NW Scouters’ Club: Minutes
October 11, 2005

11th Kitchener Scout Troop

Ted Claxton

30th Kitchener Scout Troop

John McCuish

9th Waterloo Scout Troop

John Bain

21st Waterloo Scout Troop

Liam Morland

Resource Persons

Tony Skells

Regrets

• Phil Schmidt, 1st Waterloo Scout Troop
• Jay Treacy, 21st Waterloo Scout Troop
• Viet Truong, 11th Kitchener Scout Troop
• Nick Ebner, Scouter-at-Large

Liam opened the meeting at 19:10.

Scouters discussed the Spring Camporee. Karaoke was popular in past years and requested by several Scouts for this year. One suggested theme is Monty Python with such activities are The Bridge of Death, Find the Shrubbery, Toss the Holy Hand Grenade, and Fechez la Vache. Some people felt that many Scouts would not know enough about Monty Python. A decision about the theme will be made at the next meeting.

Scouters discussed possible activities for a cooking/food theme, some of which need to be fleshed out:

• Flap-jack relay: In a race, Scouts build a fire, make batter, and cook a pancake. Each Scout runs with the frying pan to a marker, flips the pancake, and runs back. Once all have gone, the patrol eats the pancake.
• Cooking an egg or hot dog: Cooking race with fire or stove.
• Cooking on a hot rock.
• Map and compass event to find a yummy treasure.
• Craft station to make stoves from food cans and use them.
• Cocktail Hour: Scouts mix drinks from a variety of juices, perhaps at the karaoke event.
• Dutch oven cooking.
• Bannock on a stick / snake bread.
• Galloping Gourmet: Scouts cook something while running.

About 20 Scouts attended for training. In addition, several older Scouts and about a dozen Scouters were present to teach the new Scouts. A wide game did not take place since no one had volunteered to arrange one. The turnout for the Club meeting preceding the event was thin. A meeting in late August, further in advance of the event, might work better next year.

Scouters discussed the PL Workshop, including some ideas for food-related programs:

• Mystery Lunch: Each Scout is given an identical-looking brown bag lunch. Each bag contains a part of a complete meal, such as a bunch of bread or a block of cheese. The patrol must share to create a balanced meal. Afterwards, Scouts reflect on the leadership that occurred during the activity.
• Saturday Banquet: Each patrol makes part of Saturday dinner. The Court-of-Honour assigns each patrol a food category, such as desert or salad. On Saturday morning, each patrol plans what they want to make. A Scouter purchases the ingredients during the day, perhaps at the grocery store in nearby Acton.

Scouters should register their Scouts soon since 16 Scouts are needed to make the event financially viable. Ted, Pierre Michiels, Ken Arnett, Mark Wilson, and John McCuish have indicated that they would like to help with the event.

Scouters discussed possible routes for the Fall Hike. The route from Rattlesnake Point Conservation Area to Manitou Scout Camp is between 8.4 km and 9.1 km, depending on the side trails used.

The route from Manitou Scout Camp to Mount Nemo Scout Camp is 14.5 km or 16.0 km. If hiked in this direction, the potential savings of 1.5 km happens near the end. A rough section of the trail is substituted with a gravel road. This might be welcome to Scouts for whom the hike is challenging. Scouters had a preference for the Mount Nemo route. Ted will see about making a booking.

The Owen Sound Winter Camporee is January 27-29, 2006. 21st Waterloo plans to return to defend their two trophies: Knot Tying and Best Campsite.

Scouters discussed the various opportunities for troop summer camps. Local troops often join together for camps at Haliburton Scout Reserve or attend the Everton Summer Camp.

Ted has been involved with the Everton Summer Camp for 12 years. Ted described the current situation with the Everton Summer Camp. The camp used to be run by North Waterloo District. With the restructuring, Ted has been left with whole responsibility. This creates a single point of failure and doesn't sufficiently involve Scouters in planning their troop's summer program. Ted would like to see the Everton Summer Camp evolve into a larger program with more people involved, particularly the Club. The advantage of the Everton Summer Camp is that its program and quartermaster arrangements are more structured, thereby requiring less planning on the part of the individual troops. Ted would like to discuss theme and program matters at the next meeting to get things rolling for the 2006 season.

Scouters had a Round Table about program ideas.

Provincial flags

Post a map of Canada without provincial labels and a chart of unlabelled provincial flags. At the call of the name of a province, Scouts must identify the flag and location on the map. This is done as a relay by patrol.

Knots

Keep knots fun and fast. Demonstrate the knot and have Scouts that know it better help the others. Occasionally use two-bite brownies or other treats for encouragement. Conduct knot relays where each person must add a knot without repeating. This requires some patrol planning to ensure that every person will know a knot not already added.

Catapults

Using Scout staves (dowels available at lumber stores) and a bike inner-tube, Scouts in half-patrol groups lash a small catapult which is used to shoot balls of newspaper and masking tape at each other. Old inner-tubes are available free at the University of Waterloo Bike Centre.

Staff Catch

Scouts toss a Scout staff back and forth. They must catch and throw with one hand. Scouts step back for each successful pass and forward for each unsuccessful one. The winner is the pair furthest apart at the end of a time period or the pair that gets a certain distance apart first. Try it requiring left handed catch.

Relays

Relays are an active way of reinforcing what has been taught. They can be used for almost anything: flags, knots, etc.

Chair Race

Each patrol stands on a row of chairs, just enough to fit the patrol, plus one additional chair. Without touching the ground, the patrols race across the room by passing the one extra chair along the line and moving forward.

The meeting was adjourned at 20:40. The next meeting will be Tuesday, January 10, 2006 at North Waterloo Scout House.

—Minutes prepared by Liam Morland.