HMS BRISTOL CAMP (JUNE 2012)

By Joe Collar

In half-term I went on a Sea Scout camp to HMS BRISTOLS, a Royal Navy training base situated in Portsmouth.  HMS Bristol is a decommissioned destroyer built in the mid 1960s.  It saw active service during the Falklands war.  It weighs over 7000 tons and can carry a crew of 397.


I have been a member of the 4^th Streatham Sea Scout group since May 2006 (I’ve been going for over half my life!).  I’ve learnt lots of skills- many of which came in handy on this trip. Harry, Ben, Lewis and Ewan also came on this trip.

When we arrived at the base we saw the HMS Bristol for the first time.  This was to be my home for the next week.  I was struck by how big it was compared to all the other boats in the harbour.  We were split into 6 “divisions” with Sea Scouts from all over England and Wales. We were assigned a “mess” which we would sleep in for the nine nights. We had lockers, and using my skill that I learnt from school, I organised all my kit into my locker. We each had to make a bed, and every night officers would inspect our rooms to make sure we were living under organised conditions and weren’t messy.

We were woken up on the first morning at 6:30 am, and I remembered I had been sleeping on a ship; the beds were surprisingly comfortable. The beds where also triple bunk beds! I made my bed the best I could to make sure I could have a good night’s sleep again.  We then had to get dressed into our uniform before we had a filling breakfast on the base, ready for the day’s activities.

Throughout the week, activities included:

• Kayaking on the Solent,
• Dingy Sailing, where I learnt to ‘catch the wind’
• Off Shore Yacht Sailing
• Codebreaking,
• Climbing (on a fancy mechanical treadmill-like climbing wall),
• Ropes,
• Power Boating on RIBS
• Navigation and Chart work at sea on one of the two "Fast Motor Launches" called Blue Swan and Black Swan
• A gruelling 9-mile expedition along the South Downs
• A reaction-testing device (you had to kick targets dotted around a room).
• A Trip to HMS Illustrious (a Invincible class light aircraft carrier)

My favourite was power boating; I even got to drive all the way over to the Isle of Wight! I felt responsible and was keeping my fingers crossed that I wouldn’t destroy a buoy or the boat itself!!!

My least favourite activity was the expedition. We were driven into the Hampshire countryside and had to navigate a course and answer questions about the surroundings and other things in general. We were given “ration packs” to carry all day which were about the size of a box of tissues, containing food that needed to be cooked over a stove, so we had to eat the revolting “pork sausage and beans” and other items cold. They also contained snacks, and people were gobbling Teriyaki beef jerky and Oreo cookies like it was the end of the world. On return to the base I climbed to my bunk with a gigantic sigh of relief.

Living on the ship was fun, and also quite challenging at times. It was difficult to sleep with air-conditioning pointing at me on the first night, so I adjusted it to dry laundry.

On the Friday morning the ship was swaying because of an aggressive storm (blowing a Force 8 on the Beaufort Scale), so aggressive that the gangplank to shore had to be closed off temporarily. That Friday night, we had a end of camp Disco.

The HMS Bristol summer camp was a once-in-a-lifetime-opportunity, which I would love to re-experience in the future.

ShelterBox Scavenger Hunt (MAY 2012)

By Luca Morris & Dylan John

Green Watch

On Saturday 19th May, 22 Cubs and 11 Scout from the 4th Streatham joined 378 other Cubs, Scouts and Explorers from across the country in the Shelterbox's London Scavenger Hunt.

I thought that the scavenger hunt was loads of fun because wherever we went we had a picture taken and I liked the quiz.

WE EVEN SAW PELICANS!!!!!!!!

We went to Buckingham Palace, the Mall and Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly, and Leicester Square, and finished in St James Park. Dylan, Nathaniel Adam and Andrew were in my group. Mowgli was our leader. Our team came 13th out of 38!

IT WAS GREAT FUN! I liked running round London & carrying our green flag. I liked the quiz too.

About Shelterbox...

Shelterbox aims to provide emergency shelter and lifesaving supplies for families around the world who are affected by disasters, at the time when they need it the most.


In the 11 years since ShelterBox was founded, they have responded to almost 200 natural or manmade disasters in over 75 different countries and provided lifesaving aid for well over one million people. 


Each large, green ShelterBox is tailored to a disaster but typically contains a disaster relief tent for an extended family, blankets, water storage and filtration equipment, cooking utensils, a stove, a basic tool kit, a children’s activity pack and other vital items. 


Find out more on their website: http://www.shelterbox.org/

BNI Competition (MAY 2012)

By Joshua Joseph
(PL for FALCONS)

In May, 2 teams of Scouts from our group (and one team of Explorers from our group) went  to a competition called the BNI (Bloody Near Impossible) hoping to defend our 1^st place  trophies won by our group 2 years before.

Day one. The Arrival.

On Friday 4th we set off for a camping site called "Hamlet Wood" in Kent. Once we arrived we went to put up our tents. We tried to time ourselves as if it was one of the real competitive activities we had to do in order to win. We put up the tent in 37minutes and 37 seconds. After we put up our tents, we were invited to go for some food. When we got there, there were hot dogs and orange squash! When we tried to put our dining shelter up, one of the poles didn’t fit! Then we had to get creative, we tied two poles together with a sheer lashing. Eventually, it would stand up on it’s own so we could go to bed. We unpacked our bags and went to sleep.

Day two. Let the games begin!

Today we had many challenges in front of us. We had no idea of how hard or how easy things would be at each base. None the less, we were raring to go. First, we had to go to pioneering which we came first in. We made a bridge with a zip wire to get across. We put it up in 1 hour 37 minutes and put it down in 12! Then we rehearsed our performance for the next day.

Day Three. The rest of the Challenges.

This day was important; it was either win or loose, eat or be eaten. Our next activity was tent pitching and we were quite confident. At about 09:30hrs we started putting up the tent (storm haven with fly sheet). We put it up and down to  finished the base in  just 23 minutes! It was the best so far and it was the scout record! After that we felt indestructible. Next, we did the twig race. We tried our hardest and eventually pulled through. We also set the scout record for that at 6 minutes and 5*seconds!

Day Three. Drawing to a close.

After dinner we went to bed. After that, we went to do our performance. This was also one of the BNI challenges. Our performance was called the BNI factor. It was like Britain’s got talent. It was really cheesy (Purposely) and had acts that were meant to make people laugh. It was a success!

Day Four. The Conclusion.

After a long and tiresome weekend and having completed 10 different challenges over the weekend (problem solving, first aid, Leadership & Communication, Cooking among some of the other challenges not mentioned above) , everyone was eager to find out who won. But first the site had to be put away. We had to put down our tents and we did this like we put it up (Like a time trial). It didn’t take to long, about 10 minutes. Eventually, we finished packing up and it was time to find out who won. All the points have been counted and the scores have been set. 5^th Place… was our Starboard Team. 4^th place… wasn’t us. 3^rd place… wasn’t us. 2^nd place… wasn’t us. 1^st place………… The 4^th Stretham Port team!!! (And the crowd goes wild!) WE WON! We went to pick up the trophy and received it graciously. The Explorers also Won and retained the eBNI 1^st place trophy. Over all a great weekend for all the 4^th Streatham Sea Scout teams.  Then we went to get a picture of us and then we paraded around the camp site, ecstatic. It was great! The only down side after that, was that we had to do the toilets… But that didn’t take long, so then after we locked up we got in the van and headed for home.