Last Tuesday night’s Scout activity was all about understanding RISK and making things SAFE – and practical application of “being prepared”.

Our enterprising scouts carried out a brief health and safety check of the Scout Hall and the surrounding areas we use, including the Brooklyn community centre playground.  They came up with good observations and some practical ideas (floodlights on the lawn area so we can continue to use the area on fine but dark nights was one highlight!)

We then watched two brief Mountain Safety Council film clips on the Outdoor Safety code:  “Plan your trip” and “Tell someone”.  We used these to work out how to prepare for our upcoming tramping trip into the Tararuas.    Most scouts had a chance to work in small groups on either an activity intentions form, or a RAMS (risk assessment and management system) form.   A number of scouts have brought a blank form home so that they can practice putting a form together.   Knowing how to do this is an essential scouting skill, so please help and encourage your scout to take on the challenge.  You’ll find some guidelines in the handy “bronze/silver/gold badge resource books” which are on the downloads page of the Brooklyn website.

Our youngest scouts, meanwhile, covered the territory for the Scout badge.   New scouts will be invested on Tuesday 3 June and parents are welcome to attend the brief ceremony at 7pm.

For those interested, a summary of the outdoor code is below.   This is a good thing to be aware of for any trip into the outdoors.  You can also click on the titles to access the short on line clips – just 3 minutes each and a good talking point with your scout.

• Plan your trip
Seek local knowledge, plan the route you will take and the amount of time you can reasonably expect it to take.
• Tell someone 
Tell someone your plans and leave a date for when to raise the alarm if you haven’t returned. 
• Be aware of the weather 
New Zealand’s weather can be highly unpredictable.  Check the forecast and expect weather changes.
• Know your limits
Challenge yourself within your physical limits and experience.
• Take sufficient supplies
Make sure you have enough food, equipment and emergency rations for the worst case scenario. Take an appropriate means of communication.

A great time was had tonight at Scouts with an outdoors edition of Masterchef, judged by Terry.  Specially concocted Tramper’s Breakfasts were followed by cordon bleu editions of Scroggin created by our newest scouts (welcome to Matthieu and Daniel).   Here are the recipes:

Tramper’s Breakfast
First premix 60gms instant mashed potato and 25gms milk powder
Mix a daub of butter/margarine in 200 ml hot water then add a packet of cup of soup Creme of Chicken (or whatever flavour soup you prefer)
Then add the potato/milk powder mix, adding more hot water to get required consistency.
Do not add salt as there is usually plenty in packet soups.
Sprinkle with parmesan (or other) cheese and enjoy.

Scroggin/ Trail mix
designed to give you energy when tramping, and to be lightweight and easy to carry.  You can put a variety of ingredients in scroggin, depending on what you like.
CHECK IF THERE ARE ANY SPECIAL DIETARY REQUIREMENTS – If there is (e.g. nut allergies), make sure all possible steps are taken to ensure there is no cross contamination. A possible solution could be to eliminate the ingredient concerned from the list

The standard mix is 1/3 cup Nuts plus 1/3 cup dried fruit plus 1/3 cup grains & seeds plus ¼ cup chocolate
Nuts:  peanuts almonds cashews brazil nuts walnuts
Dried fruit:  raisins  sultanas (the yoghurt covered variety can add a little sweetness if you are adding less chocolate)
dried apricots, chopped into quarters  dried cranberries   dates, chopped into quarters   banana chips  crystallised ginger
Grains and seeds:  sunflower seeds. pumpkin seeds, muesli, bran, oats (can be roasted with honey)
Chocolate:  dark chocolate chips, m&ms, chocolate covered peanuts, chocolate covered raisins.

Hi everyone

We had a great day on Saturday starting with small team (Chris, Michael V , and Michael 2, Gussy and Erina) helping carry 12 very heavy 16mm x 3m sheets of Gibralter board down to the basement — and then growing momentum as more turned up to help get us closer to completion.  (See photos)

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We got more insulation up with Possum, Gussy and then Emerald doing a great job with cutting and fitting the Xpol.

Michael (Georg’s dad) and Damien made great progress chiselling rebates for the straps and helping Terry get some more Gib up—Damien I think found it a pleasant change from digging and carrying.

Harriet and Frankie were there most of the day getting stuck in as usual—clearing up and painting the priming the new frames for the basement window and new door.

Michael V and Mark (ably helped by Victoria—(Victoria also helped Erina unload the scaffolding returned to our place)  finished the N/W corner digging allowing Michael and me to finally clad that corner. His used to be Mark’s corner but I think it is now the M&M corner.

Erina did her usual backup running the trailer back to Placemakers, picking up more stuff we needed and along with Denise,  bringing a much appreciated lunch down to the hall. Sustained us through the remainder of what became a very long but successful day.

Chris, thank goodness,  was there to help unload the Gib with Nicholas on the way to football—then he returned in the afternoon to run more of the electrical cabling – involving wriggling up under the hall floor right up to the front door (not much room I can tell you).

I think Chris and Harriet are neck in neck for the cavers badge! With Bob, Victoria and Edward having made valiant challenges along the way.

Through all the initial hurly burly Gavin gave the new lawn a much needed haircut.

Today (Sunday) , Terry got everything ready to return the window to its rightful place and I got there just in time to help manoeuvre it into position.  Looks great!

This so feels like the completion is in sight!!

Watch this space later in the week as we may need some help getting some more Gib on the ceiling next Saturday and whatever else comes up—there is always something when renovating!.

Regards,

Rex

Rex Collett

T: 04 972 5530 M: 021 228 5558

We had a very special team on Saturday with Perry bringing along Oscar and  Gracie, our two youngest bees yet—and what fabulous little worker bees they were—carrying buckets of gravel to cover the drain behind the wall and then moving lots of clay!! (take a look at the photos!). We will miss Perry and the children when they head off to Montpellier in  France soon.

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Damian turned up unaccompanied by his usual  two staunch helpers, Harriet and Frankie, who had other commitments. Hey girls, We missed you both!!

I think Damian is about to trump Grayson as the master hole digger!

Augusta (who has the misfortune to be my daughter) got pulled away from completing her NCEA assessment to help with the gravel.

Of course Michael and Denise got stuck in again, and Mark came along later with Victoria so I set him to work helping Denise excavate his favourite corner!!  I want to get that corner safely closed in next Friday,  so getting it ready was a great help.

It was a great relief for me to see these stalwarts turn up as I had a deadline to meet for family commitments— but we got all work to complete the end of the wall  and backfill done by 1.00 PM. ( Well we went 15 minutes over—but I got back on Sunday for a bit of a clean-up).

I have not finalised the programme for next weekend— BUT THERE WILL BE JOBS TO BE DONE:

The Gibraltar board etc. is being delivered this Tuesday so there is some carting to be done if this is  not done before Saturday. We may have to put out a special mid-week call if the weather turns to muck).

Pretty exciting getting to the home run!

Regards to all,

Rex—for the renovation team

The National Scout Aviation School begins on Sunday the 20^th April at 4 pm and runs until Sunday the 28^th  April in the morning (after pack out)

There are a few spaces still available on this, and we would like to fill these

Based at Palmerston North, the scouts enjoy a week of learning and hands-on tasks – including flying an aircraft with the opportunity of further flying in a microlight, glider and helicopter.  Visits to Ohakea, the airport air traffic control and engineering workshops are included. This is a great chance to complete all the Aviation based badges in a week with visiting specialist tutors.

Cost: $340 plus optional extra flying of a maximum of $235                           Age: 12 plus

For further information and application forms  http://scouts.org.nz/aviation

Contact James Bennett, school director on [email protected] or 021 0595107