First Aid saves lives and our Beavers had a great time learning skills for their First Aid Stage One badge.  The Beavers rotated around three bases, dealing with major and minor cuts, unconscious patients and doing a 999 emergency role play.  

Meanwhile, the ASJ Cubs are working on their First Aid Stage Two badge and will be visiting the new LIFE Centre at Chorley Hospital in March.  The Our World Badge requires the Cubs to learn about community services around them and where better than the new state of the art  facility at Chorley Hospital?

LIFE is a facility that has been purpose built to inspire NHS careers and support health and well-being in people aged 5 years and upwards. The facility has been designed to include practical based teaching but also includes state of the art VR and AV technology. 

The Centre includes:
- A simulated ward;
- A simulated A&E Department;
- An interactive classroom; and 
- A Virtual Reality Cinema.

See their website for more details:

https://healthacademy.lancsteachinghospitals.nhs.uk/simulated-hospital  

Environmental Conservation is one of the biggest challenges facing our planet and for the last couple of weeks the ASJ Cubs!  Last week the Cubs learned all about pollution and how the lifestyle choices we make can have a dramatic impact on our environment and the wildlife who share it with us.  The Cubs learned how how long it takes for different types of waste to biodegrade (or not) and are carrying out experiments to see if the facts they read are borne out in the "ASJ Laboratory".

The Cubs also took on several projects to make a positive impact on our local environment: a week-long challenge to keep a recycling diary, two projects to recycle plastic bottles to make bird feeders and dog poop bag dispensers and a local litter pick.  Last night the Cubs donned their warmest coats and wooly hats to install the poop bag dispensers around our village and collected several bin bags full of rubbish.

A big well done to the Cubs for all their hard work and thank you to Nicola for organising all of the games, activities and challenges. 

Next week we look to the skies and our budding Environmentalists will become Astronomers at UCLan's Alston Observatory :) 

A huge thank-you to everyone who supported our application for an Aviva Community Fund Grant, we have been informed that we have been successful in securing £1,000 funding!  This money will make a big difference for us and will enable us to purchase much needed equipment for our young people.

All their hard work paid off for four of our Cub Scouts this evening when they were presented with their Chief Scout Silver Awards by Sir Lindsey Hoyle (Chorley MP and Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons), Steve Morton (West Lancashire Scouts County Commissioner) and Graeme Hamilton (UK Scouts Commissioner for Programme Delivery).  

The Cubs were also treated to a buffet dinner and a disco with their fellow Silver Award recipients in the grand Lancastrian Suite at Chorley Town Hall.