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Summer 2005
This term saw us out and about as much as exams would allow.
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Thursday 14th April 2005 : Planning and games evening
We
met at Braid Church Hall as usual, and in uniform for the presentation
of a number of badges. May Burrows had come along and presented twenty
members of the Unit with their Environment Group Activity Awards. She
then awarded Sarah with her 20 nights away badge and Jenna with her 50
nights away, her qualifying nights having been gained solely as an
Explorer Scout, which is a remarkable achievement. We then divide into
five groups and each ran an activity for the rest of the Unit — a game
of hide and seek in Morningside, a scavenger hunt, a tug of war and
games of Poisoned Ivy and Chinese Ladders.
Thursday 21st April 2005 : Out on the town
Mop
and Martin met us at the Church Hall and gave us our instructions.
These took us into the town centre where we had to find eleven numbers
related to clues. These were decoded into letters, which had to be
rearranged to make the name of a well-known Scouting personality.
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Thursday 28th April 2005 : Life skills evening
We
divided into three groups and then moved around three bases— cooking,
ironing and financial skills. Mop gave us the ingredients to make
chocolate brownies, Alan had us ironing napkins and creating designs
with beads. Martin gave each group a challenge to create a marketing
strategy to sell two of three items: a shirt, a stapler and a pair of
'zebra' salad servers. The leaders' opinion was that all would be able
to survive when they became students!
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Thursday 5th May 2005 : Wide game at Bonaly
We
divided into three groups and then moved around three bases— cooking,
ironing and financial skills. Mop gave us the ingredients to make
chocolate brownies, Alan had us ironing napkins and creating designs
with beads. Martin gave each group a challenge to create a marketing
strategy to sell two of three items: a shirt, a stapler and a pair of
'zebra' salad servers. The leaders' opinion was that all would be able
to survive when they became students.
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Thursday 12th May 2005 : Badgework drop-in evening
The
idea of this session at Braid Centre was for Explorers to drop in with
their Navigators and have them and their record sheets brought up to
date. It was a good opportunity to see where we were all going and the
good news is that we should see some Chief Scouts Awards presented soon.
Thursday
19th May 2005 : Leaders meeting
We had been going to have a meeting
before the bothy night that was planned for this weekend, but with
insufficient interest (it is exam time after all), there was no
meeting. The leaders did meet in a hostelry near Bonaly to talk about
the rest of this term and ideas for next term's programme.
Thursday 26th May 2005 : Indoor games evening
Thirteen
Explorers met at Braid Centre for a laid-back evening of games. The
options on offer were Jenga, Twister, cards and dominoes, and most
Explorers had a go at two or three of these. The card game of Pig,
now a North Face tradition after its introduction and constant playing
on last year's kayak cruise and summer expedition, was introduced to
some of the newer members of the Unit. We finished with a game where we
had to guess names that were written on our foreheads (or at least on
Post-its stuck to our foreheads). One enterprising Explorer took a
photo of himself with his phone-camera — the jury is still out on
whether this was a case of bad gamesmanship or inspired initiative.
Thursday 2nd June 2005 : An evening in the park
We went off to the Hermitage, almost losing a couple of groups en route.
Our first activity was an egg race. The four teams had twenty minutes
to construct a raft out of natural materials, capable of carrying an
egg. All were launched and Calum's team's entry of a polystyrene cup
won. Dan's team's raft, which was simply a pile of leaves came second
and of the other two, which both resembled nests, one grounded in the
middle of the burn and failed to finish. The result is subject to an
appeal to the egg racing board as it was claimed that the winning raft
was not made exclusively from natural materials. There then followed a
game of Ultra-cricket, each team member had four slugs at the ball and
could choose to make runs by, for 4 points, running to a bench and
ringing a bell, for 6 points running to a stump with an umbrella up or,
for 10 points, running to another stump and tying a Scout knot in a
rope. Disappointingly few chose the knot!
Thursday 9th June 2005 : Post-exam chill
We
started off with a final exam from Alan, with questions on science,
geography, languages and then Scouting. This was followed by party food
— sausage rolls, quiche, crisps, etc with Coke and other fizzy drinks
(sorry, Richard!). We then went outside to play some games, such as Giant's Keys but with a cup of water. There was almost a water fight but the leaders managed to intervene so that it was only spirits that were dampened and not everyone's clothes.
Thursday 16th June 2005 : Longcraig
We
met at Longcraig. Only three Explorers chose kayaking and Shiela Monro
took them out and taught them a few water skills. The rest went
sailing, though most of the time was spent chasing the wind. Alan and
Martin might have won the race out there had they not got stuck on the
buoy. Several people chose to jump off the end of the pier at the end,
just in case they weren't wet enough.
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Thursday 23rd June 2005 : Kite-building
A
few of us met in Braid Centre, which was deserted as the Cubs' and
Scouts' terms had finished. We were introduced to John and James, two
boys from the Royal Blind School. They had been in a Blackford Scout
Troop, but the Blackford Explorer Units could not take them, so we
agreed to give it a go! We then all set to making kites that would
hopefully be flown at the barbecue the following week. These were
tetrahedral kites, made from string, drinking straws and tissue paper.
The leaders, together with Jan and Jeannie had a go at making one as
well.
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Thursday 30th June 2005 : End-of-term barbecue
We
met at Braid Centre, and Martin, together with Russell Torrance and Ian
Stewart, drove us down to Tyninghame, where we were to meet with the
Explorers from Juniper Green. There was virtually no wind, so the
kites, so lovingly constructed last week, were left behind. There was a
group of guys on the beach who were trying to fly a mega-kite, but
without success. Martin led the way into the sea for a swim, but most
of us hadn't even brought trunks, bathing suits or towels. The two
Units went their own way on barbecuing but everyone managed to get some sand into the sausages!
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