Woggleknot.com – An Explorer Scout's Blog

This post is quite late because I haven’t really had much time this week. I’ve got loads of coursework that needed to get done and I’ve been revising for a maths exam I have next week. Also, I AM NOW SIXTEEN! It was my birthday on Wednesday  so I didn’t bother blogging then either!

Anyway, last weekend I was at Bradley Wood as a young leader to help out at this years winter camp. These camps are very fun and I enjoyed the last one in 2008 back when I was in scouts. The camp was a bit pricey at £30 for scouts (I only had to pay £5! Leader’s price ) but it was easy to see why – so many things were going on, and some things needed to be hired – such as outdoor laser tag and arcade game machines.

When I got there all the scouts were scattered about the site doing activities so there wasn’t really much to do. So I just wandered around and did a few activities for a bit too! I stayed at the shooting range for quite a while (I’m not very good, but I really like shooting) and I watched a few groups of people play laser tag outside on the field.

However, on the second day the camp had to be cancelled because of the snow – people were having difficulties getting vehicles and equipment off the site so we had to abandon our tents, put on our rucksacks and walk to a nearby road. It’s kind of funny when you think about it – the winter camp was cancelled because of winter weather!

I’ve been priviliged enough to get my hands on a copy of a new book coming out next month: “Scouting Skills: A Complete Guide”. It contains numerous skills that are worthwhile for any scout to learn.

On the front cover the book claims to contain “Everything you need to know for your outdoor adventures”, and it really does. It has so much information crammed into it, and it is all presented in interesting ways – the book is full of diagrams and photographs. Great lengths have been taken to make sure the reader does not become bored.

Every skill mentioned in the book is actually useful and many examples of use are given – in the foreword, UK Chief Scout Bear Grylls writes: “We won’t bore you with the unnecessaries. When we show you knots, we’ll only show you the most useful”. It is worthwhile mastering as many skills as you can – you will soon find that they will become very helpfull within your scouting experiences!

It will prepare you for various outdoor activities – from short day-hikes to camps lasting weeks. And because there are so many things you can do outdoors, there is a broad spectrum of skills you can learn. This book is exremely useful for anybody planning an expedition (such as a D of E expedition) or planning to camp out in the wild. For hiking, there are instructions on how to navigate using a map and a compass, lists of equipment you might need and there are plenty of tips on how to appreciate and care for the outdoors. There are also plenty of ideas that will make campsite life much more pleasant and fun – for example, there are many examples of pioneering structures you could build, from pot holders to bridges!

The book also contains information on basic first aid for many different injuries and emergencies, such as burns, severe bleeding and choking. These skills are essential for anybody who goes hiking or camping out in the wild because there is potentially a lot of risk involved – throughout the book there many warnings of risks involved with specific activities, and these warnings are in white boxes with red outlines to make sure they stand out.

My favourite chapter in the book has to be the one about firebuilding and cooking. I want to get good at building fires and there is one particular idea that’s making me want to go camping – CAMPFIRE SAUSAGE ROLLS:

Cook sausages on a stick. Make camp bread dough and wrap it around the cooked sausages then toast slowly over the fire – campfire sausage rolls.

It would take a long time to go through all the skills in the book so my only suggestion would be to buy the book, read it and get out there and try it! It will be released next month by Random House Children’s Books, so look out for it!

You can pre-order the book from these websites for around £10:
Amazon
Scout Shops

A few other people with scouting themed blogs have also recieved a copy of the book – make sure you visit Jabbering All Day Long and Nick’s Ramblings – both are excellent blogs!

Well I’ve been getting quite a lot of exercise over the last few days with my explorer unit. On Sunday we went for a day hike somewhere around Denby dale. It wasn’t that strenuous and It was more like a leisurely stroll. The main focus on the hike was to allow people to improve their navigational skills with the map – I think some people improved.

Tonight was brilliant fun too! I just got back from trampolining at the sports centre and I feel kind of dizzy. I’ve done trampolining at school and the trampolines aren’t very good there so it took a while getting used to the ones at the sports centre because they’re a lot bouncier.  I think by the end of the night I’d improved a bit.

And because I haven’t officially started my D of E physical recreation yet, I might do trampolining instead. Just a thought…

My scout group has a great new website – so click here to check it out!

Tonight the scouts were practising their pioneering skills. We began the night by teaching the scouts how to do a “Japanese Square Lashing”. After letting them practise for a little while we constructed two tripods, then allowed the scouts to practise their new skill by adding horizontal supports to the tripods. We then put a pole across the top of the tripods.

We discussed what the structure could be used for and the scouts came up with these ideas:

• A gateway
• A Shelter
• A swing

Before tonight I didn’t know how to construct tripods, so I’ve also learnt something new! I’m sure it will help with future pioneering projects.

I went on the Huddersfield North Jamboree selection weekend hoping to get a place. And failed.  So I’m absolutely gutted. Urban Dictionary Definition for gutted:

Gutted:

1) Bad luck
2) Shame
3) Ouch

Eleven of us went, but there were only three places. They said I was too shy, so I’m gonna work on becoming more confident before the county selection . There’s going to be plenty more people there, so I’ll just make a conscious effort to connect with more people . I really want to go to the jamboree so I have to give it my best shot. The jamboree sounds awesome. The theme is “Simply Scouting” and they are focusing on three things that can summarise scouting: Meetings, Solidarity and Nature. I need to make sure I get a place with the county and use the feedback I got today to my advantage instead of sulking about it! Besides, if you read on you’ll see how fun this weekend was.

The weekend was composed of various challenges. Crazy, seemingly-impossible, difficult challenges that required thought. But we all got through them eventually.The first one was a scavenger hunt. We had to look for various items. I did absolutely rubbish on this challenge and only got a few of them. I should have put a bit more effort in I guess.  Although I am kind of proud of a few clever things I did. One item was The Scout Law handwritten. I wrote down the words “The Scout Law” and got the point. We also had to do other challenges at the same time and I wasted over 20 minutes trying to pitch a tent in the dark. After this, we went to sleep and I discovered I could sleep better on the church floor than in my own bed.

The next day the main challenge was going to be something to do with manchester airport but it got cancelled because of some protestors. At 2:00 am the leaders planned an alternative challenge. We were split into two teams and each had to plan an afternoon tea event to be held at the church. We were given £50 and told whoever makes the biggest profit wins. My team chose to buy ingredients then bake cakes and buns and make sandwiches, and the other team decided to just buy buns from Sainsbury’s. We also decided we would hold a tiny raffle (with two prizes – A £4 cake and a £3 DVD!) which made us £45. We received£15 as donations standing outside Sainsbury’s, and we made exactly £100 from donations for cakes and buns (we were giving out the food and letting people pay whatever they wanted). We used facebook, called people, asked people outside Sainsbury’s and in the streets to come to the event, and the leaders also invited many people to come along. At the end, my team made a profit of £124, and the other team made £129. Everybody was suprised by how well we all did – even the leaders thought we would fail!

That night we split up into groups (we worked with people of a similar age) and cooked our own tea over the open fire. I tried to used a technique I read in a Ray Mears book but that didn’t really work, but we managed to get the fire going in the end. Then we built it bigger so it was hot enough to boil water and fry mince. We had Pasta Bolagnase, and it tasted great. For dessert we stuffed bananas with chocolate buttons then wrapped them in foil and put them in the embers of the fire.It was a bit goey, but it tasted nice. After eating we went on a hike which had challenges at every checkpoint – each was fun and interesting. After this, we slept in tents we’d pitched earlier in the day. I didn’t sleep well.

Today was also fun. We built our own assualt courses using pioneering poles and rope. They were quite simple but still fun to climb/vault over. After we had dismantled the structures, we got called in one by one to be told if we had been selected or not.

Although I’m extremely disapointed, this weekend was still amazing fun and I’m just gonna have to focus on trying really hard for county selection!