During 1999 there were fluctuations in membership as tends to be the case with this age group. We started the year with 8 members, 4 left mainly due to the pressures of secondary school homework, one Elfin moved up and 2 new members joined at the end of 1998. Therefore we hover around 7 members, comprising 4 girls and 3 boys.
Pat Dobson continues as Pioneer leader with occasional help from parents. Many thanks to those who have given their time, please continue to support us. In addition volunteering to help the Elfins makes it easier for the Pioneers to run a separate programme. There have been many group nights this year when Pauline and Pat have had no extra help and have had to merge the two groups.
Our main focus for the spring term was on craft work, a highlight being the production of a large dragon out of recycled materials. This was used as is traditional in China at New Year to perform a ‘dragon dance’ in order to ward off evil spirits.
After Easter we took some " Bold Steps for Peace" as part of a National Peace Council initiative to include children’s ideas in the international peace conference which took part in the Hague in May 1999. This included making and decorating footprints with the children’s own ideas for bringing about a peaceful future, these were then sent via the National Peace Council to be presented at the conference.
As a follow-up Pioneers and Elfins took part in role-playing situations where rules were a necessity. These ranged from a simple ‘what happens when two or more people are trying to get through a door at the same time’ to ‘what happens if one child snatches a drink from another’. We also discussed the rules we use at Woodcraft eg everybody joining in games, and their purpose.
The small group of attending Pioneers spent several evenings working towards their Greenstick badge. There are several elements to this: the Country Code, explanation of the Woodcraft symbol and how to prepare for a hike. Three Pioneers achieved this badge.
After the Whitsun half-term much of the programme was a joint effort with the Elfins and included many craft activities: puppets, soap carving and sawdust filled ‘grass heads’ were among the most popular.
The Autumn term saw us embarking on work for the International Friendship badge. We chose Korea as our focus as there is a sizeable Korean population in New Malden and it seemed like a good idea to study their culture and traditions. We cooked and tasted Korean food, dressed paper figures in Korean clothes, and wrote our names in Korean script. A group of Pioneers found out about some traditional Korean stories and performed a short play based on one of them. Hopefully all the children felt they had gained some useful knowledge about this interesting country and its people.
As a prelude to Millenium celebrations we spent the last 2 weeks of term making Millenium cards and a Millenium ‘bug’.
The majority of these took place in the summer months. The first took place on a group night when we followed a ‘treasure trail’ through the streets and paths of New Malden, ending up at a well known landmark in Acacia Grove.
We had one ramble along the River Wey to the village of Dunsfold, although only one Pioneer took part in this. Similiarly the International Co-Op day in July, held in the park of the Imperial War Museum, was attended by one Pioneer who spent the majority of the afternoon ‘strutting his stuff’ on the stage of ‘The Albion Kid Show’. There were many other enjoyable activities on offer including giant parachute games, which even the leaders had a great time with.
A very successful Pioneer day was also held in July at Blacklands farm, East Grinstead. Two of our present members were joined by a past member for an active day of abseiling, climbing, archery, swimming and grass sledging. The youngsters from different groups all mixed well together adding to the success of the day. Thanks to the South West London area council for organising this event.
New Malden Woodcraft Folk is affiliated to Kingston’s Youth and Community Service, who also give financial support enabling the continued use of the meeting hall at Corpus Christi school.
We are also assisted by the South West London Area Council of the Woodcraft Folk who provide financial assistance, and organise events and leader training. This body is shortly to be merged with the South East London Area Council due to reorganisation of the Co-Operative Society who support the Woodcraft Folk.
As has been the case for a number of years with this age group membership tends to tail off around secondary school age. However we do have several members who have been with us all the way through Elfins and we have also attracted some members who have not come up through our Elfin group. Members have been keen on badgework this year and this has added structure to our programme.
New Malden Pioneers meet on Thursday evenings in term time from 6pm to 7.45 at Corpus Christi School. We would like to thank Mr Wileman the premises manager for his continued assistance.
The contact for the New Malden Pioneer group is Pat Dobson, Tel: 020 8949 0526
Return to the New Malden District Woodcraft Folk page .