scout over matter

hey cool!

brain powered Bert4e??? The next FLL theme is body matters which is about fusing technology with our body to enhance our potential... we could mind control Bert4e!?

Long Tall Sally

Some people went to great lengths to see the Boreatton Drum Corps at the West Felton Carnival!

and others managed to get front row seats.


Well done everyone. I told you it was a long march didn't I!!!

Be afraid!

Be very afraid!

The cub leaders have made our nice tatty scout hut immaculate!!! Ulp!

They aren't as scary as beaver leaders, but still pretty scary so don't even think about setting foot in the hut without polishing your shoes and brushing your teeth!!!

OK I exaggerate, but let's try and keep it nice, and a big thanks to cub leaders for sorting our hut - great work guys!

Hey look - it looks like I did all the work - I'm the only one in the overalls!

...what you wanna do...

Good end to the term! We had thought that we would get lots of planning done but the sun shone, smoke drifted across my yard from the BBQ and bonfire, the scouts eat unlimited icecreams and feasted at the fountain of chocolate, shot rifles, raced karts, crashed and mended them and just hung out in cool shades (very cool and orange!) so maybe we'll do the planning on a rainy day - thats a much better plan isn't it!

It was good to finally (FINALLY!) invest one of our old scouts too - we normally do this quite formally, but I quite liked the investiture in the yard with a pall of smoke drifting across tha scene - nicely anarchic I thought...

So - have a good summer if I don't see you! There will be some more stuff to do so keep you eye on the blog! Let me know if you have any good ideas for the prog! or if you just think of something good to do!

Do everything you wanna do!

Do you know who it is yet?

OK I promised the West Felton Carnival was being opened by a TV presenter....
here he is...
See you on Sunday at 1-00pm at the Puch Bowl pub....
Drums Ready

...of term!

This is!!!

Our last meeting of term (apart from the other stuff that is...) on Saturday 17 July at Leaton Hall 2pm -6pm for Bar-b-que and guns (air rifle taster) and pioneering and planning and organising...

I hope we will reorganise our patrols and set plans in motion for patrol camps, construct towering edifices, shoot targets with guns and bows and arrows, muck about, think about our robotic friends,

pick our preferences for caving and climbing, eat! chill (not literally as it's bound to be nice and sunny)...

(If you want to shoot targets bring a shooting form for the day (please fill in the date! it's towards the end of the link page))

Yr Wyddfa

(Scouts were feeling Welsh...)

It was clear on the hill (OK mountain) (we saw Eire from the top!) and at last I managed to get a bunch of new Boreatton Scouts out with the SSGMG! Hurrah!

Here we are posing near the top... - nice pose!

...and here's the scout that climbed more times his height than anyone else in England and Wales that day! (its one of those flea jumping kinda facts...)

Whilst some object to the monstrous carbunkle of a cafe at the summit, some scouts were clearly fascinated by it and eager to explore its delights ("what nice loos! how nice and convenient! what splendidly nice souvenier badges!!!")

...and finally, as always, some Boreatton scouts found a way to cool down at the end of the hike whilst all the rest of the SSGMG relaxed at the side and looked on...

Good day in the hills and well done to everyone on a big hike - the Watkin path starts low so there's a big climb!

(more pics in a public photo album!)

de-ne-ne-ne-ne-ne-neeerrrrrrrr...

My computer was doing weird stuff and wouldn't publish the movie,... but then it did...! Hey ho- that's the way it goes some days....
Great speedy racey stuff on Friday! wooo - I chased down Laurie, but then the scarey scout (I'll just call her H ) hussled me off the track into the gravel trap and I span off!!! Grrrrrr!!!!
Here's some pics of us on the day - the best racers go forward as Boreatton's team for the County Kart racing championship! Go Boreatton!!! Wooo Hooo!!!!

Maths made easy?

We'll we all saw a few tricks to make maths easier but if you're like me you'll have forgotten them.

Here we are with the great man himself

He's a trick that Johnny Ball didn't show you...
Russian Multiplication
Of course it relies on binary again.

The book he was talking about was 'The Rational Optimist' You can find it on Amazon here...
Rational-Optimist-How-Prosperity-Evolves
but it's £10-50 so you'd better get the school library to order it!

Johnny Ball Explaining the maths behind the pyramid design

Oh NO! It's Justin Bieber!

OK but the track title at least was appropriate!

We had a visit from our DC (just checking up on us!) last meeting and, fortunately, everyone was very well behaved (how bizare!) and we went to the high ropes to show him how intrepid we all are! (He was a wimp and did the photography... Cop out!)

It's VERY high up and so all of us got to face our own individual challenges, and support each other in pushing our limits - well done everyone! especially those that took a look into their abyss from the top of the tower and realised that their limit was pushed quite far enough this time...! Here's some pics and cheesey music... I started out trying to sync the track and the pics but then ran out of time and just bundled all the pics into the movie...

Taking the flag

Chequered that is...

We're obviously too fast for the cubs so we are karting by ourselves again, but our DC mentioned possible scout karting competitions so we need to keep our hand in! Watch where you're going No. 12! Just take your racing line!!!

We plan to race on Friday evening 6pm-8pm, with a BBQ for spectators on the roof as usual - that means we need to meet at the track by 5:45pm so we can have the first heat underway asap!

I'm going to have to make a charge for this one (we did the Laserquest last week out of subs...), but will subsidise scouts so that the cost will be £10 per scout (bargain!!!) inclusive of all racing, prizes (if you win one!) and nosh. As we are doing this on a Friday, we are a bit limited on time/numbers so I need to know who is coming as soon as possible. We generally try and run this as a lads-n-dads event so the scouts can beat their dads (or mums) so let me know if you want to join your scout on the track - or if you can help us run the BBQ (so there's jobs for dads and mums). I hope we will be able to accomodate all scouts and parents, but we are quite constrained on numbers and I will of course give priority to scouts racing.

Parents, the consent form for the activity is a useful form (also attached below) which I will need to have before I allow them into a kart. I will have to sign their disclaimer to say that YOU accept all risk associated with the motor sport they are taking part in, and take your consent form as my authority to do so on your behalf (the venue and scout insurance policies will not apply). One year when we went, there was a crash and two of them (a scout and a cub) were thrown from their karts: no-one was seriously hurt, but it shows that motor sports are not without risk. This year, after the cub's event, one of the parents was sporting a cut above the eye where he got hit by part of the barriers... This all sounds very scary, but I am happy that the activity is run properly the other leaders and I are happy that it is safe to let our own kids take part. They have a great time!
The activity will be run by the Rednal Kart Centre who can be contacted on 07989 471307 or see http://www.rednalkarting.co.uk/home.php.

Scouts on top!

We are going to the top on Sunday 11 July - hurrah!

We did this a couple of years ago (she hasn't changed has she?) and had a great day on Snowdon along the Watkin path - baking hot and sunny at the bottom and freezy cold and stormy on the top. We'll probably do the same route 'cos the swimming pool at the bottom was very nice at the end of the day!

I've negotiated with the SSGMG to allow those who had good excuses from the Intro Hike to be allowed along, so long as they promise to eat a double breakfast and promise not to winge!

Ring me to book your place and discuss kit asap. Don't forget to bring a consent form

Here's the info...

Making a splash

I know its a while ago, but here are a couple of pics from raftbuilding on the new raftbuilding lake...

First raft ready!

... and afloat, BATTLESTATIONS! Repel Boarders!

... uh oh! one of our rafts is in trouble... it must be that U-boat that's been hunting us down...

Scout going...

Scout GONE!

Splush!