Brooklyn cub pack had a fantastic camp last weekend teaming up with over 350 other cubs to participate in National cub day at Brookfeild in Wainuiomata.

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The weather on Saturday was absolutely fantastic and the kids participated in a huge range of activities from working as a team to get the ‘co-operative skis’ to work, starting a fire by rubbing two bits of wood together with a fire bow, scorching their initials into bits of wood using a magnifying glass, racing push carts round a track while avoiding the wet sponges, doing a giant Jenga puzzle, making masks…………and a whole lot more.

Fascinating to hear the number of kids who didn’t know how to use the magnifying glasses to concentrate the sun. It makes me realise how much old school knowledge is being lost and also how great scouting is for teaching these things and encouraging the questions like “how does that work?’ that I heard from lots of the kids.

Huge thanks to everyone who gave their time to make this a fantastic event and to our wonderful Brooklyn cubs, leaders and parents who came and shared their fun and ideas on this camp. Even the wet tents on Sunday didn’t dampen the fun.

A message from a Parent that attended:

I found it really rewarding to see the kids work together (even when they didn’t know each other) and the look of wonder – especially at the magnifying glass wood burning activity and fire starting with friction sticks (sorry, no photos – my camera battery had gone flat!).  The ‘conceptual’ maze was a revelation (to me) in the cubs’ ability to observe, remember and instruct/help others to move forward and complete the task.  I came away from the day thinking ‘don’t underestimate’ cub age children!

And Duane, I think you struck a really nice balance by cutting the kids slack and letting them have the opportunity to explore and work out things for (and between) themselves, as opposed to a ‘management’ style that is instructive or prescriptive.

Thank you for the opportunity to relive my cub days and have my eyes opened as to the capabilities of young children working together. Many parents would benefit from the experience!

SCOUTS know all about flags –  commitment to community sits alongside the adventurous experiences that are the essence of Scouting.

This year more than 730 Commonwealth Flags were raised around the world to mark the celebration of Commonwealth Day on Monday March 9^th.   Four youth from Brooklyn Scouts were part of the shared celebration of this amazing family of nations that encompasses the globe.

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Nicky Heitger, Alexa Lee, Frankie Zelas and Mathieu Ewers joined Councillor Mark Peck, and others from SCOUTS NZ at the Commonwealth flag raising ceremony at Frank Kitts Park.

Nicky took the honours raising the Commonwealth flag, and spoke afterwards about the significance of Commonwealth Day and the world wide movement of Scouting, which now stands at over 36 million members.  Nicky is in Year 10 at Wellington College, and is working towards his Chief Scouts Award.

Frankie, Alexa and Matthieu are all students in Room 10 at Brooklyn School and members of the 24 strong Scout troop at Brooklyn.   Frankie is an Assistant Patrol Leader in Scouts, having joined as a Kea aged 6.   Alexa joined last year and is making the most of her scouting adventures with tramps and camps.   Mathieu starred in the gang show in 2014, and loves everything about the outdoors.

Brooklyn Scout Group is a flourishing community organisation, with over 60 youth supported by an active group of leaders and parents.    The group received a Platinum Award for Growth from Scouts NZ in 2014.    Youth members have achieved four Chief Scout Awards (the highest award in Scout Section)  in the last 2 years.

The group runs activities for Keas, Cubs, Scouts and Venturers (ages 5 – 18) and works actively with local Rovers.   Seewww.brooklynscouts.org.nz for more information.

Welcome to the start of a New Year, we look forward to an exciting year for all the Keas, Cubs, Scouts and Venturers.

The theme for this term is “LET’S HAVE A BALL”, the term plans will be going onto the website shortly with all the sections starting next week, Cubs Monday the 9th and Keas and Scouts on Tuesday 10th, (note Scouts APL’s have a meeting on Tuesday the 3rd).

Congratulations Joshua and Liam on receiving their Chief Scout Awards last year, an article was published in the Cook Strait News (23 January 2015) p6, below  We look forward to more Brooklyn Scouts achieving this award.

Cheers,

David

After 30 years of ‘steady as she goes’, Brooklyn Scouts is celebrating a new lease of life, with two more Scouts achieving Chief Scout’s Awards and the formal opening of a new kitchen in the Brooklyn Scout Hall in Harrison Street, Brooklyn.

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Josh Stewart and Liam Simes were both awarded the Chief Scout’s Award on Tuesday 16 December.

Presented by Councillor David Lee, the Chief Scout’s Award is the supreme award within the Scouting section (ages 10 to 15) and is only given to Scouts who have made outstanding achievements in their scouting lives. Only four Chief Scout’s Award have been achieved by Brooklyn Scouts in the last 30 years – there were two awards in 2013.

For Josh who has just completed Year 10 at Wellington High, achieving the Chief Scout award has meant 24 weeks of helping with Cubs, community service in the form of clean-ups and plantings in the Owhiro Stream and academic achievements in the form of a Niwa science fair project win with his project on weather. Josh’s interest in Kapa Haka at school has also helped the group with its understanding of Tikanga Maori.

In presenting the award, David noted Josh’s determination to put in the hours to get the award – hours that are on top of a heavy commitment to numerous sports teams, kapa haka, and the feminist club at school.

Liam’s award was presented in absentia, but his achievements include service leading Keas, leading trips for other Scouts, including one to the Hawkes Bay and attendance at the Scout Jamboree – a key scouting event held every three years. Liam is an active surf life-saver and competes at a National level so has also been the resident water safety expert for the group. Liam has just completed Year 10 at Wellington College.

In addition to the presentation of Chief Scout’s Awards, the Group celebrated the formal opening of a brand new kitchen. Built with the assistance of a significant grant from Karori Brooklyn Community Charitable Trust (KBCCT) and with funding for an electrical upgrade from Transpower, the new kitchen will enable the group to expand the cooking skills of their Scouts. It also provides a more usuable community space for the wider Brooklyn community.

The kitchen upgrade comes after the excavation and building of a new Venturer den in the basement of the hall that was celebrated earlier in 2014.

Group Chair, Oliver Mander said “Scouts is all about adventure for life. We are a growing and active group, offering great opportunities for young people from 5 to 18 to have fun, learn and achieve in the outdoors and in the community.

“We’re looking forward to an exciting year in 2015 using our new facilities.”

It was great to have Silverpine cub pack do a ‘raid’ at the Brooklyn Groups section night.

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The evening started with a Grand Howl where the increased pack size filled the Brooklyn den, then it was off up to the local school for a wide game of Witches/Trolls/Elves. The whole pack was then devided into 4 smaller groups and went to an area where the very accomplished Silverpine Venturers, led by Alex, gave instruction and assistance to the Cubs in constructing balistae.  The building of a balistae and the launching (some more successfully than others) of wet sponges proved a challenging, fun activity for all those involved and the resulting sponge fight was a big hit. Our thanks to Alex, the Venturers, Leaders, parents and Cubs from Silverpine for a great cross-Zone activity night. The challenge is now out for Brooklyns Endeavor Venturer unit to organise a return raid at some point in the future.