8th Mag - Issue 4

Laser Guns, Tanks, Banter Bivvys, Bears, Loch Ness Monsters, Jaguars and even a Mallard or two!

8th Darlington Scout Group 2014 IV

In this issue:

Editors Column Page 2

PAPE”R”MAIL editor-in-chief The seat next to the 'Wheel of Fortune' stall at the Garden Fete offered a great view across Cockerton Green and all the fun which was occurring. This meant I could sit - with my arms turned upside down so the top of my already sunburnt arms could be shielded from the scorching sun – and observe many of the events. Thanks to the weeks of program selling from the Cubs, Beavers and Scouts members of the community of all ages turned out to ‘Hit the Rat’, browse the Jumble or have a few of the delicious cakes on offer.

The day started early for most members of the group as they hauled tents, stalls and equipment onto a van to be taken across to the green – where it would then be unloaded again and taken to where it needed to be.

They worked through what seemed to be like all four seasons; dodging miserable weather and embracing the sunshine when it eventually arrived.

Since the 8th is celebrating its 99 year anniversary, a huge timeline of the group, spanning the whole back wall of the promotional tent, was erected which covered important milestones in the group’s vast history. This attracted plenty of attention and made new people want to join different sections of the group.

Donald Trump, the US version of Lord Alan Sugar, once said "What separates the winners from the losers is how a person reacts to each new twist of [the garden] fete." And all the committee members, leaders, parents, Scouts, Cubs, seniors and helpers are winners this year because together they managed to raise a total of approximately £3900!

Below: The bric-a-brac stall ambushed at the Garden Fete during June

Front cover image: Cubs and Beavers playing the mug game at May Camp

Neil and the Three Bears One of our ideas to celebrate our 100th Anniversary in 2015 is to create a collage of photos of locations where our members visit, work or go on holiday – but to make it special to take ‘members’ of the Group with them. We will also make a Facebook Photo Album for everyone to see - you will be able to email us any photographs at scouts8thdarlington@outlook.com with your name and where you took one of our bears and we will post it on here.

The ‘members’ of the Group are 3 Teddy Bears – named Brigham, Lishman & Beadle. These are named after the 2 founding Scout Leaders from 1915, and the longest serving Group Leader we have had. Naturally, the Bears are in Uniform, but the children don’t have to be – its just a chance to see where the Group visits over the next 12 months! There is also the Rover bear Pawson who will be posted out to any of our Alumni who wish to see him.

The idea is that photos can then be mounted on a collage throughout the year, and the (hopefully) well-travelled Bears can then be auctioned off in 2015 to raise funds for the Group. Each bear will have a simple booking system which the section Leaders will manage – so that hopefully we can get as many of the Beavers, Cubs & Scouts taking the bears with them on their travels – as many times as they can or want to!

We are starting this event now, so that we can manage the auction of the bears in 12 months’ time – in April 2015 when we have out 100th Birthday celebration. There will be more ideas and events around our Centenary circulated later this year and obviously in 2015. If you have any ideas, or want to be involved, then please contact any of the Leaders. We will also be trying to raise funds via the ‘Travelling Teddies’ and other activities, and if you feel you can contribute in anyway, the please let us know.

Perfect Pioneering

Above: the Seniors stand proudly next to their tank

Some may look at a pile of staffs and some sisal and see, well, a pile of staffs and some sisal but, for a pioneering badge, the Seniors have looked at those things and saw cages, Rubik’s Cubes, Viking long boats and even tanks!

Once the designs were drawn carefully out on sheets of paper, work commenced building the magnificent masterpieces.

First was Ben’s tank. I’ll admit the picture on the front is a slight hyperbole of what the actual tank looked like, the real thing was a lot less extravagant visually but took just as much effort (debatably more) to construct.

A few weeks later work commenced on James’ Rubik’s Cube. This was a great example of how ideas develop because as the actual Cube shape was being constructed the Seniors unanimously decided that it would make a better cage that Rubik’s Cube. As the evening progressed and the Seniors became weary they then changed the idea again. They decided they could throw some camouflage netting over the cube and tell the leaders that it was a bird hide. They did this successfully and all five Seniors even managed to get inside of it! Unfortunately, once inside some knots weakened and staffs snapped causing the hide to collapse whilst they were inside.

This is when the Seniors changed their mind for the third, and final, time. By wrapping James up like a burrito in the netting they amazingly had made a creature which could wiggle around!

Words by Liam Pape Pictures by Tom Robinson

E

aster camp is the first camp of the year and can have unpredictable, difficult weather thus making the weekend exclusive to experienced Scouts - nine altogether.

They arrived at the Scout HQ at approximately 9 AM on Friday April 18th to pack the van with equipment they would need over the weekend. John (Scout leader) turned up happier than usual, and then left even happier because he wasn't going to camp!

The field in Boldron (near Barnard Castle) where the group were spending the weekend is the same field that they camped in for June camp the previous year how-

ever Maverick claimed it "looked less green" the second time around.

The only hiccough that occurred in erecting the site was the Tiger's tent falling down and the wind breaks around the toilet tents being deemed as useful as a jelly mallet because they blew over in the wind and wouldn't stand straight even when the air was still. Most things, though, ran smoothly all morning up to the fish finger sandwiches for dinner which Maddie described as "very nice".

During the afternoon, Scouts revised camp inspection and the standard they should be abiding by when camping, whilst the Sen-

Above: James and Maverick tackling tough terrain on their hike

iors planned a hike for the following day. The hike needed to be approximately 7 miles long and take the whole day to trek.

As the sun eased behind the horizon, and over a tea of pasta bolognese, campers watched from afar as the wild, rebellious sheep in the neighboring field majestically nutted Hannah's car. The sunset also gave campers the chance to inspect the extent of the sunburn which the blinding sun had left on their skin. Some campers were lucky enough to have turned a crispy bacon tone however, tragically, some campers had turned the shade of red

Page 5 Easter Camp

Left to right: The figure head of the Senior’s tent (Nessy), the Seniors on their hike, and Neil and Lishman

which John N would declare bacon perfectly fried at.

Ultimate Frisbee was the evening activity. The group was split into two teams and needed to throw the Frisbee into the other team's small goal before of one of Neil's

After inspection, whilst the Scouts wood collected, practiced fire lighting and had a delicious lunch of beans and toast, the three Seniors hiked 7.5 miles from the campsite to Barnard Castle via Egglestone Abbey and then back through a maze of

campers watched from afar as the wild, rebellious sheep majestically nutted Hannah's car iconic, unique, inimitable quizzes in the Marquee which the Tigers managed to win! One point off were the Seniors in second place, the Swifts in third and the leaders in an abysmal 4th place.

Friday night was uncomfortably cold with temperatures reaching as low as –2°C. Many of the Scouts, Seniors and leaders blamed the conditions for their lack of sleep that night. Despite this, the freezing temperatures had left some admirable, glistening scenes around the camp site.

After a quick wash, where campers littered themselves down the banks of the beck, and a classic bacon and egg sandwich for breakfast, an inspection took place where the PLs were taken round with the leaders and informed about what they were doing right and what areas they need to get their patrol to improve in.

fields back to camp. The weather was so pleasant James S wasn't even fazed after he fell in mud, a bog and the river!

Saturday evening played host to a game of cricket where both teams managed to score over a century each and a camp fire. Campers sung in fine tune at the top of their voices to all of their favorite campfire songs. In between songs, the Scouts and Seniors even performed a stunt each which they had prepared earlier. Of course, since it was Easter, lots of the stunts involved the Pope. Even

never will you have heard of it raining potatoes. However that is exactly what happened, bizarrely, in the Senior’s tent. The three boys woke up soaked in a small puddle of spuds!

After the Seniors had recovered from their first-hand experience of divine intervention they joined the Scouts in cooking a nevertried-before breakfast of bacon omelettes. In theory, these sounded good however the reality was scrambled egg with diced bacon grill and vegetables. Aesthetically the final product didn't look great however they tasted amazing and left campers craving more.

To mark Easter Sunday, there was then a ‘Scout's own’ service in the marquee which included hymns, prayers and stories before Easter eggs were handed out.

This was followed by a game of rounders which almost all of the campers played. The final score was 15-0.

what can only be described as an ‘Easter miracle’ happened in the Senior’s tent!

Lishman, the bear, belted out some songs and enjoyed some cold hot cross buns for supper.

That night, what can only be described as an ‘Easter miracle’ happened. You may have heard of it ‘raining cats and dogs’ however

Exhausted, the campers then had a quick dinner and then started taking down the site so the field could be restored to how it was before they arrived.

May Camp Page 6

Photography by Pat McMorris

Since 1948 the 8th Darlington Scout Group have been camping at Hunger Hill farm near Middleton St. George however the field is prone to flooding and over the past couple of years the weather at May camp has been far from adequate. It was so bad last year the camp was called off by the first morning and everyone returned to the Scout HQ. So, this year, the leaders moved May camp to a new field near Croft-onTees.

they had a pasty for supper and headed off to bed.

The rumble of nearby On the first evening, the friendly train and nervous estate manager was kind enough to carry all of the equipment and glances up the hill at personal kit down to the camp the paper-white skies site in his trailer since the tall, wet grass made it impossible for marked the descent of the van to get anywhere close.

Meanwhile, the farmer’s dog was 28 Cubs and Beavers insane enough to be charging around the field in the abysmal conditions and thrashing rain when it could have been relaxing at home.

Thanks to the weather, the camp took longer than normal to erect.

Once Scouts had their tents put up and made a start on their kitchens they didn’t have much motivation to do anything else, so

The next morning, with T minus two hours until the Cubs and Beavers arrived, the Scouts and Seniors needed to wash, wood collect, cook bacon sandwiches, wash up and finish final touches to camp which they didn’t have time to do previous night. During breakfast, Pat’s peculiar obsession with his red plate came to light.

The rumble of nearby train and nervous glances up the hill at the paper-white skies marked the descent of 28 Cubs and Beavers into camp. On arrival, leader-incharge, Alec introduced the different sections of the group and explained what was on the agenda for the day. The visitors started by being split into three teams: James’ Jaguars, Liam’s Loch-ness Monsters and Maverick’s Mallards. This was soon followed by relay races, treasure hunts and a game of ‘Secret Stalker’ whilst Scouts prepared a lunch of sausage sandwiches and beans.

Through the afternoon, Beavers and Cubs carefully dodged intermittent showers. They started off in the woods for a string trail guided by the Seniors and leaders, and then retreated into a tent to do some colouring in whilst the rain thrashed against the walls.

Page 7 May Camp

When the rain finally got lighter, the visitors had a whale of a time playing ‘the mug game’, ‘three-way football’ and tug of war before finally setting off home - filthy and soaked.

Concurrently, the Scouts wood collected and procrastinated at – what became known as – the ‘banter bivvy’ whilst the Seniors, after hours of tantalising and nerveracking waiting, finally managed to steal Pat’s plate!

For dinner that evening there was Pasta Bolognese followed by a game of Relivo where Scouts and Seniors slipped around the huge hilly field.

The game was great fun and everyone was very disappointed that they only got to play one round however after so many slips and falls they weren’t sure their bodies could take any more.

Neil’s quiz that evening included ladles full of fascinating information. For example, did you know that Roald Dahl wrote 17 Children’s novels and the game Monopoly contains 22 streets? Primula cheese and Ritz crackers were dished up for supper, then “bed”.

On Sunday morning, due to drenched kindling, the morning routine took longer than usual however it wasn’t too long until eggy bread was toasting and sausages were frying over the fire. Inspection swiftly followed breakfast which the girl’s patrol won. The rest of the day was then spent slowly packing camp away.

Above Descending: Scouts letting the banter flow at the ‘Banter Bivvy’, Cubs lining up for flag break, losing their way: Cubs on the string trail

‘Lively’ is the single word that Scout leader Mark described May camp and he certainly wasn’t wrong. The camp at Croft was many Scouts first camp and it had aggressive and unpredictable weather which everyone dealt with optimistically and always with a spring in their step. Alec described it best just before the flag was taken down for the final time: “If you can survive a camp like this, you can survive any camp.”

'Twas a week before Christmas Just before Christmas, it was the annual Christmas carol service where, once again, people with a link to the group turned out in force for the festive fun. As per usual, between carols, Scout leader, Mark read extracts from the traditional nativity. This year a modern twist of the classic story had been submitted to the leaders by a senior who was way too excited for Christmas. In this ‘updated’ nativity knocked-up Mary lived in Middlesbrough and needed to make the long journey to Newcastle with her husband to purchase a brand new iPhone. Unfortunately, this story wasn’t read out since it lacked appropriateness.

All in all, the evening was once again a success which got people of all ages excited for Santa’s visit – whether it was the decorated den which could have easily have been mistaken for Santa’s grotto or the mince pies and Christmas cake which was available for binging on after the hearty singing – there is something about the 8th’s Christmas Carol Concert which would have even made Scrooge crack a smile.

Cubs visit Planet Leisure

Information For more recent reports, pictures, and videos from camps and other group events visit our website: www.8scoutlog. blogspot.com

On Tuesday 11th February 2014 the Squirrel cub pack and the Panther cub pack had an evening blasting each other with rays from laser guns at Planet Leisure.

Each Cub was equipped with a laser gun and a helmet which monitored if they were shooting or being shot at. Once killed, Cubs needed to return to the start to regain their health by pressing a big green button.

Statistics could then be compared at the end to see who was the best person in combat.

Unfortunately, Cubs wised up to how the system worked and to avoid getting shot, they ran around shouting either “I’m on your team” or “I’m already dead” disregarding if that was the truth or not.

If nothing else, the evening allowed Cubs to burn off steam as they darted around the arena and they undoubtedly had a great time.

"They keep saying that sea levels are rising an all this. It's nowt to do with the icebergs melting, it's because there's too many fish in it.

Get rid of some of the fish and the water will drop. Simple. Basic science." ~ Karl Pilkington

You can find the 8th Darlington Scout Group on Facebook: www.facebook.com /8thDarlingtonScouts

Or email the group: scouts8thdarlington @outlook.com