Morrison's Funds BoostCongratulations to all Scouts and Explorers who took part in our bag packing day at Morrisons in April. Our first Bag Packing event of 2009 raised a total of £1768.91. These events are what allows us to continue Scouting and maintain all our equipment at such low cost. In the last year we have been able to buy 9 patrol tents, 6 hike tents, repairs to another 3 patrol tents, a chainsaw (leader's use only), hillwalking , caving, kayaking and First Aid leader training course subsidies, stoves, activity subsidies, a ceremonial Explorer Flag, gas lamps, camp tables, camp benches, bothy shelters, crampons, ice axes, safety ropes and lots more. Our most recent addition is a new generator to provide electric lighting for the bothy to replace the old permanent gas lighting as spares for that are no longer available. The next bag pack will take place in August during the summer holidays. It'll be hard to get hold of everyone at that time, so we will be looking for early commitment from everyone to be able to take part in that. Look out for details in the next 2 months.
Pioneering Camp
It was a weekend and a half, and the reservoir's in the country took a good filling if ever that was needed. But we managed to defy the rain and learn some pioneering skills - from heaving a landrover up a hill, to building a suspension bridge and an economy prison camp (pictured). Well done to all who took part. The photos are available here.
Quad Rocks
Check the gallery for another couple of photos from our trips to the quad rocks in June. We hope to pass a few boys in the climbers badge by the end of the summer.
Climbing Quad Rocks
We are running 2 evenings of climbing and abseiling at the Quad Rocks in Largs on 18th and 19th June. This is aimed at those who have started their Climbers badge earlier this year by taking part in the climbing evenings at Ibrox. Check the Forms library for details.
Happy New Year 2008
Hope you all had a good New Year and Santa brought you lots of presents. We're going to be busy over the next few weeks so get ready to return your permission slips as early as possible.
Coming up between now and the end of February we need to appoint 3 new PL's and APL's, we have Bag Packing at Morrisons, a visit to the Ibrox Climbing Centre (pictured), our Annual Free Burns Supper for the older folk in the village, a visit to our summer camp site (Great Tower) for the PL's and a chance to upgrade your Swimmer Badge and earn the Fitness Challenge at the same time at the Waterfront. Visit the Calendar for more dates. We will also welcome up to 7 new Scouts, so let's make sure we make them feel at home. Glenkin 2007
Congratulations to the 18 Scouts and 7 Explorers who took part in our Glenkin weekend 30th Nov - 2nd Dec. The weekend was a great success with activities including navigation exercises, abseiling, orienteering, crafts and even some backwoods cooking in the rain. Everyone finished off - or at least worked towards several badges over the weekend including Adventure Challenge, Creative Challenge, Outdoor Challenge, Navigator Badge and Camper Badge. Visit the Glenkin Gallery for pictures.
Outdoor Authorisations Renewed
Look out for more outdoor activities as Alan has renewed his certification for Climbing and Abseiling. Alan and Andy have renewed their authorisations to run Jacob's ladder at Everton and Jordan and Mark have gained authorisations to assist activities in Jacob's Ladder.
Dougie Vipond and Carrie on Radio Scotland
Scouts all round the world met this morning to renew their promise on the 100th anniversary of the first scout meeting on Brownsea island. While Greenock District was arriving at the Battery Park in Gourock for the occasion, Carrie was featuring on Radio Scotland's prime time show as they ran a tribute to the scout movement throughout the day.
Click the link below to listen to the full interview (4:23mins, 1.3Mb) Radio Interview |
Ben Lomond
They might look nice and dry in this photo, but they soon got much wetter and more windswept. Our contact in the Met Office made sure we knew exactly how long we had after this photo was taken before we could expect the bad weather to arrive, and as usual he was right. Despite that our 2 parties managed to get onto the plateau on Ben Lomond shortly before the final ascent in strong winds and driving rain by the time we decided we had achieved enough. Photos can be found here and a video of the 2nd party sheltering for lunch in their bothy bag can be found here.
Laser Station
Scouts and Explorers are ending the session with a zap at Laser Station in Xscape Braehead on 25th June. Boys should return their permission form on Wednesday 18th.The places are limited so they'll be allocated on a first-come first served basis.
Campfire Songbook
Ready to start preparing for Summer Camp? Keep missing the words for some of the campfire songs? A full list of old favourites and some new songs is now available in the Forms section. Feel free to start learning them now, but do not bring one of these song books to a campfire.
Orienteering
We're delighted to announce that we will be taking part in a competition day at the Clydeside Orienteering Club's Orienteering event on Saturday 1st March. The club will accept us as competitive runners or as complete beginners for training, which allows us to bring scouts of all ages. We aim to attend 3 of these events in the next couple of months to allow us to gain the Orienteer badge.
Cost is £2. If you haven't already got one, you can download a permission form at the forms page. Swimmers Badge Assessment
We have booked 2 lanes of Greenock Waterfront's Training Pool on Monday 12th November to assess everyone for their Swimmers badges. We expect most to be aiming for their Stage 1 or Stage 2 levels (click here for details of the requirements). We will also use this session for part of the Fitness Challenge badge. See the permission form for full details.
Emergency Aid Stage 4 Badge
We are running an 8 hour First Aid Badge course on Saturday 10th November at the Church Hall. The course is equivalent to an Adult First Response course.
The course will take you straight to First Aid Stage 4 level. We can only take 12 boys so will take applications on a first come first served basis. See the permission form for full details. Fire Safety Course
As Greenock prepares for another Guy Fawkes night, 17 scouts from Inverkip were welcomed onto a 4 week badge course of Fire Safety in Port Glasgow Firestation. During the sessions the boys had a great time learning from the firefighters all about how to avoid fires and the different tactics the Fire Brigade use when tackling a blaze. Thanks to Firefighter Paul Donnelly and all his willing volunteers who made the course special by laying on so many practical activities.
See a couple more photos in the gallery |