Christmas Post
Christmas is coming and preparations are under way for this year's Scout Christmas Post. This year will be our biggest ever post with deliveries going to Wemyss Bay as well as Inverkip for the first time.

The service is free to all residents of Inverkip and Wemyss Bay, donations can be made by posting in an envelope addressed to the Scouts.

Post boxes are now in place in Inverkip Church Hall, Sainsburys in Inverkip and Spar in Wemyss Bay. Just go down to the place that sits you and post your Christmas cards in the box.

The boxes will be available until Wed 14th Dec in the shops, and Fri 16th Dec in the Church Hall. Deliveries will be made on Saturday / Sunday 17th and 18th Dec, and possible during the week after depending on volume. December 2011

A huge well done to the Scouts from the both Troops who pushed on with their Community Challenges by helping staff at Ardgowan to clear an area of the estate at the end of November. The group spent most of the rainy Saturday clearing and burning fallen wood in a huge bonfire.

Both Iain the factor and Lady Lucinda have mailed us to thank everyone involved for all their hard work. They have made a big difference to an area of the estate in spite of  the poor conditions. November 2011

Badgework Records

Community Service at Ardgowan

Remembrance Parade

What a fantastic turn out at Remembrance Parade this year!! All very smartly dressed thanks Parents. We had a total of 154 on parade. Thanks also to our dedicated leaders for their ongoing voluntary commitment week in week out, Scouting is indeed thriving in the villages of Inverkip and Wemyss Bay. A special thanks must also be extended on behalf of the 85th to Duncan Luke who piped us to and from the Cenotaph in memory of our fallen hero's. Pictures in our Group Gallery. Nov 2011

Registration of all Explorers, Scouts, Cubs and Beavers

This year we are changing the way we register for the

Wed 2nd Nov:

Inverkip Primary School 7pm (Explorers)

Inverkip Church Hall 7pm (Inverkip Scouts)

Thu 3rd Nov:

Inverkip Primary School 6pm (Inverkip Cubs)

Fri 4th Nov:

Wemyss Bay Primary School 7.15pm (Wemyss Bay Cubs)

Wemyss Bay Primary School 6.15pm (Wemyss Bay Beavers)

Inverkip Church Hall 5.45pm (Inverkip Beavers)

Wemyss Bay Primary School 7pm (Wemyss Bay Scouts)

Group Social and Fundraiser - Race Night

We're kicking off the new year with a social event for all parents which we also hope will help raise funds for the Group for the new term. The event will be a Race Night on Saturday 1st September at 7pm in Inverkip Church Hall. It's a BYOB night, so it's guaranteed to be good fun. Most people probably haven't been to a race night before, so our host will take us through what's needed. Just be ready to place £1 bets on the horses during the night. For those who can't make it on the night, you can still take part by buying (and naming) a horse or a jockey. Horses and jockeys cost £1 each. Please contact your leader in advance to buy one.

Starting Back for the New Term!!!

Welcome back for the new term. Below are the dates each of our sections are starting back after the Summer Holidays. Looking forward to seeing you then.

Beavers (Wemyss Bay): Thursday 8th Sep 6.15pm

Cubs (Inverkip): Wednesday 7th Sep 6pm

Cubs (Wemyss Bay): Thursday 8th Sep 7.15pm 

Scouts (Inverkip): Wednesday 7th Sep 7pm

Summer Camp Hawkhirst

The Scouts visited Hawkhirst just South of the border at the end of July and spent a week practising their camping skills for real, doing all their own cooking on open fires (yes, some can now help parents whip up a cheese sauce, or tatties and mince) and living as hygienically as they know how, although a bit of work is needed there for some.

Hawkhirst is a National Scout Activity Centre and sits on Kielder Water in the Northumbrian National Park. The Scouts were able to make the most of the water for kayaking, and the surrounding Mountain Bike trails as well. Later in the week all Scouts managed a mini-expedition walking or kayaking along the lakeside for a lightweight camp, before swapping round for the journey back.

During the camp we managed to get our first 2 Scouts progressing onto spraydecks for their kayaks, and one even managed a bow-rescue. Hopefully the first of many.

After a week of qualification leagues and then knock-out stages, we are delighted to congratulations to Liam who won the 85th Croquet Championship for 2011. And a special mention to Robbie, the beaten finalist who missed out by only 2 hoops.

The pictures are posted in our Gallery now as usual. Hope you enjoy. Aug 2011

Group Camp - British Army put us through our Paces

They're the guys you want to have on your side if you ever come across them, and Captain Alex Greenroad and his team gave our Scouts a great time when they put them through their paces at Group Camp this year. The Scouts learned all sorts of new things from the soldiers including experiencing how to move forward in a hostile situation as well as learning survival techniques. They also found out about the need to be able to stand to attention ignoring the midgies all around you, as well as an unexpcted use for a paper hankie (ask the scout in your family - we won't print it here).

This group camp was a mammoth task which saw us use every single piece of canvas we could lay hands on including 34 different Patrol tents and hike tents plus cook shelters. The youngsters clocked up well over 200 camp nights to count towards their nights away badges, and they also completed parts of their Outdoor Challenge and Adventure Challenge badges among others. Well done to everyone involved for diving in to every activity on offer. You can check out the photos in our Group Gallery here, and start looking forward top next year's Group Camp. As always, prints of the photo's can be ordered from the gallery at photobox. The photos are normally good enough quality to enlarge up to at least A3 size - the photobox site will advise you if you try to order a print at a size where the picture resolution isn't high enough to give a good print. The Scout Group does not receive any funds from any orders you may place.  June 2011

Wemyss Bay Gala Day - Paracord Survival Bracelets

Were you at the Wemyss Bay Gala Day this year and want some instructions on how to make your own Paracord Survival Bracelet? You'll find them here, but before you go, why not take some time to browse around our site and see what we've been up to recently. You can use the 'Contact Us' page to get details of when we meet at Wemyss Bay Primary school. When you've seen enough just scroll down to the link section at the bottom of this page and you'll find the instructions there.

And good luck with your bracelet. It's a handy way for you to take 2 metres of emergency cord with you wherever you go. June 2011

A group of our Scouts had a great time in June when they went Microlighting at Strathaven Airfield near Glasgow. The staff at the airfield not only welcomed them to camp on their land, but they took the Scouts for a tour of the field and their hangar and showed them how their different planes are operated and how they can fly.  The highlight of the weekend was a flight for each Scout in the cockpit of a microlight where they got to take control of the joystick to fly around the local area. All the Scouts managed to earn their Basic Aviation Skills badge over the weekend. Amongst it all they even fitted in a visit to Strathaven's annual Raft Race where they managed to commandeer a stray raft and failed to overtake the local St Patrick's school teachers women's team who were competing in the ladies race.

A big thanks to all the pilot instructors and staff at Microlight Scotland who took time out from giving their normal trial flights and lessons to give the Scouts such a fantastic experience. Any parents wanting to book a trial flight for themselves or as a birthday present for a friend, or even some flying lessons can find more information here.

You can find pictures of the weekend, as well as a few from Sunday's parade in the Scout Gallery . As usual you can order high quality prints (good for A3 printing) from the gallery. Jun 2011

District Parade 2011

Well done to everyone who turned out for District Parade in Greenock this year. A total of 130 members of the 85th Marched the route to church in Nelson Street where a new format of service was laid on for the first time. Our very own Group Scout Leader Shirley Cairney was appointed Depute District Commissioner on the day

ps. Can any parents who managed to take photos please email what you can to Andy Yarr Jun 2011

Hardie Webster Medals

Well done to our 2 patrols who entered this year's Hardie Webster camping competition at Everton. Both patrols did well coping with both the sunshine and thunderstorm, and one patrol even managed to run out of staves for their camp gadgets! Pretty good going when they had well over 20 staves to build with. Some of the scouts came home with rabbit's paw keyrings, freshly made at the weekend. Ewan's team won the bronze medal for the competition, with the 70th outright winners followed by the 32nd. Congratulations to them, and fingers crossed for an 85th first place next year!! May 2011

Taekwon-Do

The Inverkip Troop had great fun and a hard working night in March as they tried out their skills at Taekwon-do for the first time. A team from the Stephen Rooney Taekwon-do schools came down to put them through their paces. The physical exercises in the session soon showed the Scouts the level of fitness they can reach in the sport as well as a good introduction to some of the defence techniques. We'd like to thank Cynthia, David and Jordan for coming down to lay on such a great evening. The Wemyss Bay section hope to organise a session of their own after the holidays. The Taekwon-do school meet weekly around Inverclyde including in Inverkip Primary on Wednesdays 6pm, and Wemyss Bay Community Centre on Thursdays at 4.45pm. Find them at here March 2011

Morrison's Bag Packing


The numbers are finally in and we can announce that the total raised at our Morrisons Bag Packing event in March was a £1126.13. That's a fantastic amount, especially given the snowy conditions that must have kept a good number of shoppers at home on the day. Especially pleasing was the excellent turn-out of Scouts and Explorers. The leaders' job was made easy by a well mannered and smart group of Scouts. They really were a credit to our Troop and their parents. Parents will be pleased to know that lots of shoppers paid compliments to them for their politeness, hard work and even their sense of humour during the day. Well done to all involved, and thanks again to Morrisons for hosting us for this fundraiser! March 2011





Our Highest Awards
A big congratulations to all our members who received their Chief Scout Silver, Gold and Platinum awards, and also Ewan's Gold Zodiac Award at the District Awards Ceremony last night. This is the highest number of these awards we have ever awarded in the same year and it's due to the hard work and commitment of all the recipients. Apologies to the 5 or ...more that we didn't manage to get in the photo. Very well done to all of you! March 2010



85th - Bigger and Better Than Ever!
Many of you know that last year we were among the top 5 fastest growing Scout Groups in the UK, and we're delighted to tell you that this year has been no different. With the census figures just in we can announce it's been another bumper year of growth for the 85th growing from 189 members in 2010 up to 216 in 2011 - breaking through 200 for the first time in our history! Scouting has never been more alive in Inverkip and Wemyss Bay. Thanks to all our dedicated leaders who put in so much effort every week and beyond, and to all parents and youth members who make it all worthwhile. Here's looking to another fantastic year in 2012.  January 2011

Fordell Firs Winter Weekend

Twenty Scouts, Explorers and Leaders braved the winter cold for a weekend at Fordell Firs in December. This is the first time the troop have been to Fordell, which houses the National Scout Activity Centre as well as the SHQ offices, in almost 10 years. Although the Explorers visited it earlier this year.

For the weekend the centre was coated in a blanket of untouched snow over 1 foot deep and we were the first troop to get to run through it throwing snowballs.

Activities included caving, pioneering, igloo building, archery, crate climbing and a grand snowball fight helped by slingshots as well as the catapults we built as pioneering projects. Everyone also worked towards missing parts of their Outdoor and Outdoor Plus challenges including cooking their meals outside on stoves. Four of the group deserve a special mention as they pulled off a first for the 85th by staying overnight in one of the igloos.

Thanks to Bob and the staff at Fordell who manned some of the bases and made sure the Scouts had a great time! Photos are available in the Scout Gallery.  December 2010

Gang Show 2010

With 60 of us in the audience on Wednesday and 29 more either on, or working behind the stage, Gang Show 2010 was a busy event for the 85th. Well done to all our cast members who took part, including the Little Men, Hornpipe, Aladdin and a few of his villagers and soldiers, Prince Charming and Andy H's tremendous performance in the  "Annie's Song" duet with Johanna.

The event brought praise from a wide range of dignitaries from politicians, Councillors, National Commissioners, Gang Show teams from across Scotland as well as the Queen's Lord Lieutenant of Renfrewshire,.

Pictures of the event are available now at the official Gang Show facebook page. Our visit the Group Gallery to see pictures of just the 85th contingent.

Watch out for the cast events which will be arranged of the coming weeks. November 2010


Armistice Parade 2010















The weather was great again for Armistice Parade this year and we would like to thanks all Beavers, Cubs, Scouts, Explorers, Leaders and Parents for turning out so smartly to pay tribute to our fallen heroes. In all there were 162 members of the Scout Group on parade, and every one was credit to the Group. Thanks to all parents who made sure their children were so smart for the day, and who followed the parade to the cenotaph. November 2010


Tunnocks Visit
After 2 years eagerly sitting on the waiting list, we were finally able to take a group of older Scouts on a tour of the Tunnocks Factory in Uddingston in November. The factory operates 24hrs a day producing the teacakes, caramel wafers and the other products that we all love, so it was in full production when we were taken around the shop floors. We were able to watch close-up as the teacakes were transformed from biscuits, marshmallows and chocolate into teacakes for home and abroad. Wafers and caramel were baked in one area before being put together into the caramel wafers we buy in the shops. And each wrapping machine can wrap up to 600 biscuits minute. Did you know there are extra large Caramel Wafers made for selling abroad? The Scouts were delighted to sample some of the biscuits as they were made fresh from the production line. Thanks to Bonnie, Janet and all the staff at Tunnocks who made the Scouts feel so welcome and made sure they had a fantastic time.

There are some more photos in the Scout Gallery. November 2010

Carrie's Back
Carrie's back from her latest expedition in the Himalayas. Unable to sneak back quietly, the national press picked up the story after she was airlifted from base camp following a trip where she broke her wrist. The good news is that she's now had 2 operations to fix the bones and she just needs to rest her arm to recover now. The accident happened during the last day or 2 before the summit attempt itself. The only consolation was that the snow fell heavily on the mountain just after she fell meaning the summit attempt had to be canceled anyway. So as things stand it's Ama Dablam 1 - 0 Carrie. You can read one of the newspaper articles here.  November 2010