Camp with the Franconville Scouts - Day 8 - Sun 16th August

• Skip and Peter went to get the bread at 8am. Breakfast was the usual - cereal, milk, bread, jam, juice.
• We struck camp and loaded the minibus. There were lots of goodbyes and scarf swapping.
• We left around 12 noon to set off to Dieppe for the ferry.
• After a brief stop at a service area for a picnic lunch, we arrived at Dieppe at 4.15pm.
• The ferry sailed at 6pm and ran to time so we were on the road at Newhaven by 9pm.
• We arrived back at Cuffley station with very tired Scouts just after 11pm, having had a very enjoyable French experience.
• Monday - unpacking, putting away, washing the minibus and returning it, catching up on life and washing etc.

Submitted by Diane

Camp with the Franconville Scouts - Day 7 - Sat 15th August

• Breakfast was late (10am) following the fire vigil
• James was invested making the French promise followed by the English version.
• We all went to Argentan for a spot of shopping and lunch out
• Back at the camp site there was lots of tidying up to do - much of the French camp had already been dismantled (most of it was from natural materials) so only the tents and the dining area remained. Axel was to take all possible kit back to Franconville/Argenteuil in the trailer that night.
• We erected a temporary toilet screen and an extra tent (we had a spare) and produced a water container to use overnight.
• Marie-Therese and her husband Jean arrived about 7pm to stay for the night. She is the equivalent of our District Commissioner. She bought the barbecue food with her!
• All unwanted wood was returned to the forested area.
• The Scouts lit a fire for barbecuing the evening meal, but it was too big by far and took ages to die down to embers. Dinner was served at about 10.45pm - sausages, potatoes, pork, banana with chocolate, french bread and eggs baked on sticks - a feast!
• Everyone was in high spirits and bedtime was after midnight.

Submitted by Diane

Camp with the Franconville Scouts - Day 6 - Fri 14th August

• The French Scouts prepared breakfast.
• Today was the canoeing and walking activity. We were to canoe to Putanges, have lunch there and hike back to the site.
• The canoes were delivered to the slipway just up the path from the campsite. Daysacks with changes of clothes and shoes were packed into waterproof containers which were tied onto the canoes.
• The canoeing route was along the River L'Orne to Putanges which turned out to be 7km and took nearly four and a half hours. The river was quite shallow in places and congested with fallen trees and branches and rocks. There were many opportunities to run aground and much time spent in the water freeing the canoes or pushing them through the worst parts. The river was, however, quite pretty and we encountered several weirs and mini-rapids.
• We lunched at Putanges in a field next to the river. Bread, cheese, chicken nuggets, juice and fruit cocktail (in fingers). Everyone dried out in the sun and changed for the return journey.
• The hike back to the campsite was a bit over 4km and it was very hot!
• Dinner was prepared by the Scouts - meat cutlets, carrots in sauce, cucumber salad, malt loaf, "chugging" desserts - and served very late in the dark.
• 11pm - 8am was an all night event of keeping the fire going as per Baden-Powell. Scouts chose half hour slots to sit with leaders (who did an hour or an hour and a half each), keep the fire going, eat goodies and chat about things. Certainly a different way to spend a night!
  

Submitted by Diane

The "Exploration" - an observation

• Awoke
• Ate
• Had photos taken
• Started hike
• Walked up a hilly bit
• Saw and smelt some evil-smelling cows
• Some boys caught up with us but we soon went our separate ways
• Walked more
• Took a wrong turn and went round in a big circle
• Went the right way
• Walked some more
• Saw some pretty broken glass
• Got to village but big shop was closed
• Waited by river
• Went to shop and bought food and drink & nutritious and delicious sweets
• Ate lunch by the river
• Sat around for ages
• Saw English boys and adults
• Went to loo (blimey, plumbing!)
• Carried on with hike
• Walked some more
• Rested a bit at intervals
• Asked for water
• Saw a paintballing sign
• Walked a bit more until we reached our final destination
• Put our stuff in the tent which had already been put up for us
• The adult-type people came to see us
• Inspected our bag of nutrition, talked to us for a bit and the left in the Scout-mobile
• Ate dinner of sausage, crabsticks & tuna and sweetcorn salad - mmm yummy!
• Went on the concrete foundation bit to play Britain/France has got talent whilst eating Smurfs (Jessica liked them!!!...)
• Went to tent after a quick round of hokey-cokeying
• Chatted and ate some sweets for a bit
• Went to sleep
• Concludes day one of 'the hike'
• Woke up and lay around for a bit
• Dressed and packed-up before breakfast
• Had breakfast of brioche and chocolate spread and orange juice to drink
• Went to the toilet so wouldn't have to burst on the road when walking
• Said goodbye to the lady who we were staying with and were given food
• Went off on our merry way
• Walked very fast and covered much distance in little time
• Stopped to ask many people for water
• Had to go back as had taken wrong turn, but never mind
• Walked, had a lovely lunch of everything we had left
• Walked some more, had a snack (in a Pique-Nique area)
• Saw many English people
• Arrived back at camp singing a song about something

By Elizabeth Sartori, Patrol Leader, Kestrel Patrol

Camp with the Franconville Scouts - Day 5 - Thurs 13th August

• New air-conditioned toilet facilities were commissioned for the male campers, with ensuite hand wash. Coupled with the 'power shower' hoses just up the lane at the local water mill - what more could you want ?
• Lunch was prepared by the French leaders - Croque Monsieur.
• The Patrols were to be back at 4.30pm or soon after. The first team arrived just before 4.30pm and waited to enter the campsite. The girls arrived next, followed by the second boys team.
• The dinner was a special dish- Tartiflette - served in the Alps to hungry skiers, this was designed to fill up the hikers and help them to sleep. It consisted of onions, potatoes, pancetta, creme fraiche and reblochon cheese.
• The Patrols prepared presentations of their experiences on the 'exploration' and delivered these to the audience around the fires.
• The Cuffley Scouts performed a couple of camp fire stunts (not to be outdone!)

Submitted by Diane

Camp with the Franconville Scouts - Day 4 - Weds 12th August

• The Leaders prepared breakfast while the scouts got ready for the 'exploration'.
• After breakfast, the Scouts presented the kits they were to carry to the leaders for inspection. The leaders were checking the weight and contents to make sure they were manageable.
• The older scouts then departed on their overnight adventure and the young-ones and the poor old English leaders left on a special mission!
• They explored part of Argentan, a town nearby, and Putanges-pont-Ecripes the closest (small) town to the campsite. Here we bumped into the girls having their lunch.
• On returning to the site, the younger scouts took to the river, again.
• Skip and Diane went out to check on the girls team at their overnight destination with the French Leaders. Peter remained with the younger scouts to barbecue their evening meal and bake potatoes.
• The evening closed with songs around the fire and a summary of the day.

Submitted by Diane

Camp with the Franconville Scouts - Day 3 - Tues 11 th August

• Woke up to heavy rain - Oh joy unbounded!
• Bread was purchased from a local bakery in Putanges - but the guys did not meet the baker's daughter!
• The Patrols submitted their shopping lists and continued planning for the cooking competition; the leader's drew up their menu, too.
• The cooking competition took place over lunchtime and was judged by four 'out of space' characters. The meal was entree, main course and pudding. Each course was judged separately so the process took quite a long time.
• Each patrol welcomed their guests and entertained them with music, singing, dancing and other frivolities.
• Each Patrol 'won' a course and the girls won the 'animation' (entertainment).
• The three Patrol Leaders went off with two leaders to arrange overnight camping sites for the 'exploration', an overnight hiking expedition in the local area to be completed over Wednesday and Thursday.
• There was more swimming and rope bridge crossing and showers.
• The centrally cooked dinner was tagliatelle carbonara - very successful and seconds all round.
• Then the Patrols sat down to plan the 'exploration'. They had arranged their destinations for the overnight stop so planned the routes. This was interesting in French and English!
• The three younger Cuffley Scouts were excluded from the exploration because of their ages (under 12) and so went off with a leader and flaming torches to explore the hillside.
• The sky was particularly clear and much star gazing ensued.
• Another leaders' meeting reflected on the positives and negatives of the day.

Submitted by Diane

Camp with the Franconville Scouts - Day 2 - Mon 10th August

• Breakfast was prepared by the girl scouts; one boy's team washed up. We had cereal, bread and jam, juice and milk.
• The morning was spent working around the site. The boys needed to finalise their dining areas and the central 'table' area needed covers erecting to provide shelter.
• The three Patrols (teams) cooked lunch . They were given lamb chops, cous cous, beetroot, bananas and creme caramels to prepare and serve. The Patrols invited leaders to eat with them. The creme caramels provided an extravaganza of pudding eating and there was a competition to eat 3 biscuits in one minute!
• In the afternoon, plans were made for the cooking competition that was to be held on Tuesday. Skip and Peter organised some games which everyone enjoyed (crossfire, rupture cone with water carriers, and 'Lamb')
• The scouts all went for a swim in the river, attempted to cross the monkey bridge and then showered in the temporary camp shower.
• Guillaume and Bastien made the camp oven.
• After dinner, there was a wide game based on Battleships with a fire cracker finale.
• Skip turned his 'uncle'.
• At the leaders' meeting there was a summary of positive and negative points for the day.

Submitted by Diane

Camp with the Franconville Scouts - Day 1 - Sun 9th August

• Early start just after 5am! The packing of the van was done on Saturday.
• We drove to Newhaven to catch the ferry to Dieppe. The crossing was to take four hours.
• From Dieppe, there was a three and a half hour drive to Giels-Corteilles in Normandy where we were to meet our hosts.
• We found the Giel-don Bosco Agricutural College but NO SCOUTS! They were tucked away at the far side of the site.
• The camp site was lovely, a flat plateau next to the River L'Orne.
• There were three French Patrols, two of boys and one girls. Our three boys pitched their tent alongside one of the boys' patrol's and the girls set-up alongside the girls patrol.
• There were fifteen French Scouts and four leaders; we had six scouts and three leaders.
• The evening meal was cooked by the boys, washed up by the girls and was followed by a wide game in the woods above the site.
• The wide game involved a walk with incidents which included riddles and puzzles to be solved by the Scouts. The second hidden person and incident were not found and we returned to camp, rather late and feeling tired.
• Our hosts were from Argenteuil and the Group is linked with Franconville, the town twinned with Potters Bar. They are a Catholic Group and one of the leaders has links with the College.
• The camp was fairly 'basic' using natural materials where possible. The dining shelters, tables and seats were all made from wood and the cooking was all being done on French-style altar fires.
• There were en suite natural air conditioned 'stargazer' toilet facilities, too.

Submitted by Diane

Viernheim Camp, Overview

The 1st Cuffley Scouts recently completed another successful twinning project, this time with Potters Bar's German partners in Viernheim. The group of five spent a week in Viernheim, south-west Germany, joining in activities with Geman Scouts and a local youth project. Scout Leader Alex Bedwell said, "Viernheim is a very flat town but nonetheless very beautiful. There is a really good welcome in Viernheim for visitors and plenty to do for children."

The Scouts participated in the Viernheim youth project, which ran from Monday 20th to Friday 24th July and was entitled 'English Week'. This was one of three weeks which taught the children about their twin town. The Scouts enjoyed many sports and games during the week as well as a trip to the historic city of Heidelberg. One of the Scouts main tasks was to help their new German friends find out about England and Potters Bar. For one of the challenges the German children had to select one hundred words that they wanted to know in English. In reciprical fashion, the Potters Bar Scouts then chose words they wanted to know in German."Some of our younger Scouts, knew no German at all and so started with some basics such as school and sports vocabulary. The Germans had a harder time of it, as they all spoke rather good English!" Mr Bedwell commented. "The children then did their best to learn the words throughout the week. It then became rather competitive when I started learning them too!"

One other feature of the daily course was the menu, being tailored to be as English as possible. Mr Bedwell and the Scouts helped to prepare a full English breakfast on one day and even transported to Germany many bottles of 'proper English' vinegar for use on fish and chips. Scout Oliver Virtue remarked, "the chef loved the fried bread and continued to make it as a snack for the rest of the week!"

Twinning activities have been happening between the Scouts in Viernheim and Potters Bar since the 1970s and through the efforts of the 1st Cuffley Scouts supported by the Potters Bar Town Twinning Association, this has been rejuvinated.


EMMA CRACKNELL'S, SENIOR PATROL LEADER (AGE 14) Viernheim was an interesting experience. The weather was hot, if a little rainy at times, the people we stayed with, our hosts, were polite, understanding, funny and interesting people whose background in Scouting and being "outdoorsy" was obvious. The range of activities we participated in during the week was phenomenal, varying from football to 20- foot- high assault courses to town trips, experiencing German culture and education.

Several nights we cooked "Backwoods" style, over campfires, using traditional German ways of cooking, which differed from British Scouts in many ways, including the use of a swinging barbecue suspended from a tripod. One evening, however, we (the four British Scouts and Skip, our leader, cooked a proper three course meal, consisting of fish cakes (Fischküchen), stew (Eintopf) and chocolate cake (Schokoladeküchen), to allow them to sample "English cuisine".

Their campfire songs were also dfferent to ours, the words alternating due to the different laguage (obviously), despite using the same melodies.
We then introduced them to some of our songs, such as "The Penguin Song" and some chants like "Oggi Oggi Oggi". All in all, I thorougly enjoyed our excursion to Germany and wish to return there before too long.

Guest written by "Skip" Bedwell, SL.

Franconville - Town twinning 8th - 10th May

Day 1
We met at Crews Hill station at 8:00am, then got on the train and headed for Kings Cross. When we arrived, we went through some security checks, then rushed to our platform and boarded the Eurostar, heading for Gare du Nord. On the way there, Skip was introduced to Nintendogs on Nintendo DS. We talked a lot and did crosswords and Sudokus, and Skip “made friends” with some ladies who were sitting opposite him. It was great fun. But there was a lot more to come!

When we reached Gare du Nord, we met our hosts, it appeared that Skip was staying with one family, and Emily and I with the other. Unfortunately, neither of us knew much French, and the families did not know much English, but luckily Skip was there to translate. We got on yet another train, with our hosts, to Paris, where we spent the rest of the afternoon. We visited lots of monuments, including the Notre Dame Cathedral, a crypt and generally just wandering the streets, where we bought some lovely souvenirs. We were going to go up the Eiffel Tower, but unfortunately the top floor was closed, so we gave it a miss.

We then travelled back to our hosts houses on a Double-Decker train, had a laugh about whether it was best to say ‘Comment t’appelles- tu’ or ‘Comment tu t’appelles’, and got to know some of the people we would be staying with. Everyone was invited back to the house where Emily and I would be staying for dinner. After that we went straight to bed. We’d had a long day of walking and our feet were aching and sore.

Day 2
Emily and I did not have a very good sleep - there was only one double blanket and it was not very big. We got up and had breakfast; chocolate milk, bread and toast and we met their guinea- pig, whose name was Chocolat! We spent most of the day at a castle called ‘Chateau de Versailles’, on the outskirts of Paris. In the garden there were trees and grass as far as the eye could see; there was even a boating lake! It was absolutely beautiful and Skip bought us all huge ice-creams too which were really nice. We went bowling that night, and Skip thrashed us all! I was rubbish, but afterwards we played air hockey and table football and I was better at that.

We went back to Skip’s hosts’ flat and they had set out delicacies on plates, I didn't really like the look of any of them, but I had to be polite and eat some. I ate some bread and potatoes and a few tomatoes, which I liked, then I decided to be brave and tried some spiced ham which I really didn't like. There were a few more things like asparagus and cooked tomatoes absolutely smothered in garlic, which I couldn't eat either. Skip encouraged us to eat this “sausage” which looked rather questionable , and we persuaded him to not to tell us what it was as we thought saying it might put us off our dinner. We found out afterwards it was intestines, yum!

Day 3
We went to a big theatre where the mayor of Franconville recited his speech, followed by some little girls doing a flower fairy dance. Then the mayor of Viernheim read his speech in German, with a bit of French and English, when he had finished, we saw some clowns doing an act involving a piano, which was really funny. Finally a letter by the Mayor of Potters Bar was read by the Chairman of the Potters Bar Twinning Committee, after which there were some more dancers. Afterwards, we had a lovely lunch in the large theatre auditorium and we made friends with a friendly German schoolboy who spoke very good English.

We then travelled to a nearby Scout HQ with our hosts, where some younger French Cubs were mixing up some mud and water. They were so dirty and their uniforms were splattered with it. Apparently they were making the base of an altar fire, a type fire which is set on an elevated base, so that the ground underneath is protected.

After saying goodbye to everyone, we got our bags and left for the station. We got on the Eurostar and a short time later we were back in “sunny” England. Overall I’d say it was a brilliant trip and I would love to do it all over again! I am certainly looking forward to the opportunity to take part in the joint camps that we have planned for the future months.

By Becky Harvey, Patrol Leader of the Eagle Patrol

APL and PL Training Day Two

After a "good night's sleep" we were up and raring to go! We cooked our own breakfast, a fry up with eggy bread, which was good, even if it took FOREVER to wash up!

We only just finished the tidying up when everybody else arrived. After falling in we played "human basketball" only we weren't allowed to use a ball; we used a lance instead! To score you had to stab the member of your team who was acting as a hoop with the end of it. When we finished three challenges and an axemanship session had been set up for us to work on. Each team started at a different post so everyone got the same amount of time on each activity. Therefore the order the challenges are posted in below isn't necessarily the "right" order.

One challenge involved crossing over the car park without touching anything except some boxes and planks of wood. However, they had a limited amount of time and the crates couldn't touch the floor either. If anyone or any crate touched the ground, the whole team had to restart. Another activity involved one member of patrol being injured and the others having to make a stretcher to transport them, to the Hospital on. They were given four poles and a large box of ropes and told that they had everything they needed, which they did. However, not everything they were given was needed to make the stretcher. The best way was to put two poles inside the sleeve holes in two zipped up coats. The final challenge was to fry an egg on a piece of tin foil, first making the fire. Unfortunately, while several teams managed to get the right idea with their eggs and "pans" it was very windy and the fires failed to stay alight. The only group which seemed to be "failing" actually dropped their egg on their floor and it was almost totally lost. The axemanship was run with expert leader supervision with the PLs and APLs showing the others the basics.

When everybody else had gone home, the Leaders finished off with an evaluation and a final game of "Extreme Rupture Cone"!!

PL and APL Training Weekend Day One

Our training weekend started at midday on Saturday 31st January. We arrived and were paired up with our respective APLs and PLs (I was with someone who's APL couldn't make it!) There were logic puzzles on the walls of the Scout Hut and working together we had to try and solve them when we had spare time over the weekend. The answers were revealed the next day.

The first "proper" activity was to ask our partner three things about themselves that nobody else knew. We also had to say who we thought a good example of a leader was(mine was Gandhi) and had to report back to the rest of the group on what our partner had said. It was a really good way of getting to feel comfortable around each other, listening to each other and defining the qualities needed in a leader. Afterwards, we played a game of "Human Basket"ball, which is flibble 3pts blibble (see the wiki) just basketball with people standing on chairs instead of nets. Then we had lunch.

After lunch we were cruelly and unfairly forced to leave the Scout Hut for the bitter cold winds of the outside world. Well, I say that... We were shown some axe skills and fire lighting, for an hour or so, in groups of four. Afterwards, we went on a treasure hunt around Cuffley. We had one hour to complete a course which, at best would've taken us and hour and a quarter, 10-15 minutes to plan and an hour to find all the letters scattered around various places. We were given ten clues on a piece of paper and we had to find pairs of letters, which, in the right order spelt out "Now return to the Scout Hut". Our biggest "Positive Learning points" were to elect a leader and take time to plan next time.

The next activity was run by me. I set up three activities for two teams to compete against each other in under the theme of avalanche. The first activity was Kim's Game; twenty things were laid out on the table, all of which would be needed by someone hiking out into a blizzard, and working together the teams had to remember as many as possible in three minutes. For the second activity both teams were given "rescue teams" and enough supplies and fuel to visit three places out of four in a particular area of the town. They were asked to give the names of the three places and the order in which they should be visited. The third activity was a practical exercises; the teams had to find three hidden items, and take them, through the obstacles set up, to a stranded casualty. Unfortunately, one person was blindfold and the other two couldn't leave the back wall of the Hut. this third game was such a success that we chose to play it an extra three times!

Then we prepared dinner; which was an ordeal in itself. In pairs, no pair were from the same patrol, the teams were given a stove, a gas bottle, ingredients and some matches (one box between everyone), if they wanted anything else (such as billie pans and plates) they had to ask the "storemaster". After some initial confusion over left and right-handed spatulas the teams eventually produced "spaghetti bolognaise", except one team who didn't like bolognaise, they made meatballs. After washing up and making pancakes, we then spent an hour or so creating a game, using a large rope, skittles and footballs.

After much stalling and chatting, it was finally time for bed with Gerald watching over us. The next day we would need all the strength we could get...

New Year's Eve/ Day 2008/2009

Last year certainly was an eventful one, right up to the very last minutes! We were invited to the Scout Hut for some activities on the evening of New Year's Eve. Unfortunately, only three Scouts and three other children/ teenagers turned up! Later in the evening we were joined by the District Commissioner and his family but to start with, we were rather minimal in quantity. We played some games, such as mapping, "Harry" (which involved purple and orange lipsticks), football and a few other things. After having something to eat (hotdogs and crisps) we set off for Ivinghoe Beacon.

Ivinghoe Beacon is the highest peak in the Chiltern Hills in Buckinghamshire. We had to hurry up the hill to get there on time, Skip still on crutches, as we'd left a bit late. When we arrived at the top, under cover of darkness, the view was spectacular, even though it was a little foggy and icy. It was so cold, I was surprised at how long we stayed up there. However, we counted down to zero, we drank some Champagne (well, the adults did), we did the inevitable hugging and, just after midnight, we set of some fireworks! Admittedly, they were a bit naff, but they still saw the New Year in with a bang! Our first investiture was then completed witnessed of course by our DC.

Arriving back at the hut we rolled out our beds and some of the adults stayed behind for a chat before deciding that their sleep was more important. We then spent another hour or so talking (about ten minutes of which was safety and the rest was stories, jokes, plastic wolf heads and all the other stuff you usually talk about on sleepovers!)

In the morning, the experience was rounded- off with a huge fry- up. This was courtesy of Skip and, although it was amazing, the Scout Hut still smells of cooking oil!

SPOT THE DIFFERENCE!!

Can you tell which is the chef at The Dorchester on Christmas Eve and which is the chef at the Scout Hut on New Year's Day?

Photos from Christmas Eve '08

Here are the Photos from The Dorchester onwards, however, I'm still waiting for the Ice skating photos!

Christmas Eve 2008

On Christmas Eve we went to London (quite an adventure with Skip's leg in plaster). Ten Scouts, including myself, attended and Skip (later accompanied by my Dad) had the joyous task of looking after us. Our first experience was the trip to South Kensington to the Natural History Museum where we were going Ice- Skating. We arrived half an hour early and an extremely nice young lady let us on the ice straight away. I'm not sure if it's because we were Scouts or that Skip was very nice to her! We had a lot of fun skating (guess who fell over first!) and were all exhausted by the end of our extended session. But it wasn't over yet...

After a short bus ride we arrived at our second destination, The Dorchester Hotel, Park Lane where we were shown round some of the exclusive rooms. I was amazed at the size of it all, let alone the cost! None of us lot could even afford to sit down in one of those rooms! Some of the views out of the windows in the Penthouse suites were spectacular, though. Panoramic scenes of London, over- the- rooftops views of Hyde Park, it was amazing.

We were then taken to the Kitchens, given aprons and hats to help prepare lunch. We were put into three groups. My group started by making pizzas. We were given a piece of dough, some tomato sauce, cheese(!) and various toppings and the assistance of a Chef. Next we made pancakes with the Executive Chef and his apprentice. The heat coming off the range was almost unbearable, and the frying pans got so hot we had to hold them with the corner of our aprons! Our final activity was making chocolate truffles and decorating mini chocolate cakes. Needless to say, this was the messiest, and most enjoyable, task!

We were then treated to a three-course meal in the Krug Room, a room to one side of the kitchen which had frosted glass walls to hide the room from our view. When the Executive Chef flicked a switch the glass changed to clear and we saw a magnificent dining table set for twelve. The meal was fantastic and we were all given a goody-bag to remember our day. Two of the boys also had Birthdays (one that day, one the next) and they were each given a birthday cake to take home too!

Afterwards Skip and Dad agreed on why it was called the Krug room; their champagne never stopped flowing! You can experience The Dorchester online by visiting their website. The address is: http://www.thedorchester.com/ but the real thing is better.....I know, I was there.

When we arrived back in Cuffley, just before four 'o clock, we 'legged it' (Skip hopped) to the Church. We were met by our District Commissioner and his mother and sat down 'quietly' to join a Christingle service. All in all, the day was a sucess. I'll post some more of the pictures from London later, there are too many to include this time. Merry Christmas!

Later in the Winter Term 2008

In the last half term we have been studying emergency First Aid for our badge. We have covered burns, slings, major and minor bleeding and, thanks to one particular Scout, nose bleeds.

Half the Troop was then tested on what they knew while the rest of us learnt Semaphore, knotting and tracking techniques for an MI 5 training. We did the training by following one of the leaders on a ten minute walk around Cuffley. Unfortunately, stealth and silence deserted a certain unsubtle scout and we were seen on several occasions!

One of the other things included in our MI 5 training was to test our observational skills. A man (the son of one of the local teachers) walked into the Scout meeting one week, talking on the phone and walked around for a few minutes. twenty minutes or so after he'd left, we were asked to describe him as best we could from what we'd seen/ noticed. I thought I did quite well, but I can't be too sure.

The last meeting of the year was a Fun and Games night. The first activity was The Chocolate Game, a favourite at parties of children aged nine and above. The general idea is to roll a six or a one and then scramble into a hat, scarf and gloves, pick up a knife and fork and eat as much chocolate (with the knife and fork) as you can before someone else rolls either a one or a six. This being Scouts, it wasn't that simple...


To start, we had to roll a double six to start, that was hard enough in itself. After that you had to put on a hat, gloves, scarf, jacket, skirt and wellies! Then we had to pick up the knife and fork and start eating the chocolate. Then the rules were changed and it became a double one or a double six, then any even double (double two, four or six).


We also played a tournament on the Bagatelle, had a Jenga competition and tried a Christmas wordsearch!

Remembrance Parade and Hike

On 9th November we had our first Remembrance Parade at St Thomas a Beckett in Northaw. It was great fun but it was FREEZING!!! We were carrying the Union Flag as well as the Scout flag so we had two colour parties! In the picture opposite, both of them are visible, and, if you look carefully, Skip's there too! Behind them are the Cubs and Beavers and behind them the Brownies and Guides.(Photos courtesy of my parents!)

Afterwards we went up to Newgate Street for a hike, all um, four of us! It took us all afternoon and most of the evening, we had a really good time; until I got us lost, in the cold, and the dark, and in the middle of nowhere...

The first leg of the hike was from Newgate Street to The Beehive pub. It took us over fields, across roads, round corners and down narrow little footpaths which half the group missed, on at least two occasions! We arrived at the pub with roughly ten minutes to spare and our reward was a bar of chocolate to share, six squares each! (We're still only halfway through it!)

The next part of our journey was done, not by map (ours was sealed in an envelope), but firstly by tracking signs which changed halfway to hobo signs. Several times there were false trails and some of the signs had been dislodged, damaged or destroyed by walkers, ramblers and horse riders. We arrived at the second base (a bus shelter) with roughly fifteen minutes to spare and won some chocolate hob nobs (we haven't finished those yet either!!)

The third quarter of our trek was a little bit longer, taking us through a golf course, on which we got lost, luckily not to badly, and had to contact Skip to get us out of the mess we got ourselves into. We didn't reach our next destination on time, running roughly five minutes late, no prize for us that time!

Our final journey was to take the longest and cover the most distance, not intentionally, but I got us lost. We walked for twenty or so minutes through a wood and then a couple of fields, which is when we reached the main road. By this time it was dark, in the very little light we had from someone's phone I misread the map and we turned left instead of right. We walked for another fifteen minutes before realising our mistake and contacted Skip. The problem was that we all (including Skip) thought we'd just missed the turning, unfortunately, it wasn't that simple. Skip ran about half a mile in the opposite direction to where we were, we started walking back the way we came and as we realised what had happened Skip started running back the way he'd come; we met roughly halfway and walked the rest of the way home together.

We arrived home almost two hours late and were met by hot baths and cups of cocoa (or blackcurrant, in my case) by our parents.

Winter Term 2008

After Half Term, things went back to "normal". The Friday of Half Term was spent drying out tents and putting stuff away from the camping trip. The next few weeks we were involved in getting our First Aid badge and several other activities besides, such as a birdsong quiz...

We were played recordings of twenty eight different birdsongs and asked to name the bird which made the noise. Each name was given a description of the noise and, as with the crisp tasting, they weren't all real birds, the two made up ones were the Oomigoolie bird and the Red Herring Gull!

Each week we play at least two games, one at the start and one at the end. I will take this opportunity to tell you some more of our games; Rupture Cone, so called because the aim of the game is to avoid touching the cone and sometimes the only way is by jumping over; if misjudged this can end in a rupture!

Then there's jump rope; this is self explanatory, but not as you'd expect: Skip swings a piece of rope around at ankle level and we all have to jump over it, the person who falls over each time is out; the winner is the person who stays in the longest.

Another game, one which we've only played once, remains nameless but it's like tug of war mixed with chalk rugby. The aim of the game is to get your end of the rope to touch the wall of the Scout hut. Unfortunately, the other team are trying to do the same with the other end and the rope is shorter than the Scout hut is long!

Chalk Rugby, my absolute favourite, is very similar; get the piece of chalk and put a cross in your goal. And try to stop the other team doing it first by any means, including: sitting on them, grabbing their arms, wrestling the chalk off them, stamping on the chalk, swallowing it and (of course) rugby tackling!

As you can see, it's not exactly chess and backgammon!