Autumn Camping Moved to Spring

With the cubs camping trip canceled it's a good opportunity to reflect and see why we had to do this but more to the point, see how we can prevent it from happening again.

Wokefield Common - Pond

Canceling the camping trip was unfortunate.

The 1st Burghfield scout group site and the nearby woods of Wokefield Common  are ideal for a Camping trip and hike.

We had most of the trip planned and a lot of leaders worked hard to see it happen. 

But no matter how inviting the site was or how exciting the activities planned were, it is shown that a couple of months of notice is not enough for us or the parents to cope with the logistics of the exercise.

(to see more of this part of West Berkshire please visit the Wokefield Common Wildlife Heritage web site)

So what went wrong?

For the parents it is a very simple problem. They need time to put money aside for the costs of camping and buy the equipment. With schools just starting in this term and just after coming back from holidays plus looking ahead towards the expensive Christmas period, the September to December period is always hard to budget for.

Looking at the equipment list many of the items must be purchased whilst camping in the autumn requires some of the warmest and better quality gear such as sleeping bags, mats, boots and clothes.
So a big cost for first timers as for most of our cubs this would be the first time camping away from parents.

For us the Leaders it was also a tricky one.

Wokefield Common - Woods

The site proved to be not quite as exclusive as we liked it to be and I'm not talking about the facilities which are good or the surrounding area which is excellent!

Indeed 1st Burghfield is a very good site with nice woodland surroundings and we always found that our fellow scouters and site managers are always there to help us. It also very close to our HQ, only a skip and jump away from Reading.

What we found is that it is also very popular with a lot of users accessing it most of the weekend. Booking on such a short notice meant that we had to share Friday evening with other site users, this would make it a bit difficult to manage and we were not sure how parents would take it as we only found out about it on the Friday before. Again, planning something in such a short notice gives you much fewer options.

Keeping positive even when you have to cancel an activity like this is essential. What this did was to plant the seed for the next camping experience. Our team is in a better position now.

We have already penciled in a site for next May and we are discussing this on our next scouters meeting. Camping in May doesn't require as much equipment as camping in October and with 7 months planning in advance parents can start putting money towards it early and with enough time to buy the equipment needed.

We also have more time to plan bigger and better.

HOBO HOB (or Stove if you must)

One of the things you must try with your group is the Hobo Stove, cooking on a tin can!

There are a lot of instructions on how to make one, available on the internet, if you search for hobo stove but whatever you do, make sure you use a large enough tin can (a no.10 tin can as they say) and take some time to cut / punch or experiment with the design you think will work for you...

You should take your time to make as it is not something you can do during an evening session.

I went to our Monday meeting with a collection of what I thought were large cans but the "old scouters" had even bigger ones! So I was happy to use theirs!

It's also worth mentioning that our tins were cleaned, the business end is the bottom of the tin and that was cleaned properly. Also remember it's best to look the part too, it should look like they actually cook with a tin can, something others would just throw away! Hobo style!

We had a stove per pair of scouts, that worked out very well for us.

For fuel/heat we used three tea-lights, next to each-other, under the tin elevated near the top by smaller cans.

That produced a very gentle hot surface, it will not fry but it will cook given enough time. We were indoors and all the stoves where on our normal tables for crafts etc.

We used pieces of toast cut in circles (pint glass cutter) a couple of eggs beaten in a bowl per pair of cubs, a small cup of vegetable oil and a fork.

Put a tiny amount of the oil directly on the bottom of the can, if you have cleaned the tin can. Then stick some bread in the egg bowl, make sure it soaks up the egg mix and when the oil is hot enough just put the eggy-bread on it!  Turn it occasionally.

Simple!

Pioneering Opportunity

With Beaver's camp just around the corner and the Cub's Olympics this week we can try and learn a bit more about pioneering.

I have never had the opportunity to play with scouting engineering so since the Beaver camp has a medieval theme, I thought we could make a couple of working bamboo catapults for a siege game at the camp.

I found some plans, practice with rubber bands and kebab straws and made a small working model of what we'll attempt today in 1h we have booked at the HQ.

For the Olympics we need to try the white rope lines for the games. So far we have these events:

- Shot put
- Javelin
- Discus
- Relay Race
- Wheel borrow race
- Space hopper race

see what else we come up with, 3 are enough tho, maybe we can replace a throw with a more active game.

So a couple of gadgets to make, cubs Olympics to prepare and have a cup of tea in 1h 30m.

Very wishful thinking...

Let there be rope!

A quick post on a few test runs on making rope!

I did with the help of my daughter (who's a Beaver scout and knows about these things! Thank you Liaki!)

As you can see we can now make ropes and prety long ones too!

Jute Twine made to Rope

Add one extra coloured thread, it can be any material, we used a ribbon here, and you get patterned rope, colour code it for each six or for different uses!

Top Tip: Pull the twine from the middle of the pack, no need to remove the plastic and it stays together untangled and protected , and self dispenced!

We have our first commision, we will do the rope for the Beaver Boat!!!

Rope Making Machine

Pioneering and scouting are connected with lashings of rope something you'll need tons of and not just for pioneering projects. Getting ready for a hike or a camp means packing and tying things together!

Sometime ago I stumbled upon a document on how to make a rope making machine.
Then at the camping skills day I actually used one to make a short strap for my stave!

So I just had to make one for myself and plan it into a preparation session for the cubs, when we need to make rope for the 2012 camping!

Find the instructions here: http://www.flyingpigs.org.uk/crafts/RopeMaking.pdf 

Let's Make It!
With the instructions in hand, so we know what to ignore, I found an old plank of wood, not quite the size or thickness specified, some tools, nails, glue and I started GANG-HO banging it together, some time later I had the main structure.

The machine clamped for work

Then I remembered that I do own a jigsaw, so I wasted all my evening trying to cut the chipboard by hand and in angles I never quite managed them right...

Never mind, the box is now glued and drying over night. The next day I have a rigid enough structure but I nailed a few small nails around and it seems to hold just fine.

Meanwhile I went to Blacks and bought a pack of 10 steel tent pegs for £2, all I had to do is bend the 3 rotating hooks.

The instructions advise to score with a hacksaw where the bends are to be... This might be necessary for some pegs but I found that the cut makes the steel wire to snap when I tried to bend it.

Snapped!

I also found that bending it too fast makes the steel wire to snap also. Best to take it slow making sure that all three Z-hooks are exactly the same, with right angles that lay flat without warps or bends as when all three work together one slight misshape will throw the whole motion out of wack!

When it comes to assemble the box the handle and the hooks, the tighter the assemble the better for operating the machine.

Now it's time to think. If you followed the instructions everything will work out fine. But if like me, you didn't have a wide enough piece of wood, you might need to make some adjustments.

Thread the hooks through their holes; I drilled the holes first before the box was assembled with the front facing panel right under the rotating hexagonal disk, drilling both together ensuring the holes correspond.

The moving crank

Keeping it all in place, I found that we only need 2 stoppers per hook wire. Seen in red tape are the ones that hold the rotating crank close to the back bend of the Z-hook, this gives the best motion.

The same goes for the front of the machine, tape each hook to pull it as far out as it goes so that the inside of the crank is a close fit.

I would let this dictate the size of the first bend and the left over tail of the wire Z-hook. I used a red electrical tape, wound up a few times to make it thick, I counted 10 loops each for uniformity.

Note that the most important thing is the size of the middle section of wire, between the 2 bends. This needs to be small enough to allow the 3 Z-hooks to rotate freely together as you turn the crank. I measured so it's less that the distance between the holes as if the sides of a triangle. The size given in the instructions was good enough as well!

Also remember that the mechanism needs to move all around the inside of the box pivoted on to the 3 cranks. In my case as I had a narrower box I had to cut some corners, literally. This is how a triangle ends up like a hexagon!

The machine is now complete!

Gadgets

Two last things you might need are, a small hook on a handle to allow one helper to rotate the other end and a three eyelet tool, the wench, that follows the twine as it coils to a rope.

These were easy to make and I am sure someone would have done a better job with less effort. These gadgets are mostly for the young ones to give them something to do for their part when you run it in teams of 3 but you can operate the device with just fingers!

Next, I plan to give the box a nice coat of paint, smoothing the surfaces and edges to a splinter free and child friendly finish. Maybe a plain varnish or something bright and green as I will mainly use it with the Cubs to make our rope...

And when the time comes for that I will blog all about it!

Survival Tin

For many people Scouting is connected with Bushcraft and Survival skills.

Take one look at our chief scout, Bear Grylls and you will see that this is encouraged as an image choice too. Take part in a scouting skills day and you would think you are in a bushcraft show.

One thing we need to remember is that as well as feeding our inner child it is imperative as leaders to be able to program those skills and experiences to our scouts, beavers, cubs and troops, in a safe and exciting way. 

This is evident in those scouting skills days as all the instructors made it clear with additional information on how to run a program with those skills.

I have received a survival tin, as a prize in a competition! It is so exciting and thank you to the good men at Urban Bushcraft.

First a few lines about these good folk. 

Ray is a scout leader with 5 years experience on the field and an inexhaustible supply of enthusiasm and excitement. He is the man behind Urban Bushcraft an online resource for all urbanites!

Please find your way to their excellent site at: http://urbanbushcraft.co.uk/

Take your time to listen to their podcast, download it on your iSomething for your commute maybe.

The great outdoors is here all around us. 

More and more, on my daily commute, I see people in their urban survival gear; back packs, water bottles, alcogel hygiene packs, GPS and Comm Devices (aka Mobiles) and "who knows what" in their bags, leaving their abodes to tackle a 10-12 hour day (at least, some last for more than 24h!). We are wired to be prepared once we are faced with a hostile environment.

It's not that dramatic, I know... But to see each day as an adventure and the city as a jungle is more appealing.

Back to the tin! It's not so much for the day to day commute, its geared towards the wilderness.

How many more things can you fit in?

As you see from the picture, it does exactly what it says on the tin! It has a load of stuff inside that excite the imagination. Wire saw, a small pen knife, a whistle etc.

Am I ever going to use it to save my life? 

I hope not. 

Am I ever going to use it as a scout leader? 

You bet!

It is an amazing activity for any young'n to find the tin and equip it with what they think they need for when out and about! You might want to be cautious with their choices but explaining why they picked what they picked is a great exercise.

Having said all that, next time I am going camping, I'm just gonna pop it in my bag. You never know when you might need to setup a snare for a bunny stew!

Cubs Program Planning

We the Cub Scout Leaders know how to plan a program!

We met at my kitchen all 7 of us and planned for Term 6 of 2011-20112 and Term 1 of 2012-2013.
It took us about 3 hours to fill in the 14 weeks worth of activities and events, including a hike and a weekend away camping with the Cubs!

It is the school summer holidays that separate these two terms so prepare and assign a summer scrap book challenge!

One of the last meetings of Term 6 to prepare a scrapbook, a bit of bookbinding for the 30 odd A4 pages should be enough for each Cub, and the first meeting of Term 1 will almost run itself.

Welcome back from Holidays, let's see what the scrapbooks tell us!

We have a hike and a weekend away camp planned for Term 1!!!!

But hey, enough of what's on September and October, we haven't had the summer yet!

Today we got the first taste of a warm weather, it was hot and stuffy, no breeze and the little bugs do fly in and out of the house being more annoying than ever.

Term 6 is a very exciting one.

Our AGM, the Queen's Jubilee, the Olympic Games, Summer Holidays and the sort of weather that begs us to go out and play!
You can not lose!

So with our program planned based on ideas and activities it is time to make the calendar that will remind us the notifications that need to go out to the parents.

Now with a more Zone oriented eye we can begin the meeting details for each Monday, how easy is that?

Risk Assessment - A stress free approach

A sensitive subject which made me think a lot. Obviously the following are just thoughts over the matter, trying to figure out what's important and what's impossible.

As a scout leader I have to prepare the odd Risk Assessment whilst I know I am not a Risk Assessment expert. Being new to the role, I know I am not even experienced enough. At least that comes in due time and practice, and int he mean time, after all, I am part of a team with accumulated experience of more than a century!

So this is what I have figured out.

When you are asked to do a risk assessment you are only required to apply your common sense with care for those who participate to a specific activity. 

Your common sense - not THE common sense!

Do not try to act like a Health and Safety executive or a stunt man coordinator about to shoot a scene!

Not an expert! (it's the glasses right?)

Let's put things straight. 

What they asked us to do is to put some thought on the risks that might be involved for that particular activity and NOT the perils of life where everything can become an instrument of death!

Yes a door can trap a child's finger with devastating results and water spilled from a cup can prove to be a death trap! If the activity is a lot about, say, testing doors at the local door factory or running around with cups of water for sport then please by all means do come up with a risk minimizing perl of wisdom for that!

Back to Your Common Sense, which I am sure it's not so common...

All we need to do is spend some time thinking about the activity. Spend for example a good 30 minutes or an hour if need be, preferably with your eyes open during a short visit to see first hand the "where", "what" and "who" is involved. Just interact and see what pops up! Then write it down and think what can be done to minimize risk, just don't go desperate to solve complex problems or have all the fixes for when it goes wrong. To minimize risk most of the times all it takes is to point it out!

Recognize the classics!

• Return with the same number of Cubs as we started with, preferably the same faces too... Do head counts, know your numbers.
• We cross roads, be visible.
• We climb walls, wear a harness and get some instructors.
• We light fires, prefer the outdoors...
• ... and always supervise during the activity

Don't forget, to communicate your assessment! Brief leaders and young members on what's planned.

Do not stress too much about it! Remember it's better than not doing one at all!

Even when you fail to notice something in your assessment, you have demonstrated honest pure care;

Reviewing is important here! Remember the Review? 

And why is it that the review is more important than the initial Risk Assessment?

Let's unlock the mystery. 

What actually went wrong on a bad day? Maybe not a lot of people could have seen it coming, if they did would they go? If you don't write it about it no one will know of it either! 

And where is the best place to write about it? 

On the risk assessment form, under the initial risk assessment!

Risk Color Matrix

Be the methodical person with an established process, the one who does things with care and follows the procedure that was asked to follow. Don't hide the fact that you are not an expert, it's a good thing!

But it does go beyond the "Cover Your Butt" principle, which never-the-less is a wise principle. 

It gives you the way to become experienced, a tool that allows you to spend time thinking not only about the good times ahead but prepare for the unknown to prevent the bad times!

So treat the Risk Assessment based on your own personal ability and care, it needs to be done and not stress about it, or even worse, decide that things will be OK and it's not needed!

Communicate it, even to those who roll their eyes.

Review it, it only makes it better!

And have Fun doing it! (I only put this in for poetic finale)

Scouting Skills Day, Additional Notes

Extra info I researched from the experience on that day.

Hammocks & Tarps

UNASHAMINGLY I have a dormant Amazon Associate account, so the pictures are all from there and you can buy them too! 
A quick way to make me rich beyond my wildest dreams!

Hammocks and tarps
Keith our instructor mentioned DD Hammocks, a one stop shop for all hammock and tarp you need. He was not joking!

Find them at www.ddhammocks.com

Tautline Knot

We used many knots but it is easy to forget how and why we used them so here is a list for reference:

Sheet Bend - Connects 2 ropes together. Learn
Timber Hitch - The "Head" side of the hammock. Learn
Round Turn & Two Half Hitches - The "Legs" side. Learn
Tautline knot - Slide and hold, for guy lines and the tarp! Learn

Remember we had few variations, the taut line was a temporary and a permanent finish, (leave a handle) and the round turn working part came back over the main line for pulling power.

The Learn links above will jog your memory!

Fire Lighting
Lighting a fire is as simple as stricking a match or using your lighter. But that's boring!

Fire nest & Stick

The exciting thing is to try new things and we did!

We used two fire starters, the Cotton with vaseline and the charcloth.
Scouting Magazine has an interesting article on how to make your own charcloth.

Cotton buds and vaseline is as it says on the tin, rub some vaseline on cotton buds and they will go light up with one spark and stay alight till you make your little tinderstick pyramid over it.

Using a firesteel and keeping your firestarting kit in a small tin box, preferably water tight, is a cool idea!

Make your charcloth and keep it rolled in there too!

The Scouting Magazine Article is here!

Cooking Stoves etc.
Trangia Stoves, where were they all my life? We had the 25 model which is larger than the 27, for those who can see it working as their family stove when out and about! I found them cheaper on Amazon with the amazing methilated spirit bottle!


The spirit bottle made sense! I think the 500lt one made more sense for backpacking rather than the 1lt one. Mine is at home right now, arrived today and I can't wait for the weekend to try it out, best to try it out home and play with some recipies rather than the outdoors when hungry and without many options!


The Kelly Kettle! I loved this! it is a very clever and back to roots way to boil a cup of tea! They are a bit pricey but what a piece of kit to have and use with your troops and or at the BBQ, when it adds to the whole outdoors feeling!

I bought those as soon as I discussed it with the chief! so I am so excited we are gonna use it thsi weekend! Plus we are going camping this year so they definitely come with us...

Foldaway Oven! wow, I never knew this existed! Try to search for Coleman Oven, I think that's the brand we had there. And also we had the Dutch oven, Definitely on my scope for the near future!

Best Saturday Ever

I want to start my blog entries with the best Saturday Ever! It was an experience to shout about!

But first I realise that keeping this blog all this time without an entry is a bit wastefull, so in the next few posts I will backfill some of the info i wish to keep here even if it is not 100% timely to the current events in my scouting life.

So with this out of the way let's shout about the amazing Scouting Skills Day!

Organised by the Berkshire Scouts, our county, it took place just outside Reading at a place called Paddicks Patch (Norris's Copse) in a small woodland area. A marvelous day out in the woods with the weather playing game, keeping dry after the wettest April for a long time.

Main Site

Scouting Skills
The skills on offer were many!

Hammock and Tarpoline, Staves and Woggles made from sticks coppiced fresh, Rope making from twine, Pioneering structures and Knots, Firelighting skills and open fire cooking, Camping cooking equipment, Tent pitching and Facilities setup (like toilets and kitchens etc).
There was also an ad-hoc request for axe handling and use that was met!

We were free to group up and go to each station as we liked, no need to formalities as the day was long and there was enough time to cover at least 3 or 4 skills.

It was a good thing that we did not feel presure to attend at each skill for a set time as we found that when we enjoyed something we could spend extra time on that!

Yes I missed a few stations/skills but there's always next time!

Fire Circle

Fire Circle

At lunch time we all gathered around the fire circle, some food was on offer but we mostly had what we brought with us.

If you never had lunch around a fire circle you are missing out big time!

Ever since I was a young scout I always remember that the fire circle was the heart of scouting.

This one was part of the local scouts group, the 3rd Woodley, and I wish we had one outside our scout hut!

What I took out of this experience?

Lots of new friends in scouting, some i knew from other courses and some i met now. All a very good bunch of people with their priorities right, If I may add!

Axe Handling

A lot of good tips and advice on how and why we use hammocks and tarpouline covers! Knots that slide and hold, tree hugging knots and techniques that keep you safe when suspended, ways to keep you warm at night and dry when the rain comes.

I got to practice and learn first hand on how to light a fire with a strike, tools and quipment you need to do so and advice to make a fire happen without the dissapointment that comes with a burned twig that doesnt light!

Lots of good advice about camping equipment, the amazing Kelly Kettle and Trangia cooker system!

And a stick! I love that stick! I will finish it off and stick a picture up here at a later post!

Check out my other blog entry here where I have researched what we did and kept notes on where to find equipment and tools.


And thats all from the amazing Saturday Scouting Skills!