York Scouts

York Scouts and Girlguiding St Georges Day Celebration
2026-04-26 12:45 - 16:00 UTC | York Minster, Deangate, York, YO1 7HH, United Kingdom
Celebrate with other members of Scouts and Girlguiding from across York at our annual procession and celebration event in the City Centre. Squirrels, Beavers and Rainbows will attend a service at Central Methodist Church, whilst all other Scouts and Girlguiding sections will attend a service in the Minster.
Cubs, Scouts, Explorers and Leaders should meet in Dean’s Park 12:50 to parade through the City Centre before the service. This is a different starting point from previous years. Units should ideally congregate at their own preferred meeting point before entering Dean’s Park. There will be another procession after the service.
Squirrels and Beavers, with their leaders, should arrive at the Central Methodist Church from 13.15 ready for their service to start at 13.45. They will then join the rest of their Scout Group in Dean’s Park to take part in our procession after the Minster service. At around 15.30 the procession will leave from Dean’s Park via Duncombe Place, Blake Street, Davygate, Parliament Street, High Ousegate, Nessgate Corner, Spurriergate, Coney Street, St Helen’s Square, Blake Street and Duncombe Place, or as directed by the Procession Marshall. Groups will return to Dean’s Park for dismissal and hand over to parents around 16:00.
Flag bearers must attend the rehearsal if they wish to parade their flag through the Minster, accompanied by a Unit volunteer or parent. The rehearsal is Saturday 25th April 2026, meeting 18:45 in the Chapter House Yard at the rear of the Minster, with their flag. All people doing readings, Promises or other activities in the Minster service also need to attend the rehearsal. Flag bearers for Squirrels and Beavers do not attend a rehearsal; they just go to Central Methodist Church on the Sunday with their Unit, and the stewards there will show them where to go.

Detailed instructions have been sent to Group Lead Volunteers.

CubJam 2026 (County Cub Camp)
2026-05-01 - 2026-05-04 | Galtres Retreat Lodge Park, Malton Road, Pickering, North Yorkshire, YO18 8EA, United Kingdom
CubJam is a 4 day bank-holiday extravaganza, building on the long-running success of our County Cub Camps. Cubs will go on an adventure ‘Around the World’, all from the beautiful site just outside of Pickering. Our Cubs’ favourite CubMania Carnival will also be back to celebrate the Cubs 110th Birthday Party!

City of York District Scouts Conference 2026
2026-05-09 10:00 - 15:00
Unique opportunity for all adult members of City of York District Scouts to help shape our Development Plans for the next 3 years, whilst building connections with other volunteers and sharing ideas. The event will take place at the Chemistry Department, University of York, Innovation Way. Book your place using our online form. Please share your views on our development priorities by 30 April using our stakeholder questionnaire, so that your insights can be included.

Scouts Ashes Challenge 2026
2026-05-16 - 2026-05-17 | Snowball Plantation (York Scout Activity Centre), Common Ln, Stockton on the Forest, York, North Yorkshire, YO19 5XS, United Kingdom
Scouts learn and develop outdoor survival skills and then compete with others in this 24 hour challenge. This includes fire lighting, shelter building to sleep in overnight, first aid, knife and axe work. Potentially also an opportunity for adult volunteers to develop their own practical skills, whilst having fun with others.
Each Troop can enter 2 teams of 4 Scouts (accompanied by at least 1 leader) by emailing Charlotte McCarthy before 26 April 2026. The cost for the weekend will be £15 per Scout. £10 is to be paid to the District to cover site costs, materials and activities. £5 should be kept by the leader for Scouts to use this budget to plan and prepare their food ingredients prior to the event and bring these with them.

Cubs Bellboating
2026-05-17 | Blue Bridge, 14 William Court, York, YO10 4NL, United Kingdom
Great introduction to activities on the water and developing paddle skills, and teamwork. A bell boat is a large stable catamaran type craft approximately 9m long. Each boat takes 10 Cubs and is steered by an experienced helm.
There are 4 Sessions 10am, 11:30am, 1:30pm and 3pm. Please arrive for course registration from no earlier than 15 mins before their session is due to start, but no later than 5 mins before it starts. Please follow the links below to book directly with North Yorkshire County Scouts and make payment online.
PLEASE NOTE: Non-swimmers must be accompanied by a competent adult, who is prepared to go in the water if necessary, and this will have to be considered when booking places as each such Adult will require a place to be booked. A Swimmer is classed as someone who can swim 50 meters unaided.
To book Session A 10.00 to 11.15 – Bellboating at York Session A
To book Session B 11.30 to 12.45 – Bellboating at York Session B
To book Session C 13.30 to 14.45 – Bellboating at York Session C
To book Session D 15.00 to 16.15 – Bellboating at York Session D

Cubs Hike
2026-06-06
Hike for Cubs from Cub Packs in City of York District. More details to follow later. Just keep the date in your Section’s Programme Plan for now.

Air Rifle Shooting Instructor Course
2026-06-06 - 2026-06-07 | Snowball Plantation (York Scout Activity Centre), Common Ln, Stockton on the Forest, York, North Yorkshire, YO19 5XS, United Kingdom
Training over 2 days to potentially earn a NRSA YPS Tutor qualification towards attaining a permit to run air rifle shooting activities in Scouts. York Scouts volunteers who join our District Programme Team to help deliver future events will have their course fee (£120) paid for by City of York Scouts. Please contact nigel.white@yorkscouts.org.uk to see if any places are left.

Aboretum Visit
2026-06-20 | Castle Howard, Castle Howard, York, YO60 7BY
Day trip to take part in woodland activities at Yorkshire Aboretum. We hope to spot some red squirrels….and not just the human version.

Junior Warrior 2026
2026-06-24 - 2026-06-25 | Bramham Park, Bramham Park, Wetherby, West Yorkshire, LS23 6ND, United Kingdom
Scouts and Girguiding have exclusive use of the Total Warrior course at Bramham Park. To learn more about what the course and event entails, please visit the Total Warrior website. Basically it involves completing a cross country assault course with lots of mud!
North Yorkshire Scouts is the organising body for the event so if you have any questions please do not send these to the Total Warrior team. Instead contact Junior.Warrior@nys.org.uk.

Scouts Incident Challenge Hike
2026-07-04
Develop your navigational skills and have fun in the countryside with other Scouts and volunteers.

Squirrel Sports Day
2026-07-12 | Acomb Primary School, West Bank, Acomb, York, YO24 4ES
A day of sporty fun for Squirrels from Dreys in City of York District. More details to follow later. Just keep the date in your Section’s Programme Plan for now.

Explorers Trip To Denmark Jamboree 2026
2026-07-18 - 2026-07-26
We are taking a contingent of 50 Explorers from York to the national Jamboree in Denmark. This is one of the largest Scout camps in the world, and the Denmark Team will be hosting the 2031 World Scout Jamboree. All spaces have already been taken in our Contingent unless any people drop out. Do support young people who are fundraising towards the cost of this life-changing experience. For example you can buy a souvenir Unit badge for £2 from the Explorers direct or contact Badges@yorkscouts.org.uk.

Ignite 2026
2026-09-18 - 2026-09-20
Ignite is our County’s flagship event for Scouts & Explorers to take part in a wide range of activities. The event is a queue-and-do event, organised into activity zones during the day. We then run an evening programme that will be for everyone on event. A bespoke Explorer-only activity will also feature as part of the programme. Ignite is fully catered, and aims to be an ‘oven-ready’ camp for all Group volunteers, where they just need to bring their young people and tents, and the County Event Team delivers the rest.

Beavers Activity Day
2026-09-26 | Snowball Plantation (York Scout Activity Centre), Common Ln, Stockton on the Forest, York, North Yorkshire, YO19 5XS, United Kingdom
Fun day of activities for Beaver Scouts from Colonies in the City of York District. More details to follow later. Just keep the provisional date in your Section’s Programme Plan for now.

Cubs Football Tournament
2026-10-10
Opportunity to show off your footy skills and represent your Cub Pack, whilst having fun meeting other Cubs and volunteers. More details to follow later. Just keep the date in your Section’s Programme Plan for now.

Escape 2026
2026-10-17 - 2026-10-18
Escape is a wide game competition where teams of Explorers have 24 hours to navigate across countryside to a number of bases, without being ‘caught’ by adult Catcher Teams. The event is popular and has been running since 2013 and is likely to get booked up quickly.
Escape is organised by our Events Delivery Team. You can contact the team on escape@nys.org.uk.

Jamboree on the Air and Internet
2026-10-17 - 2026-10-18
Jamboree on the Internet is an annual event for people in Scouting worldwide. It involves communicating with Scouts around the world via the internet. You can look up http://jotajoti.info/ for more information. We will be setting up some local base stations to enable York Scouts to join in.

Squirrel And Beaver Party
2026-12-05
Have some party fun with other Squirrels and Beavers. More details to follow. Keep the date for now as places may be limited when booking opens.

Carol Service 2026
2026-12-16 19:30 - 20:30
Candlelit service in the Grade I listed Holy Trinity Church, Goodramgate. The invitation is to all Scouting and Girlguiding Leaders, members, and supporters in City of York District Scouts and the Girlguiding County of North Yorkshire South. Family members are welcome.
The wonderful medieval, atmospheric Church (now under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust) has no electricity and is unheated, so come dressed appropriately and bring a torch or head torch to read the service sheet. Following the service anyone interested can join us for a Christmas drink.
