1st HANSLOPE

Saturday March 9th 1988

Scout Group Visit to the Oxford Gang Show

The Cub Scout Pack, Scout Troop, Leaders and parents met at 9.45 a.m. at the Headquarters to catch a private coach at 10.00 a.m.

We arrived at Oxford without incident after careful seating arrangements, when embarking at Hanslope, had proved successful.

The Cub Scout Pack and Leaders began a walking tour of the cities centre. We passed many of the Colleges but we were unable to show the lads a typical quadrangle owing to the colleges being closed to the public until the afternoon, even Baloo could not persuade a forceful Porter that we only wanted to look, not to actually join the College.

After a difficult time trying to cross a busy road we sat in the Botanical Gardens to eat our packed lunches with help from some friendly ducks. Continuing our walk we reached the River Thames but saw no sign of the Oxford Boat Crew getting ready for their clash with Cambridge in the Boat Race. We retreated from the river and enjoyed a game of cricket using a very wide tree trunk as the wicket. The Cub Scouts were allowed to wear long trousers for the outing but this did not deter the lads from taking many fine catches at full stretch in the mud. Baloo reminded Akela that we had arranged to be outside the Apollo Theatre at 1.30 p.m. to meet the rest of the Party so we made a forced march through the shoppers so that we would only be 10 minutes late.

The Party entered the theatre and after the seats had been found and allocated with some forced climbing in the process, we all sat back and enjoyed a very fine Gang Show. At the performance’s end we all agreed we had enjoyed a spectacular and musical Gang Show that had been an eye opener in showing what standards can be achieved from an enthusiastic cast.

We arrived back at Hanslope at 6.0 p.m. having enjoyed the first Scout Group Outing for many years and hoping it can be repeated each year with help from the Group Scout Council.

The Party
White Six T. Coles, W. Giffin, S. Barfoot, S. Goodman, R. Thornton, P. Walker, E. Porter
Green Six L. McDonald, G. Hill A. Cross, P. Brown, P. Redman, T. Ayles, D. Williamson
Yellow Six M. Goldsmith, E. Ashcroft, L. Ashton, J. Harding, A. Olive
Blue Six B. Langridge, W. Monk, A. Wilson, B. Fricker, H. Cox, P. Woolley
25 Cubs

Leaders: Akela, Baloo and Kaa

Akela C.S.L.

Written by Akela - (Robin Coles) - Cub Scout Leader