Cubs is the second section in the scouting family, after beavers and before scouts. A cub is typically 8 – 10 ½ yrs old.
What do Cubs do?
Cubs do a wide range of activities, including the occasional camp. Activities range from arts and crafts to climbing and abseiling to kayaking and sailing – we like to give the cubs an experience of the adventure that scouting has to offer!
Our programme is carefully planned according to the “Balanced Programme” philosophy that scouting promotes in order to provide a wide range of activities and experiences.
Uniform
The Cub uniform is simple: Dark green sweatshirt, neckerchief (the scarf worn to identify the Group).
Cubs who were previously Beavers will already have a Group Neckerchief (Neckie). If you are new to the Group, the neckie and woggle will be awarded at your young person’s investiture (see below). Replacements can be purchased from your Akela.
The only part of the uniform you’ll need to buy is the sweatshirt. There’s no need to buy this for the first two weeks as we allow a settling in period, to ensure your young person wants to stay with us. Once that has been decided, the sweatshirt can be purchased locally from the Glasgow Scout Shop, or various vendors online. We also recycle cub sweaters when they move on, so if interested in a second-hand sweater, see your Akela.
Badges
The cubs take part in many activities that work towards what are called activity badges, staged badges, and challenge awards – when they are awarded a new badge, please sew it onto the uniform in the position described below. We encourage cubs to sew their own badges on.
If you are new to scouting, a few badges will be presented at your young person’s investiture (see further down for info about Investiture)*. The first one is the purple Membership Award worn on the front left side on the sweatshirt. The membership badge is worn by all scouts worldwide and the induction programme leading up to investiture provides members with an understanding of the values and benefits of the Scouting Movement which this badge represents (see Motto, Promise, and Law below).
The following are worn on the right sleeve:
(i) A green group name tape (4th/85th Dunblane Scouts) and
(ii) The Scotland badge
(iii) Two badges side by side for our district (Stirling and Trossachs) and region (Forth)
*If your young person has been in the Beavers, these badges should be transferred from their Beaver uniform to their Cub uniform.
The Investiture
This event usually takes place after your young person feels settled within the pack and applies to all Cubs, whether they have been in the Beavers and moved up to Cubs, or are new to Cubs.
For the Investiture, which takes place at a weekly meeting, your young person will be asked to repeat the Promise and Law. If the Cub is new to Scouting, he/she will then be presented with various items including a neckerchief (neckie), woggle and badges for their uniform. Cubs that have been in the Beavers will already have their neckie and badges, but will be given a new woggle.
Investitures are important to us and our young people, so parents and guardians are invited to attend.
Moving Up to Scouts
Between the ages of 10½ and 11 your young person will be the right age to move to the Scout Section. Changing section usually happens at the end of a term, or start of the next one. Dunblane Scouts follow the local school calendar with terms running from Aug-Oct (Term 1), Oct-Dec (Term 2), Jan-Apr (Term 3) and Apr-Jun (Term 4).
Before your young person transitions to the next section, we will ask which Scout section (Tuesday or Thursday) you or your scout would prefer. His/Her OSM record is then transferred to the chosen section and you will be invited by email to move your Monday Cub’s OSM record to the new scout section’s OSM.