The 12th Andover (West) Scout Group
'The best'
Welcome to the 12th Andover (West) Scout Group website
COVID-19 Latest News (08/01/2021): The latest Government directive regarding the national lockdown means that we are not allowed to hold face-to-face meetings at the HQ until this lockdown ends or eases (likely to be until at least March). Our section leaders have been busy organising their new programs for the new term and you will be sent details via email soon. Please contact one of your leaders if you have not seen this by Monday 11th or if you have any questions.
We will be in touch again with an update nearer the end of lockdown once we know more.
Scroll down or click ‘News & Events’ above for all our latest news ….
We are based in the Andover District in North Hampshire. Our Group meet at the Scout Hut on West Portway in Andover (see contact for more details).
Our group consists of Beaver, Cub & Scout sections and in addition, one of the District Explorer units also meets at our hut as well as a Networks section.
We have a great hut with lots of facilities, a large car park and a wonderfully large outside space that is fully and safely enclosed, allowing us to hold camps and many events within our own grounds.
The aim of the Scout Association is to promote the development of young people and help them achieve their full physical, intellectual, social and spiritual potentials as individual, as responsible citizens and as members of their local, national and international communities.
This website is continuously being added to so please browse it regularly to find new information on the 12th Andover (West) Scout Group.
Latest News
Tonight’s the Night
At last we return to meetings at the HQ starting with Scouts tonight and the sun is shining on us so it should be a great evening though of course very different to what we were doing in September last year. We are looking forward to seeing everyone this... read moreGOOD NEWS !
We are pleased to be able to tell you that we will be restarting face-to-face meetings at the HQ beginning with Scouts on Monday next week (Sept 14th) then Beavers on their new day of Tuesday and Cubs on Thursday. We have created a comprehensive return plan for how this will work that has been approved locally and by the Andover District team. More news on this will appear here soon and all parents/carers will shortly be receiving an email with full details on how this will work and what you need to know each week including which Bubble your young people are in. There will be a staggered drop-off and pick-up process and to make this understandable for you we recommend that you watch the short video that will soon be uploaded to the section Facebook sites. If you are not a member of those sites then please ask your leader for... read more
Beavers win Chief Scout Awards
The most difficult badge to win in each of our sections is the Chief Scout Award. It takes a lot of hard work and effort over a long period to do all the tasks that are required to eventually achieve the badge and anyone who does this can be very proud of themselves for what they have done. In normal circumstances all badge winners get to attend a ceremony where our District Commissioner, Julian Slade would hand out the awards and each winner would go up on the stage to receive it and get a loud round of applause from everyone present to show the winners how proud we are as a group. Unfortunately, as I am sure you know, circumstances are NOT normal and so the awards were posted to the winners this time. I know that this is not what we would have wanted but it doesn’t lessen the terrific achievement for each of our winners and we are still very proud of you all. The winners in our Beaver section this time were: Benedict Nock, Andrew Witcher, Freya Parnham, Arlo Garland, Billy Wisniewski, Jacob Whincup and Hamish Manson. Very well done to you... read moreBeavers meet Conrad
Last week our Beaver section met with children’s poet Conrad Burdekin on Zoom and together they composed a poem called ‘The 12th Andover West Café ‘ and here it is. Great effort guys, we love it... read more
Hedgehogs and Zoom !
The Beavers invited the Cubs to join their Zoom meeting recently week and were joined by Dave Hudson from ‘Prickles and Paws’ hedgehog rescue centre in Newquay. He gave everyone a tour of the rescue centre which was very impressive. They got to see the incubators containing hoglets and the building where the bigger hedgehogs and the maternity unit were housed. The tour then moved on to the outside space where a fenced off area was home to the hedgehogs before being released back into the wild. As well as hedgehog houses, feeding stations and hedgehog highways, they all got to see the hydrotherapy pool used to assist the hedgehogs in recovering from any injuries they might have. Everyone learnt a lot, including how hedgehog numbers are declining and the importance of making our gardens hedgehog friendly. He encouraged everyone to get involved with this by making hedgehog houses, highways and by creating feeding stations. He encouraged the Beavers and Cubs to send the rescue centre any photos of anything they do to create a great environment for a hedgehog. If you click on this link https://www.pricklesandpaws.org/ you can go directly to the ‘Prickles and Paws’ website. Please do visit, it has all the contact information, along with information on how to attract hedgehogs to your garden. There are also some adorable hedgehog photos. As a charity they are reliant on public support to be able to keep their rescue centre open. If you would like to donate to ‘Prickles and Paws’ you can do so via their website. Please contact one of our Beaver or Cubs leaders for... read more