2003 has seen a change of personnel in the Troop as a number of Leaders have stepped down and the average Scout age has become much lower in September. The warranted Leaders are now Louise Foye and John Harvey. John Patton is applying for his Leader’s warrant and Hadyn Bennett has helped out occasionally. One of the parents, Keith Bates, also helps out on Troop nights.

After the summer break our three oldest Scouts had to leave but we also lost five more. On the plus side, six Cubs joined the Troop, as did Jack McGarrity from the ‘outside world’, so that Troop numbers now stand at 12, most of whom attend every Thursday night.

Several of the Scouts got more than one challenge badge. In the new programme, these have replaced the awards that could take many months to complete. The challenge badges gained by the Scouts included:

4 Community Challenge awards for helping with the Beaver Colony; Simon Toland and Chris Foye (both still helping out) and Daniel Neill and Gary Partridge

4 Fitness Challenge awards for taking part in the Belfast City Marathon Fun Run after several weeks training and raising £39.25 for the Habitat for Humanity team; Robbie Blundell, Chris Foye, Chris Harvey and Colin Millar

9 Adventure Challenge awards for partaking in 3 or more of climbing, orienteering to and around Stormont, Dragon-boat Racing (with the senior Cubs) and finally a cycle ride to Belvoir Forest for our end of year BBQ; Max Porter, Chris Foye, Chris Harvey, Robbie Blundell, Jeff Gilmore, Gary Partridge, Daniel Neill, Simon Toland and Chris Wilson (thanks to Rab Toland and Paul Blundell for helping with the practice and BBQ cycle runs)

Fewer proficiency badges tended to be awarded to our Scouts as most of the badges are very specialised and cater for Scouts who are particularly interested or skilled in a particular subject. Nonetheless, some proficiency badges were attained:

13 Fire Safety badges

11 Dragon-boating badges (during a combined Pack/Troop night with the older Cubs)

3 Swimming badges; Chris Harvey got the 3rd stage award and Peter Rodgers the 4th stage. However, Robbie Blundell, a 1st Former, got the highest, 5th stage award, a badge aimed at Explorer Scouts (14-18 years old). The hardest part was a 1000m swim using 3 different strokes in less than 35 minutes!

During the year, the Troop has tried to get out as much as possible. This has included torch-lit treks up the Rocky Road for fire lighting and cooking burgers and hot dogs, a torch-lit Hunt in Killyneather Forest and orienteering in Stormont for a compass course. The final event of June was a cycle ride to Belvoir Forest for a BBQ.

We have also had a visit to Belfast’s main Fire Station (where John Patton works). The Scouts got to see around the engines and try on breathing apparatus) but the highlight was being lifted over fifty feet off the ground on the aerial platform.

There were also outings to the Robinson Centre for trampolining and swimming and to Crawfordsburn for climbing and abseiling and slot car racing (Scalectrix). The 4-lane slot car track at Crawfordsburn is the longest in Ireland and our champion was Chris Wilson until he lost his title to Chris Harvey before Christmas.

The Troop has taken part in a number of District competitions. In January at the 5-a-side football tournament at Avoneil, both our teams did well only being knocked out when they were beaten by the eventual winners. We also had an outdoor 5-a-side match against our neighbours, 27th Sea Scouts (St.Dorothea’s). We also entered a team for the volleyball competition for the first time and even though the team consisted of the younger, P7 Scouts, they enjoyed themselves and will be back to win it next year. We also entered 2 teams for the District Quiz but one team was undone by the round on football.

Seven of our Scouts attended the District Camp at Crawfordsburn. The Scouts enjoyed the activities and chance to chill out together. There was even a chance to soak up the sun down on Crawfordsburn beach and have a dip in the sea. Unfortunately only one Leader was available for the second night and last morning.

One of the popular nights in the hall was spent on indoor games. The two Johns had a sedate time trying to conquer the world against 4 Scouts in the board game Risk, running out of time by 9pm (a problem faced by many megalomaniacs) while Keith was run ragged playing touch rugby. The final Scout meeting of the year was an outing to the Ozone for a session of shooting each other with lasers at Laser Quest. The two Johns were mad enough to take part as well and were shot full of holes by the Scouts on the opposing team.

Lastly there was a good Scout turnout at the Youth Organisations Carol Service. The Scouts look forward to getting out as much in 2004, to the Fun Run in May and to the anniversary and TOE camps.

John Harvey, Scout Leader

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