Term 1 2020 - News and Term Roundup

Hi And welcome to our term 1 roundup.  A slow start to the term after the hype and excitement of Jamboree gave us a breather to a very busy second half of the term with a large number of visitors, some great successes at regattas and a great start to the year. The sad reality is we have not finished this term in anything like to style we planned to, thanks to the lockdown.  Some beautiful sailing weather has been missed and some camps will have to be cancelled.  We have even postponed an opportunity to go gliding.  Hopefully we can make this up with a more enthusiastic approach in Term 2 and 3 when we are allowed to head out again. Stay safe.

Important

OSM Updates Please could you update all your details. These details will not be shared with anyone who does not need to see them, but do contain important information that we, as leaders need to know, in the event that we have an issue: https://osm.scouts.org.nz/login.php The first section of contact details is for you as scouts.  Please complete this so that you can be involved in these email conversations.  At the very least, please add your email addresses into this section. Please review this even if you have completed it recently.  It needs to be kept up to date. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Badges You as a scout can also track your progress in awards and badges using the following link to OSM: https://osm.scouts.org.nz/login.php ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Event consents We do permission and consents using OSM.  All consents will be based on the following and should be completed by your parent.  These consents have recently changed so please read them carefully. You give permission to your child attending the event You give permission for the Scout leaders to administer child Pamol / Paracetamol / Ibuprofen should they feel it necessary. You give permission for the Scout leaders to administer basic first aid such as plasters etc should they feel it necessary. You give permission for the Scout leaders to act as guardian should your child need to be taken to hospital.  All attempts possible will be made to contact you before a doctor administers treatment. Please let your parents know about this so that it is not a surprise when it happens at our next event. If anyone has a problem with this method or the consents above, please let me know ASAP.

Term 1 roundup

Waitangi Day Family Fun day We started the term with the Family Fun day where we invited all scouts down to play on the boats and kayaks.  About 10 scouts and their families responded and took advantage of the great weather and had a good day.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Onepoto Raft Race This is always a favourite and always fun.  With 7 groups attending, some with Venturer teams as well, we had a huge number of rafts on the water.  Raumati Venturers took the line honours, but some special mentions are required: Waikanae scouts who started about 5 minutes after everyone else and managed to finish second A special mention is required for the Coracle built by the Paekakariki Venturers.  It looked really good, and while I didn't see it finish, I believe it did in one piece. More information on the blog here

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Visit by Waikanae Air Scouts This visit was an example of what scouts should be doing and how they should be doing it, and I was so proud of our scouts. Starting with the senior scouts who all gave up and extra half hour to come to the den early and get the cutters prepared to sail so that we would waste no time, to the youngest scouts who kept up such a clamour on the kayaks that no-one watching could not help but smile and believe that loads of fun was being had by all.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Worser Bay Regatta This was a VERY successful event for us.  Our intermediates showed great style in taking first place in both the Sunbursts and Cutters.  We got a respectable 42 points to St James' 50, which is a very respectable haul given that St James nearly always win with twice as many points as the next closest.  We are getting better at this and I, for one, am looking forward to next years regattas, where we can really show what we can do.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lockdown Then came COVID-19 and a very new experience for many - online scouting.  The leaders have been challenged to adapt and provide the platform for many to keep our scouts engaged and interested and some notable successes to date include: decorating cakes teddy bear challenges - putting them on swings, shooting them from catapults, building them rope ladders and others building bivouacs visiting virtual museums It's been a troubling few weeks and I think you scouts have made a real go of keeping up a "Normal" that you should be congratulated.

Contact us

If you have any questions or queries, feel free to contact me on 021 0292 8345, or at derrickbell@gmail.com. Yours in scouting Derrick, Vanessa, Neil, Rachel, Grant, Kym, Kate, Nick, Robin & Cath

Den Maintenance 2020

First of all, many thanks to the many parents and scouts (cubs keas and venturers included), who took the time to spend an hour or two at the den doing some little chores that needed doing and will all work towards making scouts run easier, smoother and with fewer problems.

Secondly, a huge thank you to Plimmerton Volunteer Fire Brigade, who surprised us all by providing a water blaster in the form of a fire truck.  They washed down the whole den in less than an hour in fantastic style.  Community caring in action.  BRAVO!

The rest of the work was mostly achieved or well on the way to being achieved by the time we left at 3:30pm.

• The whole front of the den was repainted
• Both boat sheds were emptied and cleaned from top to bottom (can't figure out if we were channelling Rachel or Kym here :-) )
• The wardroom (kithcen) was emptied and given a coat of paint.  Hopefully it will have a second one by the end of the weekend too.
• All the fascias were scrapped and wirebrushed and about half were painted
• The changing rooms got a spruce up with a new coat of varnish on the benches and some new coat hooks
• We got two extra mast holders and a new towel rail in the toilet which 
• The brush around the edges of the den was cleared away and a channel cleared to allow the water to drain back into the inlet
• And lastly but not least, we pulled down all our old heavy tents and worked out what their operating status is.  We know that we have a full MASHE tent (big mess tent) and one full PE (Personel) tent.  We have most of two others.  We can now work on completing these tents and either retaining them for future use or finding another home for them.

The scouts all put in a great effort.  Painting, scraping, cleaning and putting up tents ...

Once again thank you to all who helped (and Jane and her boys who provided a full and tasty morning tea).

Derrick

Term 4 2019 - Round up & Look ahead to 2020

Term 4 roundup Fern Class Cutter Before the start of the term, we were offered an opportunity to try out the new plastic molded Cutter.  The boat was unique and offers something different to Sea Scouts than what we are traditionally used.  Some fortunate scouts came down that weekend and got to sail it and had favourable reviews. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Regattas This term saw us compete in several regattas, including our own Onepoto Regatta.  We had a reasonable showing with a couple of firsts and a result in almost every event.  Write up on the web site is here. The Petone Regatta was a couple of weeks later, but the weather did not favour us.  We got a few events done in the morning but the wind got up and never really let off again.  St James made a clean sweep of the few events that were run, but we still managed some good results otherwise.  Write up on the web site is here. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Pauahatanui Cleanup As a civic duty in November we got together with the Guardians of the Inlet and went around the inlet picking up rubbish for a morning.  A good piece of community service by Scouts, Cubs and Keas. Otaki Forks Chill Out Christmas camp What a long name for what was an incredible camp.  Lots of chill out time, no really challenging activities.  The river made an brilliant swimming hole and the weather was at it's best for all bar one gust of wind which lifted the Gazebos and caused a few minor injuries.  Full story as usual on the web site here. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jamboree 2019 I won't say much about Jamboree, other than with the six activity days, came lots of wild stories and happy tired faces at the end. Adventure Zone - climbing walls, abseiling, digger driving, flying foxes, and of course "Challenge Valley" (known at this Jamboree as "The land of the lost scout", but we will always know this activity as Challenge Valley) Home Zone - a feast of creative offerings, including making you own Jamboree t-shirt design, making your own woggle, army dog tags, painting your rock, and many others Fast & Furious -  a day of speed and precision - dirt bikes, archery, bicycles & scooters, cars and for some, cards! Wet & Wild - The lake at Kerepiro was a wonderland with paddle boards, kayaks, mud slide, sailing and a jet boat ride. The Mystery Tours - luck of the draw visits to a Lumber Museum, where you saw all the old machinery, made a branding, built a bivouac and watched cheese being made before your eyes (along with some really bad jokes) followed by a walk next to the Blue Spring, an idyllic river with very blue colouration originating (as the name implies) from a spring; or you got to go Laser Tag, Leap Trampoline Park and orienteering in Hamilton park. The 6th day was your duty for the troop, starting with washing up dinner plates and pots, continuing through the next days breakfast, cleaning up for inspection, doing the laundry, lunch, doing the community service (building pest traps for DOC), and making dinner. Some of the older scouts still had energy at the end of the evenings and managed to do some of the extra evening activities. No scout that went to Jamboree does not have a story to tell about each and every one of these days.  Simply ask them. A couple have responded to a request to tell a short story and they are included here. Individual Achievements Bronze Silver and Gold Awards Some of you scouts have completed Bronze, Silver and Gold Awards over the last term.  They are: Bronze Ruby Ohara Jesse Daniel Bronson Seth Calvin Amelia Zac Marcus Matthew Penny All our scouts that went to Jamboree have achieved at least their Bronze award now.  This is a fantastic achievement as a troop. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Cossgrove Gold Cossgrove Gold is an evaluation as well as a training camp designed to test serious scouting skills.  Our scouts achieved good results and all achieved theirs. Adam Liam Harry Alfie Hamish Gabriella Term 1 2020 - Calendar Scout programme evenings The new term will begin on the 13th February 2020 (2nd week of term). Evenings will start from 18h30 and run to 21h00. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sunday Sailing Sunday Sailing starts on the 2nd of February.  Sailing will start at 13h00 and run until 16h00 although if the weather is really good we may stop for a swim after the boats are derigged. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Regattas Harbour Race When: 1 March 2020 @ 9:00 am Where: Evans Bay Worser Bay Regatta When: 15 March 2020 @ 9:00 am Where: Worser Bay Hickson Regatta When: 29 March 2020 @ 9:00 am Where: Evans Bay Cutty Sark Regatta When: 10 April til 12 April 2020 Where: Napier ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Zone Events Kapiti Coast Zone Onepoto Raft Race     When: 16 February 2020 @ 9:00am Where: Onepoto Inlet Kapiti Coast Zone Mud Slide When: 22 February 2020 @ 10:00am Where: Pukera Bay Scout Den Message for parents from Kym Derigging and den cleaning The end of each scout evening is a very busy time for leaders. Please parents, can you arrive a little early and help.  This can be getting the boats out of the water and away.  Also every evening the toilets, changing rooms, shower and entrance need sweeping and mopping, sinks and toilets need cleaning and in the kitchen the dishes need doing.  If you could do those tasks while the scouts have flag break the leaders would really appreciate that help (remember they are all just volunteers, have often come straight to scouts from work without dinner and many have young scouts who need to get home to bed too). Thanks heaps.   Kym  Did you know? Ngati Toa Sea Scouts has a website with write ups of a lot of our major events?  You too can add to this site.  Let me know what you would like to write about and I will help you to post and publicise it. https://ngatitoaseascouts.blogspot.com It also contains a calendar with all the troop dates in OSM displayed on it.  You can click the "Google Calendar" button at the bottom of the page to link it to your own calendar.

2019 Term 3 - Round up & Look ahead

Welcome to our term 3 roundup. Looking forward to our new term of Sea Scouting, there are a number of regattas and sea scout events that need our support and participation. But first lets do the important bits from last term. Term 3 - 2018 - Round up Term 3 was packed with a huge variety of activities, that at times actually became quite hard to manage for the leaders due to their diversity, starting with the Winter Camp. Winter Camp At the end of the School Holidays we had a winter camp at Battle Hill. Scouts were given their own food to cook, allocated a fire place and were left to to set up their own campsite. All meals were cooked by scouts and there was plenty to keep everyone occupied the whole weekend. On the Saturday afternoon we took a tramp up the Puketiro Loop (under Transmission Gully). The walk was a lot of fun, but the views were not so spectacular as the hill tops were covered in cloud. Sunday got a bit rainy and we had to call in help to get the tents down, dried out and cleaned before returning to the den. Many thanks to the parents who helped with this and dismantling the camp. More here: https://ngatitoaseascouts.blogspot.com/2019/07/winter-camp-2019.html Term programme A fairly strong grounding in Scouting knowledge has been gained this term, with a whole evening dedicated to knots and getting knot boards ready to show off the knots we can do. The six basic knots are all we require at the moment and for some at least it is getting fairly straight forward. Figure 8 Reef knot Clove hitch Cleat hitch Sheet bend Bowline When you have done them 6 times on 6 separate occasions, we will let you have your knot board to display them up in the den. Night Hike To the top of Colonial Knob. The weather was passable, with very little rain and wind only at the top. The watches that made it up were all in tearing spirits with a lot of chatter and play happening at the top while waiting for everyone to get there. Nick provided chocolates and then we went on our way down again. A short walk, easily done in the dark (only one watch got slightly lost) and a lot of fun. (PIcture below of (L-R) Ross, Derrick, Will, Jane, Magnus, Connor and Kym at the top of Colonial knob) LNI Prize Giving A great example of how our troop can come together to do something special. We may not have won more than one first place or any trophies but we excelled at putting on a great location for the prize giving and a huge amount of spirit and fun. This prize giving is the culmination of the years sailing, rowing, and swimming events all put together in one big evening. Hopefully we can do better next year. Māori Language week Vanessa put on a great evening of Māori culture and language for us to prepare us for the following week. We wove flax fish and played Māori games and translated Māori words. Many of the scouts proving that we definitely come from a land of mixed peoples, and who take pride in their own and respect other cultures. Swimming A small representative group came to the swimming and showed tremendous spirit, representing us well and getting some good seconds and thirds and even a first. Night Row Always a good event, this was the first water event of the year at a scout programme evening and it showed how out of practice we are. It took us a while to get down to the beach with the boats and our rowing could definitely use some improvement. We were just getting back the memory of the old commands and the evening had to come to an end. Group Camp "Brookfield Gold Rush" The Brookfield Gold Rush was a winner for all who took part, keas, cubs, scout, venturers and leaders. I am so proud to be a part of this. A short write up is available here: https://ngatitoaseascouts.blogspot.com/2019/09/brookfield-gold-rush-group-camp-2019.html And some photographs here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/3t1WCpUPp5ViCBDz6 Individual Achievements Certainly this has been a term of achievement. Look at the lists below and you can draw that conclusion for yourself. Cossgrove "Practical Skills" Course This course is an essential "This is what scouting is" course covering most of the basics and a lot of the Bronze Award work. We were lucky and got several of you onto the course earlier in the year and this course was no different. Held at Pukera Bay Scout den it was at least a little more sheltered. The following scouts successfully completed the course: Gabriella Magnus Penny Dominic Sean Lauree Zac This course also saw two of our leaders attend, one of whom achieves their Gilwell woggle by completing the course. Well done: Robin Kate (achieves Gillwell woggle) Sandford "Young Leaders" course This course is a full on two days of learning and doing on how to lead (and how to follow a leader). Six of our scouts completed this course successfully in July. Liam Harry Alfie Hamish Will Ciara Well done, all of you. Bronze Silver and Gold Awards Some of you scouts have completed Bronze, Silver and Gold Awards over the last term. They are: Bronze Magnus Martin Ethan Brown Emyr Staffer Sean Byres Silver Adam The Bronze award is a requirement to attend Jamboree and the leaders will make every attempt to help scouts achieve this, but you need to be aware and motivated to achieve it to. Chief Scout Awards At our group camp this year, we were privileged to witness the awarding another Chief Scout Award to a deserving scout. This is award is a pinnacle of achievement within a scouts career and is awarded to only 2% of scouts around the country. It requires a great deal of self-motivation, organisation and drive to complete so it is definitely something to be proud of. The recipient is: Ellen Serci Ellen actually achieved this award in Term 1. Well done Ellen. She has now moved on to Venturers, where we wish her luck and hope she continues her journey towards her Queen Scout Award. Leader awards At camps this year several leaders have been honoured with Medals of Merit awards. This is normally awarded for over 10 years service or an exceptional service: Neil Vanessa Both richly deserved. Also Robin has been invested as a new leader in our troop and has now seen out his first term with us. Future Sandford "Young Leaders" and Cossgrove "Practical Skills" courses These courses are all planned for the rest of the year. Dates as follows: Cossgrove Gold Course 18-20 October - This is an advanced practical skills training exercise and will be recommended to a few senior scouts Term 4 & 1 - Calendar Please remember that we are Sea Scouts. The regattas are a VERY important part of what we do and we do expect a good level of attendance. We would reasonably view this as at least half of the scout events below. Onepoto Regatta Starting on Labour weekend with our own regatta, the Onepoto Regatta will start on the Saturday with sailing as per usual and lead on to the Seamanship, iron scout and kayaking events on Sunday. We will be camping overnight on the domain. When: 26/10/2019 & 27/10/2019 Where: Titahi Bay Sailing Club & Ngati Toa Sea Scout Den Levin Regatta When: Sunday 10 November @ 9:00 am Where: Lake Horowhenua Annual General Meeting When: 11 November 2019 @ 7:30 pm Where: Ngati Toa Sea Scout Den Petone Regatta When: 24 November 2019 @ 9:00 am Where: Petone Foreshore Ward Island Picnic When: 15 December 2019 @ 9:30 am Where: Petone Foreshore 22nd NZ Scout Jamboree - Ngati Toa Contingent When: 28 December 2019 til 7 January 2020 Where: Mystery Creek, Hamilton Harbour Race When: 16 February 2020 @ 9:00 am Where: Evans Bay Worser Bay Regatta When: 15 March 2020 @ 9:00 am Where: Worser Bay Hickson Regatta When: 29 March 2020 @ 9:00 am Where: Evans Bay Cutty Sark Regatta When: 10 April til 12 April 2020 Where: Napier Welcome Cath has been leading in Cubs for a number of years and has followed her youngest children Matt and Amelia into Scouts.  We are lucky to have her. Welcome Cath.