Page 18 - July2023

July 2023 July 2023

LOCAL HEROES
A new series with interviews from Janey Gordon

In Bere Regis and Affpuddle there are a number of people who give their time
and energies to support and enrich the local community and individuals who live
here. They contribute freely to the village and are our ‘Local Heroes’.
The parish magazine is running a short series about some of these people to find
out a little more about them, how they came to live in the village, what they do
for it and, also, their own personal interests.
Some of our local heroes are retired but our July hero, Emma Menzies is a full-time
secondary maths teacher in Poole, as well as a Scout Leader, swimming club
volunteer and junior church organiser for groups in Bere Regis!
Janey: Emma, how long have you been associated with the village?

Emma: My family live in Throop, just down the road and I grew up there. I went to
university in Chester to study Maths, but I had always wanted to be a teacher and
decided to come back home to do my PGCE teaching qualification and
commuted to Southampton.
Janey: Emma, I met you at a Borneo Breakfast in the Scout hut. How did you get
involved in the Scouts.

Emma: My brother was in Bere Regis Cubs and Scouts and our family went to the
Family Camps, which I really enjoyed.
When I was 12, I joined the Scouts, it’s for girls and boys these days, 10 to 14 year
olds. I went on to become an Explorer Scout, the older group for 14 to 18 year
olds. I kept the connection going through uni, went to a few Scout Leader
meetings and began to help out. Then in 2021 I started to run the Bere Regis Cubs,
for the 8 to 10 year olds. Scout Leaders get lots of training as they go along, we
are very well supported.
Janey: What sort of things do you do with the cubs?
Emma: (Laughs) People call me a pyromaniac! We seem to have lots of bonfires
and cook sausages!
Janey: Do Cubs still burn sausages? Carbon on the outside, pink on the inside?
Emma: Yes! Washing up is a challenge, getting the black bits off the pans (groan)!

I am now the Group Scout Leader so I am responsible for the running of the whole
group across all ages, starting with Beavers for the 6 to 8 year olds right up to the
18 year old Explorers.

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