woods and water camp

! The wood and water camp !

Hi, I’m Lorcan and I’m going to talk to you about our experience as scouts at the wood and water camp at Kiplin hall.

Friday-

Today was the day we all arrived, eight of us in all, we got there and we set up camp. We trekked to the flagpole to officially show we were there. Well, I say trekked, 50 yards really. We put up our British flag after a bit of hassle and saluted respectfully. Then we had yummy hot dogs for dinner. After a tiring and stressful day, we all went to bed in our spacious tents.

Saturday-

Today we woke up nice and early for our day on the water. Packing our bags took a while because some of us didn’t exactly get it all right. For breakfast, we had delicious bacon sandwiches cooked by ourselves. Then at 8.15am, we drove down to Ellerton water to do kayaking, canoeing and sailing. I enjoyed canoeing and kayaking capsizing because we were all together and I had a boat that didn’t make my feet and knees ache. We got back after a tiring day and we played blocky in the dark which was extremely fun and exciting.

Sunday, the final day! –

Today was Sunday, our final day. This day wasn’t all about packing up, this day was for axe-chopping, sawing and whittling with our pen knives. The axe wielding was really satisfying and dangerous because we were swinging them all about the place and the wood chippings coming off were hard to avoid for the people nearby. Sawing was excellent because when I finally broke through my second log, I felt a sense of achievement. I made something called a bow and arrow but my dad of course didn’t see that and decided to snap it in half. All in all we had a very fabulous time.

Lorcan
Patrol Leader 
Badger Patrol

Disclaimer:  

Axe and saw skills was conducted in a safe area under direct supervision of an adult - the description "swinging them all about the place" is used with artistic license. 😊😊

Mountain Biking In The Moors

On Sunday the 10th July 2016 a group of Scouts set out on an amazing mountain bike trek starting at Sutton Bank Visitors Centre.  

 We were handed out a bike, gloves, helmet and glasses.  Then we had to do a check on the bikes but instead of checking our own bikes we checked the person’s bike next to us (trying to remember which way was clockwise!!).

 We set out on our adventure (after eventually finding out which way was clockwise!) heading down a steep hill that had some tight corners then over a bridge and then back up the hill to a road.
Along the road we went, when we came to a gate that led up to a really worn, muddy, dirty path. We played a game of slow races by trying to be the slowest up the hill and in this case trying not to fall off!

In total we cycled 32 km in about 4 hours. My favourite bit was when we had finished we went on a test track and it had some jumps, up and down steps , dodging trees as I raced passed at a million miles an hour!
It was the best but my bum really hurt for the next week!

By Matthew 
Cobra Patrol Leader

Wheelchair Basketball

Wheelchair Basketball

Our normal scouts’ night was changed to a Friday and at Long Marston village hall we had the exciting opportunity to try wheelchair basketball. Apart from Owen, it was the first time doing wheelchair basketball for us all, and we were all looking forward to it and couldn’t wait to play. They divided us into two groups of ten, one group went outside for an hour while the other group got used to the wheelchairs and played a few different games. Playing wheelchair basketball was a great experience and an amazing team sport. 

There were lots of things I thought would be different like the turning and the pushing; for example, I thought for the turning if you wanted to spin around and go the other way you would have to push one wheel and slowly manoeuvre yourself around. It turned out to be much more simple; you simply just spun one wheel backwards and grabbed both wheels when you had turned enough. The pushing was a lot harder than expected too. You couldn’t just push the wheels once and go really fast, you had to lean forward when you pushed to stop you falling backwards and that kind of hurt your back. You had to do big strong pushes to get a bit of speed up, so your arms and shoulders ached at the end. 

All in all, we had a great evening with the wheelchairs and couldn’t have done it without Adrian and his daughter Imogen from Hoopstars. 

As well as the fun we had, it made us realise how fit and skilful the 
para-athletes who compete in wheelchair basketball really are! 

By Will S 
Stag Patrol

Scouts at the Yorkshire Air Museum

The Yorkshire Air Museum

On Saturday the 28th of February, our scout troop visited the Yorkshire Air Museum which is at the site of the former RAF Elvington.

First we were split into groups and were given a paper to complete.  It had questions which we had to find the answers to.  We all ran into different rooms.  I will tell you what my group discovered.  Lucky for us all of our answers were in the pioneer room which included amazing facts about Sir George Cayley, other pioneers, planes and blimps.

Scouts Dam Busters Reenatment - Watch that bouncing bomb go!

Just before we finished our sheet, Andrea came and said that at lunch, all the groups would perform an act on a subject of their choice. We chose the Dambusters! Other choices included: Sir George Caley and Amy Johnstone.

After a few minutes it was lunch time. We all ate our lunches and at the end of lunch we all acted out our performances. Then we were all given another paper to do. Thankfully there was only one question that needed you to go somewhere so everyone just sat on a bench or rock to do this paper. This time the questions were about plane parts.

We then finished the trip with some fun games.

I would highly recommend the Yorkshire Air Museum as you can learn and have fun at the same time. 
By Tynan, Wolf Patrol.
 

 

Kilnsey: The Horse Riding & Fishing Camp

It all began on the afternoon of Friday the 23^rd of October, at the base of the breath-taking Upper Wharfedale valley deep in the Yorkshire Dales. We all pitched camp in the usual scout fashion, pitching tents, brewing tea, sparking a cosy campfire and huddling up for the cold night ahead. What happened the next morning however was where things got interesting, because,  beforehand we had been told that this was in fact not a generic, cook, hike, sleep, repeat scout camp; but that it was in fact a horse riding  / fish murdering scout camp. SO we rolled up our sleeves in preparation for our first morning’s horse riding.

At ten o’clock sharp Saturday morning we were all ready to meet the horses, and after we’d actually shown the horses that in fact we were not their food, we got stuck in with grooming and saddling up the steeds we’d be riding for the rest of camp. We learnt how to approach our horses safely, how to clean their hooves and bodies of dirt and stones, and most importantly, how to fit their saddles and bridles, and eventually how to mount them. With all that sorted, we set out for our first proper ride of the camp, a pleasant gander along the bank of the River Wharfe.   It wasn’t the particularly fast and arduous trek that we were expecting, but it was a nice way to start. After a swift picnic lunch, for the second part of our horse-riding morning we were ushered to the trekking club’s horse arena for some basic skills (some handled it better than others) involving trying to wrestle ourselves and respective ponies round and round the circuit, whilst simultaneously trying not to fall off.

For our afternoon entertainment, (so the leaders said) we were to do fishing, and most of us managed to catch some fine, shiny trout. Despite the popular opinion of fishing being boring, in practice, it was surprisingly challenging and altogether very satisfying when you hauled in your catch. Although, the “humane” killing and gutting of our soon-to-be dinner, wasn’t, to say the least everyone’s cup of tea. Next, we came to the cooking of the fish, and following some professional preparation masterchef would have been proud to judge, we grilled our juicy meat to culinary perfection, and treated ourselves to a warm campfire dinner. Then, we fell asleep, believe it or not.

When the next morning arose, we briskly returned to the trekking centre for our second day’s riding, and, having said our hello’s and prepared our ponies for the second time, we set out on what would become our camp’s equivalent to the traditional scout stroll across the hills, a graceful saunter through some majestic views from the hills. And after another picnic lunch, we were again taken up to the arena, for some more advanced riding skills, including slaloms, mounting and dismounting, and trotting (to the obvious amusement of our leaders).

With the end of camp fast approaching, we returned to our deserted campsite for the traditional task of striking camp. And, when all was said and done, all the tents pulled down, all the food packed away, all the questionably edible fish digested, and every last trace of horsehair brushed from our clothes, we returned home in good spirits, and in no doubt why we had sore stomachs weeks later.

Blog by

Guy, Falcon Patrol Leader

Tohunga: The Training

Tohunga Training

Tohunga, Teko Teko and Tahwiri are 3 levels of an annual scout and explorers competition run by our local district Harrogate & Nidderdale District Scouts.  At 1st Marston Moor we had a team of 5 in the Tohunga section of the competition.

In Tohunga you have two route plan and hike a 7  to 8 mile hike, pitch camp, cook dinner, camp overnight, cook breakfast and hike a second (previously route planned) 7 to 8 mile hike.  All without a leader!

To do this we needed to have some navigation, cooking and camp skills and be able to work as a team!  We needed to learn first aid and rescue techniques as well - thankfully we didn't need them

Tent Pitching

Training began in March with a short hike around a nearby village called Marton cum Grafton.  /it gave us a chance to show what map and navigation skills we had.  While we walked we talked about the competition and our scout leader (SL) asked questions about first aid and rescue techniques if we became lost.  It was all fine -but the looked horrified when one of the team said they didn't need to look at the map because they had memorised it!

The second training session was orienteering on West Chevin Park, this was all about navigation and teamwork!  (With lots of first aid and rescue questions - on the way).

The wet practise hike

We had two training sessions in Kirk Hammerton, we practised cooking on the Trangia stoves pitching and striking tents and did some of the route planning for the actual competition.  Of course there were lots of questions on first aid and rescue.

We also did two more hikes - on one it was so wet and cold that we had to abandon the walk part way.   Even though we all had waterproofs on we were still getting wet through to our clothes.  These hikes were all 8 miles or more - distance practise for the actual competition. (Plus more navigation, first aid and rescue!).

Finn Perkins-Hill

Wolf Patrol

Paulo's Circus

Paulos Circus

Last term 1^st Marston Moor Scout Group went to see a circus in Poppleton called Paulos Circus. I loved this trip because there were all sorts of acts like tightrope, rings and magic.

On the way in, everybody was standing waiting for the show to finally start. Whilst we were waiting for it to begin, we got up and ate our candy floss and popcorn – yummy (they didn't last long)! When it started some crazy clowns (without masks) came and made a dramatic entrance for the start of the circus to kick it off.

Next came my favourite bit of the show with the amazing ringmaster with lots of tricks up his sleeve. He strapped himself to two ropes, a machine pulled him up and then he began doing amazing tricks, some tricks with two arms, some with one and even hanging by his legs!

Then came the woman with juggling feet! She threw and caught hoops, juggling clubs and even rings of fire – impressive! The magic man then came in with his assistant to perform amazing magic tricks with cage escapes and even escaped from suspended cages.

Overall, I think that was one of the best trips that I've been to in my time with 1^st Marston Moor Scouts. If you do happen to go, I hope you enjoy it too!

By Ben, Falcon Patrol

Space Centre Sleepover

The last camp was at the National Space Museum apart from the long drive I really enjoyed it and would definitely recommend it to friends and family.

The two best things about the trip was going into the planetarium to watch the show about the astronauts and also watching Henry and Jack dress up as aliens (that was so funny). 

When we first arrived at the space museum we got a tour which was interesting because it was so empty, I’m used to little kids running around and bumping into you but no it was almost like everyone had disappeared into outer space!

Then we all went into the planetarium and watched what the sky looked like that night. We got to see all of the stars and shapes they created together!

After a long journey we then got to eat our packed teas, by then everyone was REALLY hungry so it was a good job that we ate something soon otherwise we would have all gone wild…

After that we split up into different groups and did some activities around the museum such as: team work games, rocket building, exploring round the museum and much more excitable things! 

As there were beavers, cubs and scouts, most of us were younger so that meant an earlier bedtime (I think it was the right time to go to bed anyway as everyone was really tired), we got to sleep in the museum next to one of the exhibitions on the floor, but it took about half an hour for everyone to dose off. 

In the morning we all got up and packed our sleeping bags and other things away so we didn’t have to hassle later.

Then we headed back down to the dining area and we all got our own little breakfast bags witch contained: a chocolate muffin, yoghurt, a juice carton and a bag of sliced apple (they were very yummy).

Then as a final activity we went back into the planetarium and watched a film which was amazing! It was all about the inside of an astronaut’s body before and after lift-off and how going into space often can affect you and your life!

As I said I loved this camp and thought it was jam packed with lots of different and fun activities and I would definitely go again!

By Ellie,
Jaguar Patrol.

Fungi & Forestry in the NY Moors

Scouts at NY Moors 29 November 2014   

We arrived at the Sutton Bank Visitor Centre on a cold and foggy day.  We met Tammy, the co-ordinator of the North York Moors Explorers.  She told us our mission which was to chop down some trees, to make a new footpath and to allow the heather to grow.

First, we went for a walk looking for fungi.  We found quite a lot.  Tammy told us about them and we also had reference books to help us identify them.

We drove in a minibus to the place where we were working.  It was only a short way, but we had a load of equipment to take along with us.  We had our lunch, I was glad I had my flask of hot chocolate!

We got down to work, cutting down some trees.  We each had a folding saw and loppers, which are long handled cutters.  This tree chopping technique is called the notch and Back Cut.  We all worked very hard and finished a bit early.

At the end, we were dancing in front of the Centre webcam while we were waiting for our lift home.  I think we were all tired at the finish, but we had done a good job.

By Luke

Cobra Patrol

North York Moors Conversation Poject

North York Moors Conservation Project 1:

Sutton Bank Visitor Centre

On Saturday 27th September four Scouts and one scout to be went to Sutton Bank Visitor Centre as part of the first day of the North York Moors Conservation Project.

We cleared and resurfaced underneath benches and we also painted 44 sq metres of fencing.
When we all arrived in the morning we met Tammy, Explorer Club Co-ordinator for the National Park, who showed us the tools we would be using, how to use them properly and what we would be doing throughout the day.  First of all we used spades to clear out the grass that was growing too far onto the bench area and did the same to branches that were in the way but with secateurs. We then covered the area in wood shavings to stop the grass growing through. When we were eating our lunch we had to walk around in groups and find out what different types of tree bark and leaves look like. 


After lunch and the tree spotting we got dressed in protective suits and each got a roller and a paint tray and started to paint.
Everybody in the party from 1st Marston Moor really enjoyed it and we are looking forward to the next time we go.

Finn
Wolf Patrol.

This is the first out of 6 conservation days our scouts will be involved in with the North Yorkshire Moors.  During the project they will be learning about conserving a National Park for the good of the wildlife, plants, residents and visitors, plus working on various badges including the Environmental Partnership Award.

 

New Experiences: Windsurfing

On the cold 28th June 2014, many Scouts went windsurfing at Scaling Dam near Whitby. The day was split into 2 sessions, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. I went in the afternoon with Tom, Oliver H, Abigail, Eva and Lucy. 
   When everyone had arrived, eventually, our coach gave us a wet suit each and told us to go and get changed into them. Oliver took the longest to put his wet suit on because he managed to get it on but when he had zipped it up at the back, he only then realised that it was the wrong way round! When Oliver had done, about 30 minutes longer than everyone else, we waddled down like penguins to where the boats were. 

   
The coach showed us how to get on and how to get moving and before we knew it, we were on the water. The parents all the while taking embarrassing photos of us trying to get moving and instead falling off. 


When we all got the hang of it, the coach let us go further out. Most of us got a long way out before falling out and not been able to get back to shore. By this time, we were all cold and tired so the coach let us a 10 minute break.   He made us all a warm ribena to make us warmer. 
    Everyone finished theirs and got back on the water. By this time, the boys all went in to have a really warm shower while the girls and the instructor went all the way to the other side of the Dam. The boys were still having a shower even when the girls got back! Everyone had thoroughly enjoyed themselves and went home with a big smile on their faces! :D

Scouts Summer Term - The Video

A little look back at the summer term for our scout troop. Learning new skills, trying new adventures and just having some fun!

Scout Canoeing

Canoeing & Paddle Sports

My name is Matthew and one of my hobbies is canoeing.  I’m a member of the British Canoe Union and Canoe England.  I started canoeing with a friend in May 2013, he had already been canoeing for at least 4 years so I had a lot of catching up to do!

I paddle a k1 which is a type of canoe in the slalom family. 

There are other types of canoe in this category;

 A C1 has one paddler, a bigger boat with a one sided blade

A C2 has two paddlers with a massive boat, two smaller paddles

A K1, this is the boat that I paddle, has a smaller boat but you have got a duel bladed paddle and that’s all of the slalom family.

They also have divisions (called div for short) like football there are div 4, div 3, div 2, div 1 and premier first. I’m going to talk all about div 4.  If you have not been canoeing then you will be in this div you do, next on the line is div 3.  This is the div I’m in there are races that you earn points and there races that don’t get you points.  These are called open races and on the 15^th of June 2014 I came 8^th  in a race at Green Star Canoe Club hosted by Doncaster Scouts and got awarded first scout I hope you enjoyed reading my blog.        

Moving up to Scouts.

I moved up to Scouts after Easter with my friends from cubs.  We were all ready to move up because there were lots of little ones in cubs and we had done lots of the activities already.

When I moved up to Scouts I realised I knew most of them because they had been in cubs and also my brother was there.  This made it much easier to settle in and I really like it now.

Since I’ve been there we’ve been allowed to go around the village a couple of times without leaders.  We weren’t allowed to do this in cubs and I really like the freedom I now have in scouts.

My favourite thing so far was when we did the alphabet game around the village and had to take lots of photos.

Last week we all got invested. Trevor made this really fun because we all got wrapped up in toilet roll so we looked like mummies.  We then had to do our promise dressed up like this. It was fun after when we could rip ourselves apart.

I am looking forward to all the other amazing things we will get to do such as camps and walks.

Lucy 
Jaguar Patrol

Cubs getting wrapped up in toilet roll!!

Everyone having fun!!