Section Reports

Sectional Reports

Beavers kicked started at the Summer Group Camp in beginning of July. Ten Beavers joined other members of the group and four of them were invested as Cub Scouts during the camp and they spent a week with all our group. We enjoyed various activities and they clearly grew up a lot after the camp. Since September many new members joined our Beavers. We learned our essential scouting skills such as knots, ironing our scarf, Science Experiment, lighting candles, art & craft to make a Christmas candle decoration in December to finish 2021. The scouting essential skill session was run by Spike. The Beavers enjoyed a lot and used these skills at home, supporting their families on daily basis. From the New year, we learned about the global issues on our planet. We invented imaginary machines using recycled materials. We got to know about water issues in those country and learned not everyone drinking a safe water even we are living on the same planet. We learned how to make water filter run by Mang. We all planted bulbs to learn how the plants grows. Beavers enjoyed watering and taking care of them at home for several weeks.

We also had a cultural session to learn about Japan and Japanese calligraphy. All the Beavers practiced to write their own names in Japanese, tried to play a Japanese drum and learnt how to say various things in Japanese. Simona added the craft session to create cherry blossom tree as an art piece. I hope Japan became closer to Beavers even though it is far away from The Czech Republic. Also we had first aid session from our leader Rama who works as a paramedic to run first aid session only for Beavers. Some Beavers tried the skill at home after this session and talked about it in the car on the way to school next morning. We learned about the Space that it was very hot topic at time. It was run by Spike. Spike always brings interesting topics for Beavers to learn the new things!

Our Weekend activities were mainly organized by Chikai. We visited Planetarium, Railway Kingdom, to see the real helicopter at the airport and got in the cockpit, thanks to Bell Helicopters, visiting Zoo to have special session, and self-defense session. Beavers experienced so many special things that they all enjoyed very much. We also went Hiking with a unit of Czech Scouts, this was a special hike as well as tough for some of the Beavers due to the snow. Despite the weather our Beavers climbed steep hills and never gave up and enjoyed the beautiful view and company of Czech Scout friends. Last, but not least, I would like to thank all the parents for supporting us through the year. We have had “It was so much fun!” with a big sweet smile from the Beavers end of each session. Their happiness, pleasure, and observing their growth are our energy to keep us going to create our high quality sessions. Our Beavers are so pure and sweet as always and wishing their healthy growth ahead of their life. ��

Chisato Hashizume (Bambi) Beaver Scout Leader beavers@praguescouts.cz

The past 2 years have been probably some of the most unique in the history of Scouting. COVID brought new challenges to delivering programmes to our young people, but the past 12 months proved to be very exciting and equally rewarding.

The growth of our 1st Prague Group has been exponential and that of our Cubs pack has been leading the trend, showing that there is great interest in Scouting values and activities. So much that our Cubs Pack was split into separate packs, Bears and Wolves, after Summer. Akela and King Louie quickly adapted to their new role as Leaders of the Wolves pack, aided by Kotick, Oe, Wontola, Mor, and Olga, while Baloo remained in charge of the Bears with Winifred and Bagheera.

A special thanks should be reserved to our Young Leaders, Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, Ikki and Jacala. They brought their enthusiasm and their exceptionally well refined scouting skills into the Pack, often organising and leading activities independently.

The past 12 months have seen the largest Summer Camp ever organised by 1st Prague, with 50 young people attending, 21 of them Cubs, with whom we spent 8 nights near Suchdol nad Lužnicí, a town in Jindřichův Hradec District in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. Finally allowed to spend quality time together and in the open, Cubs experienced all sort of activities, from pioneering and first aid training with Rama, to backwoods cooking, and even rafting in Český Krumlov. For some of them it was the first time they slept in a tent.

Having enjoyed the rhythms of the Summer Camp, most of our Cubs braved the morning frost on our tents and joined us for the Autumn Camp in October, 2021.

Also, our “usual” weekly sessions proved to be engaging, packed with new skills and sometimes a little less “ordinary”. In September Bagheera took the Pack on a boat ride along the Vltava river on a Swedish vintage mahogany boat. Cubs had the chance to practice knots, basic navigation rules and drive the boat while training man overboard rescue manoeuvres.

As the days got shorter and colder, we started using the spaces provided by Sokol in Ujezd to meet inside. That allowed us to train on more theoretical but equally important subjects. Our sessions covered topics like disability awareness, communication skills, animal caring, money management skills, cooking, music, environmental conservation and first aid. But whenever the weather or the occasion allowed, we also organised outdoor activities or short hikes. We went biking, ice-skating, bowling and hiking at Karlštejn Castle.

All those activities contributed greatly to what is probably one of the main goals of scouting; teaching skills for life. And we are proud to announce that this year we were able to award the highest number of Chief Scout’s Silver Awards yet, to Ohsei, Matthew, Tudor, Woojin, Amara, Stella, Seojin and Iskender.

A year full of achievements and happy moments for sure, but as I’m drafting the final paragraphs of this report some very unsettling events are unfolding not far from us and I believe they deserve recognition. The conflict in Ukraine has already strongly affected our lives and has reflected on the activities of our Group. All sort of activities has been organised by all Sections of 1st Prague Scouts and also our Packs have been hosting Ukrainian refugees during our meetings.

All the activities and the achievements of the past year would not have been possible without the efforts and the time dedicated by our volunteer leaders, so a big thank you should be reserved to Rudolf, Julie, Nathan, Lydia and Olga.

Equally I would like to thank the parents for their support and of course our young people, as without their enthusiasm and energy the entire scouting experience would not exist.

Simon, Jo, Mauro and Chris on behalf of the Cub Leadership team cubs@praguescouts.cz

This year had (hopefully) started for the last time online! By May 2021 the troop was out and about, having session in Letna, and enjoy the Czech spring. We had one bike trip in Prague before the end of school term to reconnect with the troop. The summer had a great start with the group’s first summer camp, with 15 scouts, among which four former cubs moved on the next section and were invested .During those seven days, the troop learned many new skills, cooking, pioneering, emergency aid, canoeing, problem solving. This event strengthened the young people’s teamwork and bonding, not only with other scouts, but with also with the younger sections (Beavers and Cubs). Naturally they learned from the Explorers that guided them across some activities. All of this happened while leaders bonded over illegal pasta gathering and water trips to the pub. The troop returned in September, still operating from outdoors or external location due to covid uncertainties and had some great nights outs and about.

Our first camp of the term was joined with both Cub packs, “The Bare necessities” ,where most of the scouts had to lead the camp by cooking, cleaning, setting up tents, while 5 older scouts performed their expedition and had to sustain themselves over the weekend. By the end of camp two of them, Patrick and Krystof ,aka Navi, were awarded their last challenge badge before receiving their Gold Challenge Award and moved on to the Explorer Unit. During October we returned to Riverside School in Hradcanska for weekly sessions, when the scouts learned first aid, cooking skills, and other crafty skills. In November we went on a hike in Týnec nad Sázavou and enjoyed a day out in the Czech countryside with our new leaders Albert and Dave. Through January and February, the scouts learn about having a healthy lifestyle and balancing an appropriate diet with decent amount of sleep. Their home-made spaghetti measurer will surely come in handy next time they want to have some delicious Italian food. We once again joined the cub packs for an ice-skating night in Karlin, where the scouts could compete against non-other than Baloo himself for fastest skater, and enjoyed a delicious hot chocolate offered by one supportive parent present with us. As we know now, this period was also marked by the conflict between Ukraine and Russia and brought many Ukrainians family to Prague. As the group, we did our best to welcome Ukrainian children who would want to learn new skills with us, and try to integrate Prague’s communities. As March arrived, we held our first Scouts only camp in Holice, where we meet up with the local Czech Scouts, and enjoyed some joined activities and games, many languages were spoke that day, but the fun was definitely real. The scouts learned about the environment and how to support it, by doing some bird feeders, and bugs hotels, during which many nails were lost to the cause. On the second day, the troop refreshed their pioneering skills and learned how to safely use axes and saws to keep the leaders warm. Before closing camp, the scouts had the opportunity to express their thoughts, through an anonymous survey, where they clearly affirmed that Chef Gabi was the coolest Scouts Leaders, and gave the leaders more ideas on future activities.

As the spring started to show in Prague, the scouts were able to enjoy more and more weekly activities outside, learned how to play rugby “safely”, and refreshed their navigation skills. On April 2nd, we could finally join the event Uklid'me cesko and the scouts of Prague 6, to help clean Prosek and earn their World Challenge Award. Although the school year is almost over, the best is still to come, with the trip to Luxembourg for District Camp, with the Cubs and Explorers, and the 2nd editions of 1st Prague Scouts Summer Group Camp!

Manon Frot – Scout Leader

scouts@praguescouts.cz

The Bohemians

The past year has been challenging and inspiring in equal measure. The Group Summer Camp on the banks of the Dračice river near Třeboň was a great way to end the 2021 academic year. Although the Cubs and Scouts seemingly tried to drive the Explorers mad with their 6am starts and non-stop noise, it was great to see the Bohemians playing games and helping the younger scouts doing their rafting, pioneering, orienteering and being the baddies in the desert apocalypse wide game (you had to be there!). The Explorers also escaped for a bike ride through the forests and around the lakes of Třeboň, and scooted to Ferrata Hluboká where, once we donned harnesses and hard hats, we climbed along the cliffs just centimetres above the Vltava.

In late August, with Covid restrictions still in place, we returned to our corner of Letna Park. The Bohemian’s first outdoor adventure in October was canoeing on the Ohre led by Chris Tebb. Slowly normality returned, and as the nights got cooler and shorter, we were able to resume in The Riverside Arts Centre. The longer nights were interspersed with a trip to the cinema, bowling, and ice-skating. The Bohemian’s had a repeat ski weekend in Jánské Lázně after a year off. The end of February was a shock to everyone. The Explorers decided that they wanted to help and quickly set about raising money to support Ukrainian refugee families who were already arriving in their thousands. Barely three weeks after the invasion, the Bohemians, led by Atreyu, organised and ran a Hike for Ukraine in Letna Park which involved the whole 1st Prague community. The objective (recently achieved) was to raise 100,000 Kč to support Ukrainian refugee children through the charity SOS dětské vesničky, z.s. and to raise money for a series of events put on by 1st Prague for Ukrainian young people. Every other weekend since then 1st Prague has run an event, starting with fun and games in the park (in the cold!), an Easter Egg hunt, a hike in Klánovice forest and most recently a treasure hunt tour of Prague run by a local tour company, insightcities. In addition to running events for Ukrainian young people we have welcomed two Ukrainian scouts into the Explorers and they have settled in quickly and are already an important part of the group. One of them was invested, alongside his new friend and translator, a Russian member of the Bohemians, at our Spring Camp on an island in the Berounka river near Prague. At the beginning of the year two new Scouts moved up to the Explorers (Patrick, and Kristof), to add to a number of new additions throughout the year, taking our number of Explorers and Network members (in full-time education) to 27 – tripling our number in just three years. Three Explorers have been very active as Young Leaders this year - Milla, Isi and Alex have all been a key part of the Bears cub leadership. There has been good progress on Duke of Edinburgh Awards, with three now about to receive their Bronze Awards (Isi who has completed all elements, and Hannah and Sofie who have just their Adventurous Journey to complete at summer camp). Particular congratulations also to Milla who has completed her Gold DofE Award (albeit under the auspices of her school). A big thank you to our Leaders, Andra (for being there always), Chris, Gretchen, and our new addition Adele, and of course Simon and the other Section Leaders, who all work tirelessly to advance 1st Prague for the benefit of our ever growing community. Finally, it is with great pride that we say goodbye to number of long standing members of 1st Prague Scouts. Emmie, who joined on the first day with Simon over 8 years ago, and Francesco who joined shortly thereafter, are joined by more recent Bohemians, Kadri, Milla and Sonia, who are all leaving for new

adventures at university. We wish them all well and look forward to seeing them back in Prague as Network members over the coming years. We look forward to many more adventures, starting with our much delayed Survival Camp in mid June and our next Group Summer Camp on the borders of Czech Switzerland in July. We will continue to provide many more fun, challenging and interesting things to do together and most importantly #skillsforlife.

Alastair Hammond (Colonel Hathi) Explorer Scout Leader, Deputy Group Scout Leader and D of E Manager explorers@praguescouts.cz