Pair achieve a rare feat
Two Te Puke Scout members have nailed the highest honours available to them
Two Te Puke Scout Group members have won the highest honours available to them. Fifteen-year-old Scout Harrison Hennell has been awarded the Chief Scout’s Award, while James Matthews has achieved everything possible as a Cub.
James has been awarded all 24 badges on offer to Cubs and has also completed his bronze, silver and gold awards.
For Harrison, taking on the Chief Scout’s Award challenge was a natural progression from the Scout’s bronze, silver and gold awards.
“For Scouts it’s an optional award, once you have completed your gold,” he says.
“It’s a self-driven badge so you are there, you have the requirements, and it’s up to you to drive yourself to complete it.”
Among the requirements is to take part in outdoor sport or activity for 10 hours, lead a patrol activity and “give back” through service.
The patrol activity has to be planned and include at least two nights camping. For his service Harrison spent 20 weeks helping out with the group’s Kea section, which also included a camp.
But the highlight was his Covid19-interrupted explorer challenge.
The requirement is to travel over 100km using three different modes of transport over three days and nights.
The plan was to take four friends and spread the challenge over two weekends. As with much this year, then plans had to be changed.
The first night in March involved a hike up Pa¯ pa¯ moa Hills followed by a night at a cabin on a Paengaroa farm.
In the middle of the following week, Covid-19 alert level 4 hit, and plans had to be shelved.
Scouts New Zealand agreed to an extension so Harrison could complete the challenge.
“Normally they move on [from Scouts] when they are 141⁄2, so he would have done it in March, but in the end because of Covid was one weekend short,” says mum Donna Garrett.
“He had to apply for an extension to be able to carry on. Even when we went into level 2 and schools were back, Scouting New Zealand wouldn’t let them leave the den, so they couldn’t go camping — he had to wait until we went to level 1. ‘Once given the go-ahead, the second part of the challenge involved mountain biking in Rotorua’s Redwood Forest, a return to the cabin and then kayaking on the Kaituna River.
‘‘Him and his mates were in the cabin on their own, cooking and cleaning - the parents just took them from point A to point B,” says Donna.
Cub leader Richard Matthews, James’ dad, presented the award in front of the whole group.
“I was Googling it for research and there was an article in the New Zealand Herald about a Wellington Scout who had achieved it,” he says. “It’s quite a big deal because it encompasses everything they do in Scouting.”
Harrison has now moved up to the next level of Scouting — Venturers — but with no Venturers group in Te Puke travels to the Arataki-omanu Scout group.
But he and the rest of the Te Puke Scout group hope that it won’t be long before it has its own Venturers group.
‘‘We’ve got a few coming up who are about to finish Scouts as well and others around the place [so] we are going to try to start a unit,” says Harrison.
Harrison started in Cubs at the end of 2013 and went up to Scouts in 2016.
“There were only a few of us then, but it started to build up.”
He says the movement is great for young people to learn all kinds of survival skills.
“They are skills you will benefit from and will help you. You get involved with nature, you’re helping your community, you are outdoors and doing tons of good stuff — it’s just a great thing,” he says.
He says it’s quite a big step up from Cubs to Scouts.
“Cubs have the leaders there, but Scouts are more youth-led,” he says. ”You are leading stuff and deciding what you want to do for the term.”
James has achieved a clean sweep of the 24 badges available to Cubs. The badges cover a whole range of activities and skills including first aid, photography, athletics, swimming and computing.
James’ favourite was the fishing badge.
“I got to go fishing — we hardly ever go fishing,” he says.
Richard says the athletics badge is one of the hardest.
“Some of the leaders struggle with the ball throw,” says Richard. ”The boys were half a metre off the ball throw (target) for a long time. Often they only just squeak through at the end of Cubs. The fishing badge is quite involved as well. Some are a little bit easier to obtain.”
Richard has been involved in leading for four years and says he has only previously seen two certificates of achievement.
“They are quite rare,” he says.
Cubs meet at the Scout Den on Stock Rd at 6pm on Tuesdays and Scouts at 6.30pm on Mondays.