3rd Chalkwell Bay were invited to represent the youth of Southend-on-Sea at the town’s VJ Day service on 15 August, commemorating 75 years since the end of WW2 in the Pacfic. A much smaller affair than usual due to COVID-19 restrictions, the service and 2 minutes silence was led by His Worship The Mayor, joined by representatives from the Royal British Legion, Combined Cadet Force and 3rdCB.

Thank you to Senior Patrol Leaders Harry and Jessica for representing 3rd Chalkwell Bay and Scouting so smartly.

The video of the service is available at https://youtu.be/NpiaOnj-b-g

We’re really excited that we’re now able to restart running outdoor face-to-face activities at 3rd Chalkwell Bay after a 4½ month pause, and intend to start the sailing programme from 17 August, with outdoor Section meetings from the beginning of September.

Given the fact that we’re still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, there are a few restrictions on what we do and how we do it, the specifics of which have been emailed to all parents, with a couple of actions also required.

We have in place approved COVID based risk assessments for outdoor meetings and water activities which allow us to safely start a staged return, although initially only for outdoor activities in small groups. These risk assessments will be reviewed as Government and Scout Association guidance changes, which will ultimately see a return to what we all recognise as a more normal form of Scouting.

Over the next few weeks the leader teams will be in touch with parents with more detail on how the programme and activities will operate. At this time, we are limited to 15 people per session, including adults, which means that sessions will only be able to cater for 12 children.

We’re all looking forward to getting outdoor activities back up and running again, so we can gain more skills and have more fun together.

Friday 8 May is the 75th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe, and whilst we can’t meet in person there are still loads of opportunities to celebrate as a community.

We’re working with HMS Leigh to celebrate VE Day in Southend. Part of this is an online service or Remembrance, and they’d love the Scouts (across all sections and age ranges) to make a short video in their garden/houses, in uniform if possible, talking about how they feel about VE Day, and how they think it compares to their experiences in lockdown.

Also, if you have a story that you know about from your own great grandparents or relatives that fought in WW2 we’d love to hear that too.

Upload your video here, and see some of our special VE Day themed activities to help celebrate the occasion.