Entry

SCOUTING EAST

No.215 The Journal of East Belfast Scouting NOVEMBER 2000

From The Editor

I was very interested to read the article written by the County Commissioner, Maynard Porter, in last month’s Belfast Scouting, ‘Making it happen’. There is no better time that the present to start to turn plans into reality and make things happen in East that will add value to Scouting in our District. We have an enthusiastic and dynamic new District Commissioner in Ian Diamond and a new look District Team will soon be appointed to work under his leadership. Plans are at an advanced stage for the leasing of premises in Tamar Street from which we hope to re-launch Scouting in Ballymacarratt. This will require effort not just from the District Team but from all of our Scouters in East if we are to turn our plans into rebuilding 28th Group a reality. What can the rest of us do to help? Joint Section Nights? Saturday events? Weekend camps with the potential new Scouts and Leaders? We also need to look at the range of activities on offer in East. Are some of our competitions tired and dated and badly in need of an overhaul? What new and challenging activities can we introduce for all our Sections, but particularly the older Scouts to keep them interested in Scouting despite many other competing interests? Or what about activity and proficiency badges? Can we try again to compile a list of badge examiners? Already I have about half a dozen names of those who would be willing to help in this way. Do you know of anyone else who could volunteer? What can we do to raise the profile of Scouting in East Belfast and reach out to help the wider community? How can we build up a network of adults who can support the work of our Scout Groups? Should we be more active in targeting parents and former members, and perhaps try to revive the East Fellowship? These are just a few thoughts. I’m sure than Ian will have many ideas of his own and many of you will have as well. Let’s all work together to put these ideas into action and make things happen in East in the months ahead. Many thanks to those who have contributed to this month’s issue. Please keep sending in news about events in your Groups and Sections. Best wishes,

David

From the President

Don’t forget to send in your Uniform Questionnaire. The District Executive Committee has opted for individual returns (this is statistically better). So, as an individual, get one in! Opinions are not 100% for what is on offer and Northern Ireland does not have to accept any or all of the proposals. If you are not warranted send in your return as if you are a Fellowship Member. Hurry! The closing date is 20th November.

Obviously, there are reservations about the proposals for age ranges; especially at the current Scout/Venture Scout interface. Northern Ireland is prepared to consider alternative proposals to ‘Gilwell’ but it needs to know what you think. Any observations from within East will be dealt with competently by the District Team, based on the opinions transmitted to the Team. Get in your pennyworth now to the District Commissioner or any ADC. Time is short or else it will be a fait accompli.

‘Scouting East’ is being looked at by a small District Working Party. It is here to stay under District Editorship but there are cost and content considerations to review. So if you do have views on ‘Scouting East’, get them to the District Commissioner pronto. The Working Party is reporting to the District Executive Committee on 25th November, so that any decisions that have to be made can be made then.

Any more Leader Warrant applications? Get them to Mrs.Ann Anderson please as soon as possible.

Have your new members got their District Badges yet? I still have a supply as does the District Badge Secretary, John McKay. £10 for a bag of 25.

Finally, now is the time to start planning for your section’s Christmas Good-Turn

Philip Holland, District President

30th Pack Weekend at Crawfordsburn

Undeterred by adverse weather reports and tales of substantial flooding of roads throughout North Down, 30th Pack held their final camp of the year at Crawfordsburn Scout Centre during the last weekend of September. We also had 6 Scouts from 30th Troop down for the weekend. Having settled in, it was off to the starting grid at the Main Cabin for a hotly contested slot-car competition organised by Colin and Sinclair. During the course of an exciting competition, in which the Cubs definitely outshone the Scouts, a surprise challenger to make it through to the final was 30th Kaa, Fiona, although she was eventually out-manoeuvred by the budding Michael Shoemachers and David Coulthards and finished a disappointing fourth. After this, we headed off on a midnight walk through the country park stopping off at the beach for a ‘sand castle building by torchlight!’ competition and were treated to the sight of some very unusual ‘erupting volcanoes’ and fortified prison compounds with ‘powerful searchlights’.

On Saturday morning, the Cubs tried their hand at archery joining in with some Cubs from 9th Pack who were down for the day. The Scouts opted for something much messier and took to the slippery slope. After lunch, we had a wide game based very loosely on the theme of ‘Indiana Jones’. Some Cubs from 10th Pack also came along for the afternoon. The most popular bases were undoubtedly Fiona’s blindfold gunge trail, in which the Cubs got to stick their hands into all manner of obnoxious concoctions including jelly, dog food, wallpaper paste and rice pudding, and the ‘Nile River’ aka the slippery slope test-run by the Scouts earlier in the day. The Scouts took to their role as ‘baddies’ with gusto enthusiastically soaking the Cubs with squeezy bottles to hurry them along from base to base and ensuring that a few of the Leaders were ‘accidentally’ caught in the cross-fire for good measure!

That evening the kitchen cooks went on strike, and the Cubs and Scouts were provided with the ingredients to cook their own meal out of doors. The younger Cubs opted for backwoods style grub, cooking sausages, potatoes and bananas by a range of methods, using sticks and foil with varied success. Some of it was surprisingly edible!! There was also a rather runny dough-like mixture which tended to drip off the sticks into the fire. Still at least nothing much could go wrong with the toasted marshmallows!! The Sixers and Scouts were much more adventurous and were soon rustling billie cans and frying pans with all the fervour of Jamie Oliver. Even the Leaders were persuaded to taste the eventual result and were pretty impressed with the mince and potatoes and home-made burgers. Before all this had time to settle in their tummies, the Cubs went off in search of some real food and were soon found at the front of the tuck-shop queue!

Later that evening, we joined in a lively site campfire led by the wardens, Colin and Chris, before rounding off the day with some particularly messy team challenges, even by Akela’s standards. One of these involved covering a jelly baby in syrup, gripping it between your teeth and then trying to drop it into the mouth of your team mate who was lying on the floor in front of you!! Good, messy fun.

Sunday morning was spent Canadian canoeing with Colin and the rest of the warden’s team. Apart from an eventful race where one of the canoes capsized, and the time when we had to paddle furiously back to shore to escape an tidal wave from the seacat ferry at a speed that would have put Steve Redgrave and Matthew Pinnsent to shame, the highlight of the morning was undoubtedly when one of the Leaders spotted an unusual seal swimming in the sea. As this creature got closer to land, emerged onto the beach, shook itself and wagged its tail, we realised to our amusement that it was in fact a dog! (time to make that appointment at Vision Express, Jamie!). After lunch and Cubs Own during which Akela inadvertently had all the other Leaders in stitches when he told the Cubs to ‘bow their eyes and close their heads’, we rounded off the weekend by tackling the assault course. Although Akela didn’t intend to ‘do’ the assault course this camp, he arrived back at the Chalet muddier than the Cubs, having had to help them all with a leg-up over the climbing wall and then hold the rope swing for the Cubs to swing over the muddy ditch, inevitably falling in himself (or was he pushed???!!!!) in the process!

Many thanks to Chris and Colin and the warden’s team for a super weekend and to the Leaders from 10th Pack, Pamela, Jamie and Johnny, who came down to help for part of the weekend.

David, Jan and Fiona, 30th Pack

PS. Welcome to our new Cub Scout Instructor, Stuart Gibson. (Stuart is the first of Akela’s own former 30th Cubs to make a comeback as a Leader, so Akela is starting to feel very old and decrepit). Already Stuart has been thrown in at the deep-end, helping the seniors who are making planes from model kits as part of the Adventure Crest Award. Thankfully he escaped his first night without getting covered in as much glue or paint as the Cubs themselves!

10th Belfast Scout Group Pub Quizzes

Shorts Recreation Club, Holywood Road 8.00pm 'til late

Thursday evenings October 12th, 26th; November 9th, 23rd; December 7th, 21st

News from 3rd Group

3rd Cubs went to collect chestnuts on their second night of the new season. There was such a good crop this year that the boys were able to pick many from the ground. As the boys made their way back to the cars, laden down by the weight of chestnuts, they were escorted off the property by four large horses.

Big Brother strikes again!!! (October Scouting East)

It has also come to our attention that a photograph taken during the Delamont camp is currently doing the rounds in the District. It apparently shows a 7th Cub Scout looking on in amusement at the sight of two Scouters stripped to the waist and standing in the middle of a field beside a cold water stand pipe looking as if they are trying to wash themselves. One of the suspects caught on camera is a well known ASL with 3rd Troop while the other is an ADC Cubs (and no, before you ask, its definitely not Suzi!)

Roy Lamont, GSL 3rd

Crawfordsburn Cub Challenge

30th Pack entered a team in the second Crawfordsburn Challenge Day on Saturday 7th October. Events included archery, penalty kick competition, grass-sledging, assault course time trial, plate golf and lots of crystal maze style challenges involving snuffing out candles, hooking tin cans and crossing imaginary minefields. Our Field Officer, Sinclair Trotter, was also on hand to run a slot-car competition during the afternoon. At the start of the competition, each team was asked to look after 2 eggs, which had to go everywhere the Cubs did during the day. The Cubs received 5000 points per egg produced intact at the end. Although one of 30th team’s eggs came to an untimely and messy end during the grass sledging, the Leaders were amazed that of all people Seconder Paul managed to preserve the second egg until the very end. By the end of the day, the Cubs were ready for home, tired, covered in mud and blissfully happy. Many thanks to the wardens Eric and Vic who ran the event and congratulations to 30th Team of Peter, Paul, David, David, Luke and Jeff, the only team incidentally from Belfast County, who finished a very respectable 4th place behind the winners from Donaghadee. Vic and Eric hope to run another challenge day soon and we would definitely recommend it to other Packs in East.

David, CSL 30th

Causeway 2001

By now all of our Scouters have probably read some of the flyers and advanced publicity about this exciting international camp next summer. Perhaps some of our Troops are even considering attending and a few of our Scouters may already have sent in staff application forms. I think this would be an excellent camp for Scouts in East and I know my lads at 30th would probably enjoy taking part. Perhaps though, some of our Troops are small in number, or Leaders are new and relatively inexperienced or maybe can’t afford to take enough annual leave from work to attend all of the camp? I wondered if there was any merit in trying to send a District contingent to the camp, perhaps even if Leaders from several Troops were to get together and a draw up a rota so that each attended for only a few days but the Scouts were adequately supervised for the duration of the camp. Just a thought.

David

East Belfast District Cub Scout League

East Belfast District Cub Scout Football League has run into serious difficulties with only two teams (10th and 30th Belfast) able to field a full 11-a-side squad on Saturday mornings. The team coaches, Dave Hanson and Fiona Thompson, would welcome your suggestions on the best way forward. Could your Pack enter a team, even perhaps a combined team with another Pack – maybe 3rd and 9th could get together and enter a ‘Sydenham’ team or 4th and 24th could form a ‘Knock’ squad? Should we change the time or venue? How about moving to a 5-a-side competition? Should we try to attract teams from the other Districts into the league? Should we organise a series of friendly matches as home or away fixtures with other Cub Packs throughout the province? Or how about training a combined East Belfast District Team(s) and entering a local under 12 league? If any of your Cubs want to play football please let Fiona know as soon as possible

Cub Scout Chess Competition

I am planning to organise a Chess competition for some of the 30th Cubs at the Jack Britton Hall, some Saturday afternoon during the winter months. I know that several other Districts have annual Chess Tournaments, and that many of the Cubs can play chess, so I would be willing to open this event to other Packs in East. It might also be possible to incorporate some other games such as Connect 4 and draughts. Perhaps we could even line up an examiner for the Hobbies Badge as well. Please let me know if any of your Cubs are interested.

David, CSL 30th

Junior Ardnavalley Walk

10th and 30th Packs and 10th, 30th and 33rd Colonies were amongst those taking part in the annual sponsored walk on Saturday 14th October organised by SE District. Well done to all who completed the 5-mile route and our thanks to Jack Moore and the organising team from SE Belfast for a job well done.

News in Brief

Congratulations to Pamela (ACSL, 10th) on her appointment to a Nursing Research Post within the Renal Dialysis Unit of Belfast City Hospital.