Practise Hike on Cannock Chase

Practise Hike 25th Sept 2010

Hi All,

On Saturday 25th Sept 2010 we took 5 of our Challengers to the county of Staffordshire for a 9 mile hike around Cannock Chase , in preparation for the Expedition Challenge on 2nd-3rd October.

Once again the Challengers were asked to navigate the route on their own and cook a hot meal on the way.

The weather was absolutely glorious for hiking, if a bit chilly, and the team coped very well with the distance and boiled up some water for some soup along the way.

They should have no problem with the Challenge this weekend.

Click on the above image to see some more pictures and video.

Good luck to all 6 of our Challengers this Saturday!

We will let you know how they get on.

All the best,

Chief

Scout Meeting 20th Sept 2010

Circus Skills 20/09/2010

Hi All,

On Monday 20th Sept we started our second session of badgework towards the Circus Skills activity badge.

This week 'Juggling Jim', a professional children's entertainer, got the Scouts practising with cup & ball, balancing with peacock feathers, more tricks with diabolos, trying out devil sticks and learning to ride a unicycle!

All of our Scouts showed a definite improvement from the last session and are well on the way to achieving the activity badge.

We hope to be demonstrating some of the skills they have learned when we put on a show at Christmas!

Please click on the above image to see more of what we got up to.

We would also like to give a big B-R-A-V-O to Juggling Jim for his time and patience.

All the best,

The Scout Leaders

Bivouac 2010

Bivouac 2010

Hi Scouts,

Definition

Bivouac (biv-oo-ak) n. – a temporary camp without tents or other cover. – v. (bivouacked, bivouacking) to camp in a bivouac. (Source The Oxford Dictionary)

A Bivouac shelter is a simple hut, which you can make quickly. (Source Scouting for boys)

During the weekend of 18th Sept, Skip and I took part in this year's Bivouac event in a forest somewhere in Gloucestershire.

Bivouac 2010 is an activity weekend that has been specifically developed for Scouts and Explorer Scouts of Birmingham County who not only wish to achieve the Survival Skills Badge, but to develop their skills further.

Furthermore each applicant is expected to build and sleep in a Bivouac, no matter what happens with the weather – there are no back up facilities!

There are 4 activities to do, taking 4 years to complete in the following order;

1. Bivouac Training Award

2. Bivouac Award - Assessment for Survival Skills Badge

3. Bivouac Junior Leader Award

4. Bivouac Junior Staff (Building a Bivouac is optional)

Skip and I helped out on one of the training sectors with a group of 6 Scouts, who will hopefully move up to assessment next year.

On the first day the Scouts had demonstrations on the use of a knife, shelter building, survival tin, fire lighting, cooking, gadget making, distress signals and the use of a survival bag.

The Scouts then built their own shelters, made a fire and cooked their meals on them. They slept in their shelters overnight.

On the second day the Scouts had demonstrations on first aid, tree identification, edible plants, knife care, water collection and purification.

At the end of the weekend the Scouts on our sector all received the coveted 'Bivouac Training' badges and Skip and I received the highly regarded 'Bivouac Leader' badge.

We hope to take part in the event again next year.

Yours in Scouting,

Skip & Chief

Scout Meeting 13th Sept 2010

Circus Skills 13/09/2010

Hi All

On Monday 13th Sept we started our first session of badgework towards the Circus Skills activity badge.

In order to gain this award we enlisted the help of 'Juggling Jim', a professional children's entertainer from Birmingham.

For our session we practised juggling with chiffon scarves, learned how to use diabolos and got grips with plate spinning.

The Scouts had a brilliant time and all started to show some improvement in the various skills.

We will be running a second session next week.

Please click on the above image to see what we got up to!

All the best,

The Scout Leaders

Practise Hike in Sutton Park

Practise Hike 11th Sept 2010

Hi All,

Please click on the above image to see some video taken during our practise hike in Sutton Park on Saturday 11th Sept 2010

This is our 1st practise session in preparation for the Expedition Challenge 2010 event being held early in October.

We will be fielding a team of 6 in the Challenge this year, which is taking place in the Dovedale area of the Peak District.

The weather was perfect for walking and the team got a good insight as to what will be required of them during the Challenge.

A second practise hike will be organised shortly on Cannock Chase.

I will keep you posted with our progress!

All the best,

Chief