1st Blackwater Valley B-P Scout Group
Tonight, the Seniors practiced their knife skills, prepping wood for a small fire which they built at the end of the evening. These skills are really important to repeat as often as possible and allow the Seniors to become confident with using blades. This then makes work on camp much easier. We also had a special visitor to share the evening with!
This week, our Scouts revised the use of the ‘Jenga tower’ method of fire building to create a wonderful ember base to do some cooking. Each Scout made their own skewer of assortments of meat and vegetables to cook.
Things turned spooky this week as Beavers undertook pumpkin carving for Halloween. I am sure you will agree, there were some fantastic designs!
First night back and the Beavers had a relaxing evening building and cooking on an open fire. A great evening eating hot dogs and marshmallows!
Route planning is a vital part of a successful hike. There is no better way than to learn how to read OS maps, to fill out a route card, and then get out and start hiking!
Being able to light fire starts with preparing the wood you plan to burn, failing to understanding the different stages of sizing material will result in failing to light it. We can only learn this skill through practice.
Seniors decided to test our coalman cookers as summer camp is around the corner. All our kit requires constant maintenance, and it is important the scouts get to experience taking it apart and servicing.
With summer camp hurtling towards us, there is never a better time to remind ourselves how to construct the various canvases we use on our camps. From dining shelters to patrol tents. Every canvas has its quirks!
Fire is incredibly important to scouting. It is how we cook and how we keep warm. But there is an art to preparing and building a fire that will light easy and last for the time we need. These are skills best taught when you don’t need them, so when you do, nothing is new!
All our leaders regularly undertake training. This weekend it was Scout and Senior Scout leaders who were undertaking their second part of their Safety In The Hills training. Our GSM, who is a certified mountain leader, led this course and it covered the intricacies of hill walking for groups. It is an assessed course over two weekends. The first weekend is based on route planning and safety, the second weekend is undertaking the route and dynamically assessing the environment.
