Inchcailloch camp: day 1

A few weekends ago, seven Scouts went across to Inchcailloch, an island on Loch Lomond, for a one night camp. We had the island completely to ourselves so it was easy to grab the best campsite...the one by the beach!

We explored the island, finding the old cemetery and some great old trees.

One of our team came over on the last ferry so we all went down to meet him at the jetty.

Then it was time for dinner, which we all cooked ourselves one the new Scout Trangias. A quick celebration of Taylor's birthday with great campfire cakes supplied by his mum and then we started a campfire...

...and after a few ghost stories, Annabel brought out the smores making kit...which the leaders found a little hard to eat.  

That night a storm hit the island and the wind was very very strong. The leaders thought some of the tents might not make it but they held up fantastically with not one guy rope out of place.

The next day the rain came down...a lot! We had a quick breakfast and packed up all our stuff (leaving the tents for the Saturday night team) and there was just time for a quick photo before walking back across the island to catch the ferry.

Our next challenge was to walk all the way from Balmaha to Drymen, in a howling gale and heavy rain. Luckily the Scouts were completely up for this and didn't complain once. We tramped up Conic Hill and marvelled at the view, and then made our way to the car park just north of Drymen, seven miles away, to meet parents.

Well done to all the Scouts for a great camp and for battling through the weather on the hike.

Global Issues

A few weeks ago the Scouts ran a session on Global Issues. They gave fantastic presentations on a really wide range of issues, from animal welfare and poverty to natural disasters such as flooding, earthquakes and volcanoes.

The talks were great and there were loads of interesting questions.

Rafting, Shooting and Climbing

Again the Balfron Scouts descended on Auchengillan to show off their rifle shooting, rock climbing and raft building skills. Some excellent shooting, climbing and knot tying was done by all, but despite the superb quality of the rafts the scouts being the scouts got thoroughly soaked, giving them a chance to show off their swimming skills too!

Scouts climb Meikle Bin

This weekend some of the Scouts (and two Cubs) climbed Meikle Bin. It was a wee bit cold and very windy at the top but everyone made it to the top and we even found the remnants of a crashed airplane. We found part of the wing and, eventually, the engine. As some of us are starting the Mechanics badge soon this was a great time for Graham to explain how the engine worked.

Cubs go bouldering

The Cubs kicked of the summer term with a trip to the fantastic new Bouldering park at Buchlyvie. Thanks very much to Peter Nellist from Active Stirling for showing us all how to climb safely. 

The Scouts Survive!

A couple of weeks ago 10 Scouts travelled to Meggernie to take part in a Survival Skills weekend, with another 34 Scouts from around Scotland. We arrived late on Friday night and thought we'd be going straight to bed...but Rab and Judith had other ideas...there was lots to learn and loads of activities to do before bed. The Scouts did feather sticks, survival kits, fire steels, tinder cloths, axe work, the fire triangle and survival shelters. It was 1am before everyone got to bed. 

It was back to work the next morning, straight after breakfast the Scouts had to search the site for kit to build bivouacs, which they'd be sleeping in that night! They found a tarpaulin and some rope so everyone made pretty good bivouacs. 

Then it was back to learning more survival skills. The Scouts learnt how to light fires without matches, water filtration and purification, first aid including bleeding, CPR and defibrilation, safe use of axes, saws and knives, different types of fires (jenga, altar, star and long fires), all about trees - which make the best fires for cooking, heating, light and emergency situation communications...they're now fully prepared for any survival situation. 

After a very full day the Scouts lit our own fires and made dinner (stew, kebabs and pizzas on the open fires)and then got all their kit together to sleep in our bivouacs. It was quite cold and rained during the night but they all stayed in our bivouacs and even got some sleep. 

The next day the Scouts were all quite tired but still managed to learn more skills, made their own fire steels and cooked spatchcock chicken, fish and chocolate bananas over the open fires.  

After one of the most exhausting weekends ever, we all got out Survival badges and even a special survival kit to take home. 

Thanks to Rab and Judith and all the other expert leaders for a great weekend.

Here are a few photos of the various activities we got up to.

Cubs go wild in Barrwood!

The cubs had a great day at Barrwood - as well as caving, firelighting, bivouac making, and cooking on the fire they also ran around lots, with sticks.

Many of them enjoyed the sticks so much they brought them home!

Thanks to all the Leaders especially Daryn and Richard who did the planning.

A few pictures follow. For those parents who wondered why the cubs returned home smelling of woodsmoke, the answer is below......

Beavers raise £455!

Balfron Beavers have raised £455 for Robin House Childrens Hospice, well done!

CHAS would like to say a very big thank you to the Beavers for all their work in raising the money.