Highbury Home            -  21  -              Reports 2008
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Our AGM and Presentation Event was an unexpected success with about 80 people attending. We had the premiere of the film made of the June event, and there were a good number of badges and awards to present including Thanks badges to John Rees, Dave Lee, Brian Herridge, Brian Taylor, Dave Sheen, Rachel Jacques and Elisabeth Forbes for their contribution to our Centenary Year and for ongoing support. The County Commissioner presented me with the Chief Scouts Award for Merit in recognition of outstanding services to Scouting.
A number of Cubs and Beavers joined the church for the Peacelight and Christingle Service in December.
We cannot forget another special event during this year when Mark Addington married Lizzie at Highbury. Scouts from Highbury and Leckhampton formed a Guard of Honour as they left the Church.
As well as being our Centenary this has been our strongest year for membership with all sections being full for most of the year. This together with a committed team of volunteers as leaders, administrative support, executive members and parent helpers has made it a year to remember.
Felicity Cleaves
Group Scout Leader
Beaver Colony
The Beavers section is very healthy at the moment with usually around 20 or so Beavers turning up to each session. We've lost a lot of the older ones as they've moved up to Cub,s so   
most Beavers now are still 6 with fewer 7 year olds. Sharon Wallington covered for Shona Barnard as Leader for the year and Stephen Meyer made a huge contribution to the leadership, particularly with planning and running sessions. We are very grateful for all the help we've had from other leaders within the Group as well as willing parents. 
We've had a very active programme over the last year, concentrating on badgework and doing as many varied activities as possible. There have been several visitors to the Colony so we've had some interesting talks and events, as well as meeting many new people from different walks of life. We've flown radio controlled aircraft, toured Waitrose, made healthy sandwiches, done our Fitness Challenge; learned a little Italian and French, sent up distress flares from the Highbury car park when we were visited by a lifeboat! We camped with the Cubs in the Summer but Beavers aren't supposed to camp in the open without their parents so we used the Prestbury Scout hut and erected lots of two man dome tents within it. The Beavers thought this was the biz!
Sharon has completed a large proportion of her training and is hoping to cover the rest during the first half of 2009. Shona earned her Wood Badge in 2008, with which she was presented during the Group Centenary celebrations at Cranham. Shona has been on maternity leave since just before Christmas 2007 so it's been a steep learning curve for Sharon and