• Home
  • About
    • History of the Victor Scout Group
    • Resources
  • Join Us
    • Joeys
    • Cubs
    • Scouts
    • Venturers
    • Rovers
  • Blog
    • All Blogs
    • Joeys
    • Cubs
    • Scouts
  • Events
  • Hall Hire Brisbane
  • Contact Us

Victor Scouts Brisbane

~ Holland Park, Brisbane (est 1941)

Victor Scouts Brisbane

Tag Archives: Scouts

District Standards Camp 16-18th October

24 Saturday Oct 2015

Posted by pipfash in Scouts

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Camp, District, Scouts

This weekend saw 17 intrepid scouts head to their first ever Toohey Forest District Standards Competition Camp held at Guanaba Creek Campsite. This year’s theme was Mythology!

As we had to combine three patrols into two for this camp (limitations on gear, space and levels of experience) we had the following patrol combinations:

Penguin Patrol: Elliot (PL), Tadgh, Alex, Tash, Livi, Tom, Emily & Millie

Panther-Koala Patrol: Joseph (PL), Rodhana (APL), Laura, Declan, Nathan, Sophie, Ciara

FRIDAY

After a bit of a late start on account of traffic, and a missing leader (Garlanja on account of being stuck when her car broke down – we missed you) we set up camp around 8pm.

Komodo and Hawkeye helped to oversee what was a very smooth and efficient process with all scouts helping get their tents and bedding sorted.  After a quick supper (thanks to Panther-Koala patrol for sharing Tim Tams) everyone must have learned well from last weekend and were almost all asleep by 9.30pm!

SATURDAY

Saturday morning dawned beautiful and sunny.  It saw patrols from Victor, Tarragindi, Wishart-Chester and Upper Mount Gravatt together at opening parade.

Then it was on to constructing their campsites with Queenslander tents, kitchen flys, gateways and gadgets.

4 setup2 5 setup3 6 setup 4

As leaders we were ecstatic that this beautiful site had an area from where we could oversee almost every patrols progress as we had a morning cuppa J

There was a quick morning tea break in the middle because building in the sun is hot work

8 MT break2

9 site up

After getting up their Queenslander dining tents and Kitchen Flys it was on to rearranging gear and making gadgets and gateways.

11 gateway 10 gadget

For those of you who don’t know a Standards Competition camp is a little different to other camps.  Scouts have to work independently to completely erect their campsite and participate in activities throughout the weekend.  Scouts are awarded points in the following categories: Campsite set up, cooking, hygiene and leadership which then contribute to an overall award.  The marking is very strict with many of the assessors having marked for a lot of camps.  This is not a competition against other patrols but more an individual competition.  Everyone can earn Bronze, Silver or Gold in each category and the hope is that year to year patrols will improve.

For the Victor scouts this was an immense challenge that because quickly evident that they were up to.  This despite the fact that only 4/17 had ever attended a camp like this before, 7/17 have only been in the scout section a month (with last week being the first time most had attempted even part of these activities).  I was unsure of how they would go and just hopeful that they would have a go and get something together.

I was extremely proud of how well they worked together and achieved the various requirements.

After finishing camp setup and lunch the scouts headed out on a navigation challenge arranged by our District Activities Leader Wombat.  Firstly the Patrol Leaders (PLs) were briefed

12 PL briefing

and then the whole group received further instructions.

Scouts worked in teams to practice their navigational skills through the bush to locate a mystery treasure stash – that was hidden up a tree 😉

13 nav

After the bush challenge patrols headed back to camp to start preparing for their service dinner.  Leaders receive an invitation (after opening parade) to dine with a patrol from another group.  Our scouts were super excited about this part of the camp with themed dinner entertainment.

Penguin Patrol had the mythological theme of Dr Who.  Their menu included Darlek break & Adipose (entrée), a sonic screwdriver with World Trees, disintegrating Tardis & Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey Stuff (main) and fish fingers & custard (dessert) with regeneration fluid to drink.  Their guests for dinner were Raven (District Commissioner) & Kate (Wishart-Chester Rover).

16 Dr who 3

15 Dr who 2

14 Dr who1

Panther-Koala Patrol had the mythological theme of Chinese Sea Dragon Kings.  Their menu included dim sims (entrée), chicken & veggie stirfry (main) and golden syrup dumplings (dessert). Their guest for dinner was Gecko (Tarragindi).

17 dragon 1

18 dragon 2

19 a hygiene

19 dragon 3

Panther-Koala’s were a little camera shy.

After dinner we all headed off to campfire.  Victor scouts looooooove campfire!  What can I say – they were awesome and amazing and soooooo enthusiastic.

Raven introduced us to his friend ‘Bob’ the fire sprite fairy and we watched enthralled as Bob fly down the hill and lit the fire (note that Bob was not nearly so co-operative during the daytime).

21 bob

20 raven

Then it was time for some skits.  Penguin patrol did their classic “Little Green Ball” and Panther-Koalas enthralled us with “Genie Wishes”.  Raven also got Millie to help out with the “3 camels,” Tadgh for “movie making” and Elliot & Tadgh for “follow me.”  Livi, Millie, Emily, Sophie & Ciara entertained us with a dance too. Then of course there was the singing of “Cecil” led by Ellie, Tash, Livi & Joseph and “Roadkill Stew” by Ellie.

27 dance 23 genie wishes 26 follow me 228 cecil

All up we had lots of fun at campfire as always.

After campfire everyone headed off to play spotlight in the dark.  Panther-Koalas were the only patrol who successfully crept up to KooKai without him spotting them with his flashlight!

SUNDAY

Another beautiful sunny day dawned.  Unfortunately it meant that Panther-Koalas were down a patrol member as Declan had gone home with an ear infection during the night 😦

After a hot breakfast (that smelt fantastic from the leaders area) and morning parade we headed off to base rotation.  There were five bases, four of which were scored for leadership and participation but the whole patrol.

Base 1 was playing both active and thinking games using only a scarf.

30 base 1

Base 2 was varied depending on the experiences of the patrols.  It was making a bush stretcher and carrying an injured scout 500m or learning new knotting and lashing techniques.

31 base 2 1 32 base 2 2

Base 3 was again either learning about how to plan journeys or practicing our navigation skills.

Base 4 was lighting a fire under wet or dry conditions depending on what level scouts were working on.

37 base 4 4 36 base 4 3 35 base 4 2

Base 5 was a whole camp effort working in rotations to compete a suspension bridge over the creek together.

38 base 5 1 40 bridge

39 base 5 2

After rotations everyone had a great time playing on the bridge that we had all worked together to build.

ciara emily Elliot Ellie ciara 2 alex laura millie Nathan joseph Sophie rodhana tash Tom

After lunch it was time to start packing up.

Closing parade was called at 2pm and ribbons were awarded.

Closing parade

You should be all extremely proud of your individual scouts who worked together for the following amazing outcomes:

Panther-Koalas

winner 1

Campsite Setup – Bronze

Hygiene – Silver

Cooking – Gold

Leadership – Silver

Overall – Silver

Penguins

winner 2

Campsite Setup – Bronze

Hygiene – Gold

Cooking – Gold

Leadership – Silver

Overall – Silver

Well done everyone.  Even with the Gold ribbons there is always room to improve but this is an absolutely amazing effort given the limited experience you all have!  BRAVO!

In addition, every year Raven carves two special woggles which have the Toohey Forest badge on them.  These are given to the two scouts who the leadership group feel have demonstrated living by the scout promise and law the best over the weekend.  They can be earned by any scout regardless of whether they are PLs, APLs or this is their first ever camp.  This year one of Victor scouts was a recipient.  Congratulations Elliot! (Leaders who have children nominated for one of these awards do not contribute to the discussion or decision to award them one).

woggle

I’m pretty sure you all had a fantastic weekend of camping with lots of stories to share with your family and friends!  Can’t wait until District Camp 2016.

9th – Sunday 11th October – Den Camp

18 Sunday Oct 2015

Posted by pipfash in Scouts

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Camp, Scouts

As we have had so many new scouts starting recently we had a den camp to prepare for the District Standards Camp next weekend.

Breakfast is an important meal.  Some of our newest scouts were very keen to test out our fabulous new stove (yes not really camp conditions cooking but we had to eat before setting up camp officially).  Pancakes were great and were devoured very rapidly.  The girls learned a lot about the art of pancake making too!

pancakes

We learned how to pitch a Queenslander patrol tent, kitchen fly, set up an kitchen area, practise our cooking and hygiene skills.  There were games of capture the flag in the park, building of flag poles, gateways and chariot races.

Firstly there was some planning.

planning

Lunch in the newly erected Queenslander dining room
All in

Then it was time for some gadget construction.  Koalas tested out their gateway and hung their pirate flag “aka Patrick” atop as patrol flags are still in production!

There were also so fantastic constructions made – it’s what happens when you leave scouts with a pile of construction timbers, ropes, pegs and time on their hands!  Tom made a bridge to cross the ditch that Cobra tested out.
Tom

He also single handedly built this amazing tepee.
Tom 2

Elliot also taught the scouts about how a 3-2-1 pegging anchorage system works (thanks to Wombat who taught the PLs this at the May District Camp).

anchorage

The scouts also worked together to do some tree prussiking (thanks to Agoonoree climbing team for teaching them this).

They also used a little initiative and modified and anchorage method to raise a chariot as a platform.  Teamwork was brilliant, much testing of knots, lashings & safety (ie no higher than 1.5m).  It was amazing to watch and the kids had fun!

lift 1
Lift 2

We also started off the scout section group shirts by spending a couple of hours tie dying and are excited to see how these turned out – we will be a colourful bunch at District Camp no doubt.

pre dye

The two patrols we are taking to District camp practiced cooking their service dinner menus together and I was very impressed with their teamwork and the edible nature of the food.  It’s a secret what they made until after next week suffice to say I wish I was getting an invite to either patrols dinner but some other lucky leaders in the District will enjoy that!

penguin dinner

koala-panther dinner

On Sunday we learned all about our patrol box gear and how to store it.  Can you see how amazing neat and tidy these are?  Echidna hopes they come back from camp not dissimilar!  We also found out just how much faster these tasks can be completed with small motivators like chocolate 😉

penguin patrol box

penguin patrol box 2

panther patrol box

Echidna ran a leaders’ service lunch after all our hard work packing down campsite and packing up gear.

There was a great team effort lead by Komodo (and assisted by Hawkeye) teaching the PLs and APLs to direct and assist their patrols in packing a trailer.  Can you believe we are all packed ready to go a week out from camp?  Just need to do groceries closer to Friday.

We had a rather long closing parade too on account of all the badges completed. Many of the Pioneer level scouts completed their Pioneering Target Badge. Even more exciting we had the presentation of two cords.
Ellie received her long awaited Pioneer Campcraft, Pioneer Badge and Pioneer Cord.
ellie

Elliot received his science badge Explorer Campcraft, Explorer badge and Explorer Cord! A huge effort by all and I suspect many more elements of badge work that were taught and practices will be signed off in the coming weeks too.
elliot explorer

BRAVO to all! It was a great camp and we are all looking forward to District Camp at Guanaba Creek next weekend J

9th October – Emergencies!

18 Sunday Oct 2015

Posted by pipfash in Scouts

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Scouts, Scouts In Action

Well tonight we had lots of excitement.  Not only was it the first night of a weekend camp at the den but our program was dealing with emergency situations and first aid. Don’t be alarmed!  Their injuries are all fake.

Echidna whipped up several lots of edible blood (both arterial and venous using golden syrup, chocolate syrup, caramel syrup and food colouring) and did her best to plaster the scouts with various forms of cuts, burns and open wounds.  Not to mention head injuries and snake bites!

Our three scouts working on Adventurer level citizenship and emergencies target badges (Elliot, Joseph & Rodhana) developed some mock emergencies that we ran through on bases dealing with head injuries, snake bite, shock, broken arms, gashes and heart attack.  We learned a lot and had much fun fixing each other up.

Perhaps most excitingly the scouts think that their wounds will be excellent come Spooky Halloween Disco in a few weeks’ time and we look forward to a number of different zombies emerging!

It was a great way to start our weekend camp.

Injured Panthers

Injured Panthers

Pair of broken Penguins

Some injured penguins

Penguins

The Farmer has a heart attack from a snake bite!

Attack

Look what Penguin did to their PL when he fell down hiking!

Elliot

Nasty gash

Ciara & Emily getting geared up to be zombies come Halloween

Emily & Ciara

September school holidays – Agoonoree

12 Monday Oct 2015

Posted by pipfash in Scouts

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Agnoonoree, Scouts

Agoonoree is a very special camp held every year in the first week of the September holidays for scouts over the age of 12.  It is a little bit like a Jamboree where scouts camp in troop lines for the week and participate in day and night time activities.  Agoonoree is a bit different as each patrol (there are 4 per troop) have two guests that camp with them.  These guest have a variety of disabilities or disadvantages that mean that they are often unable to regularly participate in scouting programs.  Each patrol had to care for their guests’ needs which could be quite variable.  This year three of our scouts attended.  Elliot, Tadgh and Alex were all assigned to Orange Troop under the care of Wombat (the Assistant Regional Commissioner for Darling Downs).  Elliot was in Armadillo Patrol, Alex was in Buffalo Patrol and Tadgh was in Patrol.  It was a very interesting week for all and they learnt a lot about each other and how to care for others less fortunate.
E & A Goonie

20th September – Leaders Scouter Skills Day

12 Monday Oct 2015

Posted by pipfash in Scouts

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Scouts

On September 20th I ventured forth to Mt Petrie den to participate in the first Scouter Skills Day.  Lead by Steve Marshall (Branch Commissioner for Scout Section), Peter Pullbrook, Joe Casey and Scott Masters it was a very social day of learning about the more practical elements of scoutcraft.  I came home with some new games, some more practice at splicing and some great ideas for journey planning and am looking forward to implementing these this term.
Knots Splice

Scouts in Action Month 2015

12 Monday Oct 2015

Posted by pipfash in Scouts

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Scouts, Scouts In Action

The theme for Scouts in Action Month (SIAM) this year was the Environment.  This year the scout section took a different approach and rather than just a single evening event we addressed environmental issues every week in different ways for the month of August.  The scouts played Kim’s game with rubbish. Had discussions about the environmental impact of harvesting and burning wood and how they can do so in a friendlier manner.  We ran a discussion base on the impact of climate change on coastal regions and how what we do every day in our own homes can have a positive impact.

SiAW2015 (1)

18th September – Pirate Night

12 Monday Oct 2015

Posted by pipfash in Scouts

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Scouts

Ahoy there me hearties!  It was a super special night tonight organised by Falcon and Komodo in consultation with PLs.  We started the evening by creating some masterful pirate flags (thanks to Emu for a bit of sewing beforehand) and then tried our hand at a floating flagpole (we might need a little more practice at this one).  Then it was off to the spider crawl through challenge and treasure hunting in the park before tucking into some sweet treats (thanks Komodo) to finish off the term!

Pirate flags

4th September – Fathers’ Day 10 Pin Bowling

12 Monday Oct 2015

Posted by pipfash in Scouts

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Father's Day, Scouts

As a special event to celebrate and have fun with our Dads we headed off to AMF Bowling at Mt Gravatt for a night of friendly rivalry on the bowling lanes.  There were many spares and strikes had but mostly a lot of fun times and memories for scouts and Dads alike.

Fathers Day Scout Dads

28th August – Promise & Law

12 Monday Oct 2015

Posted by pipfash in Scouts

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Scouts

Tonight we played Scout Law Lilypad Leaping to help us work as a team to remember our scout laws in order.  Then we completed rotational bases with Komodo going over leadership activities we’ve been involved in, Falcon taught us how to say the Scout Promise in all different languages and Echidna and Garlanja running the climate change and coastal areas environmental discussion as part of SIAM15.

Circular Tug-o-War
Koala Panther
Penguin Law

21st August – Painting Patrol boxes

12 Monday Oct 2015

Posted by pipfash in Scouts

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Scouts

Tonight Panther Patrol invited our District Commissioner Raven to come and teach us how to create spacescapes with spray paint to decorate our patrol boxes.  There was much enthusiasm and some exciting creations that are looking forward to being used at the upcoming District Camp.

Koala1
Panther1
Penguin1 Panther2 Penguin2

← Older posts

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 28 other subscribers

Follow on Facebook

Follow on Facebook

Thanks Environ Landscape Solutions

© 2016 Victor Scout Group Victor Scouts, 58 Victor St, Holland Park, Qld 4121, Australia

Blog at WordPress.com.

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • Victor Scouts Brisbane
    • Join 28 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Victor Scouts Brisbane
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...