Snow? Again?

Can't you tell we're not used to snow in my parts.  The fact that it snowed again, having only snowed two months ago meant that half the Cubs didn't turn up!

Okay.  Games night it is!

We started off by playing Squirrel's Nuts.  I have no idea where the title came from.  A circle is formed and a 'squirrel' is chosen to sit in the middle.  A bunch of keys is placed behind them and they have to sit with their eyes closed (and usually covered, knowing our Cubs!).  Another Cub is then chosen to take the keys from the squirrel without making any noise, leave the centre of the circle, get around the whole circle and back to their place without being caught.  If the squirrel hears the Cub, they must chase them to get the keys back.  Whether or not the squirrel catches the Cub, the taker goes into the middle next, just to make sure everyone gets a turn.

We then played ladders, as described in the Emergency Aid post.

While the Scout helper and I ran the game, Akela and another leader found some large building bricks in the cupboard so we played some team games afterward.

The Cubs were split into two teams by picking two Cubs who then chose their teams.

The instructions were simple.  Take one brick at a time from the central pile back to your team to build the tallest free standing tower.

Then they had to try again.  The same team won.

Then they had to build a bridge with the following criteria:

• It had to be free standing
• It had to be as long as possible
• A leader had to be able to crawl underneath it

The first team won yet again as they worked well as a team.

More badges were given out at the end.  The Emergency Aid ones that we were waiting to arrive.  They were given a permission slip for this weekend's shooting competition and a letter about the bag packing and a reminder for District camp.

Missed time

Having had the joys of tonsillitis last week, I had to miss the mothers' day meeting.  Apparently they made bath bombs with a local group called The Soapy Cauldron.  I did miss them, but I wasn't well at all.  Oh well.

In the time I was off sick, I was still Scouting-ly productive by sorting out my camp blanket.  I had several badges that I'd bought that I couldn't fit on because of the way I'd previously arranged the others on the blanket.

This is what the blanket looked like before I started. I took off one or two here and there to make space for the badges I'd bought, then thought, well if I've moved that one, I might as well move all the badges I've bought from places I've been.  Then it was all the badges from camps I've been to, then all the random fun badges, then all the ones I've gained through activities like fundays and Twickenham.  Before I knew it, I'd removed more than 120 badges.

This is the pile of the badges when I'd finished removing them.  At first anyway.  I removed all the ones I thought would do then as I started sewing them back on, I kept noticing other badges and thinking, no really, that one should be with that group.  There is nothing beneath this pile, except more badges.

I arranged the badges into groups to be added back on.  My mum's old Guide badges, my old Guide badges, badges from places I've been to, badges from Scouting places I've been to including camps, random badges I've bought that I just like, badges I've been given and 'awarded' badges, examples of which I've already stated.

I still haven't finished sewing them on and there are a few of the random badges, like the flame design that are just too difficult to remove and restitch.

This is my blanket as it stands.  I've only just realised that my old necker is now covering some of the badges I've just sewn back on, but it's only loose like that.  I left my name where it was as I thought that didn't matter too much.  I left the Cub logo where it was for the same reason. The butterfly and the Beaver badges will eventually blend in with the rest of the random fun badges anyway, but I may move the Cub character.  Top left of this picture are the places I've been. Top right are my old Guide badges along with all the patrol emblems I collected at the time.  I wasn't in all of them, but I collected a lot.  Bottom left are my mum's Guide badges and the badges I've been given by various people.  The Star Wars one my brother gave me and my Akela gave me the H007 badge because that event was before I joined but she had a spare badge and asked if I'd like it.  Along the bottom are the fun badges and my old necker.

These are the badges from events I've been to or been awarded.  I've put the BP badge with them because I put the badge of Lady BP with my awarded Guide ones.  I also put my old sports award in there because I didn't know where else to put it.  They will be going at the top between the places and my Guide badges.

 These are the Scouting places I've been.  I must admit I went a bit mad with the Brownsea Island ones but I couldn't choose.  The ones from Cricket Camp, Pauline's Lodge and Itchen I bought when I was doing some training modules there.  Lyons Copse is from District camps, Ferny Crofts is where we usually go for Summer camp and Gilwell park was a Funday.  The Gosport one I'm not sure how I got but seeing as I've been there for Scouting... Lol!

So that's what I've been doing since falling ill.  Well, since before that seeing as it all started the weekend of our Cub Sleepover! I wanted to get them all sewn on in time but didn't count on how long it would take to remove them all, let alone stitch them back on!!

I typed this entry up before remembering I hadn't blogged about the sleepover.  Hopefully the sleepover post, having been published first will be first in the list.  If not, well, that's why.

Sleepover

So the weekend of 2nd/3rd March was our sleepover.

We arrived at the DHQ about 4.30 to get ready before the Cubs started arriving, but the District Scout cooking competition was still going on.  Apparently they were trying to set the record for the most amount of glass smashed in one event as when we arrived it was four separate items!! As they left they smashed another one!

The leaders set up their beds in the office and the Cubs would all sleep in the main hall.

When they arrived they were sent outside to play games.  Most of the time I left them to their own devices but eventually I called them over to play Captain's Coming.

It was very cold that evening and when I was sent outside to watch them I'd only put my jumper on over my uniform and didn't get a chance to grab my coat.  By the time I came in my back hurt from shivering!! What I didn't realise at the time was that I was coming down with tonsillitis!!

Anyway, once they'd all arrived and been organised, we got them ready to go for a nature walk.  It was dark by this point and they all insisted on taking their torches, only to be told the whole way round that they weren't allowed to turn them on or make too much noise as we were walking to look for wildlife.

We left the hut and walked along the path beside it that runs along the side of the creek.  We then went right and followed the creek along the road.  It was a beach at this point so we were able to walk along the stones.

We got to the other end and took them onto the cycle lane where foxes and badgers are frequently seen.  Not today. We saw a couple of foxes way ahead of us or behind us but we weren't able to get closer.

We retraced our steps down the cycle lane and this time took the bridge over the creek instead of walking alongside it.

Back at the DHQ there was hot dogs and hot chocolate for their supper then it was time for bed because it was actually quite late at this point.

Unfortunately their idea of bedtime was to continue walking around, talking, giggling, shining their torches... Or coming into the office to tell us! Brilliant.  We know they're being pests, just go to sleep!!

Eventually they all quietened down and went to sleep.  Unfortunately for me, I barely slept that night.

The following morning we played a few games after breakfast and gave out some badges for nights away, then they started being collected.

Once they were all gone, I went home and went back to bed!

Founder's Day

First meeting back after half term and boy could you tell! They were ever so slightly mad! Very very loud and a little slow to respond when called.

Before the beginning, one of our Cubs showed me a poster he'd made to display his evidence for his Animal Carer badge.  He'd done a brilliant job, now just has to wait for the badge to arrive.

To start, before Grand Howl, Akela gave out points for the week before half term.  The Cubs who won the SuperCub competition were awarded 5 points for their six.

After Grand Howl, our Scout helper and I ran a game of Captain's Coming while the other leaders sorted out the other activities.

Once completed we started the Founder's Day activities.  The first one involved a list of years and a list of events.  Cut out to be matched together, of course.  I'm ashamed to admit that I didn't know all of the events off the top of my head like Akela did! {Embarrassed!!} We had the basics though.  BP's birth, start of Scouts, start of Sea Scouts, start of Wolf Cubs, start of girls in Scouting, start of Girl Guides, first Jamboree, Ventures started, Explorers started, 50th anniversary of Scouting, Scouting Centenary, Beavers started, Scouting started in Gosport, first Gang Show.  I think that was all of them.

The next activity involved a selection of badges, a list of their names and a list of uniform placement.  Again, these were separated.  They had sixer stripe, our county badge, our district badge, 3 different activity badges, a staged activity badge, a challenge badge, Union Jack, membership, joining in, moving on, Chief Scout Silver, international partnership.  Again, I'm pretty sure that was all of them.  I was most impressed with the six I was with.  They seemed to be pretty good on those.

The final game was a membership badge beetle drive.  They were told about the different parts of the membership badge and the meanings.  Then they were given an instruction card and a dice.  A 6 would earn them the purple base.  5 gave them the rope.  4 gave them the bind.  3 gave them a star, which they had to roll twice.  2 gave them a plume, again needing to be rolled twice.  1 gave them the arrowhead.  The six I was with got their last star last!  But it was good fun.

After this, we fell in again.  We had a quick talk from a Cub who'd brought in his yellow belt for Karate.  He explained the rules and the order of the belts to the Pack to achieve his Martial Arts badge, then fell back in.  Again, he has to wait for his badge to arrive.

Many other badges were awarded at this point.  Challenge badges, activity badges and a couple of joining in awards.

A reminder for this weekend's sleepover was given, then the Cubs were dismissed.

Module 16

I had another meeting this evening.  This time with one of our local Nights Away assessors.  We went through what I needed to know to cover me for Module 16, Introduction to Residential Experiences.

I'm impressed at how much I already knew.  I've only been on 5 camps so far, 2 District and 3 group summer.  Obviously, there were many things I didn't know about, or that I did know but didn't realise the extent of them, like the permits available and things like that.

But anyway, that's it.  Module 16 has been done and validated too because the assessor is a TA too.  So there we have it! 15 modules now completed and 3 left to do, not including the safeguarding one that I'm booked on for next month.  I will miss one of the first grand prixs to do it, but hey ho.  I want to get this training done and dusted!!

Validation

I went to see my Training Adviser this evening to have my last three modules validated, 14, 15 and 19.  We went through all I needed to do and they were signed off! Woohoo!

But also while there, we went through module 12 too.  Fourth module signed off when I only expected to sign off three! I'm getting there.  I've also gotten in touch with the nights away permit person to get some information for module 16, too.  I will complete this training this year! I will!!

So that's another 4 down and only 4 left!

SuperCub

I was going to write an entry on Saturday with regards to the Incident Hike the Cubs took part in.  Until I realised it would have been a short and pointless entry because I was only helping out at the DHQ where they all arrived at the end, and not hiking with the group.

So, there's that mentioned.  As for Cubs this evening, it was the last of this half term.  It was an incredibly busy evening.  Not only did we have about 20 of our Cubs, but we also had some visiting Beavers who are almost ready to join and a Cub from another District and County, who joined us for the evening while visiting family.  And not only the children, but there was also about 10 additional adults there to run the SuperCub evening, including mostly SAS adults, but also the ADC Cubs.  So we had a very packed hall this evening!

After a quick opening ceremony, skipping the Grand Howl to save some time, but not flag break.  The Cubs were then split into 7 and 8 year olds, 9 year olds and 10 year olds.  There were four bases for them to do throughout the evening, where they could score points.  The table I'd decided to sit at involved a bit of where the Cub names originated to a degree.  It was a Jungle Book quiz, but some of them struggled as it was based on the book (no way!) not the Disney version (Shock Horror!!)! I had a go myself and, despite only having managed to read half of the book (I find the old language kinda hard) I actually scored 16 out of 20.  Not a bad effort if I do say so myself! It was multiple choice though.  Only a couple of the Cubs actually noticed that the answers to some of the questions were given in other questions.  What is the name of the boy in the jungle book? ... Who taught Mowgli the jungle laws? I was impressed that some of them noticed that.  Proved that not only did they have some knowledge of the book but also read things properly.

At the other tables they had a paper aeroplane contest, a map symbols game and a physical base which involved how many hops in a certain amount of time, scoring points by throwing a ball into different sized pots and a shuttle run from side to side of the hut.

In our Pack this evening we had 6 10 year olds, 6 9 year olds and 11 8 year olds so we had to split the younger Cubs into two groups.  Which was good because it meant that all bases were always being used.

It was a very good evening.  There were plenty of badges to be handed out this evening, certificates for participation, then certificates for the winners of each age group.  Though in the youngest age group there were two winners because our visiting Cub had a jointly top score so thought it only fair to award them both the certificate, though he'd be back in his own District and County before the finals.

In other Scouting news, I have a meeting with my TA on Wednesday to have my last three modules attended validated.  Currently I'm at 56%.  I wonder what these modules will take me up to!