Farewell – for now? Friday, Dec 17 2010

For many of us, the end of term is a short break before 2011 brings a new programme full of exciting activities. However, for Ivor and I it is also the time when we will be stepping away from being part of the team running the Troop and focus on our own pursuits.

Both Ivor and I have been involved in Scouting for many years, so I don’t think that either of us will truly walk away from Scouting (Ivor still intends to be involved in Scouting in some way in the District); I believe that the Scout Promise isn’t just something you say to get some badges, it is something you agree to try to live your life by.

For myself, I first joined the 19th Harrow as a Cub – and my Akela is the same Akela that runs the 19th Cubs now! My Scout Leader isn’t the same – although I think we’ve worked out that Malcolm’s first night at Scouts (as a helper) was my first night as a Scout! Apart from a short period of 4 months I have always had some connection with the 19th Harrow; the last 21 years as a leader (even if it was unofficial whilst I held District and County positions).

I hope that in your time with the Scouts you get to have memories that you can recall in years to come. Just a few of the memories of things I’ve been able to experience – but there are many, many more :
 Sleeping in a shelter made from the leaves and sticks of the surrounding area
 Walking through a waterfall and standing in the cave behind it
 Winning the “Fastest Scout” Trophy for the 125-mile Devizes to Westminster Canoe Race
 Invest a Scout 20 metres in the air on a High Ropes course
 Camping in the snow
 Camping in the cold (we lined the tent with wooden pallets to get us off the ground!)
 Walking to the top of Snowdon, Sca Fell and Ben Nevis
 Sailing to France (although that was with the Venture Scouts and the London Sailing Project)
 Panicking as the minibus engine broke down and flooded the bus with smoke!
 Catching my own fish and cook it for dinner
 Beating Ash at Quad biking (but it’s a good job I’m not competitive!)
 Playing Petanque on some of the craziest ground going
 Investing a Scout abroad
 Following a County boundary on a hike thinking it was a footpath (not to be recommended!)
 Having my birthday aboard a boat going to France
 Having my birthday at the top of Snowdon (where my Scout leader had carried a cake all the way to the top!)
 Learning that you can’t connect a red gas cylinder to a cooker that uses a blue cylinder!
 Finding out exactly how strong the wind can be when it lifts an army marquee in the air
 Learning how awake I can become when I have to drive a Scout to the hospital at 1:30 in the morning
 Tasting exactly how bad things are when you put washing up liquid in the dinner instead of cooking oil (it is NOT lemony fresh)!
 That it is possible to challenge and beat your fears
 Making massive ballisters from pioneering poles
 Having a go at SCUBA diving in a swimming pool
 Being presented with the Queen’s Scout Award and the Medal of Merit.

I had a quick look through my photograph collection of scouting memories, and quickly put a few images together. I hope that you enjoy them.

Obviously I don’t know what the future holds and who knows – I could be back helping the Troop once again and I hope that my diary will allow me to pop up from time to time. However, until that time, could I take this opportunity to thank Malcolm, Ivor, Ash, Alan for their support as part of the main team – but also Nandesh, James, Alison, James, Caroline and Sue for helping the team as well. Without this starting to look like an awards speech (too late!) there are all the leaders and friends who have helped me along the way. But finally – and in no way least – I would like to thank all the Scouts that I have had the opportunity to meet and work with; no matter how enthusiastic I am, without the Scouts I would not have the Troop to run.

Thank you for reading this and can I wish you and your family the very deepest of Seasons wishes and hope that 2011 will bring you all health and happiness.

Frog
(David)

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Pathfinder Weekend Monday, Oct 19 2009

Our largest camp for sometime… 15 Scouts headed up to Lees Wood for a walking weekend.  When I arrived, the site was already buzzing with Scouts from all over the District pitching tents on the difficult soil of Lees Wood, but all in very good spirits.  Shortly the tents were up and the Scouts were being scouts.  Hot dogs were cooked and with hot chocolate the evening passed quickly (for the leaders, the 17^th Harrow had cooked a really nice stew!)

It was a slightly cold night, but Saturday morning came quick enough and the Scouts cooked their breakfasts.  Each camp patrol had decided their own menus for the weekend and had gone shopping for it, making this quite interesting to watch as they endeavoured to cook for themselves, with the leaders just offering guidance rather than taking over. 

After breakfast – and washing up – the Scouts made their lunches and prepared to leave.  Ash’s group of older Scouts were walking from the campsite to Chalfont & Latimer, Ivor’s group were walking from Heronsgate to Lees Wood and David’s group were walking the reverse of Ash’s route – Chalfont & Latimer to Lees Wood.  Alan (the driver for the day) walked with David until we met up with Ash then walked back to the bus.

The walk was quite pleasant and interesting.  In David’s group, James “Dragons breath” Zoel manage to trip over his shoelaces (twice!) quite early on in the walk; this gave him quite a sore, grazed knee to deal with.  As David’s group was walking along the Chess Valley Walk they heard a loud splashing sound – a small herd of longhorn cows were running alongside them along the River!  David and Ash’s group met up and decided it was a suitable occasion for lunch.  After lunch, we carried on with a short pause at Sarratt for a Coke and a comfort break.

Ivor’s group took a little longer to return to site – their navigation had led them to walk a large circle early on rather than following the route!

Once all were back on site, the evening meal was cooked.  Later James “Dragon Breath” Zoel demonstrated his ability to keep a fire going; Oskar entertained us with imitations of many of Doctor Who’s cyber enemies; and Jamie demonstrated what happens if you put too much pine leaves on an open fire (slow burn, then whoomf!)

Sunday morning was at a much slower pace.  The Scouts cooked their breakfasts, washed up and the leaders took the vehicles up to Phasels Wood.  Today we would walk as a single group with 3 map readers to confirm directions, turns etc.  Unfortunately the previous day’s efforts had depleted any energy and map reading skills – and as Leaders we found ourselves walking quite slowly (average speed of 2km/h!) and waiting near footpath junctions as the Scouts wandered off in the wrong direction.  Luckily the weather was really nice for the time of year, so it wasn’t too bad.  At Phasels we got in the bus and car and headed back.

On return to Lees Wood we found that Bruce had already dropped the Scouts tents for them, so there wasn’t much else to do (the other Troops had also long gone, so it was just the leaders tents to sort out.  We loaded the Scout trailer (I loaded my bicycle trailer!) and we all headed for home.

It had been a weekend of two long, challenging hikes but the scouts had completed it.  It had been a walk with a purpose – all those attended had planned the menu and the walks; they had then successfully shopped and cooked and completed the routes without any major hitches.  It was an achievement that they should be proud of.

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The Knotting Checklist for the Entertainers Badge… Saturday, Jan 31 2009

Below are the list of knots and the Scouts that have been picked to teach them to the Cubs:

1.  Reef Knot – Luke (with Jack)

2. Sheet Bend – Callum (with Alistair)

3. Round Turn and two half hitches – Matthew (with Devash)

4. Bowline – Joshua (with Oskar)

5. Friendship knot (cross knot) -Rory (with Anand)

6. Sheep Shank – Tom (with Sam)

7. Highwayman’s hitch – Jamie (with Joshua)

8. Clove Hitch – Anand (with Jordy)

9. Timber hitch – Vishan (with Rory)

10. Square Lashing – Jordy (with Tom)

Recognising that practice may be required, you may want to head onto these sites for instructions on how to tie the knots:

http://www.tollesburysc.co.uk/Knots/Knots_gallery.htm (for Reef, Sheet bend, Bowline, SheepShank, Clove hitch)

http://whatknot.tripod.com/knots/10knot.htm (for Friendship knot)

http://www.animatedknots.com/roundturnhousehold/index.php?LogoImage=LogoGrog.jpg&Website=www.animatedknots.com (Round turn & 2 half hitches)

http://www.animatedknots.com/timber/index.php?LogoImage=LogoGrog.jpg&Website=www.animatedknots.com (Timber Hitch)

http://www.thepirateking.com/knots/knot_hitch_highwaymans.htm (Highwayman’s hitch)

http://www.artworkbygerry.com/Lashings/squarelashing.html (Square lashing)

I should point out that there are hundreds of websites out there that have video, text etc on how to tie these knots.  Some are better than others.  These were found after a quick trawl; they are not my websites so I cannot guarantee that they will always be there.

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The BIG TLW Review of 2008 Wednesday, Dec 24 2008

So, what made your TOP 5 Scouting things this year?

For me, I’d say the following:
1. Completing the epic 26-week story. A mammoth achievement with some involvement from the Troop to add scope and shape to the story.
2. The trip to the fire station – and watching the water hose spin and knock over a swivel chair!
3. Fishing for Mackerel – then cooking and eating it that evening
4. District Camp – and spending the weekend dressed as a pirate
5. Creating a proper home for the Blog as “The Two Left Wellies”.

So… what’s yours?

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Fitness and Problem solving – part 3 Friday, Nov 21 2008

So we met once more to work on press ups, shuttle runs, step ups, squat thrusts and skipping – and once again the results were “varied” – some better, some not so.

The challenge this week involved K*Nex, two tables and a weight.  Each Patrol was challenged to create a bridge from the K*nex moving the tables as wide apart as they could – but the bridge had to be sturdy enough to hold the weight.

We finished off with a game of Fireball – which some Scouts enjoyed.

It was an interesting evening and the boys worked quite well.

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Night Hike Monday, Oct 6 2008

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!

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Term Introduction evening Friday, Sep 5 2008

Welcome back everyone – or at least those that actually attended!

With a massive amount of badges to hand out, it was a real surprise that we were able to do so without taking the whole evening!  Ash handed out DVDs of the camp to all who attended, David handed copies of the pictures taken with a small badge (to be pinned onto the caps issued at camp).

With Ivor checking the badges, Ash and Malcolm talking to the Scouts about the term’s programme, David issued the rules for Scouts to gain their Heritage Badge.  Details are listed below – and on the “Badge Challenge” page to the right.

 

Heritage Badge Challenge.

Each Scout has to provide information on:

- where his parents lived when they were his age

- where his grandparents lived when they were his age

- (if possible) where his great grandparents lived when they were his age.

So that the locations can be plotted on a map, just saying “London” or “Manchester” isn’t enough; however I don’t need to know the house number.  This could prove interesting, especially if any of the family members were displaced during the war….

 

The deadline for getting the information to David is by Half term.  Good luck!

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