Our first Sleepover of the year was held at the Blakedown Scout Group Hut from Friday night to Sunday Lunchtime at the beginning of March. With many new Cubs in the Pack, we always like to start the year off gently with a sleepover. This sleepover was themed on the Vikings for which the Cubs learnt new games including Chess, Merrels (also known as 9 mens morris), Kuubs (a skilful throwing game) and Knuckle Bones.

On the Saturday we had invited some special guests from the re-enactment society of The Vikings of Middle England (http://www.thevikingsofmiddleengland.co.uk). They brought along with them a huge selection of replica items with everything made in the same way as they were originally made. The Cubs had a great time dressing up in armour and handling swords and axes – all under the closest supervision! They were also shown some Viking surgery on poor old Kael who had an arrow wound on his arm. We also learnt about archaeology and what we find of the Vikings today. We ‘buried’ an Earl Cub Scout along with his retainers and faithful hunting hound, along with all his grave goods. Then we discovered what would remain after 1300 years in the ground ready for Time Team to dig up.

The Cubs were held under the Viking spell for the whole day and had a really good time. We finished the day with a dinner of authentic Viking recipe stew and a Camp Fire.