Valley Highlands Area: Scouts Canada. March 05

“Notes’N’News”

Volume one #5 Editor: Chris Tyler. Email: FirstscoutKim@aol.com

Last New First Full Last New

Mar 3^rd Mar 10^th Mar 17^th Mar 25^th April 2^nd April 8^th Sunrise 6.48 am Moonrise 11.52 p.m.

Editorial… It is with sadness that I have to report the passing of Ken Clarke, a Scouter from Kingston area for 25 years. Ken Clarke was father of Rev Bill Clarke. Bill was Formerly District Chaplain and Scouter in – Rideau Lakes District and 1^st Portland Scout Group.

· Sadly, Scouter Ken Clarke, Kingston Area. Called to higher service on 28^th February 2005.

Jim’s little bit of Wisdom…

Upcoming Events…

March 11^th – 13^th Camp Slush.

March 17^th Area Meeting

March ??? First Aid Training

April ??? Hobbies and Wheels

April 21^st Area meeting

April 22^nd – 24^th Basic Outdoor Skills Course

May 7^th Scoutrees

May 7^th B.P.Woodsman.

May 13^th NiteVenture Competition.

Did you know…? If you are paid to be in Scouting…. You are a Professional.

If you are not paid to be in Scouting… You are a Volunteer.

If you pay to be in Scouting…. You are a Scouter!

Freezie Award… Congratulations to 1^st Merrickville Scouts on being the first to register three members for the Freezie Award. They are; Bradly Stewart, Ben Cotton, and Scott Croghan. Well done all three of you. Now perhaps you should try surviving the appalling heat, humidity and blazing sun of Florida’s winter. It’s a terrible chore, but hey! – Someone has to do it. (At present there are NO vacancies – Sorry)

Camp Zero… Well it seems that the winter up there in the frozen tundra isn’t so bad after all. Several troops braved the elements to camp out under Orion’s Blanket, and judging by the report from The Chief Grouch; everyone enjoyed a fun filled weekend. Of course you will realize that this is a biased report – coming from the Leader-in-charge and the owner of the camp property. Maybe we can get a better idea from the youth, you can write to me at FirstscoutKim@aol.com with your funny stories etc. But you do need to get them to me by the 31^st March please.

CAMP ZERO

The day was overcast and just above freezing. The first to arrive was 1^St Elmsley scouts with enough furniture blankets to move a fair sized house. The Venturers from that section soon arrived with a trailer full of hay. Along with some 2nd Smith Falls hauled in, there was enough to satisfy all campers. 4^th Perth, 1^st Beckwith, and 3rd Carlton Place were soon to arrive and everyone got busy lashing equipment to toboggans. Scouter Grouch transported the blankets and hay to the camp area with his truck and ATV. The scouts hauled all the other equipment into the camping area, which was just short of ½ mile. All told there were 30 scouts, 3 Venturers and 17 Leaders participating in the overnight Camp. One scout was out for just the day activities

There were plenty of poles in the camping area, which were cut previously by Scouter Grouch and at the pre camps. By noon, most of the sites were set up and lunch was being prepared. As per usual some were not ready and Official Opening was not conducted until 1330 hrs. This was done quickly and the games progressed. One group was to roast a rabbit (build a fire high enough to burn a picture of a rabbit strung between 2 trees) and the other went on tree identification with Scouter Roger and soccer ball dribble in the snow. Mid afternoon the groups changed projects and proceeded until approx. 1600 hrs.

Dinner was now the main evolution. When darkness settled in the Venturers organized a wild game, which the scouts seemed to enjoy. They were not around the camp anyway. There was also a soccer ball that glowed in the dark, which was also, quite entertaining in the trees. A formal campfire was dismissed and we had camp visits and a large fire in the HQ area to sit around and tell stories with hot chocolate and cookies. By 2000 hrs there were many getting their heads down and by 2100 all were in bed.

The night sky was cloudy with large open patch right overhead showing the constellation Orion in all its glory.

Dawn brought people to life, fires were re-lit and breakfasts were prepared. At approx. 1030 hrs, a Scouts Own was conducted followed by the official closing. Everyone then proceeded to dismantle camp, have lunch, stand up poles for future use and generally clean up and pack for home. 3^rd Carlton Place was the first to exit with the others following up to mid afternoon.

It was a very good camp with excellent winter weather. An unhappy scout was nary to be found.

Ken Richardson – Chief Grouch.

“Where’s my Glove”

(Obviously Grouch - ier when cold!!!!!)

Your book reading list for March… French Overpopulation - by Francis Crowded. Fallen Underwear – by Lucy Lastic. House Construction – by Bill Jerome Home. Why Cars stop – by M.T.Tank. Look Younger – by Fay Slift. Mountain Climbing – by Andover Hand. It’s Springtime – by Theresa Green. No! – by Kurt Reply.

Hearing Problem… Bill was having problems communicating with his wife Ethel so he went to the doctor’s office to seek advice. The doctor asks, “What’s the problem.” “Well I think she may be going deaf” “OK.” Said the doctor “bring her in Tuesday week and I’ll run some tests. However there is a simple test you can do to find the extent of the problem. Start from about sixty feet away and ask a question in a normal speaking voice. If she doesn’t hear you move closer and repeat the question. Continue until you get an answer, then you will know how severe the problem is.” Bill goes home and later that day he was in the bedroom and Ethel was in the kitchen cooking supper so he asked “What’s for supper honey” No reply, so he moved out into the hall and asked again “What’s for supper honey?” Again No Reply. Bill moved to the dining room and asked the question again, still no reply. Bill moved to the kitchen door and asks the question for a fourth time. Still no reply. Bill walks up right behind Ethel and asks, “What’s for supper honey?” Ethel turns to face him and say’s,

“For the fifth time Bill – Its chicken”

Program Ideas… In these days of uncertainty, we all need to brush up our observation skills. Try this one on your section. During your weekly meeting, have a couple of people SILENTLY enter the room/hall each carrying something obvious (Step Ladder or Mop and Pail etc) Have them snoop around several parts of the hall so that everyone gets a good look at them, then leave. Say Nothing! Don’t even acknowledge their existence.

At the start of the following week, explain to the youth that during last weeks meeting the School/Church/Community center was robbed, possibly during your meeting time. A) Ask the youth to describe what the people were wearing and describe the individuals. Discount the articles they were carrying, as these are simply distractions. B) Now introduce a police officer or fireman to give a brief talk on how observation can help police etc with their inquiries. And help our Youth with everyday life.

OR

Have a (Pre-briefed) youth stand near the door while you prepare for a game or some other fantastic program element. Have an outsider (Disguised !) barge into the hall and snatch little jimmy and cart him off kidnap fashion. Have your youth describe the perpetrator and then follow a (preset) trail of Red Wool. (Jimmy was wearing a red sweater !) Tied around lampposts, trees or whatever, round a block or two, leading back to H.Q… Now go back to B) above. (I once used this idea to introduce a new section Leader to the troop.)

OR

Between the days of semaphore and computerization, messages used to be written up by a crewman on aircraft carriers and Submarines, on clear glass panels. Now in order that the crewman did not get in the way of the officers who needed the information, the crewmember would write the messages from behind the window i.e. backwards. A very exacting art, especially when under great pressure in times of action (meaning war-training etc). Try this with your troop.

Beg, Borrow or… otherwise obtain, a sheet of Plexiglas, Perspex, Glass or whatever that is transparent and clean.

Have the youth write legible messages on the glass to be read by someone behind the glass. This means that the messages must be written back to front i.e. Start at the top-right of the glass, making sure that the letters are also backwards so as not cause the reader any confusion.

Just to help you out here is the alphabet letters and numbers 1-24. – Backwards.

Games we played in the street… It is always difficult to find new games to play in the pack den. Here is one or two that we played in the street as kids in the early 1800’s. You will need a street – say the ‘401’ – or if you’re squeamish use a wall in the den. J

“PEGS” - Two teams. – Set upright against a wall, two pieces of wood about 8” (20cm) long and ¾” (2cm) square, with a third piece laid across the top of the first two. Viz. With the bottom of the uprights about 1½” from the wall.

Team one lines up in single file behind the bowling stake and take turns to knock down all three pieces of wood with a tennis ball. When all three pegs are down the team scatters. Meanwhile team two tries to catch the ball (on the rebound only) and pass it between themselves and taking shots at team one. If they hit a member of team one with the ball that person is out. Teams now change places. The team that knocks down the pegs must attempt to rebuild them without getting hit. If they succeed the they continue as the ‘in’ team until one of them is hit by the tennis ball.

“RACE THE BALL” - The pack stands in a circle with one cub on the outside. Pack passes the ball from hand to hand (using only one hand at a time) round the circle twice while the cub outside the circle runs round the circle as many times as possible. Play this at least once for each six. The running cub who makes the most laps is the winner.

“BUZZ” One boy is ‘it’ with a tennis ball - throws the ball at others to hit below the knees. ‘it’ must bounce the ball whilst moving about the room. When another youth has been hit he joins forces with ‘it’ from now on they may pass the ball between them but not move with the ball in possession. Continue until all have been hit.

“BLIND PIRATE” Blindfold one boy – who then sits on a chair at one end of the play area. He has a whistle on the floor under his chair and a large and very powerful water pistol in hand. The other Youth must make their way from the opposite end of the hall (or play area if outside.) to gain access to and blow the whistle. The blind pirate fires the water pistol at the source of any sound – real or perceived. A mop and pail should be kept handy if played indoors. This game is best played outdoors when temperatures are below –40 °.

(Use warm water or it might freeze in, and thereby, damage the gun. That would never do… would it? J )

“FIRE ALARM” Fed up with the Area Commissioner dropping in for a chat – Try this one…

First Hide an alarm clock in the meeting hall set to “Go off” at a predetermined time. At Flag Break remove all watches, Grandfather clocks, Egg timers, and other sources of “Telling the time” from the youth.

(A resourceful Leader will porn these to buy the French Fries on the way home later.)

Just after opening tell the youth that if they hear an alarm they must immediately stop whatever they are doing and leave the hall, and be invisible from the door. They must then estimate 2 minutes then return to the hall. This gives them good practice at estimation and you time to re-hide the clock, which the youth must now locate and tell you secretly where it is. If correct the game ends, if not continue until found. (or continue until all youth have found the clock.)

“ROYAL MAIL” Discretely place a foreign postage stamp in a place where it can be fairly easily seen, but not too obvious. Tell the Pack that the Mailman has been and that they need to locate the stamp. They must tell you secretly, the value of the stamp/ the colour of the stamp/ the nationality of the stamp/the place where it is hidden, without alerting the rest of the pack. Give a gift card in the sum of $1000.00 to the winner.

“SILENT COMMUNICATION” Mark out a river or ravine down the length of hall. Give each six a long rope. With one Youth from each six on the far side of the river, who speaks no English. Get the rest of the six to communicate to him that he is to catch the rope and then he is to tie a Bowline round his waist, (With instructions on how to tie the bowline) in order to be rescued. No verbal or written communication allowed as any noise will awaken the sleeping lions.

Try again with other knots. A round-turn and two half hitches, a clovehitch, and a timber hitch are always useful knots to learn. For the timber hitch you will need a small fairly heavy log.

On the Lighter side… Typo errors are always good for laugh - Here’s one from a bulletin put out by St Eslewhere’s, about a fundraiser. “ Potluck supper, Sunday at 5pm. - Prayer and medication to follow.

On another occasion the following notice appeared – “Please place your donation in the envelope along with the deceased person you want remembered.”

After much research it seems that the painter VAN GOGH had many relatives… among them were his dizzy Aunt Verti Gogh. The brother who bleached his clothes – Hue Gogh. His magician uncle, Wherediddy Gogh. His Mexican half brother, Grin Gogh. His sister – a dancer, Tan Gogh. A bouncy little nephew, Poe Gogh. And last but not least, his niece Winnie Bay Gogh.

Outside of a dog, a book is mans best friend. Inside of the dog, it’s too dark to read. Groucho Marx.

Editors Assistant… I have a spelling checker; it came with my pea see. It plainly marks four my revue, Mistakes I dew knot see. Eye strike a key and type a word, And weight four it to say, weather eye am wrong or write, It shows me strait aweigh. As soon as a mist ache is maid, It nose bee fore two long, And eye can put the era write, Its rarely ever wrong. I’ve sent this massage threw it, And I’m shore your pleased to no, Its letter prefect in every weigh: My Checker tolled me sew!

Some Ideas for Venture Scout Programmers…

This month some ideas especially for Venture Scout (Other sections, keep your hands off J) programs.

The letters preceding each idea give possible uses for that idea. Here is the key…

C. - Could possibly be used as an inter-company competition or with other youth organizations.

E. – Could form part of an expedition project

F. – Could form part of a fund raising project

P. – Could form part of a publicity project

S. – Could form part of a Service project.

C – Table Tennis, trampoline, fencing, squash, ten pin bowling. Etc

C – Games evening, dominoes, darts, chess, cards, monopoly, Scrabble. Tiddlywinks, Phase 10, Uno, Bar games etc

CE – Visit an indoor sports center, Judo, yoga, Swimming, Roller Skating etc

So ladies and gentlemen get your thinking caps on and roll your sleeves, there’s work to be done…

C – Handball, Five-a-side soccer, netball, hockey, lacrosse, Frisbee, Ice Skating etc, Basket ball, Archery, Skeet shooting, Target rifle shooting,

C Rustic sports, Dwyle Flunking, Knurdling, etc

E – Pony Trekking, Para-cending, Para-sailing, Sub-aqua, Canoe expedition, Absieling (Rappelling)/Rock climbing, Raft

Building, Sailing, Youth hostelling, visit a vineyard

E – Guest speakers on Map reading, Survival, Simulated wounds (First Aid) International Scouting, Company Public Relations Officer, Water Safety, Overseas cookery, Visit TV Studios,

G. – Hold an auction, Make plaster casts from moulds to sell, Candle making, Jewelry making, Clay modeling, Tie-dying, Stained glass, basket-work, leathercraft, shellcraft, make tablemats, Lapidary, charcoal sketching, brass rubbing, stove enameling, winemaking, Form an “Almost-professional” Catering team,

S. – Help organize a trip for handicapped (young and old) to go late night shopping. Entertain old folk in nursing homes. Entertain children in hospital, More next time…

Summary… Well there are just a few program ideas to get you started. There is of course always the need to adapt an idea to make it work for you. Do not just look at an idea and discard it as being too grand, too useless, or too complicated for your unit to try. For instance – Hold an auction – At first glance, one might be forgiven for thinking that for one’s unit to hold an auction would be quite a major exercise. But it need not be.

For starters why not invite a local auctioneer to visit your unit and explain his job. Then hold a mock auction, with each member taking turns to be the caller. Invite parents to donate one item for auction and then on your next open night auction off the items donated. You may not make much money this time but you will get a feel for the organizing. Then move up to a public auction. So from a simple program idea several more have emerged, A theme has even developed. Every program idea has that huge potential… you know… from tiny acorns … well now its your turn, make the most of it. Of course if you’re really stuck you can always send me an email… I will always be pleased to give you a few more pointers on any program idea.

Here is one more idea that I have expressed in the passed, but might bear looking at one more time –

S. - Making regular tapes for the blind.

Each month the unit sets aside a half-hour or so and records readings of articles of local interest (This newsletter could be one such item – excluding this paragraph – of course) and circulates them to the blind who live in your neighborhood. This could just possibly form a link between these handicapped persons and your unit, leading to much greater things down the road. The CNIB in Smiths falls could give you some good pointers if approached seriously. Also the large majority of other local organizations in your area would no doubt be pleased to help with such items as upcoming events, services which they provide, etc. - and may be prepared to share any costs involved. Or you might find a local business will sponsor your efforts - you might even qualify for a government grant towards the cost. You might try the Trillium Foundation as well.

QUOTE, by a Venture Scout Company President….

“I could easily get my Queens Scout Award… If I didn’t have to spend so much time being president”

THINK ABOUT IT !

Camera Club… There is a little saying that I will share with you here…

“Those that ask shall receive… Those that don’t ask, obviously don’t need.” So… Ask away… you’ll never regret it.

Invite a member of your local camera club a troop meeting and ask them to instruct you in the art of preparing a slide presentation. Use the knowledge gained to prepare a slide presentation of a troop camp or other activity or even a recruiting campaign. Of course if you have access to a laptop computer you could learn how to prepare a PowerPoint presentation and use that. (Ask the computer club for help in this) or ask the local photographic department of the newspaper to demonstrate how to lay out a photographic display for best effect in promoting your troop to the outside world.

Invite a children’s aid worker to come to your troop and give a talk about the work of the agency and how we can help make life a little better for deprived young people.

Or ask a doctor or midwife to talk about care of a baby. Get a young parent to talk about the problems of raising young children.

Or ask the police to talk about finding a lost or run-away child. Ask how we can help…

Naturally all of these people will work on a need to know basis, so make sure you have lots of questions ready for them.

ALL CHANGE… Here’s a challenge for you… I dare you… Through your DAC – Program, arrange for your Section Leaders (Yes -all of them - Tch.!) To go and run another groups meetings.

Doing this will tell you much about how your own group is doing… Let’s say the first week in April… (Should be good for a laugh – especially for groups that meet on April 1^st. J ) Let me know how you get on… ok!

It could happen to you… Another in the series of short stories that might save you from a similar situation.

“Summer Camp at Winchelsea” – One of the famous Cinque ports of Olde England…We had been camp for about three days when the program called for a hike/ramble along the beach at Winchelsea on the south coast of England. The campsite was perched on top of a small escarpment a little over a half mile from the sea front. In between lay a flat plateau that was dissected by several dykes running snakelike but almost parallel to the beach road. The whole area was littered with such dykes, the remains of Norman Defenses of those parts. At intervals along the dykes a wooden bridge, consisting of nothing more than a couple of Barn boards, had been installed over the eons to facilitate the cattle herders getting around. This, having been a particularly wet spring/summer had led to many of these bridges being under 6” (15cm) of dirty water. Since we were all equipped with good quality hiking boots this was not a problem until, as we were returning to the camp we found one bridge that had broken up. Still no problem … we were after all Scouts. With one leader standing almost waist deep in the dyke, he took the young lads one by one and helped them across the broken bridge. A Venture Scout and myself being some distance in arrears at this time, realized that there was some sort of problem. However, the leader in the dyke decided that we could fend for ourselves and climbed out of the dyke, continuing to hike with the youth. When we arrived at the bridge and saw what the problem was we decided that a good hop would mean only getting one-foot wet for the rest of the hike. So… the Venture Scout took a running jump … landed with his right foot in the drink onto a rusty six-inch nail, which went right through his boot and foot, and came out through the top. Ouch… (Etc.) I noted carefully where he had landed and aimed my jump 30cm short of his landing spot… Ouch … (@*!!%) again … I had found another nail … and yes it perforated my foot too. Fortunately we were only confined to camp for a couple of days but it could have been worse… Much Worse… Had the nails penetrated one’s heel for instance… Later investigation proved there to be nails every 30cm along the plank… I wonder why?

Useless Trivia… Did you know that Mexico is home to the world’s w-i-d-e-s-t living plant? The Montezuma cypress (Taxodium mucronatum) is found in the state Oaxaca in Mexico. And in 1949 it had a girth of 113 ft at 5ft above the ground. It is called the “Santa Maria del Tule” tree, after the mission near which it is located. So if you happen be passing that way sometime, pop up and slip a tape measure round it… Just out of interest.

And would you believe that whales weighing 195 tons and Mice weighing 3 ounces develop from the same size eggs. And better yet, that Bee Hummingbird’s are so tiny it takes 18 of them to weigh 1 ounce and - that proportionally they are 75% stronger than people.

A Notice in a Newsagents window advertising a job. “Wanted: Grandfather sitter. Must be a good listener.”

It’s A-Maze-ing… Try your skill… Click on the edge of the image below then drag the bottom right corner to enlarge the image…. Follow the instructions on the maze. You might want to ‘select the image, enlarge it, then copy and print it.

The time to beat is 64 seconds…

The Eleven Plus Exam… The transition from junior school to high school was always preceded by an exam. The dreaded eleven +, The results of which decided which “stream” you were allocated to. A. B. C. or Gifted.

My very good friend, Mike, a History teacher occasionally sends me some of the kids’ bloopers, here’s a few that made me smile.

King Alfred fought hard all his life to keep back the Dames.

The Matterhorn was the horn blown by the ancient Britons when something was the matter.

They gave the Duke of Wellington a lovely funeral. It took six big men to carry the beer.

Wordsworth went to the Lake District as a young man and soon became acquainted with the local beauties.

A Puzzle… As Usual, click on the image, enlarge and then try your skill at solving the puzzle. Or enlarge, select, copy and paste into a new word Doc. for printing. (Same for the map signs below.)

Map Reading… Test your youth on their Map Reading skills. Try to get them to explain the following Map Signs. A. Ψ B. Ж C. ₧ D. ¤ E. Ƣ F. ˠ G. Ϡ H. ⁂ I. ≼ J. ◎ K. ◈ L. ƣƣ M. ѫ

Answers. A. Swim Pool B. Cattle Grid. C. Post Office/telegraph stn. D. Roundabout. E. Communal Showers.

F. Café. G. Radar Station. H. Snow Station. I. Diverging road. J. Volcano. K. Mosque. L. Basket Ball ct.

M. Barbecue Hint. They’re all Greek to me!

This month’s riddle… Answer to last months riddle…1 A Cookbook. Riddle 2 The letter ‘S’

Now try this one….

“Which part of the human body grows faster than any other part and never stops growing, even though it never gets any bigger once it has reached it’s full size? Answer next month…

And Finally… Two Quotes from my Grandma’s Bible…

“What you cannot duck, you’d best welcome.

And “When things get rough… remember it’s the rubbing that brings out the shine”