Evening Review – Checking Equipment
What a great evening! We had 18 of the Scouts down and after playing a game of four corner football, we set to and working in very small groups all focused on single tasks, rather than having bases that the Scouts would move between!
We had a number of bases, checking different bits of kit and equipment (the new tents for those going to summer camp), gas cookers, gas bottles, straightening metal pegs and checking wooden pegs. I had originally thought it would not be as much fun – but my group (chekcing the cookers) meant that we were able to deal with how to set the cookers up – and make sure that they worked (so we got to use matches!)
For the last night of the term, it was a really good one.
Cooking Evening – part 1
What a fun evening!
After beating the Scouts at the first game (to make up the fourth team!) we then moved onto a bit of theory around camp hygene. Rather than focus on teaching, we instead got the boys to do the thinking through the use of Mind mapping diagrams.
After, we then moved into the really good part of the evening – cooking. For some (especially the two Cubs that started their Link to the Troop) this was really good fun. Only a few pancakes missed the pan when tossed (and I’ll admit that half of mine missed… by that I mean I flipped one pancake and half made it back into the pan and the other half was neatly cut by the pan edge and landed on the floor. Luckily only Ivor saw it, so it’ll be our secret… unless one of you spill the beans that is…!)
(Scouts cooking - by Frog_scout – at www.twitter.com/frog_scout)
(Cooking was great! - by Frog_scout – at www.twitter.com/frog_scout)
After the cooking comes the washing up, and it was a bit of a rush to get the pans tidied and cleared away – the cookers went into the store a little warm… but we’ll use them again next week, so it won’t be too bad.
So that’s it… the first step towards the Chef’s Badge.
We have already warned the Scouts (and the parents that were in the hall) that we will be expecting the Scouts to cook a 3-course meal to be signed off by their parents/willing guests.
For information on the chef’s badge, the link to Scoutbase (and the badge requirements) is here: http://www.scoutbase.org.uk/library/hqdocs/badges/scout-activity-ch.htm
Pioneering Challenge
I had to change the main contents of this evening as we have the Pathfinder weekend coming up and wanted to give the Scouts some compass practice.
So the evening started with a game of “Poison Tree” – and it must have been a long time since we played it last as I had to explain ALL the rules, not just recap for new people. That went well, although the scouts seemed to prefer going round the tree rather than dragging their colleagues through the pile of tyres…
We moved onto the main part of the evening. We stuck Ordnance Symbols round the hall. Each Patrol then decided (within the Patrol) which ten symbols they would use, then from their patrol corner worked out the bearing to the symbol. For good measure they wrote down the bearing and the symbol. All patrols moved clockwise round the hall. The “new” patrol would then take a new sheet of paper (which only had the bearings on them) and worked out what symbol the bearing pointed to and what the symbol meant. Unfortunately, because of the size of the hall, and because I don’t think the Scouts grasped the concept of bearings at the start, the bearings to the symbols weren’t particularly accurate. However, the evening showed that the idea for the learning was reasonably sound, so we may come back to that again (with a few minor tweaks).
The Scouts then split up into those going on the Pathfinder weekend (who then started on their route cards) and those not – who were challenged to build a pioneering structure to get over an electrified line without touching it. I was working with the latter group – and whilst they got what they needed to do - and I could see that the idea they were working on was sound – their team and planning skills still needed some work… but hey, that’s what Scouting’s about.
I also got back my first family history tree from Joshua – well done! In telling me how the family had got together, it was clear that he had learned something more about his family than just who his grandparents were – which is excellent.
Night Hike
Well, it was warmer than I thought it would be… but still one or two Scouts managed to turn up improperly dressed (IT’S AUTUMN GUYS, IT’LL GET COLD AT NIGHTS!!!!). We set off towards Bentley Priory to do the smaller circular walk. It was a reasonable turn out and we set out from Stanmore Common.
Heading up into the woods we walked past the Deer Park – given the noise the Scouts were making I doubted seeing anything – so imagine my surprise when the first torch beam landed on a Deer! Rather than run away (probably blinded by the lights) the deer just stood there as more lights were directed towards him, before slowly moving off.
We carried on up to Bentley Priory itself, the high fencing still looking impressive, and we carried on through.
The Scouts had a bit of a challenge with their navigation – partly due to it being dark, and partly because they were focusing on talking to each other and not looking for signposts! But hey, it was a night out. Consequently, we did end up following some quite odd footpaths (which may not have been) to get back to proper footpaths (and the bus). It also took us quite a while to walk the shorter of the two circular walks – so I’m glad we did take the shorter option!
“Being Green”
A good night with some difficult subject matter for the Scouts to deal with. With the exception of two more dedicated Scouts, the evening was attended by mostly younger Scouts, so some of the complexities of the issues weren’t really apparent to them.
We focused on three main headings:
- Recycling, re-using and Landfill
- The use of carrier bags
- Litter both in urban and non-urban areas.
We started the evening with the trailer for the BBC Panorama programme “Notes on a Dirty Island”; then each patrol took a subject and discussed it. After a short feedback, we challenged the Scouts to develop a poster that would look at a specific item.
As noted it was a difficult subject matter for the Scouts, but I think that they did really well. For more information on this subject:
The Campaign for Rural England – http://www.cpre.co.uk/home - has the trailer, plus the writer Bill Bryson going on a litter sweep
Encams (The Keep Britain Tidy Group) – http://www.encams.org/home/
What can be recycled – http://www.recyclenow.com/what_can_i_do_today/can_it_be_recycled/index.html - a useful guide to what doesn’t and shouldn’t end up in landfill.
Preparing for Camp
a “challenging” evening for the leaders.
We didn’t manage to get everything planned – and I’d found some lovely pictures of water-born bacteria too! – but the Scouts did get to check their patrol tents for camp next week. At least, I hope they did – in case the weather turns “interesting”.
We managed to get a good turnout – I think we’ve now hit our “core group” which (pleasingly) is the majority of the Troop. Still, next week should be fun as we attend the District’s Centenary camp – Scouting in Harrow has been around now for 100 years; and whilst I hope it will be a camp that the Scouts will remember, for me it will be something special - having been involved with the District for 32 years (starting as a Cub) – but for 3 of those years as one of the many District Commissioners that have held the wheel. I’m glad to see some of the changes that had started when I began, reinforcing the thoughts that I had even if they were too early at the time.
But then I digress, Scouting should be about the “now” and the “future”… but you can’t help but look back and learn, can you?
