Dunham Park Scout Camp - Jan 2013

With a flurry of snow just before we set off, proved to be a proper winter camp.
A joint adventure with 7th St John's Scouts, good fun was had by all.

God was watching over us when we set off just in time to miss some awful driving weather, allowing us to arrive at camp just in time.  Otherwise, we would have had to cancel as conditions ended up too bad to travel.

After a tour of the camp site and a short wide game, activities centred inside, with Action-twister being the most competitive  along with a card school (no gambling!!)

After a wholesome breakfast it was outside to partake in some Archery and Rifle shooting.  Daniel was a dab hand at the Archery! (must be all the cowboys and Indians he plays with Carl?).

Some outdoor Pioneering projects followed on the Saturday afternoon in preparation for a night 'Attack The Base'!  Some excellent teamwork on the wig-wam base!

After another games night to warm up after attack the base, it was a display of 'one-sies' and some amateur dramatics by some....

Sunday and the weather had cleared the snow, but left a lovely day for some Navigation through the deer park in Dunham Massey...

 A quick history lesson about the mills...

 a photo opportunity outside the Massey

Aarron made this in his lunch break ;-)

And then time to break camp and head home...... for some well earned sleep!


Anthony
224th Macedonia
Assistant Scout Leader

Tina giving the pack their first lessons in Chinese Cookery

Once... twice... Three times a winner?

Unfortunately not! It was probably a bit too much to expect to win the District Cubs Cookery Competition 3 years in a row. But the team put in a good effort!

On Tuesday 12th February the cub pack had a team entered into the District Cub Cooking Competiton. This was a competition that we had been fortunate enough to win for the last two years. But before the competition got underway we had to narrow down an eager group of cubs into a team of four!

A few weeks previously Tina Bowker and Amanda Booth had come along to our cub night to instruct the cubs in their chinese cuisine. On the menu was Prawn and Pork Parcels with Sweet Chilli Dipping Sauce followed by Chicken in Black Bean Sauce and Rice with a chilli flower - sounds delicious. After a run through the menu, it was then down to the cubs themselves (with a little help from leaders and helpers!) to get on with their creations! All the cubs acquitted themselves well leaving the leaders with a very tough decision as to who should be on the team - knowing that we would clearly disappoint some people.

Finally, a team was chosen: Louis Tudor, Elliot Aitken-Clarke, Billy Cooper and Lottie Cunningham.

The following week this team had their final run through the menu - to give them a good understanding of what was required, again tutored by Tina. Then it was competition time!

Let the cooking commence...

Up against 7 other cub groups, our team got stuck in to creating their Chinese New Year celebratory dish. As the leaders sat drinking coffee in a back room (we weren't allowed near!!! that's cheating!) the aroma of delicious foods kept floating through the air. Not only did the cubs have to cook their menu - they also had to present it in a restaurant style as well! Everything had to look good for the judges!

It's all in the presentation!

So finally it was judging time. After deliberations by the judges (including tasting all the foods... lucky so and so's!!) the points were allocated and the cubs were assembled to reveal the winners. In a very tight competition (there was only ten points in between the winners and the bottom team - it was that close), we unfortunately missed out on the top two places which were held by 308th who won, closely followed by 346th who came in second just one point behind! Our team were disappointed - but they had no reason to be downhearted. They had done their best and that is all a cub can do.

Speaking to the cubs afterwards, they all said they had had a good time competing in the competition despite their disappointment at not winning. 

Never mind.. there is always next year!

     

The finished product

  

Phil
Assistant Cub Leader

www.224manchesterscouts.co.uk

Team A and Team B waiting to see if they were victorious!

Who founded the Scout Movement??

Was just one of the many questions that our two Cub teams encountered in this year's Minds of Medvale Competition.

The Minds of Medvale competition is a District Cub Quiz where each team has to have three members - one of age 8, one of age 9 and one of age 10 (to make a total of 27) - to answer many general knowledge questions.

Unfortunately neither of our teams won the competition - that honour fell jointly to 248th (Bethel) and 2/289th with 346th coming in as runners up. But as we always say... "its not the winning that matters, its the taking part"! And all members of Team A and Team B seemed to enjoy themselves.

So if you need anybody to make up a team for your next bout of Trivial Pursuits - you could do worse than choose one of our Team Members:

Thomas Reeves
Zach Cherrington
Jacob Chalmers
Lottie Cunningham
Jack Edmunds
Luke Oliver

Thank you all for attending.

Oh, and by the way.... the answer to 'who founded the Scout movement?" is Robert Baden-Powell! Thankfully a bit of en-route coaching meant that all team members knew this!!  
  

Phil
Assistant Cub Leader

www.224manchesterscouts.co.uk

We shall remember them...

Sunday November 11th saw the group attend Failsworth's Remembrance Sunday Service.

A good attendance from all sections of the group met at Tesco and proceeded to parade with other groups from the district down to the cenotaph.

Following a nice Remebrance Service, the parade then returned back up Oldham Road to be dismissed at the Town Hall.

Thank you to all who turned up and big "thank you's" to all those who carried a flag or layed the wreath on the cenotaph. You all did our Group very proud.

Thank You  

Phil
Assistant Cub Leader

www.224manchesterscouts.co.uk

  
Remember, remember the 5th of November....

...Gunpowder, treason and plot!

Friday 2nd November saw 224th Manchester's annual Bonfire Night Extravaganza!

The fire was lit, the wood was ready, the hotpot was on the stove..... would people turn up! Yes they did!! Plenty of people arrived to enjoy the bonfire, marvel at the fireworks, take advantage of the bar and eat the hotpot.
 
The only thing that was missing was a 'Guy' and thankfully nobody suggested putting a Cub on the bonfire! Or better still - nobody suggested using a leader as a 'Guy'!!

Everybody seemed to enjoy themselves and the weather was kinder to us this year than last with just a few showers during the evening. Thank you for all your support.

Phil
Assistant Cub Leader

www.224manchesterscouts.co.uk

Aaaaarrrrrggggghhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Halloween arrived early at the Cubs on Thursday 25th October as 29 ghosts, ghouls, werewolves and other horrific creatures arrived for a halloween party!

With various degrees of gruesomeness the cubs were replaced with their halloween alter egos for the duration of the evening. They expected to be entertained - and seeing as the cub leaders and their two scout helpers were terrified of them! - the games commenced.

First up was the 'hanging donut' game... where the creatures had to have their hands/paws behind their backs and to try and grab a donut with their fang-laden mouths! Many were successful - some were scary in doing so!

Next up was the traditional 'apple bobbing' (no, I dont know what is so scary about 'bobbing for apples' either!). Countless apples were tortured to within an inch of their skins by these creatures and their teeth, tongues and saliva(!) - none survived! The plastic bag resembled an apple graveyard of mutilated fruit!

After the refreshment of juice and cake (no blood or human flesh was available) the final game of the evening was underway - 'Mummification!'. Each monster was wrapped in toilet roll to resemble a mummy (the Egyptian creature - not the parent!). Quite a few were very good and could have easily passed as an official Mummy. And then it was time to discard the mummy rolls... all over the floor!! And despite the leaders wanting some of these particular mummys to keep the toilet roll wrapped around their mouths - everybody was returned to normal and began the clean up.

Thankfully by now it was time for these horror shows to return to their crypts/coffins/lagoons. All that was left was for the leaders to finish tidying up and to go home to bed to suffer nightmares!! 

Phil
Assistant Cub Leader

www.224manchesterscouts.co.uk

Who needs a hospital!!

Last Thursday (18 October) saw the cubs honing their first aid skills!

Helped by two parents - Jill and Michelle - the cubs were taught the basics of first aid including the recovery position and what to do in the event of an accident. And then... they were let loose on each other!!!

 

Cubs were performing the recovery position in one corner of the room, and bandaging going on in another corner. At the other end of the room there worksheets on hazards around the house. All the cubs seemed to get the hang of the first aid quite quickly and thankfully there were enough bodies to be manhandled and bandaged so that the Cub leaders didn't need to be!

 

The evening seemed to be a success and the cubs are well on their way to yet another badge! 

Phil
Assistant Cub Leader

www.224manchesterscouts.co.uk