Hot air balloons cancelled again!

Still too breezy for hot air balloons - we were expecting gales but even a slight breeze makes it difficult.

Today was the start of the cooking competition. The PLs were tasked to cook a single greasy fry up (egg, bacon, fried bread and cup of tea) as well as hot water for washing up. The task was supposed to take 30 minutes but unfortunately took about the entire evening. This gave us plenty of time to sort out the patrol boxes which so desperately required attention.

We were lucky to get our hands on some patrol boxes from the international jamboree. These boxes are thin wood but just about suitable as a table and some of the gear wasn't too bad. I think we only paid £10 for each (including stove, set of pots etc) but the gear isn't nearly as good as some of the really old stuff we've got. Graham (the other ASL in our troop) and I emptied all the new and old patrol boxes and sorted them out so we had three decent sets of gear.

At the end of the evening we announced our intention to hold a PL/APL training camp and a space camp for the whole troop. We got all the PLs and senior patrol signed up to the canoe club next week (19th) and got another two for the service crew this Sunday.

After the meeting in a more relaxed public house setting SL/ASLs discussed the meeting and direction of the troop. Tomorrow night we're looking at the programme to set it in stone as it were so the kids know what is happening and where.

Next week as the SL is off on hols, we're going to pitch a full patrol camp with patrol tents before the meeting so they can actually see what a proper site looks like.