Whilst only a few scouts turned up (perhaps confusion over half term) we managed to make four guys (one for each patrol and one made by the leaders) to burn at the AGM next week.
The hall was amazing devistation with straw everywhere, wallpaper paste over the floor and newspaper stuck to tables, walls and ceilings.
Still, it's a good effort by the few that did turn up and an investiture to boot!
Wednesday, 29 October 2008
Sunday, 26 October 2008
Homeless awareness night!
We got together on a windy October evening to 'camp'. The patrol that attended had six cardboard boxes between themselves, sleeping bags, the clothes they wore and not a lot else.Fortunately some kind scout leader was running a soup kitchen that evening and supplied them with the breadshops waste bread and leftover veg soup with a small amount of cooked chicken sprinked in.
After soup we sat round a fire outside and discussed issues affecting the homeless, the different types of homeless out there (not every homeless person sits outside and begs for money. Some sleep round friends houses untill they can pick themselves up or the social services finds housing).
It's still hard to believe in this day and age we still have a high homeless population and with the coming recession that the number is likely only to go up.
The night was extremely cold, windy and wet. In the morning after everyone was up we cleared up the camp, using the new scout altar fires to burn the rubbish.
Another sucessful camp!
It's still hard to believe in this day and age we still have a high homeless population and with the coming recession that the number is likely only to go up.The night was extremely cold, windy and wet. In the morning after everyone was up we cleared up the camp, using the new scout altar fires to burn the rubbish.
Another sucessful camp!
Wednesday, 22 October 2008
Caving
How can you go caving in flat Essex on a troop night for only half an hour?
Easy, BYO. Armed with groundsheets, duct tape, tables, chairs and bits of removeable staging we built our own mini caving system for the kids to try out.
Fortunately I work in construction, and with a few trips round the office picked up enough expired safety helmets (after all we weren't looking at rocky cave ins, just the chance someone might lightly bash themselves on the noggin.
Tiger (the shop rather than the animal) supplied us with head torches at £2 each and bingo, a fun night has enthused them to go on a proper caving trip.
Whilst I'm happy to build caving systems and walk around tourist caves, I'm not sure how to break it to the troop of my love of small enclosed cramped dark places. Or lack of.
Easy, BYO. Armed with groundsheets, duct tape, tables, chairs and bits of removeable staging we built our own mini caving system for the kids to try out.
Fortunately I work in construction, and with a few trips round the office picked up enough expired safety helmets (after all we weren't looking at rocky cave ins, just the chance someone might lightly bash themselves on the noggin.
Tiger (the shop rather than the animal) supplied us with head torches at £2 each and bingo, a fun night has enthused them to go on a proper caving trip.
Whilst I'm happy to build caving systems and walk around tourist caves, I'm not sure how to break it to the troop of my love of small enclosed cramped dark places. Or lack of.
Saturday, 18 October 2008
Burn baby burn!
Service crew again today - supposed to be twelve till four! I popped down early (9:30) to find our cub leader already hacking down trees. So I joined in and we felled all but one of the final fifteen or so which we'd noticed either suffering from dutch elm or were elderberry! The scouts arrived and we cleared the area of the recently felled trees ready for our bonfire - along with all the wood from the other two attempts I've made at clearing the site.
Just as we finished up the logging, three cubs made an appearance (some time after our cub leader disappeared!)
We then painted our scout hall - this took about two hours when I take off the 'lunch time' break and to be honest, it was a fairly good job considering my hired labour for the day though it'll definitely need a second coat!
Around four, we decided to light up the fire. It was at this point I discovered our lack of matches. I had just one. To make it count we gathered as much thin wood as possible. I then cheated somewhat with some meths and cotton balls from our previous hot air balloons and within seconds we had a roaring fire. Ten minutes later the fire was around twenty to thirty feet in the air and I was becoming concerned we'd get yet another drop in from the fire brigade (because we're so close to the train line, we often get concerned commuters who see lots of kids lighting fires in our area and just assume that they're up to no good!)
This being a Saturday, I guess they weren't interested and I sat around until 7pm to make sure the fire died down and no one drove over the embers in the dark. A very successful day!
Just as we finished up the logging, three cubs made an appearance (some time after our cub leader disappeared!)
We then painted our scout hall - this took about two hours when I take off the 'lunch time' break and to be honest, it was a fairly good job considering my hired labour for the day though it'll definitely need a second coat!
Around four, we decided to light up the fire. It was at this point I discovered our lack of matches. I had just one. To make it count we gathered as much thin wood as possible. I then cheated somewhat with some meths and cotton balls from our previous hot air balloons and within seconds we had a roaring fire. Ten minutes later the fire was around twenty to thirty feet in the air and I was becoming concerned we'd get yet another drop in from the fire brigade (because we're so close to the train line, we often get concerned commuters who see lots of kids lighting fires in our area and just assume that they're up to no good!)
This being a Saturday, I guess they weren't interested and I sat around until 7pm to make sure the fire died down and no one drove over the embers in the dark. A very successful day!
Wednesday, 8 October 2008
Patrol Competition
Our Wolves patrol won our first patrol competition of the term (Congratulations!)
Next week it starts all over again. Forthcoming challenges include best cooked dinner and best guy fawkes as well as points earned in games and inspections.
Next week it starts all over again. Forthcoming challenges include best cooked dinner and best guy fawkes as well as points earned in games and inspections.
Wednesday night sucess
Nobody likes to boast, but I'm proud of our PLs
This wednesday they showed the troop what they learned at camp in regards to camp gadgets. None of the leaders did any supervision and when after twenty minutes I popped outside to mark them I was suprised at the level of quality and number acheived. If they can do that outside of a troop night at a camping competition, they'll have it nailed.
We did the final bit of theory on first aid, next week we'll be doing casulty make up and treating our 'injuries'.
Graham did the first route card with them. We'll soon have them competiting in the county marathon!
This wednesday they showed the troop what they learned at camp in regards to camp gadgets. None of the leaders did any supervision and when after twenty minutes I popped outside to mark them I was suprised at the level of quality and number acheived. If they can do that outside of a troop night at a camping competition, they'll have it nailed.
We did the final bit of theory on first aid, next week we'll be doing casulty make up and treating our 'injuries'.
Graham did the first route card with them. We'll soon have them competiting in the county marathon!
Tuesday, 7 October 2008
Scouts visits cubs!
When we realised our troop consisted of only one former cub, we realised something was wrong.The last cub we saw turned up, saw everyone was having a great time but didn't want to come up. Why? He didn't want to come into a complete group of strangers.
So after a brainstorming session with the PLAPLC (Patrol Leader/Assistant Council) at the start of the term we decided to run an evening at the cubs!
With three bases we ran cooking bacon over candles on home made frying pans from wire and foil, making peppermint creams and the great crisp taste test!
As you can see, they had a lot of fun
and at the end played the scouts at patball and won 2-1
Sunday, 5 October 2008
PLAPL Camp
Weekend forecast: Friday, rain. Saturday, rain. Sunday, rain.
Oh good.
Fortunately the weekend went a lot smoother than that (with the odd little hitch). Friday night we arrived, dropped gear and went off for the fish and chip walk. This was an intergroup activity as the walk included the cubs as well as the scouts and their respective parents (and dogs).
After filling up (and getting ourselves some matches) we walked back to the campsite and lit a fire. Still no rain.
Saturday night was very cold - the sky was completely cloudless. Whilst everyone was generally warm we did find it a little hard to sleep and woke early on the saturday to get the fire lit. After a fairly late breakfast (9am) which demonstrated to the scouts that even if you get up at 7am unless you get a fire going quick you can't start cooking until you've got some quality embers, we made camp gadgets.
We started off with the dead simple and necessary wet and dry pit, then moved onto washbowl stand, plate rack, mug tree, billy tree, washing line and finally shoe scraper. Lunch was a simple ploughmans affair and was followed by a hike from camp supposidly to Belchamps and back via a cicular route.
Unforunately the leader organising hadn't had a chance to walk it and by the time they were supposed to be back and lighting fires they were still about five miles away. One taxi ride later and since I was sitting around the fire was good and strong on their return dinner was cooked in short order.
Campfire started at 8pm and was the first 'real' campfire the PLAPLs had taken part in. We arrived at the fire with 'anywhere we go' and lit to 'campfire burning'. First stunt took some organising - it was my magical multiplying wall. Whatever you throw over is thrown back many times multiplied. First came the example conkers and wood. Then I made a cup of tea using teabags (need lots of those at camp) little cartons of milk (snatched from McDonalds), packets of sugar, then finally the water (Resulting in the scout who was throwing the stuff over the wall getting a good soaking - or would have if he'd stayed still).
Several campfire stunts & songs later we returned to camp for a few games of cards and bed.
Sunday it rained. A much warmer night though. Unfortunately we'd used all the kindling on the fire the night before. It'd been quite windy and if we hadn't we wouldn't have had much chance of lighting it. We did however show them where to find dry kindling (in the middle of bushes) and that even wet kindling worked if you got thin enough bushes. Fire alight food was all cooked by ten giving plenty of time to take down and hang up the gear at our hall to dry out. How comes it always rains on the last day?
Oh good.
Fortunately the weekend went a lot smoother than that (with the odd little hitch). Friday night we arrived, dropped gear and went off for the fish and chip walk. This was an intergroup activity as the walk included the cubs as well as the scouts and their respective parents (and dogs).
After filling up (and getting ourselves some matches) we walked back to the campsite and lit a fire. Still no rain.
Saturday night was very cold - the sky was completely cloudless. Whilst everyone was generally warm we did find it a little hard to sleep and woke early on the saturday to get the fire lit. After a fairly late breakfast (9am) which demonstrated to the scouts that even if you get up at 7am unless you get a fire going quick you can't start cooking until you've got some quality embers, we made camp gadgets.
We started off with the dead simple and necessary wet and dry pit, then moved onto washbowl stand, plate rack, mug tree, billy tree, washing line and finally shoe scraper. Lunch was a simple ploughmans affair and was followed by a hike from camp supposidly to Belchamps and back via a cicular route.
Unforunately the leader organising hadn't had a chance to walk it and by the time they were supposed to be back and lighting fires they were still about five miles away. One taxi ride later and since I was sitting around the fire was good and strong on their return dinner was cooked in short order.
Campfire started at 8pm and was the first 'real' campfire the PLAPLs had taken part in. We arrived at the fire with 'anywhere we go' and lit to 'campfire burning'. First stunt took some organising - it was my magical multiplying wall. Whatever you throw over is thrown back many times multiplied. First came the example conkers and wood. Then I made a cup of tea using teabags (need lots of those at camp) little cartons of milk (snatched from McDonalds), packets of sugar, then finally the water (Resulting in the scout who was throwing the stuff over the wall getting a good soaking - or would have if he'd stayed still).
Several campfire stunts & songs later we returned to camp for a few games of cards and bed.
Sunday it rained. A much warmer night though. Unfortunately we'd used all the kindling on the fire the night before. It'd been quite windy and if we hadn't we wouldn't have had much chance of lighting it. We did however show them where to find dry kindling (in the middle of bushes) and that even wet kindling worked if you got thin enough bushes. Fire alight food was all cooked by ten giving plenty of time to take down and hang up the gear at our hall to dry out. How comes it always rains on the last day?
Anyway, best part was the reviews afterwards "best camp we've been on" was the overall view and now we're happy they know what we expect when they go off on a patrol camp!
Thursday, 2 October 2008
Preparations for the PLAPL Camp
A PLAPL training camp is for the Patrol Leaders and Assistant Patrol Leaders. We as ASLs are taking on the role of Patrol Leaders (does that make me the assistant as the other ASL is technically in charge?) for the duration. Last night we got the PLAPLs to put up a Icelandic 3 tent (one of the biggest and in best condition we own) and a dining shelter. We started at 7ish and finished at 8ish which was quite impressive considering that only one of the scouts had actually pitched and slept in one before.
Once up, they realised the size of the tent - though I doubt they'll understand the true magistry of the Icelandic series until it starts raining tomorrow and is freezing cold.
As we said last night, anyone can camp in the warm summer weather but they need to know how to deal with a wet camp too! The first comment that suprised me was one of the PLs said 'if it's raining tomorrow we won't be able to have a fire'.
I really hope there is a downpour now so we can show them it is possible to light a fire in any condition if you think carefully about what you're doing and follow some of the skills we've been teaching them over the past two/three years! It reminds me of the story my driving instructor told me about a fellow student who took a test three weeks before I took mine. Her test was quite late in the year in the early evening. As she was in the middle of the test, it got particularly dark and started to rain. Even though this student had had over 42 hours of driving lessons they had all been at midday and miraculously, it had never rained. She didn't know where either the headlamps were nor the wipers - and she failed because of it. Similarly all of our camps I can remember for the past five years have been in dry, warm weather - they've never had to light a fire in the rain and it is something I hope to correct this weekend.
Once up, they realised the size of the tent - though I doubt they'll understand the true magistry of the Icelandic series until it starts raining tomorrow and is freezing cold.
As we said last night, anyone can camp in the warm summer weather but they need to know how to deal with a wet camp too! The first comment that suprised me was one of the PLs said 'if it's raining tomorrow we won't be able to have a fire'.
I really hope there is a downpour now so we can show them it is possible to light a fire in any condition if you think carefully about what you're doing and follow some of the skills we've been teaching them over the past two/three years! It reminds me of the story my driving instructor told me about a fellow student who took a test three weeks before I took mine. Her test was quite late in the year in the early evening. As she was in the middle of the test, it got particularly dark and started to rain. Even though this student had had over 42 hours of driving lessons they had all been at midday and miraculously, it had never rained. She didn't know where either the headlamps were nor the wipers - and she failed because of it. Similarly all of our camps I can remember for the past five years have been in dry, warm weather - they've never had to light a fire in the rain and it is something I hope to correct this weekend.
Cooking Competition #2
Last night we ran the second in our four part cooking competition. The 'lunch' competition was to be spaghetti bolognaise. I got down early to get all the gear out and ready for them and to also get out one of the repaired kayaks. Whilst the scouts were busy with the lunch the other ASL in the group, our helper and myself ran down the road with the kayak to the local reservoir and put the it in - to see if it leaked!
It was successful - no leak from the newly drilled holes and the kids all fit comfortably in the kayak.
I've now ordered my own kayak as I don't fit particularly comfortably in any of the group kayaks (£425!) and it has the advantage of having a hatch I can store my gear in when I take them out for a day trip.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
