Scouting has been around in Doncaster for many decades but typically the muslim community do not engage with it. To bridge this gap a group of optimists started the Beaver and Cub sections as a satellite group of 55th Doncaster in 2016 (Intake).
We established 71st Doncaster in 2017 and have been growing and learning since.
We are a not for profit charity ran completely by volunteers.
71st Doncaster Scouts are do-ers and give-it-a-go-ers. Yes, we go camping, hiking, swimming, abseiling, cycling and canoeing.
But, we also get to hang out with our friends every week – having fun, playing games, working in a team and taking on new challenges.
Every week we give our scouts the skills they need for school, college, university, the job interview, the important speech, the tricky challenge and the big dreams: the skills they need for life.
As Scouts we are guided by the following values:
Although we cater for the muslim community, everyone’s welcome here. All genders, races and backgrounds! Regardless of your young person’s physical ability – there’s a Scout adventure out there waiting for them. And we’ll help them find it.
2016 – Eid with the Scouts event with over 300 attendees from the Muslim community.
2016 First group camp at Hesley Woods. First time for Leaders and scouts to experience the great outdoors.
2016 – First MSF Olympics. An event where Muslim scouts from the UK come together to participate in Olympic like games and compete for the trophy. We came 2nd!
2017 – 71st Doncaster Hunafa Scout group was born. Hunafa is an Arabic word meaning a group that follows the monotheism teaching of Prophet Abraham.
2017- First (MSF) Iftar Under the Stars a – Event attended by 400 people where the non muslim and muslim community joined together to learn more about each other in a fun, relaxing environment. First event like this in Doncaster. Attended by Mayor Ros, Civic Mayor, Alex Peace-Gradsby (Deputy Commissioner for England). This is now our most popular event and that occurs every year.
2017 – International trip for Explorers to Spain. We learnt about European Muslim history and explorered its connections in spain and wider Europe. Our explorers came away with a new sense of belonging and confident in their identity.
District Night Hike – We won! Our scouts raced against other scouts in the District to complete a hike using their orientation skills in the dead of the night!
International MSF Jamboree – Muslim Scouts from all over the world gathered in Kibblestone to connect and have fun. Fun packed 4 days, we learnt lots of new skills and made lots of friends! Watch out for the next one, coming soon….
2018 First County Camp. We joined Scouts from all over South Yorkshire for Scout-tastic at Hesley Woods. First time there was Halal food and prayers at the South Yorkshire County Camp!
Interfaith Project – In collaboration with Cast Theatres in Doncaster our Scouts and Explorers explored what faith and cultural/national identities means to us. They produced a performance for family and friends.
Doncaster Rovers – We were invited for a private tour and given private football lessons to our Scouts! Our scouts even got to be flag bearers on the pitch! First time for many of our locals to enjoy the game in the stadium.
Doncaster Kit Launch – Special invitation for our Scout football fans to be the first to see the New season Kits and meet the players in a private event!
Lakeside Primary School – We moved closer to central Doncaster so the community could easily access us. It helped that there was a dedicated forest school and allotment on site!
Lawn Tennis Association x Scouts HQ x 71st Doncaster – Our Beavers worked with a Tennis coach Alice Robson, from LTA to create videos for UK audience on how to play tennis. Watch them here
2021 First Community Fireworks Event – Attended by over 200 local residents. We look how multicultural this event is! It has quickly becoming popular with tickets selling out in 48hours!
Right Up Our Street x 71st Doncaster – We worked with RUOS to create the Opening Ceremony for MSF Olympics. Artists Nathan and Leigh and Project Manager Hayley worked with us to create a youth led performance. We held workshops, discussed music/dance within Islam and our cultures. Together we put on a phenomenal performance. Read more here
DN Light Festival – using lights and visual screens our scouts repeated their performance for a VIP performance for community leaders at the DN Light Festival.
71st Doncaster 5th Annivesrsary: We celebrated our achievments over the past 5 years with our closest and dearest.
Kandersteg International Scout Camp: As part of our 5th year celebrations, the group visited Kandersteg in Switzerland! We learnt about UN goals of sustainability and about becoming ‘Messengers of Peace’. We made friends from all around the world and memories to last us a lifetime!
An explorer, adventurer and TV presenter, Dwayne's been seen in BAFTA nominated Channel 5 series Race to the Pole, on BBC Springwatch, Countryfile, National Geographic and Disney+.
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