A Beaver Scout from Barton has two good reasons to celebrate this week. She has just taken part in a mass investiture of Beaver Scouts at Orchard School and she will also celebrate her 6^th birthday with a big party.

Birthday girl Charlotte Patkam was one of 24 youngsters who raised the roof at Orchard School in Higham Road, Barton when they were invested as the first Beaver Scout colony in the school. The colony will be a satellite of the 174-strong 1^st Flitwick Scout Group some nine miles away.

Head teacher Mrs Anne Burton was inspired by the story of the Scout centenary jamboree in 2007 and felt this was something that would add adventure and challenge to the school’s out of hours activities. Anne remarked, “I had divine intervention from visiting Scout chaplain the Reverend Richard Winslade from Maulden who said, ‘Leave it to me.” She explained, “We have lots of working parents who had problems with normal meeting times for Beavers so we decided to do it in house. It was wonderful. Richard liaised with the leadership of the 1^st Flitwick Scout Group in his home district and they organised everything. We were limited to a colony of 24 but we soon filled that and ran our first meeting at the beginning of December.”

Mrs Burton added, “We are so delighted to have Beavers at Orchard. Later, we may start a Cub Scout Pack for the eight year olds or our Beavers may join packs in the area. Parent support is outstanding. We have a rota of nine parents who are training to be leaders led by Beaver Scout Leader Jane Reynolds. And if the noise the Beavers make is anything to go by, they are having the time of their lives.”

Beaver Scout Leader Jane Reynolds said, “This is one of the most enthusiastic bunch of Beaver Scouts I know. We had great fun training them to salute properly and say their promise. On the night it went like clockwork. Newly appointed Group Scout Leader Damian Ratcliffe conducted the investiture and handed out the scarves. Now all the Beavers really do feel important.

The message from Charlotte is, “I like Beavers because we have fun and I make lots of friends. My favourite game is North, South, East and West where we have to run to different points of the compass.” Mum Stephanie, who is a trained helper, said, “Charlotte’s 6^th birthday party will include lots of Beaver friends. It promises to be a big gathering.”

Another six year old, Eloise Toone from Flitton added, “We coloured in a huge banner saying Orchard Beavers for our creative challenge badge. It hangs in the school hall for everyone to see. We now know we belong and I can’t wait to see what we’ll do next.”

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