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East Norfolk Scouts held their annual Festive Celebration at The Minster Church of St Nicholas, Great Yarmouth on Monday 4 December.
Over 600 young people, leaders and parents braved the cold temperatures and attended the event joined by guests from Norfolk County Scouts.

The theme this year was “Trees” and how they feature in faiths from around our world.  As part of the event Beavers, Cubs, Scouts, Explorers and Leaders from each Scout group decorated their own version of festive trees and created a magnificent display for all to see. 

Together everyone learned why trees are decorated for Christmas and how they have historically been used for worship and feature in the major faiths across the world.

Everyone also learned about the importance of trees for the future of the world we live in, and the importance that everyone must value trees for conservation and protecting animal and plant life across our earth.

The evening was hosted by Jake the District Youth Lead, Liam the District 18-24 Lead,  and Shelly the District Lead Volunteer, working alongside The Revd Liz Dawes, who together with Scouts form North Yarmouth Scout Group, lit the Advent Candle.  Everyone joined together to sing Christmas songs and make some Christmas crafts to take home as a memory of the evening, a Pipe-cleaner Mini Tree and their wish for the new year written on a Hand of Hope.

Tinned food was also collected to support The Pathway Café and Support Centre, which is a charity that operates from The Minster Mission where three times every week a hearty, hot lunch meal, practical help and advice. Is provided.  Altogether 420 tins of food were donated by members of East Norfolk Scouts to support the charity.

The evening concluded with some well-deserved achievements by adult volunteers recognised alongside the success of some young people too:

The Young Leader Award was gained by Violet, Gracie, Aidan and Harry of 1^st Gorleston and George of 2^nd Gorleston Scout Groups.

The Award for Merit was presented to Liam Segust and Caroline Gibbs who are part of the District Team, Liz Coleman from the Active Support Unit was presented with The Bar to the Award for Merit.  Glenn Chusonis who volunteers in East Norfolk and for Norfolk County Scouts was presented with The Silver Acorn and Jane Clarke form 1^st Belton Scout Group was presented with The Bar to the Silver Acorn.

The final award of the evening was presented to Jake Annison, who was the first in East Norfolk District and the third in the County of Norfolk to achieve The King’s Scout Award, the highest youth award in Scouting.  Jake will be invited to a ceremony at Windsor Castle in 2024 to celebrate this prestigious award.

East Norfolk Scouts welcome new adult volunteers to come and join our adventure.  Without our dedicated Scouting volunteers, we would not be able to deliver first class Scouting skills for life to hundreds of young people each week.

If you want to start the New Year off with a new challenge – come and join East Norfolk Scouts!
Whether you have a few minutes each week to spare, or you fancy challenging yourself to be a regular volunteer, we guarantee we have a space for you.

Visit www.eastnorfolkscouts.org.uk/join submit a join request and we will be in touch.

Scouts from across the East Norfolk District braved the rain on Sunday to take part in the annual St George’s Day celebration. St George is a Patron Saint of Scouting. Baden Powell choose St George to be the Movements Patron because he felt his qualities were the same as a good Scout. St George’s Day is April 23, and on that day Scouts remind themselves of their Promise and Scout Law. Not that a Scout ever forgets either but, on St George’s Day, they make a special point of thinking about them and renewing their promise together.

This year the theme for St George’s Day was focused around the Scouting Ambassadors and their professions. Beavers, Cubs, Scouts, and Explorers all took part in a wide range of activities such as producing a news report to pole trekking as well as building mountains from paper cups and rowing with mops!

Each year, the East Norfolk District Flag circulates around the groups. This year it was 1^st Belton’s turn to hold the flag. The St George’s flag was also awarded to North Yarmouth Scout Group for their achievement over the past year.

The final flag to be awarded was the Union Flag. This was presented to the Network and Top Awards team for their achievement over the past year.

The Peter Batley box was awarded jointly to 1^st Belton and North Yarmouth Scout Groups. It is awarded for community involvement. Both 1^st Belton and North Yarmouth engaged with their local communities over the past year with a range of activities from street light surveys to making random acts of kindness to the residents of a village and will place some photographic memories in the box as a keepsake of their projects and achievements.

We also celebrated some Scouting awards. Gerry Harman from 1^st Gorleston Scout Group was awarded The Silver Wolf which is the highest award made by The Scout Association “for service of the most exceptional character”. Our sincere thanks and congratulations go to Gerry for his dedication to Scouting over the past 35 years – a truly deserved award.

We also celebrated our very own DC, Shelly O’Keefe who received her 25yrs service Award. Once again, we are all truly thankful for her dedicated commitment to Scouting in Norfolk and the fun and excitement she helps to deliver to young people in Scouting.

If you are interested in joining Scouts as a leader or young person, please visit www.eastnorfolkscouts.org.uk for further information or email [email protected] .

Some more pictures form the day….