this
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the 60 anniversary year of Ajax.
Another year beckons!
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After Christmas, Cubs start on Tuesday 6 January,
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Troop on Thursday 8 , Beavers on Tuesday 13 and
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Explorers on Wednesday 14 . See you all then!
From the entire Ajax leadership team –
Wishing you and all your family a joyous
Christmas and a happy, healthy 2009.