Cub Boating Weekend (May 2011)

By Dylan Ruibal.

Hello my name is Dylan and I am going to tell you about my boating trip.

On the first day I went on a coypu boat. After that I went on the green coypu boat.

Then I went on the power boat that was one of the best, but they were all the really exciting.

I did not go on the kayak because I was going the next day. After all that I help recover the boat and Kane pushed me in but I took Ewan with me and I got soaked.

The next day I went on the green coypu boat first. Then I went on the blue boat.

After lunch I went on the kayaks we played a game. After that we had to jump on each others kayaks then Mowgli forced me to jump off my kayak, and I did, it was freezing so I did not go on the power boat, because I was so cold.

Activity and Boating Camp (April/May 2011)

By Ben Num.

BANG. We had arrived at Walton Firs and were bouncing the trolleys over bumps transporting are bags, then having to pull the trolleys back up (slowly!!!) When all the stuff we needed was at where we were camping we pitched our tents (T3s). Once we finished we were ready for our lunch of hot dogs. (Yum Yum).

We had done all our own shopping just before arriving at camp, Mowgli taking us around Sainsbury’s having let us decided our own weekend menu, and then advising us on how to shop on a budget – and reminding us not to run over everyone with the trolley every 10 minutes.

Next we began to find some kindling and began to start our fire (A lot of matches and fanning was need) we built it up slowly. Soon we all fired off to the shop to buy marsh mellows for toasting later. When we got back from the shop the time and the fire was good for cooking dinner (As we did lots of sawing into big logs for the fire) So we washing up liquided the billys and put loads of pasta in with some sauce (9p pasta from our cheap shop around Sainsburys) Finally when it was ready we emptied it in to our plates and then we stuffed our faces. When we finished we were served our pudding of cake and custard. And obviously it ending with washing up.

After washing up we had a couple of marsh mellows and went on an adventure which ended up thinking should we gatecrash the disco and that thought ended with yes. We rushed into the rave bouncing, occasionally popping out side for some more air then running back in for more fun. Soon there was a circle for people to show of their skills so I (Ben) rushed in and showed of my moves. But soon the warden was in and pushed down all the levers and said “I have told eight times to turn the music down we have had complaints so this disco is ended,”

Then the words that will stay with everyone who was on this camp forever. “THIS IS SCOUTING NOT A RAVE!” and then we decided to sneak out and go back to the camp site to sing a couple of songs. Then play German Spotlights (The game everyone likes. Well most people) Then we travelled to our tents to get snugly in our sleeping bags.

In the morning we raided the box of Krave. Then we made our slightly English breakfast with Egg Bread, Bacon and Beans. The bacon being made by Harry (Who employed Jonny to help) and the Egg Bread burnt by Joe (So Ben took over and saved the egg bread) When we finished we washed up and Travelled to the climbing wall to find out our session was at 10:00hrs. So we went back to the camp site for a sometime before our session.

At the session we tried out all the walls. After we took a trolley to take some pioneering equipment to our camp site. After taking all the ropes out the bucket we found a little friend who travelled to the camp site with us, a mouse!!! After letting 'Bob' go we built a monkey bridge but failed some of the lashing so Mowgli told us to get a change of clothes and where going to have a shower meaning obviously we were going to the obstacle course.

We travelled through the course a couple of times having a swim in the mud and after freezing cold hobbled to the showers. Back at the camp site we finished building the monkey bridge having a couple of goes then went to the shop and bought some stuff (Slush puppies). Somehow Joe dropped his Dr Pepper and it exploded then we packed up the tents and raced up the hill with trolleys pulling our stuff. (We decided to take our mug-shot home)

After some time of noisy pigeon problems on top of the van, (Mowgli and Jonny tying tables to the roof) we set off for the journey back to the church. With Ben and Jonny trying to divide our purchase of Fanta into his cup!!!

On Monday (after we'd all gone home) more people arrived than for the camp (well only 5 people went on the camp). At the boathouse we quickly got changed and ready for boating, with life jackets on. But then instead of boating first. We turned over our gig (Thames Scout) and balanced it on its trailer with some tight manoeuvring. During most of this Jake, Antonia, Harry and me (Ben) played rolling tyres!!!

After this we launched some coypus and the gig and did some rowing with two ores. (Sparks seeing how we'd cope for the Regatta – Not very well) After a long go of swapping over of for rowing we stopped for lunch. (Lets skip lunch and go to the fun bit)

After lunch a group of us came out for some kayaking (meaning lets capsize). We revised the basics paddling up and down. Then played 'it' and after the legendary 'Raft Running'. After doing a couple of “If you capsize me I will kill you!”  We decided to capsize any way (the water was reasonably warm) Frankie had to capsize twice because his mum missed it...

… When we were warm in our uniform we all got ice creams as there were no fizzy drinks. Then set off (NO) Chief lost the keys. After some time of looking we set off (Coming back – LATE!)

Cub Easter Camp (Apri 2011)

Written by: William Chipperfield
Illustrated by: Lily Chipperfield.

Day 1
One hot evening in April, the 4th Streatham cubs were seen loading 2 large buses. Six tents, several bags and a few colourful sleeping bags later, the engines started.

When we got there we unpacked  and put up the tents. BUT it wasn’t that simple, they weren’t pop up ones or small  peg ones.   They were literally poles, pegs and sheets. Half an hour of poles and pegs later, we were finished!! Then we chose our tents, got tucked in and drifted off.

Day 2.
We woke up and waited for Mowgli to tell us it was get changed and get out of bed, sorry I mean sleeping bags.

After half an hour of stretching we went to a maze, it was very, very, very hard. In the maze there was a yellow submarine, stepping stones and a rope wall. Before we went back to our camp we went to a tuck shop, my favorite sweet was Highland Toffee.

Then we went back to our camp and had lunch. Here is the boring bit: we had to wash up all the cutlery and the cups and the bowls. Then we put up the kitchen, it was basically a big version of a tent. Then it was starting to get dark so we got out some benches and the leaders gave us some biscuits. Finally, we got into our tents and you could hear the fire crackling as every one got into there sleeping bags and nodded off.

Day 3
In my dreams I could here a voice saying ‘’wake up!’’ Then I woke up and realised it was Mowgli. I joined the exercise group. After some stretching we went to the assault course. There was a tunnel, a ledge to jump from, a wall to climb over, rope to climb under and loads more! We got very muddy, then we had a shower to get all the mud off.

 When we got back we had lunch, washed up and got split up into groups. One of the groups went to the climbing wall while one made flap-jacks-  they were so nice! Then my group went to the climbing wall where there was a wobbly hand hold that many people fell from. Sadly, I didn’t get to the top. “Mysa” got to the top of the hard wall and the easy wall.

We went back to the camp and had lunch and waited till it went dark, then we played germen spotlights. This is how you play germen spotlights:

1. You wait till dark;
2. You get a lantern and put it on the floor when its on;
3. The Leaders become the Germans;
4. You give the germen some torches;
5. The Cubs then become the English spies.

The aim of the game is the Germans have to shine their torches on the English spies before they turn the lantern off.

After four games of German spotlights we went back to the camp to find a little treat waiting for us.

The treat was BANANAS FILLED WITH CHOCLATE SPREAD!!!! We got very messy as we ate the around the flames of the fire. Then we went to our sleeping bags and drifted off into our dreams.

Day 4
We woke up and did some stretches again while the leaders made some eggy-bread. When we finished, we had some eggybread for breakfast- it was quite nice.

Then the leaders and the scouts went to the fire and tried to lower the flames down. While the scouts lowered down the flames, the cubs went to look for long thin sticks. Do you Know what were doing yet? Then we brought the sticks back to the camp and the leaders got out the benches and their pocket Knives. Do you know what were doing now?

We started to sharpen one end of the stick, then we put dough on the end of the stick. Then we put the dough on the stick over the fire to cook into bread. Then after we ate all our yum bread we tidied up all our stuff in our tent and we had lunch.

After our fantastic meal and our not so fantastic washing up we TRIED to make ice cream. This is how you try to make ice cream:

1. Put some milk shake powder into a small freezer bag
2. Add milk to the milk shake powder
3. Put some ice into a larger freezer bag
4. Add some salt to the ice
5. Put the small freezer bag into the large one and then into a plastic bag and swing it around your head for an hour. (Well it was meant to only be 5mins but the science bit didn’t work!)
6. Enjoy!!!!!!!!!!

Then we packed our 2 buses and went back to our mums and dads and went back to our homes to have dinner.

Dash Camp to Frylands Woods (March 2011)

By Joshua Joseph.

We all met at the hall at 0830hrs waiting for everyone to arrive.  The people who came where; Frankie, Jack, Harry, Hugh, Alex and myself as well as two Leaders.  We all walked up to the bus stop, carrying our bags.  We took the bus to Clapham Junction and took the fast train to East Croydon, then we got the tram to Gravel Hill.  We popped over to the Supermarket to stock up with food and drinks, then Mowgli saw a Leader from another Scout Group who happened to be going to Frylands too. He offered to take our bags to the site, which was a big relief. We then walked to the camp site which took about half an hour.

First thing we did when we arrived was pitch the tents.  After that we had lunch. Then Mowgli set us the task of building Bivouac. When we finally finished it was getting dark, so we started a fire.
Later on Hugh heard a rustling by the path, everybody looked over and sneaking about was Sparks, who just happened to be passing by the Wood.  He didn’t stay for long as he had to get back home, but it was great to see him. For dinner we had Fajitas which were nice and spicy, all cooked on the camp fire aaaaahhhhhhh, lovely!!!!  After dinner we met up with the other Leader and his group and played a wide game, which was German Spotlights and stuck in the mud by torch light.  After that we went back to their site for some hot chocolate and chatted around their fire for a while, before we got tied and went back to our site so we could go to bed.

The next day Mowgli’s alarm didn’t go off, so we got an extra lie in!  When he finally did wake up, we packed up everything and had some time to spare so we went to practice our ninja skills by sneaking up on different groups without being seen (quite poorly). Soon it was home time and  Luckily my Dad was there and was able to take all the Scouts back to the hall.  All in all a good camp!!

Canoeing Trip (March 2011)

By Hugh Skepper.

It was a crisp Sunday, a cool wind blowing, chilling the hearts of the roosting birds nearby. The whining of a train passing by broke the almost perfect nature of the place. The river Thames slinked by, blindly falling down, reaching the east coast far away. The pigeon yells, flying away in a flurry of silky white feathers. A lively collection of blue-clad boys walks down the street, towards the river Thames.

Enough of that poetic stuff. The Scouts were walking towards the River Thames, to try their hands at Canoeing. First of all, we (the scouts) changed out of our uniforms in the nearby boathouse. We had a spare change of clothes in case we got in a tight spot and soiled ourselves.

Before we went canoeing, we had a small warm up. I think it was something between rugby and wrestling, Where two teams had to run to opposite sides of the pitch, whilst trying to prevent the other team reaching your side. It was more fun than doing a jog, and we soon warmed up.

We all heaved the canoes into the water and set off. At first, it was simply getting to grips with them, the correct hand positions and all that… But we soon got involved with a few races. We all lined up on the invisible start line across the water. Mowgli screamed, and we set off. My canoe, compromised of Frankie, Johnny and I, was slowest to start. The other two canoes soon got occupied by a navy battle, of water-craft slamming into water-craft. Our Canoe stole a lead, and we won with ease.

Next we tried endurance. We would move to the blue bouy, somewhere between 100 and 300 metres upriver. We arrived there first, but we constantly had to stop because of Mowgli’s handicap of a one man canoe. We then had to turn around and go back. That ended poorly for most of us, and Mowgli decided we should practise turning around. We did it, and went for lunch.

It was time for games. First of all, we had to try a two man balancing act. One person on one side of the canoe, the other person on the other. They had to stand up straight and walk to the other side. Logically, I was the one who had to accept, but for some reason, others remained reluctant. Hugo bravely put up his hand to volunteer. We clambered on Mowgli’s canoe, and managed to stand up on either side. It was qiute difficult to start, because Hugo weighs more than me, but we soon balanced out and walked to the other side. Unfortunately, we didn’t fall in.

We then were ready for a game called “Ball.” Original. Anyway, we soon renamed it and then started playing - It soon became the best game ever.  All you had to do was collect a ball and throw it into Mowgli’s Canoe. Simple. Well, Our canoe remained victor for the day, or, that’s how I remember it.

If you’re expecting some tasteless conclusion that would fit in a children’s magazine, stop reading now.

It was good.

Boating and Camping weekend (February 2011)

By Harry Joseph

We went to Putney for a boating weekend and we were working on our nautical badges. We did rowing, kayaking and power boating. We also did some work on tides, rope sealing and rope types. Lots of the scouts improved their boating skills and are now much stronger than before. 

We did a midnight run or chase to a park close by and played a wide game across the whole field. We had to run away from the catchers and if you got caught you became a catcher. And we went to bed at around 1am!!!!!!!!!

The next day we did a bit more boating and packed up to leave. It was one of the best camps I’ve been on in scouts.

New Year Camp at -5°c (January 2011)

By Jake Greig

I think the January camp at Downe camp site was one of the best camps I have ever been on because it took no time at all to pitch up the storm havens. Our patrol pitched ours up first! It was really fun lighting a fire and we cooked some delicious stew and hot dogs. 

When it got dark we played games like manhunt and German spotlight and then settled down around the camp fire to sing songs. It was a really cold night (-5°c) and at bedtime I felt so exhausted and exhilarated from the day’s activities I snuggled down in my sleeping bag and slept. The following morning we cooked breakfast then extinguished the fires and headed back to Streatham.