Celebrate Scouting at Bonaly Scout Centre 6 & 7 September 2025

Each day is packed with
fun & entertainment including;

🎡 Fairground and Highland Games

🔫 Laser Tag

🏹 Archery

🧗 High ropes

⚜️ Scouting skills

🎈 Inflatables

💪 Army Assault Course

…and much more!

This is for ALL our young people, their families and adult volunteers.

Come on either day (or both!) everyone is welcome.

Tickets available from 21st April – save the date now and stay tuned

More details below and here https://sesscouts.org.uk/gala-2025 which includes FAQs

Over the weekend, of 14-16 March 2025, 48 Young Leaders from 5 Districts took part in the First Regional Young Leaders Camp since Covid, supported by 12 Leaders from across the Region. The idea was based on Monopoly, but this version was about monuments around the City of Edinburgh. Each monument had a different monetary value, with over 7,000 points up for grabs in the end.

The Young Leaders arrived on Friday night, where they took part in some team building games and a quiz. They were then asked to get into groups of 4 – 6 Young Leaders and were also given the opportunity to discuss tactics and strategies. Each group was given an information pack including their token (a numbered Scottish Flag) which was required to be in all photos, along with the whole group.

On Saturday, the Young Leaders helped cook breakfast and wash up before they got themselves ready to start the game. The Young Leaders were sent off in groups, two at a time, with them heading for either a Number 10 or 16 Lothian Bus. Their finish point was the Ross Fountain in Princess Street Gardens, six hours later.

The Young Leaders had to post pictures to the Leaders to confirm that they had made it to each monument. We even had one group who headed up Arthur’s Seat to get multiple photos in one go! Most of the Leaders were out and about in Edinburgh to provide support and to hand out Chance and Community Chest Cards to the groups which were worth extra points.

If the groups were late, there was a deduction of 10 points per minute but luckily everyone returned in time. In addition, if they didn’t send regular photos, there was the risk of being put in jail but fortunately, this didn’t happen to any of them.

Saturday night saw the Young Leaders having dinner and a campfire where the winners were announced.

The winning group was a mixture of Craigalmond and Borders with a total of 6100 points. We also awarded prizes for “Teamwork and Encouragement” and “Being the most organised group” (with them numbering all their photos before submission, making the tallying easy!).

Sunday saw a leader delivering Scouts Own followed by several awards to Leaders including investing one of the Leaders who had been supporting the event.

After this, the District Lead Volunteer and 14-24 Network Lead from Braid presented a Kings Scout Award and Wood Beads to one of the Leadership Team at the event.

This was a fantastic weekend for both Young Leaders and adult volunteers to mingle across the region and one which we hope will lead to lots more events and camps in the future.

“Best Camp EVER!!”

“The whole Monopoly Run was a great idea and really fun.”

“Meeting friends that I haven’t seen for months”

“I loved that it was a bit more chilled back; it was busy but not overwhelming.”

Longcraig update – September 2024

14 Sep 2024

Malcolm Leckie

Longcraig Lead

First it was PORPOISES – now DOLPHINS even WHALES

Having reported in June about porpoises which were sighted near to Longcraig, there has been an abundance of marine life over the summer.

A dolphin (now known as Donny the Dolphin) has been sighted numerous times around the bridges, and for Scouts from 1^st Craigalmond in Kirkliston, they enjoyed some 45 minutes with Donny the Dolphin playing around their sailing boat and around our safety boat, in the waters between Longcraig Pier and the Forth Bridge one Friday evening in August. Clearly keen to find some new young friends! It is believed there are possibly several of them swimming around the Firth of Forth, sightings have been reported from Cellardyke in Fife to Portobello near Edinburgh, and various locations around the bridges area.

There are also reports of sightings of a small whale (unknown variety) in the upper Firth of Forth at the end of August.

An image of a bottlenose dolphin
Photo courtesy of iNaturalist

2024 Summer Months – July, August, even into September……

Well, they said these are the summer months!

And this year, there were sunny summer days – just now and again; there were dull and dreary days, just now and then; but noticeably especially in August, there were days on end with strong winds and gales. Quite unseasonal, but very disappointing for some Groups who had made bookings for activities at Longcraig which had to be cancelled as it was too windy.

Why does ‘too windy’ mean we have to cancel some bookings? It’s all about Risk Assessments and therefore one of the things we have to do prior to every activity session on the water. ‘Too windy’ can mean different things for different age groups – what might be super good fun for competent sailors or paddlers can often be ‘just too scary’ for some of our younger sections, or for people who are not accustomed to being in boats, or perhaps in choppy water. And, sometimes, it depends a bit on what the tide is doing. Obviously, tide come in and tides go out (twice every day) but the effects of the tidal flows combined with wind strength and direction can sometimes mean that an activity has to be cancelled, where at other times similar conditions could have a different outcome. We try hard to predict a little bit in advance what the conditions are going to be for people, so we can advise on cancellations before people journey to Longcraig. We don’t cancel activities lightly, but we do take very careful consideration of the various risks that wind, tides, weather conditions, and even the experience of the participants create, and a consensus decision is reached to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all concerned – that’s Young People, Leaders, our own Instructors, even our boats and equipment – they can get damaged too if it’s too windy!

If your activity booking has had to be cancelled, we will always work with you to try and reschedule or find another suitable date!

Journey to Net Zero – COMPLETED

What is Net Zero?

The term net zero means achieving a balance between the carbon emitted into the atmosphere, and the carbon removed from it. This balance – or net zero – will happen when the amount of carbon we add to the atmosphere is no more than the amount removed. (source: Energy Saving Trust)

Latest update:

The final phase of our Net Zero journey was the installation of replacement heating in our two training rooms, using Infra red heaters which can be programmed, or controlled on the sport with remote controls. This is what they look like:

Training Opportunities

We are trying to make arrangements to run a Paddleboard training /Assessment Day some time soon! The Assessor has not yet managed to come up with a date for this training course, but for anyone interested in finding out more, please get in touch and give us your details so we can let you know as arrangements firm up: getinvolved @longcraig.info

Safety Boat Training Course (leads to RYA Safety Boat Certificate) 5^th and 6^th October – 2 days course. Pre-requisite for this course is Powerboat level 2 and a reasonable amount of logged hours driving powerboats in varying conditions.

Powerboat Level 2 Course (one weekend) 2^nd and 3^rd November

This can be a follow up to a Powerboat 1 Course or it can be done directly. It is a necessary pre-qualification for anyone seeking to do the Safety Boat course (see above)

VHF Marine Radio Course (one day) Saturday 9^th November.

This one day course leads to the RYA Short Range VHF Certificate, which is a requirement to operate a Maine Band radio used for communications at sea. These can be used for anything from large yachts, to dinghies, kayaks, even paddleboards and are now seen as just as important a safety measure as buoyancy aids or helmets. The course will be run entirely indoors. It’s also encouraged for anyone working with boats, whether at Longcraig or elsewhere.

For information on, or to register an interest in, any of these courses please contact us at getinvolved@longcraig.info

Volunteering?

As the demand for our activities grows and we constantly seek to expand what we are able to offer, we need more volunteers to help us implement our plans. We now have a super-duper warm up to date activity centre to welcome volunteers into!

Ther are two distinct types of volunteers that we can effectively make use of:

TYPE 1:

These volunteers are the people who make the centre operate. We have spaces for:

Skilled water activity people who could lead activities on the water;

Semi-skilled people who have some skills but we can help develop those to a level where they can lead activities;

People with some skills to lead our shore-based activities (for bad weather days or to expand the operations of the centre)

Volunteers who can help in a number of ways ‘behind the scenes’ – with e.g. finance, marketing, recruitment, maintenance, boat or building repairs

Please simply contact us at getinvolved@longcraig.info with your details.

We’ve set aside the following dates where we will hold an introduction session to welcome any potential new volunteers and explain further what wed o and how you can get involved:

Wednesday 4^th September 7pm

Monday 7^th October 7pm

We’ll take care of the rest!

Do you have any parents in your Group who might be interested in this? Please do let them know!!

TYPE 2 Volunteering:

We can also offer a different type of volunteering, which is to provide an opportunity for groups of adults, scouts or explorers to come along during the ‘closed’ season and give us the benefit of your volunteering – this could be just for one event, or it could be – say – once a month for a period of time. This can count to a number of outcomes, such as DofE volunteering, various scout badges and awards, or simply to lend a hand for a few hours. Things you might get involved in could be checking of buoyancy aids, fixing boats, painting, and decorating some parts of the centre which were not impacted by the recent building improvements, beach protection work, or behind the scenes stuff like preparing our land activity kits.

If you’re interested, please get in touch to make arrangements or discuss further.

Longcraig update – June 2024

24 Jun 2024

Malcolm Leckie

Longcraig Lead

Porpoises

After an absence of some 15 years or more, we had several sightings of porpoises near Longcraig over the first weekend in June. The first sighting was made by a very observant Gide Leader who was visiting along with a group of Brownies and guides, A short time after, one porpoise leapt straight out of the water, and a small school of them (at least two, possibly more) were sighted playing in the waves between our pier and Inchgarvie Island. It was a very gentle breeze and a calm sea, so they were easily spotted.

The following day, there were once again several limited sightings of them, although the sea was much more unsettled, and it was quite windy. It’s great to see these sea creatures back again – their presence is a good indication that the water in the Firth of Forth is fairly clean, so that’s always a good thing!

NOT at Longcraig, but this is what they would look like.
Photo courtesy of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation

We’ve reported the sightings to the Whale & Dolphin Trust so we should now appear as a dot on their sightings map of the waters around Scotland.

2024 Summer Months – July, August, even into September……

There are still plenty of opportunities to get some activity bookings at Longcraig in the summer months – especially for small or medium size groups. Check our bookings calendar on the website for up to the minute availability, or email us if you have some specific questions – bookings@longcraig.info.

We can offer taster sessions, badge training or assessments, or complete training courses for sailing certificates or paddling certificates.

Especially during the summer holiday months, Longcraig can sometimes be a good venue for a BBQ or a day out by the seaside, with all the things that entails. Check us out or get in touch to find out how we may be able to help you plan your event.

DID YOU KNOW? You can hire a lot of our equipment during the summer for your own activities (provided there is someone competent in charge) – such as kayaks, paddleboards, Topper and Pico dinghies and such like. We can even do just buoyancy aids or wetsuits if that’s what you need! Get in touch and see how we can help.

Journey to Net Zero

What is Net Zero?

Latest update

The final phase of our Journey to Net Zero is starting to fall into place. We had to apply to the electricity network provider (Scottish Power) for permission to install solar panels before we could even start! This permission was granted at the end of May, so our contractor is now preparing to gather the material together and arrange for installation. We are planning that this will be in early July – we have a relatively quiet spell then after a busy June, so they can get on with the work unhindered.

So, by some point a little later in July, our project should be complete!

We’ll provide a full report in the next Newsletter, showing this final phase, and also some details of the benefits what have been gained form this activity.

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

Leaders Day

Saturday 20th July

Calling all adult leaders and Members –

Did you ever wish you could get out on the water to do some activities but there wasn’t space?

Or – you didn’t really want to when your Young People were around??

Or – you’ve never really had or taken the opportunity?

Come down to longcraig and have a go at any of our activities – kayaking, paddleboarding, dinghy sailing (single, crewed or longboat), powerboats, even rafting.

We’ll have our whole kit available throughout the day (open form 11am through to 5pm to take best advantage of the tides) so you can get out on the water for a short try, a longer float about, or a good proper activity session for as long as we can all manage.

We’ll have the BBQ running throughout the day for some sustenance, and of course there’ll be tea, coffee and light refreshments available too.

Formal Opening/Dedication of the Facilities Upgrade and Net Zero

Wednesday 28th August

Training Opportunities

Paddleboard training /Assessment Day

We are planning to run a Paddleboard training /Assessment Day sometime during the summer. The date has not been fixed yet with the Assessors, but for anyone interested in finding out more, please get in touch and give us your details so we can let you know as arrangements firm up: getinvolved@longcraig.info

Safety Boat Training Course

Safety Boat Training Course (leads to RYA Safety Boat Certificate) 5^th and 6^th October – 2 days course. Pre-requisite for this course is Powerboat level 2 and a reasonable number of logged hours driving powerboats in varying conditions.

Powerboat Level 2 Course

Powerboat Level 2 Course (one weekend) planned for later in the year (October/November timescale)

This can be a follow up to a Powerboat 1 Course or it can be done directly. It is a necessary pre-qualification for anyone seeking to do the Safety Boat course (see above)

For information on, or to register an interest in, any of these courses please contact us at getinvolved@longcraig.info

Volunteering?

As the demand for our activities grows and we constantly seek to expand what we can offer, we need more volunteers to help us implement our plans.

Ther are two distinct types of volunteers that we can effectively make use of:

Type 1

These volunteers are the people who make the centre operate. We have spaces for:

Skilled water activity people who could lead activities on the water.
Semi-skilled people who have some skills, but we can help develop those to a level where they can lead activities.
People with some skills to lead our shore-based activities (for bad weather days or to expand the operations of the centre)
Volunteers who can help in a number of ways ‘behind the scenes’ – with e.g. finance, marketing, recruitment, maintenance, boat or building repairs.

Please simply contact us at getinvolved@longcraig.info with your details.

We’ve set aside the following dates where we will hold an introduction session to welcome any potential new volunteers and explain further what wed o and how you can get involved:

Saturday 6^th July 11am

Monday 19^th August 7pm

We’ll take care of the rest!

Do you have any parents in your Group who might be interested in this? Please do let them know!!

Type 2

This can count to a number of outcomes, such as DofE volunteering, various scout badges and awards, or simply to lend a hand for a few hours. Things you might get involved in could be checking of buoyancy aids, fixing boats, painting, and decorating some parts of the centre which were not impacted by the recent building improvements, beach protection work, or behind the scenes stuff like preparing our land activity kits.

If you’re interested, please get in touch to make arrangements or discuss further.

Whatever you have planned, have a great summer!

Exciting events coming to Bonaly

24 Jun 2024

Peter Casebow

Bonaly Lead

Bonaly Scout Centre has a number of exciting events coming up later in the year.

Cubs

Cubs Nature Awareness and Conservation Camp 13th – 15th September

This is an opportunity for Cubs to learn about nature awareness and conservation by taking part in several Bonaly led activities. These will include bug hunting, burn dipping, animal games and doing nature crafts. The activities will take place on Saturday and each group will be allocated four different activities. The Cubs also get the opportunity to stay overnight in Ken’s Den.

The nights away permit will be covered by the Bonaly Team.

Beavers

Beavers Adventure Day 13th October

An opportunity for Beavers to take part in lots of Adventurous activities which count towards the “My Adventure Challenge Award.

Explorers

Explorers Halloween Survival Camp 26th – 27th October

Explorers are challenged to survive the spooky Halloween weekend! Sleeping out without tents, cooking everything on open fires and learning survival skills.

To register an interest and get an information pack please contact events@bonaly.org.uk

Skills for Life and Youth without Limits

19 Jun 2024

SEEE Team

South East Explorers Expeditions

Duke of Edinburgh's Award

Explorers are very active across our Region and are involved in a huge range of activities. DofE often provides a focus for their interests, with Bronze, Silver and Gold levels providing internationally recognised certification that dovetails perfectly with the Chief Scout’s Award Platinum and Diamond, and the King’s Scout Award.

Though some Explorers choose to do DofE through their school, many do it through Scouting, thanks to the efforts of a large group of adults who take on the task of organising DofE locally. As a result, from August 2023 to June 2024, the following Awards were gained in the Region:

83

45

17

Total number of Awards 145

Twelve of our Golds will be attending the ceremony at Holyrood on 5 July.

EXPEDITIONS

Hillwalking and Biking

This is the most high-profile section of DofE, and one which is often hard to organise at a local level. Because of this, we encourage Units and/or Districts to run their own Bronze expeditions, with assistance, if necessary, but we run expeditions for Silver and Gold at Regional level through SEEE (South East Explorer Expeditions). We have built up a strong team of excellent adult volunteers who have already been very active this season. We ran two training days in March plus one Silver Qualifier, and we are nearing completion of the June Practice expeditions:

7 Hillwalking Expeditions:

63

55

2 Biking Expeditions:

5

16

These include several candidates with Additional Needs, and we are very keen to emphasise that both DofE and Scouting will do everything possible to ensure that every young person can complete an expedition, regardless of the specific challenges they may face.

Canoeing

This season’s DofE canoeing is well underway, with 32 Explorers from across the Region undertaking training for their Silver or Gold Expedition.  The training we provide in canoe expedition campcraft, navigation, route planning and paddle skills is helping the Explorers develop their knowledge of something that’s new to many of them, and whilst the Explorers all have different paddling abilities they share a common goal of wanting a new challenge in how they do their next DofE expedition. 

Starting out with training sessions on the Union Canal, the Explorers have been learning (or improving) their paddling skills and then putting them into practice in more challenging conditions (and learning capsize rescues) on open water at Lochore Meadows and Loch Venachar ahead of their Practice and Qualifying Expeditions later in the summer.  Our special programme this season involves the Gold paddlers gaining moving-water paddling skills ahead of the chance to paddle the Lough Erne Canoe Trail in Northern Ireland next year for their Qualifying Expedition. 

If any adults are interested in joining our welcoming Leader Team providing Explorers with a fun, challenging and memorable experience paddling on Scotland’s lochs, camping in castles on islands and achieving new skills, or have Explorers looking to do their expedition by canoe in the future, get in touch! Our programme of training and expeditions can be seen on the Longcraig Explorers website (www.craigalmondscouts.org/longcraig-explorer-unit/).

Steve Hankin, DofE Canoeing Lead for SEEE

Email: steve.hankin@yahoo.com

First Aid

SEEE recently ran a first aid course for 32 Explorers and 3 volunteers. One of main aims for DofE expeditions is that the participants are trained and have the skills to complete their expeditions without direct adult supervision – and having a holder of an advanced First Aid qualification in each expedition group allows expeditions to be held in some of the more remote and adventurous terrain that Scotland has available.

We’re indebted to FAST Training (First Aid School Training), a community interest company (CIC) who focus on training many hundreds of young people each year in Scottish schools, and have expert trainers drawn from the emergency services and mountain rescue. 

We’re delighted to announce that everyone gained two externally recognised qualifications:

First Aid at Work which would allow them to be a First Aider in any workplace.
Outdoor First Aid (16 Hours).

For our expeditions, it means they have the highest level of First Aid qualification required in Scouting for adventurous and remote activities, and the technical knowledge to act a trainer for First Response.

Volunteering

This key section of DofE is also fundamental in Scouting. Many Explorers are Young Leaders, and they make a huge contribution to the younger sections they help. Others are sports coaches in schools or clubs, assistants in charity shops, part of an environmental team … the list is endless. Each year DofE adds up the hours of volunteering and this certificate shows the hours recorded in our Region:

It is worth noting that the actual time given could be much more. For instance, a Young Leader helping for 3 months with a Cub Pack meeting for one hour is likely to be doing nearer an hour and a half per week, plus work on their YL Training, though it counts as only one hour per week for DofE.

Residential

The Residential, an extra section for Gold DofE, can be tricky to arrange, and covers many areas. The Blair Atholl Jamborette has always been a popular option for adult leaders, but Explorers can now use it, too, so long as they have arranged it properly in advance. Others have attended the excellent Bushcraft course at Meggernie, or the Environmental course at Fordell Firs, or have helped with events at Lochgoilhead.

Administration

Exploring

Explorers live up to their name, and many Units are quite hard to track down, as they do not meet that often in their hall. Apart from doing expeditions, being Young Leaders and completing DofE, they are currently focused on things such as:

Blair Atholl Jamborette
International trips like Kandersteg
All sorts of camps, hikes and adventurous activities
Meeting with Explorers from other Units

These wonderfully varied activities certainly build the Skills for Life that we aim to provide in Scouting, for Youth without Limits as envisaged by DofE.

Adults

None of the above would happen without the involvement of our dedicated adult leaders, assistants, trainers and helpers, and we can always use more. There are opportunities to be a Leader with a Unit, to support DofE or, of course, to help run the Expedition section. For expeditions, we would be very happy to hear from anyone with skills in hillwalking, biking or paddling who could offer at least one day. Note that it is not necessary to have a permit to assist, and we would advise on any Scouting procedures required. If you are interested in any of the above, please contact us using expeditions@sesscouts.org.uk.

John Buchanan and the SEEE team

https://see-expeditions.org.uk/

« Older Entries

Contact us

South East Scotland Scouts
71 Bonaly Road
Edinburgh
EH13 0PB
Contact The Region
Contact Our Scout Centres

Family Gala Day

Celebrate Scouting at Bonaly Scout Centre 6 & 7 September 2025

Monumopoly

Allison Gamble

Longcraig update – September 2024

Malcolm Leckie

Longcraig update – June 2024

Malcolm Leckie

Porpoises

2024 Summer Months – July, August, even into September……

Journey to Net Zero

What is Net Zero?

Latest update

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

Leaders Day

Saturday 20th July

Formal Opening/Dedication of the Facilities Upgrade and Net Zero

Wednesday 28th August

Training Opportunities

Paddleboard training /Assessment Day

Safety Boat Training Course

Powerboat Level 2 Course

Volunteering?

Type 1

Type 2

Exciting events coming to Bonaly

Peter Casebow

Cubs

Cubs Nature Awareness and Conservation Camp 13th – 15th September

Beavers

Beavers Adventure Day 13th October

Explorers

Explorers Halloween Survival Camp 26th – 27th October

Skills for Life and Youth without Limits

SEEE Team

Duke of Edinburgh's Award

83

45

17

EXPEDITIONS

Hillwalking and Biking

63

55

5

16

Canoeing

First Aid

Volunteering

Residential

Administration

Exploring

Adults

Categories

Archives

Categories

Contact us

more info

look wider

contact us