Putting up a Patrol Tent Friday, Feb 4 2011

So this week, we’re going to put up a Patrol Tent.  For some, this should just be a memory jogger – for others it may be a first time, so here we go!

I should point out that in later pictures I used electrical wire to show the guy lines – of course, on a real tent these would be ropes and actually fixed to pegs, not left lying around.  they should be pulled nice and tight – so make sure that the pegs are properly banged into the ground!

So the first step – after laying the tent out – is to put the poles together.

Next, slide the poles into the tent

Once the poles are poking out the end, put the dollies on the ends of the uprights and slowly raise the tent up to vertical.  You will need two Scouts to hold the uprights and they should be big enough to cope (using the smallest Scouts invariably sees the tent falling down and lots of shouting (not shown here!))

Once the tent is upright, you should move quickly to put in the four main STORM GUYS.  Because these will be taking much of the strain, you should use the four biggest pegs to bang into the ground.  I’ve found that putting the pegs in so that the lines cross mid way on the tent side will ensure that the cross pole is pulled together and in the strongest of winds the tent material is contained when it flaps.  however, this will mean that the tent has a smaller overall footprint. Note the angle for banging the pegs into the ground.

Once the storm guys are in, then make sure the doors are properly shut and you can move to the middle lines (which give the tent its “house” shape) – use the medium sized pegs – and then finally the smallest pegs are used for the brailing pegs which keep the sides on the ground.  For the middle lines, follow the seam lines down the tent – for the corners, head out at 45 degrees to the tent

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P.A.T.R.O.L. – a simple guide to leading a team Tuesday, Jan 4 2011

Within our Scout Troop, whilst training the Scouts in the skills of Scout craft and developing their potential within the Fundamental Aims of Scouting, we also try to get the Scouts to remember and work as a team, using the simple Scouting nmemonic PATROL.

To us, this is a simple Scouting-type word (thus making it easy to remember) but which has far-reaching potential to ensure that if any Scout remembers it they will become the one person in any management training course to be the one to have in the team!   I’ve added a few pictures to try and show what is meant.

P – Problem.  What is the problem, task or challenge that has been set.  In this case, the teams have to get from one side to the other and the middle is very deep and too wide to cross

A – Assess. What are we being asked to do, what can we do, what can’t we do.  What do we need to question?  Here, the BLUE patrol is looking at the items of kit that are available to them to solve the problem – but also at the ravine – it may be that there’s something that they could use to help them.  You’ll notice that the BLACK patrol are just playing – not a good way to work!

T – Tasks.  What will we need to do to achieve the tasks.  What steps do we have to do them.  So as a team they need to think about suggested solutions that they can feedback.  You may need to get some of the patrol to work with others to share the information.

R – Responsibilities.  Who is doing what – do they know? Who’s helping them?  Who’s not doing anything?  Just out of shot, you’ll notice that one of the BLACK patrol has just tried to jump across and has got stuck.  Also, with no direction and team involvement, one of the BLACK patrol has also got bored and is sitting alone.

(you don’t need a lectern to spread the information!)

O – OFF YOU GO!  Everyone knows what the plan is – and what they are doing.  In this case, with a decent plan, BLUE patrol has solved the problem and has got underway.  They’ve all had a go and can start to let BLACK patrol members play also!  The leaders are now having to use PATROL to rescue the one BLACK patrol member, whilst the others are just playing!

L – Lead.  For the patrol / team leader this one.  Are the people doing their jobs, is the task being done correctly? Although the Lectern is a bit of overkill, I’ve included it to show that as a PL you will need to refer back to make sure that everything is being completed successfully.

If you can remember all that – you encompass all the other great management words, tips and phrases that get brought up – and you will be a leader!!

 

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Back to the Floor – Patrol camp – 21-23 May Monday, May 31 2010

As a Troop we decided to run a weekend camp that would focus on our training Mnemonic of PATROL  – Problem (what do we need to do), Assess (how are we going to do it), Tasks (what are the tasks to complete the problem), Responsibilities (which person is doing which task), “Off You Go” (do the jobs) and Lead (make sure all the tasks are being done by the people allocated).

(Small aside: PATROL was something that Ivor and David developed a few years ago to help teach PLs!)

We decided to make the weekend a bit of a competition – and to add to the fun, David was to be one PL and Ivor the other – helping the Patrols prepare dinners and get the tents up.  Ivor’s Patrol name was “Visu” (I think – from a pair of shoes) and David’s was “GunDogs” (a derivation of the Gannets and Bulldogs that made up the patrol).  GunDogs had a site near the Rabbit Run and well away from the main site which had the other patrol and the leaders area.  This also meant that the Scouts couldn’t see how the others were doing.

Saturday morning was spent putting up any remaining tentage (the GunDogs’ dining shelter was strung up between two trees and was neatly surrounded by Bluebells!), gadget building and inspections.  Saturday afternoon was a short hike – with points being deducted if the Patrol asked for help or checked with a leader that they were going in the right direction.  GunDogs made certain that we weren’t going to be asked anything by running off and keeping a lead between the leaders.  They were going so well… but missed the last footpath sign!

The Scouts had a 3-course competition meal to cook in the evening.  We drove to Chalfont St. Peter to get the necessary produce before we all came back to site.. and the patrols were busy making their meals ready.  From a slight miscalculation by the GunDog Patrol (sorry boys!) David lost a few points for his patrol – but this was redeemed from the washing up and site tidy later.

Saturday evening we had a great informal campfire, telling tales, stories and jokes.  Nathan related the tale of the Ancient Mariner – and so was to be known as “The Albatross” for the rest of the camp!

Sunday was a more relaxed day – although the Scouts were (unusually) up very early on the Sunday to get their breakfast! We had a go on the Cyclo-cross, then moved to the High Ropes.  Although very scared of heights (ok, not the height, the distance to fall to the ground!) I invested Charlie at one of the highest points on the High Ropes course (Charlie, of course, was very relaxed and calm).  I’ve never made the Scout Sign whilst my knuckles turned white as I gripped the safety line before!

Then it was time to strike camp… but the beautiful hot weather really sapped the strength of the Scouts, so the leaders had to work hard to encourage the Scouts to get the trailer packed.

At the end of the camp the scores were read out; it had been a close camp – but in the end the winners were the GunDogs (yay team!)

For the Leaders though, going “back to the floor” was a challenge.  It’s a long time since I was told where I’d gone wrong, or could have done better (but I told them to do that job properly…) and I remembered how hard it was to be a Patrol Leader – learning about Scouting whilst trying to learn how to manage other Scouts.  But it was fun though.

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TLW Challenge w/c 1 May Friday, Apr 30 2010

As we move towards the May camp, I want to start working on everyone thinking using the PATROL system (and if you’ve not heard of the PATROL system, follow the link on the right).

So, here’s the challenge for you. Think of a simple task (say, putting up a Patrol Tent). Then, list the items as if you were working through the PATROL system.  As an example (and you can’t use this one), let’s look at making a cup of instant coffee.

Problem:  Make a cup of coffee

Assess: Will need to boil water, will need to have instant coffee, and milk and a mug to put it in. Oh, and a kettle to boil the water.

Tasks: 

1. Fill the kettle with water – and switch on the kettle to boil

2. Get the mug, put the instant coffee in the mug

3.  Once the kettle has boiled the water, pour the water into the mug

4.  Add some milk.

5.  Drink!

Responsibilities:  I can do all this (but for your task, assume you are working in a patrol)

Off you Go!  and Lead  (you don’t need to do those bits here).

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TLW Challenge w/c 8 March Friday, Mar 5 2010

Last week’s challenge was fun – I had a great time working out the points from that!

Inkeeping with a request from Ivor that I link the TLW challenge to the Scout programme in some way, I decided that the following question should be about routes.

Please answer the following two Questions:

1.  When PLANNING a route, what walking speed (in kilometres per hour – Kph) is generally considered reasonable?

2.  What is Naismith’s rule?

Note that Question 1 is about planning the route  -we all know that the speed that the group Actually should walk is the speed of the slowest person.

Have fun!

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A lesson in Planning Monday, Feb 1 2010

Each week, we try to teach the Scouts about planning and preparation.  I know have a tale that I wish to relate that I think demonstrates this quite clearly.  It’s the tale of 64 boxes.

 

We were asked to put a data file onto 150 laptop computers.  The work was urgent and it was decided that we would not charge for our time.  Within our office, we didn’t think this was a difficult job and was surprised that we were being asked to do this… the only reason that we could think that we were being asked was because it was felt we could do the job quickly.

In conversation, we discovered that it wasn’t 150 but 64 computers, so we were happy that we could get the job done.  The customer managed to arrange for the computers to be delivered to us.  On opening the first box we found that this computer had not been turned, so we actually had to go through the whole set up before we could install the data file (and effectively tripled the length of time that this simple install was going to take).  We also had a couple of questions about the set up generally.

At this point we found that an important piece of information had not been passed on.  When the computers were issued, the set up was undertaken with the customer present.  The only way then that we could assist was to create a CD that could be copied from once the computer was set up.  Having resolved this, the customer then had to arrange for someone to come back to our offices and pick up the 64 computers, 63 of which were still boxed up and not opened.

I think there are a number of lessons that can be learned from this.

1) the most important lesson is NEVER ASSUME. Make sure that you have all the facts; if the customer had found how the computers were to be set up, 64 computers would not have to have made two pointless trips.

2) Plan properly.  The original request was for 150 devices and we were making arrangements to set up this many… in some cases you could be charged for making sure that someone was available.  There was also an assumption (point 1 again!) that we would send someone over to the customer’s offices (this was never asked for, causing a small panic and why the computers had to be moved over)

3) Ask questions.  For our part, if we had asked we would have found out before the computers were moved that they had not been set up, so we might have asked some questions up front.  Again, we had assumed (point 1) that the computers had all been set up so our job was going to be a simple one…

4) PLAN  PROPERLY.  The person asked to request this job did not know the whole process and had not brought everyone together to discuss the approach before getting the job underway.

If we take this back to our mnemonic PATROL we can see where it all went wrong:

P – Problem – install files onto the computers

A – Assess – what do we need to do, what issues might there be, what do we need to do and does everyone agree that this is the right way forward

T – Task – get the files onto the computer

R – Responsibility – the IT department installs

O – Off you go! – PCs get delivered, files installed

L – Lead – PCs were delivered, PC opened up; problems found.

If we had planned properly, it might have gone:

P – Problem – install files onto the computers

A – Assess – customer sets up computer on receipt – so files can’t be installed before the customer gets the computer.  SO, create a CD that the customer can install once the computer is set up.

T – Tasks – Need to create 64 CDs.  Need to deliver computers

R – Responsibilities – IT create the CDs before the computers get sent out; customer takes delivers computers (and the CDs)

O – Off you go! – CDs created, computers delivered

L – lead – CDs created and checked, handed over to customer to include in the delivery of the computer.

I’m including this lesson on the website to prove that even with training we can still get it wrong.  However, we only truly get it wrong if we don’t review and learn from our mistakes – and then repeat the same mistake again.

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End of Term Points Wednesday, Dec 23 2009

So, who took the top points and prizes for this term?

Find out here:  Points summary to 18.12.9

Here you will find which Patrol will be heading to McDonalds when we get back, and who really contributed to the scores!

Next term, we will be looking to introduce “THE ACCUMULATOR” so by answering the TLW challenge each week you can really multiply your points for the patrol!  It’s soo exciting – and even more reason to have a few goes at the  TLW challenge; even if you don’t get the right 5 you will still get points for taking part!

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TLW Challenge – for 5th October Sunday, Oct 4 2009

As we work towards the Pathfinder Weekend, this weeks question will be based on information on this website, especially around camping equipment.  You will need to follow one of the links within the “Purchasing Camping Equipment” page (look to the right most column under pages to find this page).

The question is this:  which TWO “gunky” products are recommended for keeping boots waterproof?

Answers on a piece of paper for next meeting!

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The role of the Patrol Leader and the Assistant Patrol Leader Tuesday, Sep 29 2009

Unlike other sections in the Scout Movement, the roles of the Patrol Leader (PL) and his Assistant (APL) are key to a successful Patrol.  The badges that these Scouts wear are not handed out just because a young person reaches a certain age.  This article discusses what it means to be a PL (or an APL) and the duties that a good PL should be doing on a weekly basis.

 

So let’s start with the Assistant Patrol Leader.  As the name suggests, this person will help the Patrol Leader in running the patrol.  At camp, this may be working with a small team to put up a patrol tent, whilst the Patrol Leader works with the others to set up the kitchen.  They need to have a reasonable idea of how to get a team to work – and also of Scouting; like the PL they need to demonstrate to the rest of the Patrol what it means to be a good Scout.  In some cases, the APL will have to stand in for the Patrol Leader, so this isn’t a role for someone who likes to keep to themselves, or can’t work with others!

 

The APL is not expected to be “as good” as the PL – part of the job of the APL is to learn how to be a good PL – but they still should be of good stock that is keen to learn and develop.

 

The Patrol Leader (PL) is the front person in any Patrol.  They have quite a difficult job to do – often getting the Patrol to do less “fun” jobs.  Their list of duties include:

• motivating their Patrol to getting jobs done
• make sure that tasks are being completed properly and completely
• listening to the Scout Leaders and passing on instructions clearly and completely
• explaining to the Scout Leaders why their Patrols haven’t completed their tasks
• looking after the new Scouts and show what it is to be a good Scout
• they have to be someone that the Patrol can go to if they have a problem – and helping their patrol learn new skills
• encouraging the Patrol to attend camps and activities
• ensuring that the Patrol is smartly turned out for inspection
• making sure that any challenges are completed on time. 

 

Quite a list!

 

One major factor in deciding who makes a good PL or APL is their involvement in the Troop.  The Patrol system doesn’t just happen on a Friday night, it is used throughout all the Scout activities including camps – so the good PL and APL will ensure that they attend most (if not all!) the activities that are organised by the Troop!

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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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