Posts by: Scouts Blog

Change of plans

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On Sunday 12th May the 27th Scouts met up at the train station  meaning to go to Ashwell&Morden  but annoyingly the trains were cancelled so the leaders had to look at the map and decide were to go. Once they had decided where to go we split into groups (we got to decide who we were with). When it was our turn we set off. We all took turns reading the map. We went through Grantchester then Barton then Coton. When we got to our lunch point we had a break and had lunch which was around 30 minutes then all of the groups set off again. We were last but that turned out to be a good thing because we had to go through a rifle range and they were shooting so the other groups had to go back but we didn’t so we were then in 1st place.  When we were outside the rifle range they weren’t shooting so we went round the long way for nothing. We went through fields and fields and fields then somehow we were in the city center. We were all really tired so we took a bus back to the train station.

Written by: Jacob

Annual MasterChef Evening

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On Tuesday 30th April we had a MasterChef evening. Each patrol picked a celebrity and cooked food to do with their chosen celebrity. There were celebrities like Bear Grylls, Steve Jobs, Jamie Oliver, Beyoncé, Elon Musk and Gino D’Acampo.

The guests got to vote on the best savoury dish, the best sweet dish and the best table wow factor. The guests were made up of parents, scout leaders from other troops and some former scouts. We had two hours to prepare everything! Falcon patrol won best savoury dish with burritos, Mexican rice, salsa and guacamole. Cobra won the best sweet dish with tiramisu. Their table also won the best table wow factor. Other dishes included apple themed food on the  Steve Jobs table, halloumi fries on the Jamie Oliver table, tomato soup on the Elon Musk table, vegan cheesy garlic bread on the Gino D’Acampo table and buffalo worm brownies on the Bear Grylls table.

Whilst the guests went round trying food there was a slide show of pictures showing events from the last year of scouts.

We worked hard and it was a fun evening. The guests also enjoyed the delicious food.

Written by: Kirsten

 

PL/APL Camp 2019

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The PL and APL Camp is an annual camp where the leaders of the patrols go to practice scouts skills for themselves without having to watch their groups. Camp lasted from Saturday 30th March to Sunday 31st March and this year we cycled to a remote campsite in between Wicken Fen and Anglesey Abbey with platforms to sleep on. I enjoyed the camp with it’s scouting activities such as estimating distances and the height of trees. The PL/APL’s led the activities and helped to cook meals under the supervision of the troop leaders. I like this camp because it gave me the opportunity to practice my skills in a small group of scouts at the same age as me.

Written by: Tomas, PL Eagle

Forward Hike 2019

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This Saturday, 9th of March, the 27th Cambridge Scout troop headed to Linton Village Hall, to take part in a hike.

There were 42 teams at the event in all, and there were eight points to get through (A,B,C,D,E,F,G,HQ). We all started from different points at different times, with an interval of ten minutes between teams. At B,D and F there were activities, at the others was an unmanned cone where you had to pierce the mark sheet. For Base B you had to complete a logic puzzle in which you had to move a stack of rings but could not place a bigger ring on top of a smaller one. Base D was another logic puzzle, where you must retrieve ducks which are out of reach, and you are given equipment such as a baseball, two small lighter balls, a pair of oven gloves, three pieces of rope, a water gun and a spade. At Base F we had to deal with a first aid situation, one conscious and panicking, the other which needed CPR, and we also practised using a defibrillator on a dummy. The weather was changeable, it was sunny, then windy, then back again, and for a brief period it rained, but then cleared up once more. The hike was very well organised, with a method for helping a team if they got lost, and if a team did not reach a manned base for two hours they had to be called, with HQ being the Village Hall.

Maker Space at Barclays Eagle Labs

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Patrols Tiger, Cobra, and Falcon met at Maker Space on the 5th of February. We met a person who worked there, who then told us what we would be doing.

Firstly, he explained what rapid prototyping was – basically you build something and then test it – and that we would prototype a stamp. He showed us a 3D design Software called “123 design” and how to make 3D structures using it. We designed a handle for the stamp and also had a go to design something by ourselves. I designed a rocket. Then he showed us the 3D printer while it printed the handle, and the laser cutter making the rest of the stamp. The stamp had the Scout logo on it and then we put the handle onto the stamp and tested it using ink to stamp our “Certificates of Achievement”.

He then gave us keyrings he had cut out of a sheet of orange see-through plastic with the laser cutter and used the laser cutter to engrave our names and the Scout logo.

The week after, the other patrols visited Maker Space.

Written by: Jakob

The laser cutting machine

Cromer Winter Camp 2019

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On the 1st of February 2019 the Scouts met again at the train station in Cambridge to go on a trip to Roughton mill. We all arrived on time to get on the train to go to Norwich and then get a train to Cromer. We sat in 2 carriages and the girls had to have their own section!! So basically the leaders, boys and bags were all squished together. When we arrived at Cromer station we hiked 1km to the mill (we stayed in a converted Windmill by the way). When we arrived we had hot chocolate and brownies made by Ellis’s Mum. They were yummy and the hot chocolate was needed to warm us up!! Afterwards we spent our time relaxing and at 10 we went to sleep.
We woke up to the smell of sausages and after a cooked breakfast we were ready for an exciting day ahead. We split up into 3 groups, one did outdoor pioneering. We had to build 2 A-frames with different types of lashings. It could hold at least 3 small people, so we did a good job there!!! The second group were learning about communicating on the sea, Danielle taught us about the phonetic alphabet which corresponded with certain symbols, e.g. the Scottish flag representing mike. Here’s my name using the phonetic alphabet : echo lima lima India sierra. After this we made flags and we held them up to communicate to the other team. The Scottish flag means my vessel is stopped. My favourite was film making. We did a short film then edited it and we put sound effects over some parts. Our group was good because of the moral of what to do or what not to do regarding stranger danger.
In the afternoon we hiked to Cromer, we went to the RNLI boat museum, it was really interesting and we also had the opportunity to try out different types of Morse code. After that, we went to the pier and chilled there for a bit. I was crazy … I bought an ice-cream and my fingers froze from it. After that we hiked back to the Windmill. For dinner we had vegetable curry and for pudding we had cake with custard. It was delicious!!
The next morning after breakfast we finished off our activities. The weather was lovely and bright so we had our campfire during the day. We sat around the campfire reflecting on our fabulous weekend. We sang a lot of songs we also had marshmallows with hot chocolate. What a way to finish such a great camp!!! I can’t wait for next years winter camp.

Written by: Ellis

Pioneering at the mill

At the pier

 

Silver Fox Night Hike competition

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On December the 8th, 5 teams from the 27th scouts entered the Silver Fox night hike competition. It was held at Holt Island in St Ives. Before setting off, we pitched our tents and ate our tea. There were 3 other troops, 2 of them camped and 1 of them went home after the hike. Each team had to report to base half an hour before their starting time to gain grid references and phone numbers. The route took us out to Fenstanton before coming back to St Ives through the Fen Drayton lakes.

Along the journey, there were 4 bases that each team had to pass by. Each base had a different challenge. The challenges were, First Aid, Pioneering, Filters and making cups of tea!  The stations were marked with grid references on the map. Each team was marked at the bases on their teamwork and their skills. This along with the overall time made up the standings.

Once back, we were treated to hot dogs and hot chocolate. Everyone was very tired and keen to go to sleep. We retreated to the tents and fell asleep straight away. In the morning, the leaders cooked up bacon baps  for breakfast. Each team was keen to know the results. After packing up the tents, Andrew and Richard gave us the results. We found out that: Falcon-Tiger had jointly won with a team from the 28th! They were awarded the shield and everyone went home happy!

Written by: Ollie

Night Hike 2018

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Last year our troop (27th Scouts) went to the Silver Fox Night Hike competition. The event took place on Holt Island, St Ives from the 8th-9th December 2018.

Once everybody had arrived we started setting up our tents, although some people found it difficult everybody managed. After some time, the starting times were announced, every patrol had to go to the starting/ending point which was a small building near the river. All patrols had to come half an hour before their starting times to work out the way points and supply themselves with some hand warmers.

There were six way points we had to reach and on each way point there was an activity e.g. pioneering, water purification and so on. The aproximate length we were walking was 10km and as for the time about 3hours. When we finally got back we had hot dogs and hot chocolate most of us fell asleep soon after we got into our tents.

The Night Hike was a very fun, intruiging and challenging experience for all of us! I would like to go again soon!
Finally, we need to thank all the adults for volunteering to accompany us to the competition. I think all of us appreciate your commitment!

Written by: Misha

JOTI 2018

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On Saturday the 20th of October from 5:00 till 8:00 the 27th scout troop of Cambridge were able to participate in this year’s JOTI. The JOTI is where you can go onto Skype and talk to other scout troops from all around the world, we managed to speak to lots of different troops from all around the world such as South Africa, America, Scotland, Indonesia and many more. Overall most of the troop’s favorite things to do was camping. We managed to talk to all of these scout troops by going on to the website scout link and we would type in the username and password, then you could go into a chat room and talk to a whole group of scouts or talk to one person at a time, there was also a big screen in the middle of the room that you could call or get called by different scout troops by Skype.

All of the different scout troops who were participating in the JOTI had a JID code, these were codes that you would give to people and they would give it to you, your scout troop would then record this and see how many you could get. We would ask other scouts what they like to do in scouts, what they enjoyed doing most and what sort of things they did in their country and would see what we do differently here. We all enjoyed having conversations with different scouts and what they do at scouts, then later on in the evening we got some delicious pizza and chatted to each other about what countries we met scouts from and what they liked to do.

we would like to thank all of the parents and leaders that made this evening possible and we hope to do something like this again.

Written by: Leila

Rocket Launch

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At the rocket launch on July 3rd, everyone had made a rocket and we shot them into the sky!

Making the rockets

The rockets started out as a cardboard tube, a plastic cone, and other pieces. We had a Scouts session and a few weeks to complete the rockets. When complete, they had a streamer to act as a parachute, three to five fins and a unique paint job.

5,4,3,2,1…Launch!

We launched our rockets in Netherhall field, as it is a big, open space, as Colville school wasn’t big enough for the Scout 1 test flight. Before launch, we put an engine into each of our rockets, attached an igniter to the engine and plugged it on the rocket. Next, we shoved recovery wadding beneath the streamer and put the cone on top. We slid the rockets down the pole on the launch pad, clipped the wires to the igniter and we were done. Then we held down the launch key, waited for the countdown, and pressed the button. We have launch!!!

The good and the bad

Some people had made brilliant rockets that went sky-high and landed with nearly no damage, but some people had rockets that went down without streamers, or didn’t go up at all. My rocket got jammed on the launch pad the first two times, and each time it burnt a hole through the pad, but I had a successful launch, as most people did.

Written by: Alex (Falcon Patrol)

Getting ready for launch