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Read what others are up to in Kent. Have you recently done something exciting in Scouting? Blog it! and we'll put in on the website for everyone to see!
511 Tree Saplings
Author: Paul Bradford | Date: 05-02-2012
Our Scout Group have been given 511 tree saplings by the woodland trust as part
of the Jubilee woods scheme, which will see the planting of 6 million trees to
mark the Queens Jubilee.
Last Saturday aong with our Beavers and Cubs we
planted 30 trees and over the next few weeks we are planning to plant the
rest.
Next weekend we are being joined by Upchurch scouts and we will be
planting an Oak tree that has been grown from a seed taken from one of the Royal
estates.
Life as an Earley Troup Scout
Author: Adam Nasskau | Date: 03-02-2012
Life as an Earley Troup Scout was never going to be dull with Paul, Jason and Dave as our leaders.
I was excited about moving up to Scouts as I had been a Cub for a few years and had got to know many of the boys who had already gone up to Scouts.
As a Cub I had been on a few activities but had no idea of all the new experiences I would come across in the next few years.
I was invested at Dartford Fire Station in June 2009 on one of our many outings. This was just the start of the many opportunities to see and try new things with boys that I now have as friends.
Over the next two years I have built my strength and stamina by taking part in our Annual Tug of War competitions and 5 a side football competitions, slept in freezing snowy conditions at Gilwell Winter Camp, climbed peaks in the Yorkshire Dales at Summer Camp, Climbed, Caved and fished my way around the country, jumped off cliff edges Coasteering, exploring London at the Lord Mayors show. I even handled a solid gold bar, which sadly I wasn’t allowed to keep.
I have ridden Segways, Zorbed in a giant beach ball and been dragged by Power Kites, just to mention a few of the activities.
These many experiences have been made so much better by the fact that I have been surrounded by friends and people who have encouraged me when I wasn’t sure if I could make it, laughed with me, and at me, when I felt fed up and miserable and supported me in making the years that I have spent in Scouts as much fun as they have been.
Adam Nasskau
Eagles Patrol - Earley Scout Troup
5th Dartford Scout Group
www.5thdartfordscouts.org.uk
Winter Camp 2012
Author: Henry McCarron | Date: 03-02-2012
This year’s wintercamp was at Gilwell Park and was from Friday 6th January to Sunday 9th of January. There were around 4,500 Scouts, Explorers, Guides and Rangers attending this sub-zero camp. There were around 30 activities to choose to participate in. These include; segways, laser clay, shooting, climbing, pedal go-karts and the coconut tree climb. We got to the campsite on the Friday evening and left around lunchtime on the Sunday.
When we got to the camp-site we were assigned our tents and unpacked all of our kit into our tents, then we went for a walk around the campsite. Later in the evening we went back to our marquee where we had hot dogs to eat for a little snack and some hot chocolate for a drink. It was all very nice, and it warmed us up a bit as it got progressively colder as the night went on. After we had something to eat and drink we were allowed to go and do things and come back at 11:00pm. When we did get back at 11pm then we were told to go into our tents and go to sleep, obviously no-one did go to sleep! When we eventually got to sleep it was actually quite warm in our tents and lots of people were moaning because they had two sleeping bags and were hot so they had to take one off.
When we woke up on the Saturday morning we had a lovely cooked breakfast including sausages, eggs, beans, bacon and some bread to make it all into one big sandwich (if you think you could handle it that is). The activities that I took part in were; agrocat, laser clay, robot football and we went to the technology room. The argocats are little amphibious all terrain vehicles, you sit in the passenger seat as a professional drives you round the course at high speeds, the ride was very exhilarating and I enjoyed it loads. If you are over 14 years old then you can drive it round yourself and be taught how to handle the corners (that’s if you’re brave enough!) The laser clay pigeon shooting I found very fun and competitive, you are in a group of six and have to score as many points as you can, you get 2 points if you hit the clay, you use laser rifles that shoot a laser and bounce off of the clay and back to your gun to know if you hit it. After each disc is fired and hit the scores come up on a screen to tell you if you hit it, I found this very fun and exciting, it will also suit you if you are a very competitive person and like to win everything! In the robot football you stand in a little inflatable stadium and in the middle is a small football pitch and a football, you are either on the red or blue team and have to control your robot using a joystick and have to try and score as many goals as you can in the time limit of the match. The technology room includes Ipads, Ipods, wii’s and lots of other game consoles, you can play games and do lots of other things on the technology provided, there is also a survey to do that asks you about you and your scouts in a whole, I found this room very interesting and I would recommend it to anyone who likes technology because it is filled with lots of fun and interactive things to do. Then we went back to our marquee to have our lunch, we had some lovely hot chicken super-noodles! They warmed us up from all of the cold weather that we had to put up with during the day (the nights were a lot warmer than the days!)
On the Saturday after lunch we were allowed to do more activities. The activities that I did in the afternoon were: the segways, pedal go karts, coconut tree climb and the ropeophobia. The segways are small two wheeled electric mobiles, they were set out on a course that you were allowed to do 3 laps of, and before you went onto the course you were given a brief explanation and tutorial of how to ride the segways and the basics of controlling them. They were very fun to ride and were a completely new experience for me and were very different to any other things that I have ever done before in my lifetime as a scout. Due to the fact that lots of people had been on them before me it made the course very muddy and slippery which made it even more exciting because I was slipping around a bit. I would recommend it to any thrill seekers who are willing to participate in a fun and exciting segway ride. The basic idea of the pedal go karts is a small go kart frame with a steering wheel and some pedals to ride it with, you can ride them round a little course in a race with up to 4 people in at one time, it is a race for first place! This is good for anyone who s very competitive and who like racing and winning. They are good fun to ride and race with. In the coconut tree climb what you have to do is you are strapped to a harness and have to climb a coconut tree using your hands or feet, if you think that you could not manage it just with the ridges on the coconut tree then you can try the other coconut tree that has some climbing handhelds to help you to get up, it is very hard and to complete it you need a lot of strength in your arms and legs, when I did it I had to use the one with the handhelds because it looked very hard without them so I did not lose my place in the que if I did not complete it. The ropeophobia is a high wire assault course that is suspended high above the ground; you are harnessed in and have to firstly get on to the high course by climbing up a rope ladder, then you have to complete the course by sliding down the pole at the end to complete the course. It is very fun and I would recommend it to anyone who likes heights and is very good at climbing and assault courses (if you are scared of heights or do not think you could make it I would recommend you not to take part in this activity).
On the Saturday evening we went back to our marquee to have our dinner, we had a lovely curry, you could choose from a chicken or beef variety of curry, it came complete with rice, poppadoms, naan bread and some mango chutney. It was very nice and refreshing and filled us up with lots of food and energy for the long night ahead! After we had finished our dinner we were told that we had to be back at our camp by 12:00pm! During this time we were allowed to go to one of the lodges to watch a film that night, the films that were on show were; Alvin and the chipmunks 1 and 2, Transformers, toy story 3 or Narnia The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader. They were very good, the selection was good as well because you could go and see a film that you’ve never seen before, or watch one that you have seen before and want to watch again. After the films were over the disco started up, it was mad and the people that were the DJ’s were very good and played some very good music and all of the people who attended the disco had a very good time. When the disco had ended we made our way back to the campsite, then when we got there we sat by the fire and had a talk about what we had done at the camp and what we liked about it. Then when it reached 12pm everyone went to their tents to sleep. Some people stayed up late but most people went straight to sleep because they were so tired after doing all of the activities that they had done during the day. The Saturday night was colder than the Friday night but it was still pretty warm during the night.
On the Sunday morning we woke up and had our cooked breakfast that was the same as the morning before, it was also very nice. Then we started to pack up our kit and pile it up, the leaders take our tents down while we went to do more activities. The activity that I took part in was the Laser Quest; in this game you can choose your gun that can have either a red dot sight or a sniper scope, there were also a range of different guns like machine guns, 3 round bursts and sniper rifles. There are 2 teams, red and blue, the objective is to kill the other team members using your guns. You get 2 games and the winners of both games are crowned the overall winners. It is a very good game and I would recommend it to anyone who goes to WinterCamp.
Overall I really enjoyed this camp and I will definitely go again next year, if you have never been I would recommend it to you as probably the best camp ever. The best bits were the range of the activities and the quality of the activities, the other best bit was definitely the food that you get to eat. I would recommend this camp to anyone who wants an adventurous sub-zero camp and all of the excitement of the activities that are available for you. If you have never been before I hope that you go next year and have a lot of fun and enjoy it. Let the sub-zero adventure begin!
