Scouts Events 2011

Jester Festival, Fortune Green, 2nd/3rd July 2011

Over the weekend of 2nd July/3rd July the Diehards showed off their culinary skills and ran a Burger and Sausage Stall at Fortune Greens Jester Festival.

  

It turned out to be two very long hard days of work for all involved but was enjoyed by all participants. On the menu were Texan Burgers, with or without cheese, Lincolnshire and Cumberland Sausages in buns and in the mornings Bacon Butties.

  

Food was flying out the door (well tent) with the busy lunch hours being particularly stretching for everyone. Plenty of interest in the Scout troop was drummed up and as a direct result we have had two potential additional Diehards come and try us out.

Over the course of the weekend the 8th did an absolutely tremendous job selling over: 250 burgers, 200 sausages, 100 bacon butties and over 250 soft drinks. We also went through 250 slices of cheese, 18 kg of chopped onions (yes we chopped them ourselves) and 3 litres of Tommy K (ketchup).

  

In the process we also managed to destroy one brand new wooden table, warp a paella pan and reduce a griddle pan to scrap!!!
Despite this we still managed to generate takings of over £1250 which equated to a profit of over £800. Incredible effort all round!!

Well done to everybody who took part!!!

Chris Larkin-Scout Leader.




Scouts Crime Prevention Patrol-Hard Rock Calling Festival-Hyde Park 26/6/11 
 

 

On a very warm Sunday morning Tom and Cory took the scouts over to Hyde Park police station where the Metropolitan Police had invited

us to help out with a music festival Crime Prevention Patrol.

After a briefing with the police officers on what to do and who to look out for, there was just enough time to meet one of the police horses who had just been out on patrol, before heading over to the festival entrance.



The scouts had 303 leaflets to hand out, and after their initial shyness they interacted well with the public and gave out plenty of advice to those going into the festival. The police were very thankful for the scouts' help, and their efforts were a great start to completing the Community Challenge Award.

Tom-Leader.



Scouts May Open Field Camp 2011 (Chesham)


The 8th St Marylebone Scout Troop were incredibly lucky with the weather for their first extended May Camp at Chesham which they attended with the 2nd Hemel Hempstead Scouts. It was a fantastic camp and all in attendance appeared to have a memorable experience.

We thought it would be a good idea to capture the thoughts of those who attended whilst they were still fresh in their minds so at our first meeting back following the camp we asked the Scouts to provide quotes on what they enjoyed the most and in some cases what they didn't like, which we have included below along with some photos that have captured the atmosphere perfectly!!!

"I loved it, the Night Op was awesome, fire-fun, Altogether I had so much fun and it was AMAZING!! (Abby)



"I really liked the May Camp, especially Night Ops. It was AWESOME!! ZOMBIES!!! (Carl)



"I enjoyed developing my Cooking Skills" (Eva)



"I enjoyed the Zip Wire, I enjoyed winning the awards, I enjoyed May camp!!  I did not enjoychopping down trees because I believe it is an environmental disaster of epic proportions" (Hannah)



"I liked the Zip Wire, sleeping, Bacon, Night Ops" (Lucy)



"I enjoyed May Camp because we had so many activities and my favourite was the Night Op-it was EPIC!!! (Mateo)



"I liked going down the Zip Wire, I enjoyed the Camp Fire, I loved the Night Op because it was exciting, I liked sleeping because I got tired and it was the only peace and quiet I got" (Fran)



"I enjoyed developing my Cooking Skills-Camp was EPIC!!!" (Freddie)  



"I enjoyed being scared at Night Ops, I enjoyed Zak on toilet Duty-LOL!!! I enjoyed cooking a curry and bacon and sausages. Zip Wire-Aaah!!! I didn't not like anything" (Daniel)



and finally, keeping it simple and succinct:

"I enjoyed May Camp" (Cameron)

Our sincerest thanks to all of the Leaders and indeed Junior Leaders who gave up their time and made this such an enjoyable Camp for all involved.                 

(Nigel Hart)

 


Scouts Christmas Cheer 2010

A really well supported Carol Singing by the Beavers, Cubs & Scouts backed by their parents & Leaders saw us raise
a fantastic £156.00 for St. Martins, £138.00 for one hours singing in Waitrose & £18.00 raised at the Warwick Castle pub,
(although by then my throat was a little rough).

On the strength of this I think we will carry out a few more fund raising activities next year.
It's great for all the Group Sections to be brought together every now and then to work towards one goal.
It is also a real boost to promote our Group & Scouting in the community.

I would like to extend my sincerest thanks to the Waitrose Management Team for allowing us to disrupt one of their
evenings & bring a smile to some of their patrons. I'm sure St. Martins will be overjoyed as well.




The Scouts Weekend Indoor Camp

The Weekend Indoor Camp at Branchet Lodge, Gilwell Park on 
29th/31st October was a roaring success and was attended by Beavers, Cubs and Scouts of the 8th.

On Saturday we had an 'open day' and among the guests was one of our Old Scouts (Nigel Hart) who was so impressed by what he and his family saw that he felt compelled to put pen to paper and write a review of his day with us.

"As a former Cub, Scout and Old Boy of the 8th, I took my two youngest daughter's along to Gilwell on a windswept and wet Saturday afternoon to see what all the fuss was about.

We arrived shortly after 12:30pm and immediately hooked up with Cliff, Gaff, Chris and some of the other ever enthusiastic Cub/Scout attendees.

Meanwhile, the "sensible" Beavers opted to stay indoors for some more sensible indoor activities with the other Leaders.  

We were split into two activity groups and first up for us was the downhill grass-sledding. On a nice dry day I'm sure that we would have been able to "ride like the wind".
However, today being wet and windy the sleds were slow and cumbersome, but a good time was still had by one and all and we had some laughs along the way too!!!
 

Next up we went over to the revolving climbing wall which we all agreed was a lot of fun. With an adjustable speed and cruel tilting controls, we did this in pairs and even I had a go too, beating Gaff into second place!! (Yay!!!!) 

Cody was particularly good at this activity and revelled in making the boys look silly by comparison!!! 
 

After a brief look in the shop to shelter from the rain we did some pioneering which the Scouts had started the day before. The idea was to build a tower that could support the weight of all participants. Despite there being a lack of right angles anywhere on it's superstructure, we eventually got it supported with the aid of two nearby trees (cheating in other words) and I took a quick picture of us all aboard before it came tumbling down again!!!!  (Tim-berrrr!!!!!!)
 

Being Halloween Weekend, the next task on the agenda was pumpkin carving courtesy of another guest Mike Kilcooley, which enabled all parts of the Group to work together indoors. This was great fun and some of the carvings were incredibly creative and I must
admit, very scary too!!!!! (Eeeek!!!) A prize was later presented by Cliff for the pumpkin which received most votes.
 

By now it was about 5 o'clock so following some important firelighting training for the Beavers, Cubs & Scouts using just flint, cotton wool (wall-Gaff?) and vaseline, we were all feeling a little peckish.

Out came the mini gas stoves and now it was time for the Scouts culinary skills
to be tested as they prepared a meal of chilli.

Meanwhile, the Beavers and Cubs went for a safer bet and were treated to Leader,
Pam Eason's home made Shepherd's Pie (which I had later on too-yumbo!!!)
 

Decking ourselves out in warmer clothes as darkness dawned, it was time for a wide game involving glo-sticks and a lot of running around with torches, which was great fun.
All members of the Group took part and my girls were particularly enthusiastic about this challenge.  By now I was flagging so I took a break and cleaned up whilst they played the "Postman Game" which was also done with torches in the dark etc.
A good time was certainly had by all!!!!

We were having so much fun that I could not believe how quickly the time had flown and everybody came indoors again at around 9pm for some much needed hot chocolate and crisps!!! An orderly queue was formed and we all chatted in the canteen area about the day's events. We had certainly squeezed in a lot of fun and educational activities that's for sure!!!

Finally, we had a hilarious game of "Wrap The Mummy" in team's, where you nominated a mnember of your team to be 'The Mummy' and wrapped them up in toilet roll against the clock. Of course, my Team won-well done team!!!
 

At about half-ten we said our farewell's and set off for home leaving the others to return to their dorm's etc.  Within 5 mins of getting into the car my girls (Emily 8 and Abby 11) were fast asleep, having exhausrted themselves good and proper as they say. 

It was a truly marvellous experience and I would like to thank Cliff and all his Leader's for making us feel so welcome on the day. 

It made me realise what a wonderful education and commararderie the Scouting experience can give you at any age, even for an old timer like me!!!

I feel very priviliged to still be associated with such a wondeful Group of people.
The 8th are now thriving again!!!  Long may you reign!!!!!!"      

(Nigel Hart, Buffalo Patrol, Aged 47 and a half)