Meeting: 5 Feb - Flintstone cars

This week Quintessa planned a pioneering programme that ended with the patrols making Flintstone cars. For those of you that don't remember, Flintstone cars are cars that you power with your feet.

We were donated big rollers many years ago and decided to bring them out to try this project again. Quintessa built a model that the scouts had to copy which made it very easy for them to know the design they were required to build. The design was very solid and each patrol could easily build it from what we had in the hall.

Both cars were very successful and wheeled their way across the floor very well. Everyone had a great time.

 
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Meeting: 22 January - First Aid

First aid is a very important part of scouting but sometimes it can feel a bit boring. So at Adiero we always try and mix things up a bit.

This week we did First Aid with the First Class scouts explaining and demonstrating some first aid to injuries such as Hypothermia, Sprains and Dehydration. After this our Explorer scout demonstrated how to deal with spinal injuries and place someone on a stretcher. This is not a one person job and the whole troop got involved.

After this we did some thing fun - we made fake wounds! If you'd like to know how it's done you can check out this Wikihow link. The scouters all brought old make-up and we had Vaseline, toilet paper and plastic wounds that we got to try out. It was great fun and everyone ended up with some horrific wound on some part of their body.

The hardest part not getting the make-up, Vaseline and fake blood on our scout uniforms when we needed to get changed again.

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Delta Dash 2015

Every year Delta Park School hosts the Delta Dash Mountain Bike Endurance Challenge. Last year Randburg District scout troops built the start and finish line for the event and this year we did it again...except we went a lot bigger.

Finished model of the gateway to build

This year the project was designed by David Naylor from 1st Randburg and was built by Adiero, 1st Randburg and 1st Robinhills scout troops. It was a great event and the scouts and we all learnt a great deal. The total structure was 4m high, 4m deep and 12m long and was a great event to practise our knots for Kontiki, especially as there were 180 lashings that needed to be done!

Above are some pictures of the building of the structure and the final gateway (taken from a cell phone so not the best quality shot)

The final structure on the day of the race. Standing tall for everyone to see.

Thanks to every one who made it such a great event and congratulations to the scouts for putting up a truly great piece of pioneering work.

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15th June 2012: Making rope

So this week we decided to do something interesting...

We spent the first part of the meeting planning our Master Chef competition and then we learnt about rope...
We discussed the different types of rope: sisal and nylon. How they were made: three strands wound together and many strands plaited. We discussed care of ropes and how to check if ropes are damaged or not.

And then we made rope...with toilet paper.
Two different ropes were made. One rope was three strands, plaited together and the other was five plaited strands tied together. The single plait held 2 litres of water and the five plaits held 5 litres and could hold more but we didn't have a big enough jug.

Was a really great meeting and every one learnt a lot.

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2 December 2011: Mini Olympics

At the last meeting of the year we decided to have some fun and did a mini olympics night. The patrols completed against each other to see who was the best. The events at this mini olympics were:

Long jump - Using a baloon blow it up and let it go. The one that goes the furthest is the winner.
Discus - Throwing a paper plate the furthest
Javelin - Throwing a straw the furthest
Reverse high jump - Walking underneath a low string and eating prezel off the string
Steeple chase - Tie the whole patrols legs together as a 7-legged race and go through a steeple chase-like course
Swimming - Swim across the floor (Butterfly was particularly funny)
Sailing - Construct a miniature sailing boat from corks, kebab sticks and paper and blow it across the hall.
Ping pong - Using a ping pong and your breath blow the ball over the other patrols side of the table.

This evening was great fun as the patrols were not aware of what each event entailed.

So ended a great year at Adiero and we look forward to seeing everyone next year for another eventful and fun-filled year!!

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Meeting - 14th January

Back to scouts!!!

So we've started scouts again and the meeting last Friday was really chilled. The meeting was spent playing games, catching up on holidays and discussing Kontiki. Everyone had a great time just catching up with friends. The Kontiki discussions produced many ideas (some hysterical and some actually worthwhile).

Basically this was the perfect way to start a hectic term and we hope that it will produce many great times and great memories..bring on 2011!!

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Meeting - 15th October 2010

So this week we did some backwoods cooking - such fun!!

The pathfinders made fires and discovered how much wood you actually need to keep a fire going. Once their fires had simmered down from the huge bonfires that had been created they cooked there boerewors. But as this was an Adiero meeting, nothing is very boring, we cooked the beorewors inside a banana skin in the fire. This meant that the girls didn't have to hold the beorewors over the fire which is always ideal.

Conservation stove

The adventurers made their food composed of mince in gem squash which was also placed in the fire. The adventurers also cooked on conservation stoves. Conservation stoves conserve the heat as all the heat is directed towards the pot. The adventurers made rice (in 20mins) and a sauce for their mince.

Everyone had lots of fun and enjoyed some interesting backwoods food.

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6 August: Cooking competition

So this week we did a cooking competition where the patrols were given ingredients and told to cook them. The difference was that the meal was to be cooked on a fire and not gas (as a result a few other things needed to be considered). The PLs were given the main course to cook and the Seconds the dessert. As we like to challenge our girls the PLs were given: Baby potatoes, a sweet potato, unfavoured soya mince, carrots, whole tomatoes, spinach and half a loaf of bread. The patrols did very well and made a bunny chow and a mince sandwich which both tasted very good.

The Seconds were given: Tennis biscuits, custard, bananas, apples, half a Madeira cake and cream. They had the additional requirement that they had to cook something in that it could not all be cold. Both patrols made a trifle of some kind but once again - they tasted great.

Great food and fun was had by all! Well done girls - you've proved once again that you can handle anything we throw at you.

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Kay's Springbok Ceremony

So the time finally came, on 5th June 2010 Kay was awarded her Springbok badge. The whole troop got involved and we had a really big party.

The new tradition in the troop is that the first hour of the meeting is when the troop decorates the hall for the ceremony. Of course we did this in true Adiero style by hauling every decoration we have, that included a pirate flag from a few Kontiki's ago.

Kay arrived after an hour as well the parents and the Assistant Provincial Commissioner for Scout Programme, who was going to give Kay her Springbok. The troop fell in and Kay was escorted by the Court of Honour between the two patrols and presented to the APC with the words we often but slightly changed,

"This is Kay, Kay would like to get her Springbok."

And of course, no ceremony would be complete without a HUGE party with lots of food and fun to celebrate Kay's momentous achievement.

Well done Kay, we are all really proud of you for completing this and becoming the second the girl in the district to get her Springbok.

May there be many more from Adiero!!

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Meeting: 21 May

(somehow this post got away from the whole publishing part of this blog - but here it is anyway)

This Friday we were invited to 1st Randburg's Flinstone car Drive-in. The girls built a Flintstone type car that they could to the Drive-in - yes we put the cars on flat bed, drove it to the Drive-in the then rolled them in! To great amusement of all watching. We then watched the Drive-in movies before we went back to the hall to sleep over (well sleep what was left of the night)

Thanks to 1st Randburg for inviting us to such a great event.

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The beginning of Term 2

So after a long holiday it's back to Scouts for another awesome term. The focus of this term is advancement because last term was ALL about Kontiki. Even though we all learnt a lot by doing Kontiki there are still non-pioneering advancements to be done.

The first two meetings of this term have been about advancements - the teaching and testing of different requirements. As a result the meetings have been rather erratic and eclectic but, as always, such fun. We strive to have ordered meetings with a logical flow but sometimes that doesn't happen and we're ok with that because as BP said we learn "through the fun and jollity of Scouting; by progressive stages... But if once we make it into a formal scheme of serious instruction for efficiency, we miss the whole point and value of the Scout training..."

The first meeting became a knots teaching day where all the required knots for various levels were learnt (and subsequently passed the next week). The second meeting was a lot more exciting as we had the TS and ATS from Half Way House girls troop come to visit. We had a great time playing memory map symbol games and one of our favourite running games, North, South, East, West. We hope they had fun and we look forward to doing more stuff together in the future.

So here's to a great term of many advancements: one First Class, two Adventurers and about two Pathfinders!!!

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Meeting: 19 Feb 2010 Kontiki Prep

This week's meeting was very erratic. Kontiki is only two weeks away and so we had to make sure that all the equipment was ready. This required taking down barrels and paddle wheels and sorting through the kitchen trommels to make sure we had enough equipment for the camp and the competition meal. We also had to finalise the Dress up and the Competition meal. Although the meeting was rather unstructured it was very productive and Adiero is now ready to kick-butt at Kontiki 2010.
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Meeting: 12 Feb 2010 Mapping

This week’s theme was mapping as BP Sunday is coming up and we needed to prepare for the Orienteering that would be done. We focussed on map reading skills and what maps can tell us.

We discussed maps in general and why we use them as well as map symbols. We played our map symbols memory game - a game that involves choosing the correct symbol and name from a group of cards lying face down - this was great fun and everyone enjoyed competing to see who could get the most pairs.

We then discussed contours and what contours actually tell us, this is a very difficult topic to explain as it seems obvious to experienced scouters that contour lines show gradient and where mountains and valleys are placed. In order to understand this topic better we used play dough to build a representation of the map. Each patrol was given a section of the map and told to copy this with play dough so they could see the mountains and the gradient in 3 dimensions. This was lots of fun (‘cos who doesn’t enjoy play dough?) and we all learnt a great deal about how to view a 2D map in 3 dimensions.

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Building

We were planning to build treehouses on Friday night, but the weather had other plans. The rain was bucketing down by the time our meeting began and there was no way we would be working outside. Instead, Pippa (Crocodiles' PL) ran some pioneering activities inside.

The girls built and braced a pair of tripods. Then they learned how to use a bowline and rolling hitch to fasten themselves securely to the tripods before climbing up onto the bracings. With more time, we could have transformed our tripods into a tower, but with all the knotting practice, and the power cut that meant we were working by gaslight, that didn't happen.

Instead, Pippa and Lynx taught the troop how to tie a Cat's Paw, a rather unusual knot used with pulleys. We don't know where the name comes from, but if any of our readers do, we'd love to know!

At the same time, two of our senior scouts were on Backwoods Camp. In that rain, it must have been chilly. The girls earned their Backwoods Interest Badges on the camp.

During next week's meeting, the group AGM will be run and all parents are encouraged to attend. Afterwards, there'll be campfire for the whole scout group, so remember your campfire blankets!

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A New Term

Yesterday we had our first meeting for the last term of 2009. Over the holidays, a new system for storing our long (five and six metre) poles had been set up, and we got to pack them away. This is more exciting than it sounds, because the poles are stored several metres up. Getting them there required two PLs in safety harnesses and four people on the pulley systems. The author of this blog now has four blisters, but apparently she is getting soft, as everybody else was fine!

We also learned different ways of carrying injured people and which should be used when. Then we ran races using the different carries. It was a fun and practical way of making sure everyone understood how they worked.

Before we ended, we got to hear about the projects Kay will be running to get her Springbok Scout award, and to meet our new District Commissioner. I can't wait for another term full of scouting activities!
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Chairman's Challenge

I don't have any pictures, which is very sad, but I'm going to post anyway. Otherwise, this blog might go for a whole month without any activity, which would be awfully disappointing.

The Owl Part II will be coming soon, but first I need to get hold of those photos. In this case, a picture is worth quite a bit more than a thousand words.

Meanwhile, we've been getting ready for another pioneering event: Chairman's Challenge. Our troop's raft placed tenth at Kontiki (the Gauteng-wide scout raft rally) this year, which means we were invited to race the other top twenty rafts down the Vaal river. Our senior scouts have been designing the raft and practising the building.

Since only six scouts will go to Chairman's, the rest of us spent the meeting outside, around a fire. Once the fire was laid and lighted, we cooked twists and boerewors: delicious! We also spent a bit of time thinking about how we use the Scout Law and Scout Promise in our day-to-day lives.

Next week, the raft crew will be at Chairman's. The rest of us won't be meeting, but we're wishing them the best of luck!

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Mixing and Matching

This week's meeting didn't have any particular theme, unless it was 'following the scout trail'. We began with a going up ceremony, where we welcomed one of the cubs into the scout troop, after which she was invested. There are no pictures, because only invested scouts may watch an investiture (although we do make an exception for the parents).


We heard about some of the activities Kay has been doing for her Explorer badge,
looked at the calabash doll she found on her river cleanup,

and watched the slideshows from the outings.

We learned about practical safety and maintenance of gas equipment - part of the Adventurer badge, but a good thing for everyone to know.

In between, Cougar taught Pathfinder level First Aid, we played games, we spoke about the owl that we'll be building on the twenty-second and we even cleaned out our storeroom.

The Owl Part I

There's a district pioneering event coming up in three weeks, so we spent a meeting practising our building skills. The finished structure will be a giant owl, although we couldn't build the whole thing in just one meeting.

Lifting up the central quadpod. (Built with a cloverleaf lashing, which everyone - well, Lynx and Charlotte anyway - thinks is awesome.)

Unhanking a rope as we get ready to brace the quadpod and build the superstructure.

We're nearly finished bracing the quadpod; everyone's attention is drawn by the owl's head.


The owl's head - or at least its structure. The final product will be covered and given simple features.

Mapping

Map Reading


The ever-popular mapping symbol game. (It's a variant of the card game Concentration, but as well as remembering where the cards are, you have to remember which description matches which symbol.)


Plane tabling. This mapping technique is relatively complicated, but everyone enjoyed learning it and mapping out the hall. Next time, we'll need something bigger to map!