my scouting life – Page 5 – Explorer Scout 84

A Scout is to be trusted (but not on Beaver camp…?)

The 7 Scout Laws:

1) A Scout is to be trusted.
2) A Scout is loyal.
3) A Scout is friendly and considerate.
4) A Scout belongs to the worldwide family of Scouts.
5) A Scout has courage in all difficulties.
6) A Scout makes good use of time and is careful of possessions and property.
7) A Scout has self-respect and respect for others.

How many of these laws did I manage to break in a period of 5 minutes on Beaver camp. I think in the end it was about 4 of them. Here’s the story of how we pranked Beaver Leader on Beaver camp. I’ll be using our Beaver names to protect the innocent, you can decide who I was.

Lion asked Bat (the Beaver Leader) whether he wanted a brew (no laws broken quite yet but we have reinforced being friendly and considerate).
Snail proceeded to make the brew (coffee, white, 1 sugar) until Lion decided it would be funny to put in some salt and we all agreed eventually of the portion of salt (only a little spill as if we’d muddled up the salt with the sugar).

As Lion poured in the salt, Giraffe thought it be a good idea to tip the salt bottle in further allowing at least half the bottle of salt to submerged into the now very, very salty coffee (here I realised we had broken the laws of how a Scout should be trusted, loyal, friendly and considerate and have respect for others at least we didn’t break a 5th by dropping Bat’s property).

Once we agreed it would be absolutely hilarious to still give the very salty coffee to Bat, we waited for Lion to take it back over. According to Bat, he thanked Lion and noticed how Snail and Giraffe were virtually the Chuckle Brothers in the back and Lion had a huge grin on his face asked out of interest whether we had done anything to the coffee. Lion quickly said no and ran back to the kitchen quickly (yet again breaking the law of how a Scout should be trusted).

Once Bat had left the room we quickly called over Mole (another Beaver Leader) to tell her of our greatest achievement and how proud we were but quickly learned that Bat would not be impressed. He came back in after a sip out of his coffee exclaiming that there will be revenge.

So, that evening, Giraffe’s tent magically collapsed. I am still waiting for the revenge to be taken out on me but at least afterwards I will know I will be able to have courage in all difficulties.

Thunderbolt and lightning very very frightening

No click bait here, well ok I’ll admit maybe a little bit of click bait …

So last weekend I went to Beaver camp! My adventure started on Friday evening when according to my Mum I spent far too long packing for one night away. Does she not remember the key rule – there’s no such thing as bad weather only bad kit! Well as the weather forecast was a mixture, I wanted to ‘Be Prepared’.

Saturday morning arrived and I headed to where we would be camping and helped unpack the bacon (mmm yummy).

The Beavers arrived as we were setting up their huge tents, all prepared for their jungle camp.

First up was splitting the Beavers into their lodges each with their own young leader. My lodge’s first activity was putting up a tent, followed by archery and then fire lighting. They got a stamp for each activity they completed filling out their jungle passports.

After a ‘short’ break filling up everyone’s water bottles we did some more activities. My lodge did a blind folded maze, followed be creating the word Damboree using natural letters (Damboree is the Beavers version of a Jamboree) and then completed an endangered animal activity. By this point it was time for dinner.

Dinner consisted of the Scout camp classic “Spaghetti Bolognese”. Whilst I refuelled on caffeine the Beavers played some indoor games as it was too wet outside for their campfire as some of the Beavers missed the memo about there’s no such thing as bad weather only bad kit.

They then sat round the small campfire and sang some classic songs. After this, they were read a bedtime story and got ready for bed.

The Beavers were specifically told to not wake the leaders up in the early hours of the morning or to stay up late all night talking. However, they didn’t listen to us. They stayed up till way past midnight and woke me up at 5:30 in the morning. This was officially the shortest amount of sleep I had ever had on any Scouting camp – even less than my very first Jamboree camp.

Whilst waiting for the Beavers to be quiet we could see lightning lighting up the sky.

The next morning I packed my kit and tent up and ate the breakfast I was waiting for since the beginning of the camp, bacon.

They first did some backwards cooking by toasting marshmallows. As I was on putting the marshmallows on sticks duty once the Beavers had all had a s’mores one Beaver told me that I had to make one for Bat (one of the leaders). They then told me (after I had already made myself one) that I could have one so I replied saying that I was going to have one anyway.

The activities for that morning included animal mask making and knot tying. They completed both these activities and then went on to tracking where we set up tracks (made with sticks) around the field with the Beavers having to look for them.

After a busy morning it was time for the jungle banquet. The Beavers selected an array of jungle themed food with pudding savoured last. The pudding (might I say so myself) was the best. We had animal cupcakes with slime, twigs and dead flies.

Once lunch was finished, we returned any lost property to the Beavers and then it was time to go home…

… But not for me, I still had to take down the beavers tents and wash up in the kitchen.

I’m a Winner

So recently I won a competition with the Scout Store. This is the official store to buy your scouting stuff online with all profits going back into scouting.

I entered just by chance stating that my favourite food when camping is ‘Toasted marshmallows on a campfire – the jumbo marshmallows are always the best in the evening when everyone is sat around the campfire’.

I won one of their adult camp packs which included a new sleeping mat, sleeping bag, rucksack and torch. (You can see it in their shop: https://shop.scouts.org.uk/equipment/scouts-camp-pack-2017 )

The sleeping bag is an Vango Atlas 250, the rucksack is a Vango Pathfinder 65 and the headtorch was also a Vango. The sleeping mat is a Yellowstone brand.

All items look great and I especially like the colour of the rucksack as I received a blue one. The sleeping mat has a reflective coating for extra warmth which would have been great back in March!

My favourite item was the headtorch. You can easily unclip it from the headband to attach to your top or bag. It’s also really easy to change the batteries.

I used the headtorch this weekend and I was very impressed, I was easily able to see the Beavers when we were playing wide games in the dark. I’m so happy with it that I’ve now put my old headtorch (which I’ve had since I was a Beaver) into retirement.

I’m really pleased with my prize. Thanks Scout Store!

A Slip-up Knot

So recently, I was running late to the Beaver meeting which I’m a Young Leader at. I grabbed my necker which didn’t have a woggle and quickly did a friendship knot in the car.

Here’s a photo of the finished knot- can you spot the problem?

IMG_20180423_172535538

Yes I did really tie myself to the seat belt!

So, I had to redo it.

Here is 84’s guide to doing a friendship knot if you do not know how to do one:

Roll your necker and lay it out in front of you facing you as in the photo
Fold the side on your right up
Place the left side over the folded side (in step 2)
Tuck the left side under the right side
Fold the right side down
Take the left side and thread over the end of the right side and through the loop formed by the right side (in step 2)
Tighten it up and voila!

Friendship Knot Instructions.jpg

Why I missed the St. George’s Day Parade

A week ago was my district’s St. George’s Day Parade.

I was asked, as a Jamboree participant to talk to the VIPs about my Jamboree journey. I got to talk to my County Commissioner, the current and previous District Commissioners as well as well as many other VIPs. I even got to talk to the Mayor and Mayoress who were very happy to hear about my journey. They were very kind and friendly and appreciated the role of Scouting. However, talking to the VIPs meant that I could not join into the parade through the city which I enjoy each year.

I was also asked to do a reading about Scouting during the First World War since we are in the 100 year centenary of the end of it. I found out that Scouting’s strength during the First World War was in the patrol system and the weekly copy of The Scout which they followed. I spoke in front of my whole district of Beavers, Cubs, Scouts, Explorers and Leaders as well as many parents and the VIPs filling up the whole of the cathedral. I had to sit in front of the crowd with the other readers.

Yet again another amazing opportunity given to me through scouting.

Young Leader

When I am not spending a weekend camping in the snow to prepare for a sunny and humid campsite on the Jamboree, I am a Young Leader for my local Beaver unit.

Last week, I participated in my second Young Leader training module (after completing module A in January) not knowing anyone going apart from my fellow Young Leader.

However when I arrived I knew most people in the room. Some from Jamboree and another from school. I have been friends with this person for a while and had no clue they were part of my Scouting family, needless to say we’ve got a lot more to talk about in class now.

Some upcoming activities as a Young Leader include:- running my very first meeting with my fellow Young Leader and also going on Beaver camp! I am thoroughly looking forward to this and I will blog to keep you up to date.