7th Ashford St Mary's Scout Group

01/07/2026

Double celebration for 7th Ashford (St. Mary’s) Scout Group!

We are incredibly proud to share that our group has been presented with the Kent Scouts Growth & Development Award for Ashford District and has also achieved the Kent Scouts Grow 50 Silver Award. These awards recognise the hard work, dedication and commitment of our volunteers, the support of our families, and the enthusiasm of our amazing young people. Together we’ve continued to grow Scouting in our community and provide more opportunities for fun, adventure and skills for life.

As an extra celebration of these achievements, our Squirrel Scouts have also been invited to a special Kent Scouts activity day at Lower Grange Farm in recognition of their contribution towards these awards. We can’t wait for them to enjoy a fantastic day of adventure!

These awards belong to everyone in our group. To celebrate, our Group Lead Volunteer will be visiting each section to present every young person and volunteer with their Grow 50 Silver badge. We hope they’ll wear it with pride on their uniform as a reminder of what we’ve achieved together as one Scout Group.

Thank you to everyone who has supported 7th Ashford (St. Mary’s) Scout Group this year. Whether you’ve volunteered your time, encouraged a young person to join, or supported us behind the scenes, you’ve all played a part in making this possible. Here’s to continuing to grow and provide even more amazing adventures for young people! ⚜️

28/06/2026

**Repost**

🐿️ 7th Ashford (St Mary’s) Squirrels Go Nuts! 🌰

What a fantastic day our Squirrels had at Kent Scouts Squirrel Goes Nuts 2026!

Our Drey joined hundreds of Squirrels from across Kent for an action-packed day full of adventure, fun and new experiences. Throughout the day, our young people had the chance to try a huge range of exciting activities including fencing, soft archery, axe throwing, exploring the caving bus, story time, face painting, and so much more!

Events like this are a brilliant opportunity for our Squirrels to meet other Dreys from across the county, make new friends, build confidence and discover just how big the Scouting family really is. A huge thank you to Kent Scouts, the volunteers who organised the event, and our amazing leaders for helping make the day possible. Most importantly, well done to all of our Squirrels for showing such enthusiasm, bravery and fantastic behaviour throughout the day, we’re so proud of you all! 💚

We can’t wait to see what adventures are next!

07/06/2026

🌟 Could you help shape the future of Scouting in Ashford? 🌟

7th Ashford (St Mary’s) Scout Group is currently looking for volunteers to join our team in the following roles:

• Chairman
• Group Lead Volunteer
• Squirrel Scout Leaders

Whether you have previous Scouting experience or are completely new to Scouting, we’d love to hear from you. These roles are a fantastic opportunity to support young people, make a difference in your community, and be part of a friendly and rewarding team.

If you think one of these roles might suit you, please get in touch at:

📧 [email protected]

Please share this post to help us reach potential volunteers. Thank you for your support! 💜

01/04/2026

Good morning everyone 👋

After months of careful planning, risk assessments, and a few muddy rehearsals, I’m excited to finally announce that our newest section will be launching after Easter… 🐸 Tadpoles! 🐸

Tadpoles is for children aged 2–4 and will focus on developing key scouting skills such as:
• Advanced puddle jumping 🌧️
• Snack-based survival techniques 🍪
• Den building (mostly out of cushions!) 🛖
• And of course… perfecting their campfire song repertoire 🎶😉

We’ve got lots of exciting activities planned, including a possible expedition in June (location dependent on nap times and snack supplies!).

🚨 We can only take a maximum of 10 young adventurers, so if you have a sibling who would like to join, please let Donna or myself know ASAP.

Because after all…
you’re never too young to start your Scouting adventure 🌍

😄

31/03/2026

22/03/2026

**Announcement**

We will soon be looking for a new Group Lead Volunteer for 7th Ashford (St Mary’s), as our current GLV will be stepping down from the role in September. We want to say a huge thank you for all the time, dedication and support they have given to the group it’s truly appreciated and has made a real difference to our young people and volunteers.

There will be full support in place for anyone taking on the role, including a handover and guidance from the current GLV to help ensure a smooth transition. This is a fantastic opportunity to support and shape the future of the group, working alongside an amazing team of volunteers to continue delivering great Scouting for our young people.

If you, or someone you know, might be interested and would like to find out more about the role, please get in touch we’d love to have a chat!

22/03/2026

🌍🐘 Support Ada & Alex – Botswana 2029 Expedition 🐘🌍

We’re excited to share that one of our Group Lead Volunteer (Squirrel) Ada, along with one of our volunteers Alex (Kestrel) have been selected to take part in the Kent Scouts Botswana 2029 International Conservation Expedition.

This is an incredible opportunity to support wildlife conservation projects while developing skills that will be brought back to benefit young people within our Scout groups.

The expedition is fully self-funded, and they will be raising funds over the next three years through events, sponsorship and community support.

If you’re able to help, please consider donating or sharing their GoFundMe page – every little really does make a difference 💛

👉 https://gofund.me/7ce5e789c

Thank you for supporting our leaders and helping make this amazing opportunity possible!

Help Ada & Alex get to Botswana for a once in a life time conservation exp… Ada Black needs your support for Ada & Alex’s Botswana 2029 Kent Scout Expedition

16/03/2026

🚨 **Health Reminder for Our Scout Group Meningitis Awareness** 🚨

Following the current meningitis outbreak in Kent, we ask all parents and carers to please follow UK health guidance and not bring young people to sessions if they are unwell or showing symptoms of meningitis.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/694a83a9033693d5d50eb8f7/Meningo-disease-guidelines-2025.pdf

This applies to all sections in the group: Squirrels, Beavers, Cubs and Scouts.

Please keep your child at home and seek medical advice if they have symptoms such as:
• High temperature
• Severe headache
• Vomiting
• Sensitivity to light
• Stiff neck
• Unusual sleepiness or difficulty waking
• Cold hands and feet, limb pain or pale/blotchy skin
• A rash that does not fade when pressed
In younger children you may also notice:
• Refusing food
• Irritability or being floppy/unresponsive
• A high-pitched cry

If you are concerned about meningitis, please seek urgent medical advice by calling NHS 111 or 999.

The safety and wellbeing of our young people and volunteers is always our priority. Thank you for helping keep Squirrels, Beavers, Cubs, Scouts and Volunteers safe by keeping unwell young people at home.

🐿️

15/03/2026

Happy Mother’s Day to all the amazing mums, grandmothers and mother figures in our Scout family 🌸

From Squirrels and Beavers to Cubs, Scouts and Explorers, our young people are supported every day by the encouragement, patience and care you give. Whether it’s helping them remember their necker, sewing on badges, dropping them off at meetings, or hearing all about their adventures afterwards, thank you for being such an important part of their Scouting journey.

A special thank you as well to the wonderful mums and grandmothers who volunteer their time as leaders and helpers, giving so much to help our young people grow in confidence, skills and friendship.

From everyone at 7th Ashford (St Mary’s) we hope all the amazing mums, grandmothers and mother figures in our Scout community have a lovely and well deserved Mother’s Day 💐