Granny's Ashes

Pictures

After a very successful investiture of the new scouts it was time for the evening activity, this evening activity was meant to be Steve showing the scouts a magic trick which he was meant to prepare but it ended up with lots of smashed pots. so to make the best of a bad situation we decided to change the activity to mending pots and the team who's pot looked like their original state and who also held water as every good pot should.

The groups were given blue tack and sticky tape to put the pots back together, which they did to varying degrees of success.

at the end the pots were judged and then had water put inside them. some of the pots which had no bases or clearly visible cracks in them held very little water indeed. but those which can be seen in the pictures did rather well and held a good amount of water before it leaked out of the sides of the pot. well done to everybody who took part as a good effort was made by most but as with any competition there can be only one winner. This was cobras who's pot looked very much like its original state and also held the most amount of water. Tigers pot did look good but didn't manage to hold very much water. Falcons pot which was just the general parts of the pots stuck together in a very random fashion held little or no water and also had a large amount of pieces left unaccounted for.

First to last

1. Cobras

2. Tigers

3. Kingfishers

4. Eagles

5. Falcon

Team building Games

Pictures coming soon

On Friday the 27th of may the scouts took part in really very interesting team building games, four in all. the ideas of the games was that you could only win the games if everybody in the team got involved and took on a role which teams did with varying success.

Game one

Traverse the hall without touching the fall whilst holding a candle. then lighting a candle on the opposite side of the room and bringing it back without it being extinguished. Sound easy enough but not.

the problem was that the groups had to get the whole team across the hall on chairs which meant holding the candle without it going out became very hard as the candle also was getting very hot inside its little jar. Some groups found this very hard with some groups not even completing the course.

Game two

in game two the whole team were tide together at the ankles using their scarves so that they became a a five person footballer then as a team they had to get a football into a goal. This was very funny as every time somebody went to kid a ball they would pull the persons leg from the person next them form under them and so cause the player to fall over. this in turn would cause every body else in that team to fall over. Also it was discovered that a team could be pushed to ground simple by pushing one of its members. very funny!

Game Three

The classic get the object out of the radioactive area using ropes. but instead of having one team doing it at a time all teams had to do it a the same time. This lead to some interesting situations which were not considered in the teams plans and so made the game much harder.

Game Four

Messy Squares , need I say any more

Very fun very messy

The team that got the lowest score wins, so team 1 won the with team 2 coming second and 3 and 4 coming joint last well done guys and girls

Team 1 - Jack

Team 2 - Sam

Team 3 - Mahony

SCOUTS HIKERS BADGE 1-2 May 2005

LEADERS REPORT

Andrew Black Writes !

DAY 1

We started off the day by all meeting in a pub car park just outside Marlow at around 9.30 where all the scouts were dropped off. It was a beautiful day and looked like we were set for a hot weekend of walking. All the food was divided up between the cooking teams and the group split up into two seperate walking teams with Kevin and Dave leading one and Styles and Black the other.

Once all the kit had been divided up and goodbyes to parents had been said out group bundled into Steve's wagon and set off to Stonor where we would be starting the walk. Once we got to Stonor it was about 10.30am and it was getting hot already. The scouts figured out where we were...eventually and we set off in a northerly direction.

The mistake of the day happened within about 5 minutes when the team missed a footpath sign and carried on up the road. They realised the mistake and recitified it before finding the right path and carrying on. This path lead us up a very steep path through the woods and it was pretty muddy, by the time we got to the top we were ready for a rest. We'd only been going for about 30 minutes but the heat was getting to us already. 

Once we were fully rested we got going again and had a pretty short walk until we met Steve L at our first Rendevous Point (RP), we made sure we were topped up with water and set off again over some fields to a farm.  We had a solid hour of walking until we met Steve at the next RV point and by then it was time to start thinking about having Lunch. We found a nice spot in the shade by some woods and enjoyed a long shady lunch. Incidently Styles won the leaders sandwich competition with a nice Steak, Bacon, Mushroom and Onion doorstop. Blacky opted for the sfaer option of a huge prawn bagguette but did come up trumps with his Sushi starter and Gala Melon for desert..Masterchef eat your heart out! 

After feeling fully fed, watered and rested we set off again to the track that would take us through the Great Wood. This would be one of the most challenging parts of the day with lots of tracks through the wood making it difficult to find the correct path. The team did well and we made good time through this part and met Steve at our final RV point at the other end of the Wood. After more rest and water we set out on the final stretch which took us back to the campsite by about 4pm. 

Once we were there the scouts set up their one man tents and the lads set up HQ in order to start out evening meal. The scouts were all cooking on alterfires whilst the leaders opted for the luxury of gas cooking. Steve and Kevin prepared a lovely Chili for us although Kevin had the rather good idea of putting Baked Beans in rather than Kidney Beans as he got the tins mixed up. What a silly boy!! The scouts cooked some rather tasty looking Pasta with Ragu on fires, still i suppose when you're that hungry it doesn’t really matter.

Once all the cooking was done the boys played a wide game and then settled round the campfire to discuss the days events over a hot chocolate and hot dog before retiring for an early night in preparation for the next day.

DAY 2

Everyone was up and wide awake early and it was another spectacular day. Partly to do with the ridiculously loud dawn chorus that the local wild life laid on for us. The boys cooked their breakfasts of dried potato and bacon whilst the leaders opted for the full English in true camp style!

Once the tents were down and the campsite cleared, Dave and Kevin’s group set off towards Hambledon we gave them a good half and hour start but still managed to catch up with them by the time we got Hambledon an hour later. We crossed Hambledon Weir and picked up the Thames Path and walked along side the river until lunchtime. Here we stopped for sandwiches and soup and to get our breath back. Whilst taking a nice lunchtime nap under a tree I awoke to find Shaun poring water over me….very funny!

We set off after lunch and continued along the Thames Path. This part of the hike was less about navigation and more about stamina and endurance, by this point the weight of the packs and the heat were getting to the team. We managed to get to Hurley by about 3.30pm, all very knackered and hot but with a good feeling of achievement.

20/05/2005

And here's a little something which really wound one of the hikers up

Click here

The night started well as everybody was there, except for the absents of Shaun, as he arrived at the scout hut instead of the lemon tree pub as written on the letter. First of all Dave handed out the lumie vests and gave us a briefing for the hike. We set out about 7:45pm. The first half was easy going, with lots of down hill and the occasional ditch to dodge. About half way we sat down to have a break The Cobras had a water bottle and Kingfishers two mega sized packs of haribo star mix as well as a dozen chocolate bars to eat! We then worked our way up a step woodland area with Kingfishers and Cobras racing to the top of the hill with Dave, Steve and Styles behind us. When we got to the top we realized that Dave had his Specs

Wiped of his face by a rebel tree and we found no sigh of them. We cut across some fields and walked along a path until we came to the last stretch of field.

Along the side their was an Electric fence but Jack spent his time convincing the new scouts that it wasn’t electric. This was followed by a series of screams. We all got to the car park in one piece so we said our good byes and went home.

January 14th entertainers badge

On January 14^th scouts were working towards their Entertainer’s badge. We all got split into groups and got assigned an adult. We also got an object from a cooking tin in the stores. In my group were Ross, Johnny, Emily G and I. Styles ‘helped’. After many minutes of discussion we decided to modernise the famous scene of Noah’s Ark.

Firstly Johnny spoke in to the saucepan as God. Emily got given her instructions. She made the ark with assistance of Johnny and me. Then Johnny and me got transformed into animals and did several tiring trips around a table getting smaller and less significant. After becoming the SARS virus Ross entered and asked if he could get on the ark. Emily replied with there was no room and Ross went disappointed. Emily then yelled out, “Where are the elephants!!”

After performing it to a panel of judges consisting of David H, Steve R, Steve L and Blacky we saw the rest of the groups with highlighting moments from Jack and Alex with good jokes. “You know a great place to get children’s shoes these days? Bouncy castle!” and a classic knock, knock joke. “Bumblebee, Bumble who, Bumb-le-bee cold if you pull your trousers down!”

After seeing all of the groups overall winners were the tigers with a dramatic scene involving a cheese grater.

I enjoyed this evening apart from having to tidying up!

12^th November

To start the night off we all met at Furze Platt Scout Hut to register the teams. We then drove over to the East Arms at Hurley where we met Steve who was running a base there. We were given our first grid references and started walking at 10pm and my team - TEAM BLACK – set off in a clockwise direction with TEAM STYLES going in the opposite direction.  My team consisted of Me, Kennedy, Alex, Cameron, Massingale, Jack, Shaun and Kennedy’s Dad.

We arrived at the first base within 30 minutes where we had to try and figure out what was in various tins and packets. A pretty pour base if you ask me. Oh and we broke their table which they weren’t too pleased about!!!

The next base was a bit better where we had to transfer a big Dixie with water in it from one spot to another without going into the circle. We had a bit of a spillage (actually we dropped it) but we got marks for teamwork and leadership.

By about 12.30am we hit Pinkneys Green and did a base where we had to build a structure out of pioneering poles that would take all the scouts. They didn’t quite make it but Cameron got extra points for good leadership. (well done!) This was our first refreshment break of the night and Shaun had a cup of tea with 14 sugars for energy!!!

We met TEAM STYLES coming across the green, they looked a bit puffed out and Styles was complaining that he couldn’t hack the pace anymore.

It started to get pretty cold and we were still only about half way. We made our way through the thicket and over to a base near Burchetts
Green. There was a bit of a worrying base with two old men who said that they were going to make a noise in the tent and we had to guess what it was?!?

After a lot more walking we were within site of the finish. Just then Jack decided to fall bum-first down a massive whole by the side of a path!! We made it back to the base by about 3.30pm and noticed that TEAM-STYLES wasn’t there. We’d beaten them. YES!!! The came in to the base about an hour later, all looking knackered. I think they’d got lost somewhere.

After all the points had been counted it turned out that TEAM BLACK had come 3^rd. A pretty good result I’d say, especially as quite a few of the boys hadn’t done a night hike before. Commiserations to TEAM STYLES for only managing to come 7^th on the night!!

BLACKY

Who would of thought that news paper and sticky tape could be so much fun but this night just goes to prove, what do I know.

Challenge 1

Construct a vessel in to which a egg is placed, this egg must be protected from what ever conceivable force or impact that the vessel would receive in a reasonable days activity. Things such as being hit by a meteorite.

Many patrols tried to surround their egg in cushioning layer in an attempt to absorb the impact forces. These layers generally consisted of balled up news paper attached and secured to the egg using tape the ball created then surrounded wit the remaining news paper. Falcon followed this idea but also added a parachute strange as we had not said that we would be dropping the egg form any planes. The cubs lead by Graham went for a different design wrapping the egg tightly in the news paper in a effort to improve the eggs structural integrity by added to the eggs already strong walled design

Test 1

Dropping the egg form the top of the scout hut all but one of the eggs survived this particular challenge which was that the girls egg which are be very poorly constructed due to poor communication and lack of leadership in the design stages fell apart before it hit the ground so leaving egg exposed to the fall impact of the fall. needless to say now chicken will be hatching from egg in any great hurry. Falcons parachute had an effect of increasing the egg carrying vessels velocity as it accelerated towards the ground. Strange, very strange, Newton will not be pleased if you start defying the laws of gravity.

Test 2

A large object of some considerable weight was dropped onto the top of the vessel to see if the could support an impact load and then maintain the support of that load with out the collapse of the egg contained inside. we lost another of our egg at this stage Graham and teams egg had no way off absorbing the pressure created by the heavy box and so the egg was quite simply crushed, oh dear Graham

Test 3 (science in action)

We had devised a way of test vessel to destruction using the best scientific means known to us, smacking the vessel with a spade. The paper covered egg was tossed towards the batter in this case myself holding a spade the egg was then struck. This test proved to much for even the sturdiest of packages damaging all that stood in the way of the mighty spade. some took more that one strike but this was not problem for the spade seeing off all contenders. with varying results. The most popular result with scout being when the contents of the thrown package was emptied upon Greg's head as a consequence of the packages return journey from the spade to the general direction of the thrower.

At the end of the activity Eagles had produced the package that had withstood the most abuse and so won this challenge.

Challenge 2

The second challenge was to produce a bridge between two chairs which would be able to hold the largest load on comparison with other groups. The bridge also would be tested to destruction by adding more and more masses to its centre. In this activity the Tigers managed to build a very nice raft, sadly not a very nice bridge, never mind. but strangely strong purely by it shear volume being able to support quite a load from its centre.

At the end of the activity it was found that eagles had built the best bridge as it was both strong in the vertical direction as well as the horizontal which stopped it from pulling together and collapsing.

So eagle won again and as it went towards the points for the week eagle I think won there first ever points for the week total, well done eagles

David Styles 12/10/2004

Outdoor cooking 1st October 2004

Pictures

So, the programme for Friday 1^st October was for outdoor cooking. The scouts were given a brief the week before that all ingredients were to be fresh and they could cook on foil as long as it wasn’t Burgers and Sausages.

So Black and Styles set to work by even starting the fires for them…it wasn’t like that in our day…while the scouts prepared their food in the warm, inside.

The menus for the patrols were as follows

Kingfishers – pizzas and vegetarian sausages.

Falcons – Fish and pepper kebabs

Tigers – Calzoni (folded over pizzas) and veggie sausages.

Cobras – Chicken, Salad, Fondu, Ice Cream

Eagles – Sausages and Burgers (see above)

So they all got cooking. Some patrols decided to just cook their food on top of the fire whilst others bunged it straight into the fire, and forgot about it while they mucked around. 

After lots of poking the fire with sticks and trying to get hot foil out of the fire with bare hands, most of the patrols managed to serve something resembling food. The food was judged by black and styles, who incidentally cooked some burgers on the fire (we’re allowed though, because we made the fires!). The results along with the judges comments in reverse order were: -

5^th – Eagles – you cooked burgers and sausages, see above, I rest my case.

4^th – Kingfishers – produced some lovely uncooked pizzas, mainly because they spent more time out of the fire on the floor than they did actually being cooked.

3^rd – Cobras – The chicken was good, but it was about the only thing they cooked on the fire. Everything else was prepared at home. Salad is hardly something that could be cooked on the fire. Although their preparation couldn’t be faulted. Cobras are my top tip to win the gourmet food competition later on in the year.

2^nd – Falcons – a vast improvement from the previous cooking competition when they produced beans on toast!!!! The fish was really well cooked and an original thing to cook on the fire.

1^st – Tigers – now there’s a surprise. The folded over pizzas were spot on. The preparation was good and they were the first to be completely cleared away.

So it turned out to be a successful night. Although in the last half hour just as everyone was finishing the heavens opened and we had a nasty thunderstorm. Styles decided it was best for him to stay inside to supervise whilst Blacky got soaked outside clearing everything away. Nice on Styles!!!

Blacky

Well after weeks of intensive training from the leaders on the art of putting up an old patrol tent (err yeah!) it was decided that it was time to let the scouts have a go on their own. A competition was organised to see how quickly and how well the teams could put up a patrol tents. A fairly simple task...or so we thought. The scouts were split into three teams. My team had the girls in it and younger scouts/cubs. Styles' team had Cameron, Matthew, peter et al in it, and Steve had the rest. Right from the start, chaos rained on the grass as the teams wrestled with the tents. There was a lot of shouting and banging in of pegs but not many tents being put up! We even saw that Steve's team had managed to put the poles up in the right way but no canvass was seen anywhere. Might get a tad cold a night in that one boys!

 Styles team seemed to fair well, this was mainly down to the rather vocal instructions of Matthew p. My team seemed to spend more time falling over things than putting any tents up. Note to self for next time, don’t walk off while you're meant to be holding a pole that hasn’t got any guy ropes on it as the tent tends to fall over.

 However by the end of the night, each of the teams had managed to put up a tent that was vaguely worthy of spending a night in. Wouldn’t want it to be windy, or rainy, or slightly damp, or foggy, or snow, or anything other than perfect weather. I don’t think the tents would have held up.

Andrew's team 28

Steve's team    19

Team Styles     38 + 10 For finishing first

Well done to team Styles

Games Night

This time around it was decided that it would be  good idea if the leaders organised the game night and not the scouts as I has been previously on other games nights.

The scouts were all split into four fair teams which each took a name, cool runnings, power puff, lemon grass and the anchors an interesting choice of names considering that one is the name of an Indian restaurant and the other the name of a pub.

The evening started with a game of tug of war which was played in a knock out style cool runnings won this event and the anchors who with a name like that should of won came last.

The second game which was played was a skill game which involved the scouts trying to light a candle using a match which was attached to a long stick. The members of the team had to work together to build a stick long enough so that it could reach the candle which was placed some distance away. The anchors who did so poorly in the first round of the games came first and the lemon grass came last.

The third game was a time tested classic game of volley ball, well I say volley ball the idea is not for the ball to hit the ground as many times as you it in one minute. not quite sure who in fact won the volley ball but lets just say that it was lemon grass and that the anchors came last once again.

The final game for the evening was messy square, an ingenious which involves throwing rubbish around a room for five minutes at a time. No really there was some point to it the teams had to keep their squares as clean as possible by throwing rubbish out of it and then into their opponents square. This was fun game but not when it came to clearing up. The winners of this game was cool runnings and the anchors for the third time in the night came last again never mind.

After all of the points for all of the games had been added up the total scores are as follows

Cool Runnings   36

Lemon Grass     28

Power Puffs       26

Anchors              22

Well done to cool runnings

Cooking Competition

So Friday comes along and you turn up to scouts thinking what are we doing tonight. Well if you had bothered to read the programme then you would have seen that it was a cooking competition. Saying that, the majority of scouts did in fact remember to bring something, something being the operative word. Kingfishers or Matthews cafe went for a traditional fried selection of foods which seemed to go done well with there patrol but looked far from edible. This was served with a selection of fine beverages such as coke and milk shake, exquisite I'm sure.

Tigers or the Italian pasta factory went for a traditional pasta boiled until cooked then served with a selection of topping copped and arranged on a plate. it was to quote a member of the patrol "fantastic".

Châteaux Cobras provided their patrol members with a full meal which started with a some kind of starter followed by some kind main course and to top this was then followed by some kind of final course. No what they really did was quite good and given the time in which they had to do it. there main course was chicken salad and the there desert course was a very cleverly artistically arranged fruit salad.

Falcons managed to stun the judges of this most prestigious of culinary events by coming up with the ultimate in cuisine the heating of beans in a pan or pot so that they become hot. These beans were then applied to bread creating what can only be described as beans on bread. Well done chaps

Eagle (la greasy spoon) through the cooking books out the window with the ground breaking and quite unorthodox mixing of the bacon and the egg making the new sensation that is sweeping through scouting circles bacon and eggs. But they keep it simple by making sure not to cook anything else.

Friday 13/02/2004

At 7 o'clock the group set off from at car park in Cookham on a hike organised by two off the PLs. The hike started as a simple stroll along the river which soon became a challenging hill walking exercise. The boys and girls were made to walk up a very steep slope several time to get up to the golf course on winter hill. At the top of the hill the group played a small game of man hunt which made sure that if the hill hadn't taken the wind out of the youngsters the game certainly would.

The group then made their way across winter hill golf course and back to the car park. A good time was had by all !