Nillumbik district Billy cart derby 2008

This years theme is ‘The environment’

Cubs:

Gold coin donation per cub (money raised this year will go to a local environmental cause)
Scarves to be worn, no uniform.

No Helmet, no Participation

BYO Lunch - Sausage sizzle, tea, coffee, soup and cold drinks available

Cost:
A cost of $5 per cart, payable on the day to cover the cost of prizes etc

Each Cub to prepare a protest placard on any environmental theme they like. Doesn’t have to be serious.. for instance “Save Akelas” would be quite acceptable!

Decorating Billy carts and costumes are optional.

Enviro Carts 2008
When:
Sunday August 24th
Assembly at 10:30 am
Inspection 11:00 am
Speed Challenge 11:30
Scavenger Hunt 12:00
Lunch 12:15 (BYO but Lower Plenty will be running a sausage sizzle with Soup, Tea and Coffee)
Events 12:45
Presentation 3:30
Pick up time 4:00 pm (parents)

Location:-
Ferguson’s Paddock, Hurstbridge, Melways Reference 185 K7

Rules & Scoring

Fastest Billy cart:-
1 cub driving, others pushing. Will run it 3 carts at a time, times to be recorded. Will be a handicapped start to allow for sizes and Number of kids

Scavenger Hunt:-
Lollies thrown around area.1 cub driving, others pushing. Only driver allowed to pick up lollies. Driver cannot leave billycart. Check in lollies (1 pt per lolly) and then distribute them to team.

Best Placard-
Prize for the best placard. It is important that the work is that of the cubs, not the parents/leaders. It doesn’t have to be serious (but John L is banned from making suggestions!)

King of the paddock scored as follows:-
- 20 pts for Placard
- 20 pts max for scavenger hunt
- 20 Pts for locating the 6 Environmental Messages and recording on map
- 6 stations X 2 Laps:- (180 pts)
5 pts for behaviour
5 pts for enthusiasm
5 pts for activity

Leaders:

Could each Cub pack please provide an activity base for the day. If you are able to please let Alan know the gist of your activity prior to the day – this will help with setting things up on the day.

Try and come up with an environmental theme:-
- “Rocket launchers” become “Environmentally friendly space travel”
- “Skittles” can become “Knock over the green house gas emitters”
- Use recycled items
- build an “erosion protection system”
- Use only tank water

So leaders please think about the activity your group would like to run. Activities should be limited to 10 minutes and should be such that cubs don’t get frustrated if they don’t finish in time.

There will be a prize for the best Activity

For further details/suggestions please contact: Alan Cuthbertson

UK Scouting magazine is available to read online, with the current edition and back issues (Dec/Jan 2005 onwards) available as PDF files.

UK Scouting magazine’s Sectional supplements back issues (Dec/Jan 2005 onwards) are available to read online as PDF files.

Last night I heard an interesting interview on the evening current affairs show, where the importance of music and arts in the curriculum was mentioned;

put the music back into primary schools
PM - Tuesday, 22 July , 2008 18:39:00
…
SIMON LAUDER: The director of the Melbourne Educational Research Institute, Professor Barry McGaw, is overseeing the development of a national curriculum which will be limited to English, maths, science and history.

He says music should be on all state school curriculums and students who don’t have access to music lessons have been let down.

BARRY MCGAW: I think there’s sometimes too much pressure to do the obvious core, more instrumentally valuable things, and we talk too much about core skills in literacy and numeracy.

And there’s evidence sometimes that in more of the disadvantaged schools at primary level, they spend most of their time on literacy and numeracy and that’s not an appropriate use of time.

…
Interview Available as an MP3 file

Would this also mean that Scouting programs and Scouts who don’t have access to music and arts in their activities have been let down? I would think so, and it seems that BP would think so as well;

Singing and acting are excellent for training in self-expression. Also they mean good team work, everybody learning his part and doing it well, not for applause for himself but for the success of the whole show. — Robert Baden-Powell

One of the Cub Scout Program Eight Areas of Growth is Creativity. Is creativity 1/8th of your program or are you focussing on the nut & bolts (knots & lashings) side of the Scouting skill set?

Over the last few years I have heard many complaints about Cubs/Scouts/Venturers who are involved in Gang Show and Showtime because they don’t have enough time for “Real Scouting“. Is this “Real Scouting” a balanced program or is is perhaps a little too skewed towards Outdoor Scouting skills because from the beginning Scouting was designed to have acting, singing, dances and plays in the program.

Just a thought: Are we letting down our Scouts with our programming?

National Geographic has a series of survival guide videos up on their web site. I’m not sure how often you’ll have to deal with shark attacks or anaconda bites but they’re worth watching all the same.

Be Prepared

A Scout is never taken by surprise; he knows exactly what to do when anything unexpected happens. - Robert Baden-Powell

The challenge:
Build a practical survival kit in a tin small enough to take on activities with you.
What do you put in? What do you leave out?

Mini survival kits are survival kits which consist of those most essential outdoor survival tools and supplies which are the hardest to improvise or replace. A mini survival kit is intended to be carried along all the time and is usually designed to complement other survival tools carried along in a larger, separate bag. These kits may be referred to as BOATs, or Bug-Out Altoids Tins.
Many items included in such a kit are simply difficult if not impossible to manufacture or appropriate in real world survival situations. And as such a Mini kit of this nature is intended to; remain always upon ones person, be appropriate to all environments, and be a comprehensive kit. Such a kit should be a starting point complete in itself to provide basic survival needs. Other personal gear will primarily offer; additional serviceability and ease of use, but the Mini survival kit should provide for the basic needs of a survival situation, followed by self rescue, assistance, or a return to normalcy in optimum situations. — wikipedia

Survival Kit in a Tin

• Make a Survival Kit out of an Altoids Tin (and Two More Life-Saving DIY Projects) [Field & Stream]
• Bennett’s Expedient Survival Tin (BEST) [survival.com]
• BCB Combat Survival Tin [Best Glide]
• DIY: Make an Altoids tin survival kit [LifeHacker]
• Doug Ritter’s Mini Survival Kit [Equipped To Survive]
• How to Make a Survival Kit in a Tin Can [wikiHow]
• Survival Kits for Scouting Activities [Scott Wiggins]
• Combat Survival Kit [kingsley-hughes.com]
• Survival Tin empty tin [TBO-Tech]
• Mini survival kits [Wikipedia]

Survival Kits - just a bit bigger

• Grab Bag [Ravenlore]
• Survivor Essentials [Survival Topics]
• 15 Essentials [Survival Topics]
• Survival Essentials Checklist [Survival Topics]
• How to Build a decent Wilderness Survival Kit [M40 Basement Project]

What do you have in your kit?

Info Book 2008

Info Book 2007 - Leader Informations & Resource Manual 2007 Edition. Available on-line from VicScouts.

SCOUT STREET PARTY
Saturday 2 August 2008
St Kilda Road Melbourne

One hundred years ago in 1908, Scouting started in Australia. Since then, millions of young men, women, boys and girls have been through Scouting movement in Australia. To celebrate our 100th Birthday, we are throwing a party! – Scouts (VIC)

Scout Street Party Notice [PDF]

Bring along your Pack and encourage families to attend. It will be a great day and an excellent way to celebrate 100 years of Scouting.
* FREE for all members
* Family Event
* Members can bring a friend

The Scout Street Party times are 6pm - 12 midnight;

• Joeys and Cubs will be from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• Scouts from 6 p.m. to 12 a.m. (Fantastic Race 8:30 am Sat to 3:00pm Sun)
• Venturers and Rovers from 6 p.m. to 12 a.m.

Wear: Uniform during the day for the Fantastic Race with party gear and scarf for the Scout Street Party.

The fantastic race will start in each Region and will finish in Melbourne. After the race, we will host a street Party, the likes of which Melbourne has never seen before. We hope to have 20 – 30 thousand members and supporters involved in what will be an enormous event. It is anticipated that the street party will be held on St Kilda Road outside the Arts Centre, we are still liaising with Vicroads, the Victorian Police and Melbourne City Council to host this event on St Kilda Road at the conclusion of the
Fantastic Race. — Scouts (VIC)

Party includes:

• Bands
• Street Performers
• DJ
• Activities
• Rides and Entertainment

MORE DETAILS!

Planet Ark’s National Tree Planting Day
Sunday, 27 July 2008 10:00am to 1:00pm

National Tree Day is Australia’s biggest community tree-planting event. Since Tree Day started in 1996 more than 1.5 million volunteers have planted over 11.5 million native trees and shrubs!
Join us again this year on National Tree Day - Sunday, 27 July 2008 and Schools Tree Day - Friday, 25 July 2008 (plus a range of additional dates) to help make the event even more successful and help save and enhance our environment.

Organisation: Nillumbik Shire Council
Site Address: 1459 Main Road, Research Vic 3095

Nearest Cross Street: Troodos Rise
Site Reference: Melway 22,F2

Directions: At the entrance to Research Park adjacent to Swipers Gully Creek on Main Road, Research.

Suitable for Children: Yes
Accessible for disabled: No

Notes about the day for Volunteers:
Please wear appropriate clothing (hat, long sleeved shirt and long pants recommended), sunscreen, gloves and sturdy footwear.

The following will be provided: Tools and equipment for planting, Watering cans / buckets, Drinking water, Snacks, Refreshments, BBQ

Activities that will take place on the day:

• Tree Planting
• Plant Propagation
• Bush Regeneration
• Ground Preparation / Mulching
• Site Maintenance & Weed/Pest Control

Cubs badge crime prevention honour [1]
Release date: Wed 2 July 2008
Last updated: Wed 2 July 2008

Victoria Police recognised future crime preventers this week when one of the first cub packs in Australia was awarded the first Neighbourhood Watch (NHW) badge.

An initiative of Scouts Australia, Neighbourhood Watch and Victoria Police, the NHW badge has been designed to teach young cubs how to be safe at home and to introduce them to the Neighbourhood Watch scheme.

“This initiative has been carefully co-ordinated to ensure that every will be awarded the badge by their local Neighbourhood Watch Co-ordinator who will also talk about personal safety and the work of NHW” Acting Deputy Commissioner Bob Hastings said.

The introduction of the NHW badge for cubs is the first step in establishing a link between Scouts Australia, Neighbourhood Watch and Victoria Police.

Scouting has a long history in assisting young people to become responsible members of society and Neighbourhood Watch is always looking for new volunteers of all ages to become active members of the community.

This year, Neighbourhood Watch celebrated 25 years of service to the community and currently has 22,000 volunteers across the state of Victoria.

“We hope that by introducing children to NHW at an early age, we may be able to encourage them to participate in the NHW scheme and become future crime preventers,” Mr Hastings said.

From Australian Scout August 2008 (page 5);

Neighbourhood Watch (NHW) Badge

Two of the tasks in each category (A, B and C) to be completed.

A: Investigate
1. What telephone number do you ring when there has been an accident/incident?
2. What are the main household security issues you should be aware of?
3. What are your personal safety issues you need to be aware of?

B: Skill
1. Use the fluro pen (or engraver under adult supervision) to mark your mother/father’s or guardian’s drivers licence number onto your TV, bike, computer(s) and any other items of value.
2. Take aphoto of your items. Download photos onto your computer and then onto a DVD or floppy disk and place somewhere for safe keeping. (If there is no computer at home, write them in a book.)
3. Briefly explain what NHW does and how it can benefit yourself as a CUb or Scout.

C: Activity
1. Get your local NHW co-ordinator (Police member) to talk to you about NHW.
2. Organise with your local NHW co-ordinator (Police Officer) to attend your Pack and present the Pack with their NHW badges.

For B:2, I think CD’s or thumb-drives might be a bit more practical than using floppy disks

[1] Cubs badge crime prevention honour (2008-Jul-02) [Victoria Police]

There was good posting on BoingBoing today discussing rocket stoves. This looked like a great stove to play with investigate for use by Scouts.

Compared with open fire cooking methods still used in many areas of the world (sometimes known as ‘three stone fire’ - a small fire contained by three or more rocks such that a pot or pan can rest on the flames), this stove operates on about half as much fuel, and produces substantially less smoke. Furthermore, the design of the stove requires small diameter lengths of wood, which can generally be satisfied with small branches. As such, sufficient fuel for cooking tasks can be gathered in less time, without the benefit of tools, and ideally without the destruction of forested areas.

Because these qualities improve local air quality, and discourage deforestation, the rocket stove has attracted the attention of a number of Appropriate Technology concerns, which have deployed it in numerous third-world locales (notably, the Rwandan refugee camps). This attention has resulted in a number of adaptations intended to improve convenience and safety, and thus the size of the target audience. The Justa Stove, for example, is a cousin of the rocket stove adapted for indoor use and family cooking needs. While it contains a ‘rocket elbow’ (the working core of a Rocket Stove), it differs in that it contains a flat griddle surface and a simple smokestack.
– wikipedia

[1] Rocket stoves use twigs to cook food quickly, efficiently (2008-Jun-26) [BoingBoing]
[2] How to build a Rocket Stove [Aprovecho Research Center]
[3] Larry Winiarski’s Rocket Stove Principles (2002-Apr) [BioEnergy Lists: Biomass Cooking Stoves]
[4] Rocket stove [Wikipedia]