Category Archives: Children

Children, Environment

Witton star Scout reports from Norway

Witton Gilbert’s star scout, Joe Keogan, had a great time as an adult volunteer representing the UK in Norway at the European Scout event, Roverway 2024.

Roverway is a gathering of 5,000 Scouts aged 16 – 22 years old, from across Europe and beyond. It was on the beautiful fjord coastline of Lundsneset, Stavanger, from 22 July – 2 August. The trip event included:

  • An expedition across Southern Norway for five days, then
  • An international camp at Stavanger where Scouts engaged in a programme of Scouting activities and skill development, culminating in
  • A ferry trip to visit Copenhagen in Denmark.
  • A special event for the UK contingent (550 Scouts from UK’s four home nations and British Scouting Overseas) in Copenhagen from 2-5 August.

Joe Keogan, aged 23 and from Witton Gilbert, said: “I attended the last Roverway in Netherlands as a participant and I couldn’t wait to come back as an adult volunteer. Norway is amazing. I have been helping to build the site and working in an international team of Scouts has been inspiring.”

Scouts from almost every European nation shared 15 days of adventure, fun, and learning skills for life under theme “North of the Ordinary”.

Roverway helped participants develop independence and resilience by starting with a youth-led five-day expedition across Norway.

Bear Grylls, Chief Scout, said: “A massive congratulations to Joe Keogan who represented the UK at Roverway 2024. Roverway is an amazing opportunity to discover yourself and make new friends, whilst participating in a programme that demonstrates true Scouting spirit by developing skills for life. Everyone involved had the trip of a lifetime in Stavanger. The diversity of people they met reminds us all about what the world has to offer: new cultures and new friends, becoming ever more tolerant and caring about others.”

Scouting in Durham

There are eight Scout groups in the Durham City area according to the local website https://www.durhamcityscouts.org.uk/. Over 70 volunteers support the activities.

Scouts is the world’s largest youth movement Scout groups are divided according to age, including Squirrels (age 4-6), Beavers (6-8), Cuts (8-10.5 years), Scouts (10.5-14), Explorers (14 to 18) and Network (18-25). “Because of the demand for places especially in the younger sections it is not always possible to offer places in a first choice of group. If you are looking for a place please complete the online joining form and we will endeavour to find a space somewhere within the District.”

Scouts was founded on 1 August 1907 and the earliest record of scouting in Durham is from 1910, when there were already six Scout Groups and 140 Scouts.

1st Framwellgate Moor Scouts (https://www.framscouts.org.uk/) and has satellite groups in Sacriston. The local group has been going for some 70 years and is currently thriving with over 200 young people enjoying fun and adventures.

According to the website “We aim to give young people ranging from 4 to 18 years of age the opportunity to build skills for life through our section programmes. We offer new and challenging experiences designed to push the young people out of their comfort zones so they can truly learn and develop whilst also making long lasting friendships.

“Our programmes are designed around young people’s interests and needs in order to ensure they are fun and engaging, so they can get the best out of Scouting, potentially leading to top awards.

“We are an extremely popular group and our numbers are constantly increasing so if you have a young child interested in joining, we encourage you to add them to our waiting list early to ensure they get a place.”

About Scouts

In the UK, The Scout Association supports the 7,000 Scout Groups (www.scouts.org.uk) across the country to provide opportunities to over 444,000 young people aged 4-25 years. More than 587,500 individuals are actively involved in Scouts.

“Put your phone down and what are you left with? Just teamwork, courage and the skills to succeed.”
Bear Grylls, Chief Scout

All genders, races and backgrounds are welcome at Scouts. Every week, it gives almost half a million people the skills they need for school, college, university, the job interview, the important speech, the tricky challenge, and the big dreams: the skills they need for life.  

Over 200 activities are offered by Scouts, from canoeing and caving to coding and community projects, made possible by the efforts of over 163,000 adult volunteers. UK Scouts has over 250 Scout Activity Challenge badges. These require participants to achieve a level of understanding and skill realistic and appropriate to their age range.

Worldwide, Scouts has over 57 million members, both male and female, and operates in nearly every country in the world.

(Photos kindly supplied by Scouts PR, thank-you!)

Breathing Space, Charity, Children, Environment

Woodland Wonders for children in August

The much loved Woodland Wonders children’s activities are back on 6, 7, 8 and 9 August 2024. The activity starts by meeting at St Michael & All Angels Church. This year the theme is ancient Egypt!

The sessions are organised through local charity Breathing Space and all the sessions are led by a Witton Gilbert resident who is a Level 3 Forest school qualified facilitator.

The sessions are free, and optional donations are very welcome. Spaces are very limited – booking in advance is essential see below.

All children under 8 years of age need to be accompanied by an adult. Activities are outdoor and you should dress ready for the weather. No dogs please.

Woodland Wonders can include:

  • Explore the woodland and churchyard
  • Play active outdoor games
  • Discover local wildlife
  • Learn simple green woodwork skills
  • Make crafts from natural materials
  • Listen to stories around the campfire

When and where

  • Tuesday 6 August 10am-12pm and 1pm-3pm “Little Wonders” for children aged 2-5 years.
  • Wednesday 7 or Thursday 8 August, 10am-3pm ages 6-12 years.
  • Friday 9 August 10am-3pm. Age 2-12 years. Woodland Wonders with Children’s Hopes and Dreams CHAD local children’s group.

How to book

Book directly at https://www.trybooking.com/uk/eventlist/breathingspace or email info@breathingspace.org.uk.

Places are very limited and booking is essential. All children must be registered using a consent form, which must be completed in advance: “This form will give us the information we need to run the session safely and support all the children, and includes vital information such as emergency contacts, allergies, and photo consent.  Please help us to run safe sessions by completing this form if you intend to bring a child to Woodland Wonders and have not done so this year.”



Charity, Children, Music, Whats On

Wittfest live music this Saturday

UPDATE: After massive success, enjoyment and rain, Wittfest 2025 is already booked for 5 July 2025 and the first 3 bands are lined up. Put it in your diaries.

Coming up this Saturday, 13 July, is Witton Gilbert’s local live music festival, the Wittfest!

It will be at the carpark of the Traveller’s Rest pub.  Doors open at 11am, and first band goes on at 1pm.

Entry is by wristband and tickets are on sale behind the bar at The Travellers Rest pub at £15 each (card or cash) or message John Nixon and Jon Reynolds on Facebook.

Here is the bands line-up for the Wittfest:

1-2pm Lightning Birds

2-4pm The Dee Tees

4-6pm Brit pack

6-8pm Mojoroller 

8-10pm Ha’waysis

Children under 16 are free, although the festival is quite crowded.

The festival raises money for Witton Gilbert’s own community group CHAD Children’s Hopes and Dreams. All of CHAD’s activities are funded through local contributions and events such as the Wittfest.

For more information contact Jon Reynolds or John Nixon via Facebook or the active Witton Gilbert page on Facebook.

Picture credit: Thanks to The Dee Tees for flyer.

Charity, Children

Children’s Hopes and Dreams village group

This is a Witton Gilbert fund-raising organization which supports lots of community and charity activities for children in the village and further afield.

Some of the activities for summer 2024:

  • Free football coaching on the field, usually every Wednesday evening through August.
  • A qualified CrossFit trainer puts on four sessions.
  • Supporting the much loved Woodland Wonders children’s holiday sessions with lunches and other support.

According to Jon Reynolds, one of the organizers: “We put a Halloween party and Christmas party on at the club, all free. We also do other things during the year like the pantomime horse race”. The horse race is an annual event since 2021 and the date is to be confirmed.

Jon added: “Last year we put guitar lessons on and supplied the instruments, but that is yet not confirmed for this year.

“We also designed a programme with suicide prevention charity If U Care Share to go into year 5 in Witton Gilbert Primary School for six weeks to prepare the kids for going to the “big” school. This went down really well with the kids and parents so we are raising money to do this again and want it be a yearly thing. This cost us £3,500 for the first year but will only cost us £2,000 moving forward as it is all designed.”

Children’s hopes and dreams was originally set up nearly 30 years ago in memory of a local serviceman, Michael Stephenson, who was in the Royal Marines and died from a heart embolism at the age of 23 years. Here is a story in the Northern Echo.

Since then they have organized a football tournament in his memory for many years and have continued to raise money for different causes, including the primary school, local playgroups and the Treetops children’s ward, at the University Hospital of North Durham.