There was sadly no public Remembrance Day Service this year due to the current lockdown. Despite being unable to come together as a Group to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice, we came together individually and as families, and stood  on our doorsteps with the rest of the community to observe the 2 minutes silence at 11:00.

As part of the scaled down commemorations, our affiliated branch of the Royal British Legion will laid a wreath on our behalf at St Clement’s Church in Leigh-on-Sea.

As part of their remembrance activities, the Cubs have painted special remembrance stones, which Akela has laid around the Fishermen’s memorial in St Clement’s Church yard. Why not take a look if you’re nearby.

You can learn more about how 3rdCB carried on Scouting and supported the war effort around Leigh-on-Sea at 3rdCB.org.uk/about/history

Alongside Scouting, 3rd Chalkwell Bay gives youth members the opportunity to complete the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award with us.

We are now canvassing interest for new groups to start Bronze and Silver DofE Awards for this school year for participants in school Year 9 or above. We have run this at 3rdCB for 3 years now, with increasing numbers successfully completing Bronze, Silver and Gold Awards.

We’re still unsure what 2021 will look like in terms of our ability to run expeditions, but we have every intention of making this work where we can under DofE and Scouting guidelines. By completing all other sections of the awards young people will receive the Duke of Edinburgh Certificate of Achievement, and ‘catch up’ with the expedition when the situation allows.

If you would like to register or find out more information, fill in the form at 3rdCB.org.uk/dofe-interest or email dofe@3rdcb.org.uk and one of the team will be in touch. We will arrange a Zoom call in November to give you more information, introduce the proposed programme and explain how to get started.

More information on Duke of Edinburgh’s award is available at 3rdCB.org.uk/about/dofe or DofE.org

Last week we managed our first face-to-face activities since lockdown began, with a week of sailing sessions in Old Leigh, getting back on the water doing what Sea Scouts do best! Great to see the Scouts and Explorers back at The Den, enjoying the lovely weather (if a bit breezy), and glad to see we all still remember how to sail.

Keen an eye out for upcoming activities on the water in our Boating Calendar.

More photos and videos of the week are on our Members Facebook Group.

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.