The Big Adventure and Cromwell District Fellowship

2007 saw a worldwide celebration of the centenary of Scouting. In May that year we in Cromwell District held our first all Sections Camp since Beavers began. Plus 2 aimed to build on the success of that event, and take the young people even further on their scouting adventure through zones based on land, sea and air. Activities were planned to be a mixture of favourite and new, traditional and modern - suitable for all ages. Planning began in earnest in late autumn 2008, as a team of volunteers was pulled together from across the District including the Chairman of Cromwell District Fellowship who was asked to use his experience and Fellowship team to recreate a miniature version of the 21st WSJ community project, Starburst.

Fifty invitations were sent out to find 'providers' of suitable jobs and 14 were eventually identified ranging from clearing ivy in the town's two cemeteries to clearing an overgrown nature area in the local school. Shrub planting and general garden and maintenance tasks for the local church and Senior Citizens, respectively help fill the job sheet.

The Lord Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire, the Mayor and Mayoress of St Ives, the Chairman of Huntingdonshire District Council and a local Councillor all attended for over an hour and a half on the Saturday afternoon to see the youngsters in action. They presented shillings to Scouts on one community project they visited, with the Cambridge Evening News sending along a photographer to record the event.