We are a well established Scout Group within Benton district, with Beaver, Cub, Scout and Explorer Sections, offering a full range of activities to our young people and adults alike.

Our Group is open to both boys and girls, of all abilities, aged 6 to 18, who live in Wideopen, Seaton Burn, Brunswick, Hazlerigg and the surrounding areas.

We meet at St Johns URC Church Hall, Canterbury Way, Wideopen NE13 6JQ.

Meeting Times Are:

Beavers:      Monday from 5:00 - 6:15 pm

Cubs:          Thursday from 6:00 - 7:15 pm

Scouts:       Thursday from 7:30 - 9:15 pm

Explorers:    Thursday from 7:30 - 9:15 pm and every other Monday from 7:30 - 9:30 pm

We welcome new members in all of our sections.

We do not have a policy of maintaining waiting lists - where a young person is old enough for the relevant section, we will aim to find them a place, however for those parents wishing to pass details of their son / daughter who has not yet reached Beaver age (6 yrs), we will retain that information until they are old enough to join the section and will contact you again at that stage.

We have an active parent support group and welcome assistance from parents and friends alike, to help to further develop the Scout Group and deliver the wide range of activities, badges and training offered to our Beavers, Cubs, Scouts and Explorers.  

You do not need to have been in Scouting or have an interest in the outdoors to help out, as there are many roles which suit a wide range of interests and skills - just get in touch if you think you can help us.

'Scouting is about being with friends, as part of a team, 

participating fully in the adventure and opportunities of life.'

If you would like to join the adventure at 2nd Wideopen Scout Group

please email mike.hawkins26@gmail.com or

call Mike Hawkins on 01670 733210

Following a successful application that was made to the Co-operative's Membership Community Fund, we have just received a £500 grant. towards the cost of purchasing brand new Archery Equipment.

This was kindly presented to the Group on Thursday 12th June 2014, by Mrs Marjorie Appleton from the Co-operative's Community Fund, who took the time to find out a little bit more about what the Scout Group gets up to on a weekly basis. It was also pleasing to hear from Marjorie (who lives locally in Hazlerigg) - who said "she was pleased to be awarding the cheque for £500 to a local group for a change" as many of the awards made by the Fund are for organisations from other parts of the region.

Now that Debbie, Alison and Mike are qualified as Archery Community Sports Leaders, we will be looking to offer archery as a new activity that members can take part in within the Scout Group.  The activity can be undertaken by both young and older members, as well as those who may be a little less mobile and agile.  After the training, hopefully the Scouts will be able to work towards their Master at Arms badge, as well as gaining a new skill.

With the £500, over the next few weeks we will be purchasing various sized bows and arrows and a large archery safety curtain, which will allow us to undertake the sport both indoors and outside, throughout the year. We also hope to be able to attract additional funding, to further increase the range and amount of equipment and targets we have, which will allow even more individuals to take part in the sport. 

Many thanks to all those Cubs, Scouts, Explorers, Leaders and a number of Parents, who turned up on Saturday 12th April to help with our very first Bag Pack. Thanks to some fantastic coaching and help by the parents (mostly mums - with the exception of one superdad trained in the art of bag packing!) and the leaders - Cubs and Scouts were able to help customers to pack their groceries in the store and as a result - the customers responded in kind (they were indeed very kind!)

Over the three hours that we undertook the Bag Pack, we collected the magnificent sum of £579.78 and 1 Saudi Arabian Riyal (which is apparently worth just under 16 pence!)

There was some really fantastic feedback from the customers about how smart you all looked, how helpful you all were whilst being extremely polite and friendly at all times.

Well done everyone who took part !

Tuesday 15th April 2014 saw members of the Group join Radzi from Blue Peter and over 100 other Beavers, Cubs and Scouts from across the region, at Whitley Bay  - for a Blue Peter Beach Clearance Challenge.

Members from the Cub, Scout and Explorer sections took part in the filming of the Blue Peter programme, which went out on TV on Thursday 24th April on CBBC, as well as helping to clear parts of Whitley Bay beach of litter and rubbish.  A large amount of litter and rubbish was collected by all the Beavers, Cubs, Scouts and Explorers present, which was finally disposed of at the end of the day.

Watch the clip on Blue Peter here: - http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/clips/p01xywkk

Well done and thank you to everyone who turned up and by now you should have received your special green Blue Peter badge for taking part in the Challenge and the programme!

Many congratulations to the following members of our Scout Group on gaining top Scouting Awards!

 Bronze Chief Scout's Award - (the highest award you can gain in the Beaver section) 

• Lucas Davidson, Sam Dayes, Cameron Hunter, Scott Coates, Jack Chadwick, Thomas McDonald and Lewis Crispin.

  Silver Chief Scout's Award - (the highest award you can gain in the Cub section)

• Thomas Nichol, and Luke Smith. 

  Gold Chief Scout's Award - (the highest award you can gain in the Scout section)

• Oliver Jennings, Emma Hawkins, Shauna McLeod, Daniel Dayes, Aaron Thomas and Edie Frith.

  Platinum Chief Scout's Award - (the initial Chief Scout's Award you gain in the Explorer Section)

  Adult Leader Training Award (Wood Badge)

• Alison Todd - one of our Assistant Cub Leaders - who's Wood Badge was presented at our Cub adventure weekend at Whitley Bay in July 2013.

• Lee McConnell - one of Assistant Scout Leaders who's Wood Badge was presented at one of our Troop meetings in November 2013.

• Richard Jennings - yet another one of our Assistant Scout Leaders, who was presented with his Wood Badge in February 2014.

• Congratulations also to Kelly Stephenson - our Beaver Scout Leader on being awarded her 5 Year Service Badge and Certificate, which was presented at Beavers in December 2013.  we worked out that all of the Beavers were still in nappies when Kelly first started helping out with the Group (initially in the Scout section).

• Congratulations to Debbie Hodge, Aliston Todd and Mike Hawkins who have completed training and have now qualified as Archery GB - Archery Leaders, meaning that they will be able to lead and teach archery to members of the Scout Group as part of our programme of activities. 

Well Done Everyone!

Thanks to some fantastic support from the Woodland Trust, once again our Scout Group has received wildlife, copse and hedge sapplings (young trees), for planting in and around the Wideopen and surrounding area, to help with our continued commitment to the environment.

Usually we are quite fortunate to get around 60 specimens to plant, however this time we received 420 native trees - so it has been all hands on deck to get the planting done in time for the Summer. Additionally we will also be putting up more bird and bat boxes in 2014 to encourage nesting birds / bats to breed.

All this work involves the whole Scout Group, leading to members gainiing their Environmental Partnership Award, Community Challenge Award / Badge and in the case of the Scouts - the Foresters Badge.

Over the past few years we have planted trees at the Watery Gates site, close to the A1 / Little Waters, at Greenfields School in Wideopen to help re-establish their bird sanctuary and at the Three Hills Nature Reserve - planting in total, somewhere in the region of 900 young saplings, including hawthorns, blackthorns, crab apple, cherry plum, beech, rowan, silver birch, elder, ash, oak and wild rose  (all native species to the area) .

Our aim, working alongside Newcastle and North Tyneside Council conservation and park ranger staff, students and staff at Greenfields School and the voluntary group - the Wideopen Forum, has been to help to create a wildlife corridor, to enable wildlife, including birds and mammals to move safely between nature habitats at the Big Waters, Weetslade, Havannah and Three Hills Countryside Parks and High Gosforth Park - not easy when you think of the new housing being built in and around the area and the fact that the corridor is crossed by the main flight path for Newcastle Airport!

This year we are also looking at the potential of planting some of the trees in memory of those brave individuals from Wideopen, Seaton Burn, Brunswick, Dudley and the surrounding area who gave their lives during the Great War (1914 - 1918), We hope to be able to create a lasting memory of their brave sacrifices, which will form a part of our Group rememberance activities - when over the next four years we will be researching details of those soldiers, early airmen and sailors who went away from the area as heroes - with many tragically never to return.

The photos show  some of the Scouts and Explorers thinning out overgrown areas of the Three Hills Nature Reserve back in February 2013 and again in March 2014, to enable other tree and shrub species to establish themselves.

Congratulations to the 47 members of the Scout Group (including Beavers, Cubs, Scouts, Explorer Scouts and Leaders) who participated in our Autumn Marra Group Camp from the 4th - 6th October at Dilston Scout Campsite.

A good time was had by all judging by the noise and comotion coming from the river on the Saturday afternoon as almost everyone took part in a giant water fight!

As well as raft building, rafting, sit-on kayaking, pioneering and the building of a giant obstacle course - those present were able to take part in widegames, a campfire, a series of duck races and outdoor sports, as well as outdoor camping for the Scouts / Explorers and an indoor camping experience for the Cubs.

The winning coaches from the duck races were - Jonathon Beck and Eve Thompson.

A big thanks to those who made the weekend possible including the Leaders and Explorers (who worked tirelessly to put up and take down tents over the weekend).

Over the weekend of the 21st and 22nd of September 2013, 40 Cubs, Scouts, Explorers, Leaders and Parents from 2nd Wideopen completed the Lookwide Walk from the former railway station in Fourstones in the South Tyne valley, up to the site of the first official Scout Camp near Humshaugh, retracing the footsteps that Robert Baden Powell and those 30 early Scouts and Leaders made on the same journey 105 years ago - when they spent two weeks camping in tents on the Lookwide site (often in some terrible Northumbrian weather).

The 30 Scouts were selected from over 29,000 applicants from a competition in the Scout Magazine, with three coming from our region (2 from Middlesbrough and 1 from Sunderland - none from Northumberland or Newcastle however!)

The site is a very liittle known and hidden gem - not far from Hadrian's Wall and the Northumberland National Park and was chosen for the first official camp, due to the fact that B,P's good friend from his army days - a certain Colonel Vaux (of Wearside Brewery fame) had an involvement in the land - which is a part of Park Shields Farm. 

BP or Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden Powell to give him his full name had other connections to the area too, as his godfather was none other than a certain Robert Stephenson (the son of George Stephenson -both of railway fame) whom he was named after and who lived not too far away in the Tyne Valley.

Whilst at the Lookwide site, a number of the Cubs, Scouts, Explorers and one Leader made their Cub and Scout Promises around the memorial cairn and were Invested / Re-invested into the Scout movement. Everyone who completed the walk qualified for the commemorative Lookwide Walk badge, nametape, woggle and certificate.

The site offered a great chance to take part in a series of fun activities, with the Cubs, Scouts and Explorers participating in a number of widegames, before grabbing a bite to eat and heading on their journey, navigating on foot, to experience more of the fantastic Northumberland countryside.

Well done to everyone taking part over the two days - including the 13 parents who joined us!

Following the great success of the Scout Group helping out with the inaugural Race for Life 2013 event at Northumberlandia (near Cramlington) back in May last year, a number of ladies (young and not so young) from the Group took part in and completed this years event.

Following a period of training in recent weeks, 14 Members from the Cub, Scout and Explorer sections, as well as a number of our female leaders joined almost 300 other ladies and girls to take part in the Race for Life - all with the aim of raising money for the charity Cancer Reseacrh UK.

The evening turned out to be a rather cold, damp and windy, with conditions under foot being extremely muddy, following a day of heavy rain, so the warm ups were a welcome opportunity to get moving and do just that - warm up! They all then set of on the 5km (3 mile) Run around and yes even up parts of the Grand Lady of Northumberland.  

The girls from the Group all did brilliantly, with four of them completing the Race within the first 15 to finish (which is a fantastic achievement!). 

It was evident that the Scouting spirit was present on the night in massive amounts, as the girls, all dressed in their specially commissioned cerise pink  tartan neckerchieves cheered and supported each other and received huge encouragement from all the spectators both out on the course and as they each in turn finished.

On the evening, the girls were joined by four of the lads (also wearing their pink tartan neckers), who worked their socks off helping with the administration and delivery of the Race, working alongside students from Northumberland College and staff from Northumberland Sport, as well as offering fantastic moral support and taking part in the warm ups. 

As a result of all of their efforts, the girls have been working towards their Fitness Challenge Awards (for the Cubs and Scouts) and the fitness section of the Chief Scout's Awards / Duke of Edinburgh's Awards for the Explorers, as well as gaining their Race for Life medals.

On behalf of everyone involved in 2nd Wideopen - a  massive Congratulations to Alex, Zoe, Bethany, Alice, Ellie, Abigail, Shauna, Emma, Lauren, Esme, Anita, Kelly, Debbie, Jackie (and Kelly's mum and mother in law)  who all completed the Race and a massive thanks to Aaron, Dillon, James and Ethan who helped deliver the Race - you were all fantastic ambassadors for Scouting and made all the leaders proud on the night!

Further pictures taken by the official photogher will shortly be available on the Northumberland Sport website - see the link below:

http://www.northumberlandsport.co.uk/

At 2nd Wideopen, we are committed to ensuring that Scouting is open to everyone, no matter what sex, race, religion, ability or background a person may come from and we actively encourage members from across our community to join us.

We try to ensure that members can safely and confidently take an active part in all of our Scouting activities - where cost may be an issue, we have  a small stock of outdoor equipment in various sizes which can be borrowed - including expedition rucksacks, mummy sleeping bags / liners and robust waterproof jackets (please note there may be a small charge to cover cleaning / maintenance costs and numbers are limited).

Thanks to a brilliant joint initiative called 'Gift Your Gear', which is operated in conjunction with the outdoor retailer Rohan, the Scout Group have received further items of outdoor protective clothing - including a number of fleece and waterproof jackets and overtrousers, which can also be loaned out, to help more members of our Scout Group to undertake the range of adventurous activities  we take part in, both safely and in more comfort.  

   A massive thank you to Gift Your Grear from all at 2nd Wideopen Scout Group.

Our Equipment Bazaar

We also know that youngsters grow out of footwear and clothing at an alarmingly quick rate. With this in mind, we operate an 'Equipment Bazaar' scheme - allowing parents to sell on suitable outgrown items of outdoor clothing and equipment and enabling families to purchase appropriate items more cost effectively - ensuring members are better equipped to safely take part in our range of Scouting activities.

The Scout Group has a number of items of clothing and walking boots for sale at very reasonable prices - mainly sized for Beaver / Cub age, although we do have a limited number of pairs of girls walking boots of Scout age / size.  Before you go out and buy any new outdoor gear - you may want to give us a call.

If you would like more information on the support available or would like details of what we have in the Equipment Bazaar - contact Mike Hawkins (Group Scout Leader) on 01670 733210.