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News

Camp Skills Day

Saturday brought the scouts over to Kevin’s house for a day of camp skills including putting up tents, setting the site, collecting fire wood, using axes and bow saws, lighting fires with some backwoods cooking. Homemade cookies (thanks to Jake’s mum) were on hand for afternoon tea, as the Scouts and enjoyed the sunshine in between the showers. The scouts went out to Garvagh woods to look for silver birch and potential bivi sights (a bit more map work is needed I think).
Once back, supper was had (chocolate cake), flasks were sorted and gear packed for a short hike to the bivi site where a wide game was played and everyone would bed down for the night under the stars.
After a windy but dry night back down the hill for bacon butties, hot chocolate and a film.
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Categories
News

Camp Skills Day

IMG_1402The day started by helping local residents with a clean-up in Macosquin village; this goes towards the Global Challenge.
Then over to Kevin’s house for a day of camp skills including putting up tents, setting the site, collecting fire wood, using axes and bow saws, lighting fires with some backwoods cooking. Chocolate cake was on hand for afternoon tea, as the Scouts and Explorers enjoyed the sunshine. Then a few more practical skills of using Tilly lamps and stoves, before heading off to Downhill Beach for a mad and sandy game of rugby.
Once back, supper was had, flasks were sorted and gear packed for a short hike to the bivi site where the scouts and explorers would bed down for the night under the stars.
After a windy but dry night back down the hill for bacon butties, hot chocolate and the cartoon network.
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Camps News

Ballymoney Scouts Meet Chief Scout, Bear Grylls

On Saturday 19th May 2012 Chief Scout Bear Grylls took to the air to meet almost 4,000 Scouts from Northern Ireland at a series of events in Clandeboye, the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum and Crawfordsburn Scout Centre.
Ballymoney Scouts took part in an overnight survival camp at the Clandeboye estate, where they slept out in basic shelters that they made themselves and ate under the stars.
In the morning they took part in various survival skills including making and using a bow drill to light the cooking fire, filtering water through a sock and making camp firelighters.
When Bear arrived the scouts got the chance to meet with him and show off the skills they had learnt.
The event was one of a number that Bear visited in Northern Ireland and Scotland at the weekend.  
The tour is part of his mission to encourage more adults to volunteer for Scouting, as well as celebrate the important role of Scouting in Northern Ireland and the UK as a whole.  The journey comes as part of his plan to visit the whole of the UK during his term as Chief Scout, having previously visited many parts of England.
The weekend’s events showed what Scouting is all about, offering thousands of young people the opportunity to take part in adventure in the company of peers and trusted adults. The Scout Association is the largest co-educational youth Movement in the country. Recent figures have shown that membership has passed the 525,000 mark in the UK, with almost 10,000 members in Northern Ireland.
However, the Movement is in desperate need of more adult volunteers to ensure that more young people can join the adventure.
Bear Grylls, Chief Scout, says: “It was great to visit Scouts in Northern Ireland. At every event I go to, I know I’ll meet young people taking part in the adventure that Scouting provides. It’s crucial though that more adults sign up as volunteers, to ensure that all young people have the opportunity to join.”
If you are interesting in volunteering with Ballymoney Scouts please contact the Kevin, Group Scout Leader, on 0777 563 2415

More About Scouting:

  • The Scout Association was founded on 1st August 1907.
  • Adventure is at the core of Scouting, and the Association passionately believes in helping their members fulfil their full physical, intellectual social and spiritual potentials by working in teams, learning by doing and thinking for themselves.
  • Over 200 activities are offered by Scouting around the UK, made possible by the efforts of more than 94,000 volunteer leaders. This has helped make Scouting the largest co-educational youth Movement in the country.
  • One of the challenges that the Scout Movement faces is finding more volunteers to plug the current gap.
  • Adults working in Scouting contribute in excess of 364 million hours of voluntary work each year to their local communities.
  • The number of volunteers working for Scouting is bigger than the combined workforces of the BBC (24,000) and McDonalds (67,000) put together.
  • Worldwide Scouting has 28 million members both male and female and operates in nearly every country in the world.
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News

Bivi Night

We have a Bivi Night planned for Scouts and Explorers for Friday 9th March, meeting at 8pm at Kevin’s house, 72 Kilhoyle Road. (For directions and Bivi Night Kit List see the resources page)
We will complete some outdoor activities and then have supper, after which we will walk up the hill toward the Bivi stop, where we will spend the night. In the morning we will walk back to the house and have breakfast. All youngsters will be ready to be picked up at about 8:30am.
Please confirm your attendance with Kevin or Helen, and remember to bring a signed Health & Consent form.

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News

Bivi Night Postponed

The Bivi night planned for Friday 10th February has been postponed, due to a combination of bad weather forecast and illness. The event will be rescheduled for a future date.
Scouts and Explorers are now asked to meet at the Scout Hall as usual at 7pm.

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News

Patrol Leaders Training Day

The wet weather didn’t deter the PL’s & APL’s having fun on their recent leadership and team working training day.
The day was broken down into a series of sessions each designed to help the young people gain a better understanding of team working and leadership. The day started with a scavenger hunt followed by erecting a tent indoors – this might sound easy, but since the tent was new to all the young people, and a few of the pieces were missing, it proved to be challenging enough.

 
 
 
Other sessions during the morning included the tricky bomb disposal, the awkward leader, and building an egg parachute (which was dropped off a twelve foot wall!)  I’m glad to say that all the eggs survived, although a few were seriously injured.
After lunch of Pizza & Chips, the action went indoors with activities such as The Brain. The last session of the day was the Troop Leadership Forum (TLF): this is where the young people decide on how to run their patrols, help decide the programme as well as plan future activities. This session was aided by hot chocolate fudge cake and ice cream, always a good way to round off the day!

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News

Chief Scout Visit

Overnight Survival Experience and Big Breakfast

For Scouts and Explorers there is a planned ‘Overnight Survival Experience and Big Breakfast’ with a scheduled visit from the Chief Scout, Bear Grylls. This event is planned for 18th-19th May 2012.

Total cost per person, including transport, will be no more the £25. As we need to book places early, please have your deposit (£15) with the leaders by 9th December.