10th Arcadia Cubs 1st Term
It has been a busy and fun-filled term at our Cub Pack.
Our theme for our Friday programmes this term has been a trip around the world using the Star Alliance Round the World ticket guidelines as an idea.
We travelled to Türkiye the week before the earthquakes came and when we met the following Friday the news reports had made quite an impact on the cubs. From Istanbul to San Jose in Costa Rica find out about the many volcanoes there. Then on to Mongolia for their Ice Festival which happens annually in
March when their lakes freeze over. We also found out about their nomadic lifestyle and the Gobi desert. The last stop was Ethiopia before coming back to sunny South Africa.
Our outings for the term:
21 January – Parkrun at the Pretoria Botanical Gardens. We joined up with other Scout Groups in our District and discovered the athletes amongst us that day. For most of our Cubs and scouts, this was their first Parkrun but hopefully not their last.
4 February – Friends of Colbyn Wetlands, World Wetlands programme. We learnt about the importance of wetlands, how to tell the health of a river (MiniSASS), conservation, and how birds are captured, rung and released, amongst many other things. It had rained heavily the week before and we could see the effects of the wetland plants slowing down the flow of the water.
19 February – BP Sunday at Willem Prinsloo Agricultural Museum, Rayton. This was a District event for all the Scout Groups in our District. BP weekend marks the birthday of Lord Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of the worldwide Scout Movement. Scout Groups around the world celebrate the day each year. The scouts camped from Friday to Sunday. The cubs joined in on Sunday for the cub activities, then the BP Sunday Service and awards ceremony. Many of our cubs said that this was their first-ever visit to a museum.
4 March – the 10th Arcadia cubs joined in the Moot Project clean up at Rietondale Park, to pick up litter, clear pathways and rake up the cut grass at the playground area. They thoroughly enjoyed it and the organisers were very pleased with all the extra helpers. We are planning to do a litter pickup in Arcadia, too, before the end of March.
On the same day, we went to visit the Waltloo SPCA. We had made dog toys for them during a Friday programme and collected some donations of food, newspapers and other items on their wish list. During the visit, we were able to play with the cats and puppies, see their dogs and rabbits and find out about the work of the SPCA, how to look after animals and the importance of sterilisation of pets. Many of the cubs had not heard of the SPCA before.


