Contact October 2016

October 2016

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Contact online?

www.issuu.com/birkenheadscouts

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Can you help?ase! ple

There will be a final clean up at the 2nd Birkenhead outside of their North Road HQ on Saturday 29th October from 9am.

Anyone who can help is asked to contact temporary GSL Mike Lennox on 07768 423965 or by emaling mike.lennox@btinternet.com They are particularly keen to hear from anyone with a wheelbarrow as a skip is being hired for the day to move some of the side and back of the hall.

ADC Beavers Denise Lewis is looking for help with building a fire for a District Beavers event at Birkenhead School playing fields Noctorum Road on Saturday 29th October 2016.

Beaver leaders will be in attendance to run the activities but anyone who can help with the fire building should contact Denise by email at dalewis59@yahoo.co.uk

Please send your group news and photos to: SMO-MediaTeam@birkenheadscouts.org.uk by 24h November for inclusion in the December edition

Hello and thank you for reading the

October edition of

Contact.

I seem to start every issue with an apology for it being published late.

When I took over the production of our District magazine I was determined to have it published on time - every time.

It’s proving very difficult. I’ve held off waiting for material to come in for use. The deadline is the 24th so that I can get it published by the first of the following month.

I should thank Steve Robinson at the 64th and Will Redfearn who send their pictures and stories through on time every month.

Contact

3 In this issue we bring you some important news from our District Commissioner Paul Coleman on page 5.

Around the District all of our groups are back Scouting after the Summer break. One of our fist nights back at Explorers was making stoves out of Coke cans.

Nobody was more suprised than me when they all worked!

Gang Show auditions are well under way following the Pasta Night to introduce the show to the cast. The Stage Crew are also meeting every weekend at District HQ and sets and props are being built at a pace.

Once again I look forward to hearing from you about what you’ve been up to - and so that we can spread the word about the excellent Scouting that continues in our District.

Scouts enjoying their Pasta Supper at the 2017 Gang Show launch Paul Ellis

is published by

Birkenhead District Scout Council 15 Balls Road, Oxton, Wirral CH43 5RF Compiled by: Paul Ellis Tel: 07720 555885 paul.ellis @birkenheadscouts.org.uk Please email content to : SMO-MediaTeam@ birkenheadscouts.org.uk

What I can tell you, as this is late being published, is that I attended a fudraising quiz night at the Bassett Hound this week.

The night was organised by Matt Proctor, our ADC Network and Jess Fogg, one of the Merseyside Deputy County Youth Commissioners to raise funds for their trip to the World Scout Moot in Iceland next year.

Well, our team only went and won didn’t we!

Here’s Les Thomas picking up our prize from Matt and Jess.

Contents Pages 4 - 5 The DC Page 6 Bear’s Grill Page 7 Group News Page 8 Jota/Joti

Pages 9 Cubs & Scouts Page 10 Group News Page 11 Explorers

The DC’s Ramblings HOPE YOU ALL HAD A GREAT SUMMER I HOPE THAT ALL OF YOUR SUMMER CAMPS AND ACTIVITIES WENT WELL AND YOU ARE NOW RE-ENERGISED AND BACK INTO THE SWING OF THINGS. I HAD A GREAT SUMMER, I WENT TO CAMP WITH VIKING EXPLORERS TO THE ISLE OF MAN FOR A WEEK AND ALSO VISITED WIZARD ON THEIR CAMP IN CHESHIRE. I ALSO SPENT A WEEK CANOEING IN SWEDEN’S LAKE DISTRICT WITH RORY, A FANTASTIC EXPERIENCE WHICH I WOULD RECOMMEND TO ANYONE. THE CANOEING THAT IS!!

I ALSO ATTENDED MERSEY MOOT WITH BOTH EXPLORER UNITS… MORE ABOUT THAT LATER IN THIS EDITION OF CONTACT. District have purchased the kit required to play Human Hungry Hippos, a really popular game, I am sure a lot of you have seen on the Internet. The equipment comprises of four trolleys, four baskets and a bag of plastic balls. If you wish to borrow it for your troop, pack or colony, it is held at District Headquarters, contact me, PJ or your section ADC to arrange collection.

ADC Cubs Matt Jones and ADC Scouts Jordan Davies were among several members of the Birkenhead District who attended the Merseyside County AGM in Liverpool recently

5

I am sure some of you will have heard that I have recently started a new job, as Growth Development Officer as part of a major investment funded in part

by Headquarters and in part

by Merseyside Scouts. It is a really exciting three year project to bring more young people into scouting and to have that positive effect on the lives of young people in areas we have never touched before.

great pride, with the hard work of a fantastic team, the District has grown, we have new groups, sections and Explorer units.

We have delivered a quality programme and excellent programme support in all sections.

I will be working full time across the County and because of this I do not feel that I can devote the time and energy that I would like to my role as District Commissioner. It is with some regret that I have made the decision to stand down at the end of December.

Birkenhead continues to be a great place to scout and long may it continue!!!

I have been DC now for over five years and I can look back on that time with

More news about the process for finding our new DC will be circulated by Alan Seeley, County Commissioner soon, but in the meantime, I haven’t left yet, so I look forward to seeing you all around and about, scouting in Birkenhead.

Paul

During the summer five of us from the 64th Birkenhead walked over 27km over two days for our Expedition Challenge Hike. It was fun but also cold, raining, and long. We saw a field full of dead sheep, stopped at a local shop that served tasty cakes and other sweets, crossed a few styles and walked up plenty of steep hills. We cooked fajitas on a Trangia outside on the grass – it was tasty. We came across a herd of cow’s which covered the path – one of them was a bull – it took a while to get across after nearly getting chased.

By James, Grace, Rhyse, Ella, & Zack The route followed the Offa’s Dyke from Llangollen to Bwlch Penbarras, with an overnight at Llyn Rhys in Llandegla. The whole route is Terrain Zero so can be carried out by anyone; all you need is a Night’s Away permit. Steve Robinson (ASL)

Bear’s Grill Pork Padre Serves 6 - 8 ( allegedly ) ................ i think it`s more like 4 - 6 .......... lol

Ingredients 1.5 kg ( 3lb ) pork forequarter, boned ... i use pork leg then trim and dice it myself.

1 tablespoon ground coriander 2 teaspoons ground cummin 1 teaspoon fennel seeds 2 large onions, sliced 2 teaspoons chopped fresh ginger 2 teaspoons chopped garlic

Rind of half a lemon ( zested ) 2 teaspoons chilli powder ... i use Tesco Hot Chilli Powder and i`m up to 6 teaspoons!

12 curry leaves 1 stick cinnamon 1/4 cup ( 2 fl oz ) arrack or whisky 1 tablespoon sugar 1/2 teaspoon pepper 3 teaspoons salt 2 cups ( 16 fl oz ) thick coconut milk 1/4 cup ( 2 fl oz ) tamarind liquid * 1 cup ( 8 fl oz ) water

Method Cube the pork and set aside.

Roast the coriander, cummin and fennel (or use a dark roasted Ceylon curry powder).

Put spices into an electric blender together with onions, ginger, garlic, lemon rind ( zested ), chilli powder and curry leaves.

Add a cup ( 8 fl oz ) of water and blend into a smooth paste.

Put blended mixture and pork into a saucepan and add 1 cup ( 8 fl oz ) of the coconut milk, cinnamon, pepper, salt and tamarind.

Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 50 minutes.

Add sugar and arrack or whisky and simmer until the pork is tender.

If more liquid is needed, add a little hot water.

Towards the end of cooking time add remaining coconut milk and simmer, uncovered, until thick.

Serve with rice and accompaniments.

DO NOT use the light brown very sickly sweet tamarind liquid you can buy in supermarkets. The stuff you want is a jet black paste and is beyond belief in sourness ( if you try a bit make sure it is only a bit ) and only sourced from Asian shops.

1 teaspoon added to 2 fl oz of boiling water is the right quantity for this recipe.

The ones to look out for are Tamicon, Panipuri Paste, Tamarind Concentrate.

Enjoy, Will Redfearn

7

64th Sea Scouts and 1st Beechwood Summer Camp

9 Hopefully we will be able to have Nikki our ACC (Cubs) at one of these meetings if not more of them! I also have lots of county meetings booked in so if something crops up in between our meetings feel free to pop me a message and I shall pass anything over to them.

Hi Everyone, Hopefully you all had a lovely summer break and were well rested to restart our Scouting adventure once again! Although I know not every group stopped over Summer! I saw lots of fabulous Everyday Adventures over the summer holidays and hopefully we will see articles in this issue with some amazing examples of our district providing Fun, Challenge and Adventure!

I’ve booked some Cub leader meetings in for the Cub Leaders to get together and share best practice, hear updates from the district and county teams as well as get our heads together to plan district events.

The dates are: Monday 9th January 2017 – 20:00 – 21:15 Monday 8th May 2017 – 20:00 – 21:15 All meetings will be at District HQ.

Feel free to drop me any invitations to activities, meetings and events and Ill do my best to attend as many as I can.

Just to let you know that over the last few weeks I’ve transitioned to a new role in work so I’ve been fairly busy trying to operate two jobs at the same time however by this issue I should have hopefully fully transitioned so should have more time available at the weekends!

And finally, I would like to wish our DC, Paul, All the very best in his new job as Growth Development Officer for Merseyside! All the very best for the next three years Paul!

Yours In Scouting, Matt Jones, ADC Cubs Matt.jones@birkenheadscouts.org.uk Cubs@birkenheadscouts.org.uk 07802 545 774 - new number!

Scouts have had a busy summer with all their camps.

I visited 2nd Thingwall at their group camp at 1st Thursaston, thanks to everyone else who invited me to their camps also, even if i was unable to attend.

The next event on our calendar is: Thursday 17th November 10 Pin Bowling Competition This is in its usual location in New Brighton Booklets are hot off the press and will be getting distributed to leaders as you read this!

7pm arrival for a 7:30 start £8 per person.

This includes one game of bowling, drink and food, Further details will be in the info packs.

As always enjoy your scouting and please invite me to your troop nights and events and i will do my best to try and come and attend.

Jordan Davies ADC (Scouts)

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The 25th Birkenhead have had a fun start to their new scouting season.

Our GIANT GAMES night consisted of Ker-Plunk, Hungry Hippos and navigating GIANT biscuits from our forehead to our mouth.

We have done Crazy Cooking, Codes, First Aid and worked towards our Navigators Badge.

Last weekend we had a great time at The Beavan Challenge at its new venue of Tawd Vale. It was a great weekend of hiking and activities but the most enjoyable had to be the Muddy Funster. The terrain was challenging but the Mud Pit took this to another level.

Our scouts were waist deep in very unforgiving mud and had to really work as a team to get themselves out.

Fortunately it was only wellies that were lost and not Scouts!!!!.... but we were very proud of the team spirit that prevailed not just on this activity but for the whole weekend.

An added bonus (if it can be deemed so) was that on Saturday night the temperature dropped below freezing which entitled all campers to their Tawd Vale Penguin Badge.

Our scouts had a great time and we offered no apologies to parents for the bin bags of muddy clothes that were sent home.

Thank you to West Wirral District for organising such a great weekend and our scouts are already looking forward to next year.

Vicki Coleman ASL

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Returning back to the Explorer programme this year was attending Mersey Moot.

We have had a two year absence to this event and we are glad to say a great time was had by all with a turnout from both the Viking and Wizard Units.

All the Explorers were an absolute pleasure to have for the weekend, an asset to their units and the District and we even came away with some awards!

Congratulations to James Begbie for coming second in the driving challenge and to all the Explorers for coming second in the tug of war competition. As you can see they had some fierce supporters in the competitions!

Heather O’Malley DESC

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