Here they are before they set off
What they be like in 2 hrs?
the leaders just before they set off to their bases
Author: Chris Elmer Page 13 of 16
Massive Congratulations to Caitlin and Gina who have spent the last few weeks working towards their Lifesaver Badge (click the link for details of the badge)
Gina is given her badge and certificate
James Allen shakes Caitlin’s hand, they were all given a Life Guard hat too.
Thanks to Joe and Grace who played the part of casualties for the test and competition today.
Scouts from across the borough took part in the course that was held at Downham Leisure Centre
The Bothamley Cup and the Life Guard Hats, the winner was a lad called Matt from another troop.
The Fifth has doubled in size in 10 years and, to match the growth, we have had to buy an awful lot of kit. We welcomed girls in 2007 and that meant we needed more new tents, toilets and changing areas. We are careful with your money and we shop around for months to find the best deals for The Fifth. How about some examples?
An excellent turnout from the explorers who got all their kit out ready for a weekend at gilwell. Thus will include 24hrs of continuous activities from Saturday to Sunday
checking they have all the poles for the mess tent.
They can be genuinely useful! It makes Phil’s job much easier when they all muck in.
The hut is a hive of activity with John and Oliver building 8 new benches for camp. They are only bickering a little but over measurements and there’s been no metric v imperial confusion yet!
measure twice, cut once
these are a third the price of go pak benches
bzzzzzzzzzz
Sun was shining so we built catapults tonight to fire water-soaked sponges at each other.
John explained what to do to 5 team leaders
More pics to follow on the photo website.
Do you know what the worst job for a leader is? It’s telling kids that they can’t join the group.
Click the image to see our growth since 2002
We refuse a couple of kids per week and we hate it. Our waiting list is not something to be proud of. It doesn’t show how succesful we are, it just shows that there are dozens of kids who don’t have the benefit of all the fun, friendship and adventure that they deserve.
We know this. We do our best to get as many kids in as possible. Â We’ve nearly doubled in size in ten years.
We could open a new beaver colony, cub pack and scout troop tomorrow with the numbers on the list. Isn’t that awful? we have just taken 8 kids from the list into cubs and that gives us 165 youth members but we have another 96 kids aged from 6 to 14 who want to get in.
Have you seen this? It’s rather good
[youtube clip_id=”cOM1n22XyHA” height=”” width=”640″]
We’ll keep trying to grow. We’ll keep recruiting adults and we’ll keep offering everyday adventure to as many kids as possible. Â For now, click on the tab marked links at the top of the page and you can choose to see the waiting list policy on there.
We have brought our Tilley lamps back to life. Each of these is worth £120.
All they needed was a bit of TLC and some new washers.
They run on paraffin and that is much cheaper than gas so it will save us a fortune (a couple of hundred quid this summer).
They give a lovely soft light and keep their pressure for 2 or 3 hours before they need pumping again.
Oliver has been scrubbing them until they shine.
and the glass has been dishwashed
we found 2 more at the end of the day!
this lamp was old when john joined the group in 1969
And now we just have to teach the scouts how to light them!
I dropped by to visit the explorers while they were setting up their hammocks for the night
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- The first one up,
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- Sooooo comfortable
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- Rob working on his knots. He must have had an awful scout leader… (gulp… oh the shame)
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- Backwoods cooking for dinner. Stew in a bag.
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- Nick lets his knots take the strain.
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- Looking good, although maybe the tarp is a bit high.
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- Sean loves his hammock
I popped by the hut and found these two hard at work
well-earned cuppa
Each of those lamps would cost 120 quid new and we have 13 of them.
So it’s well worth getting them working again.