You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
I do similar, by the time 3 or4 have had a go, waiting for glue to dry etc, the 30 mins goes quite quickly. Also do a pre- ride check over talk
I have attempted fixing a puncture with the cubs. Quiet hard work trying to do a few repairs in a short period of time. Attention spans aren't great and the odds of a cub actually repairing a puncture is slim at their age. I'm sure some kids can but they will probably need assistance with a real repair 🤔.
Good luck!
Yes IHN I did ask. My daughter was a bit upset so we spoke about what the reason maybe, and i then asked the cubs leaders so I could better explain to my daughter. It only took a line in an email. I didn't need more, my point here was my daughter would have understood that and it wasn't that she hadn't been made 6er earlier that was the problem, it was the confusion caused, she didn't know why and that upset her.
It's not a big thing, but can feel big to a cub.
We did Conkers last night
Chaos!
It's not a big thing, but can feel big to a cub.
I get that. I suppose my point (which, reading it back now, does sound a bit ranty, which was unintentional) is that I don't know what more you can expect of the leaders in that situation. I think to expect them to proactively explain to all the cubs that weren't picked as to why they weren't picked is unreasonable. If you asked them, and they told you, then it's all good, right?
Question. Do you give cubs tidy l that aren't 6er the chance to earn the team leader challenge badge?
Do you give cubs tidy l that aren't 6er the chance to earn the team leader challenge badge?
Yeah see this pack insist, 6ers only get the chance. Seems strange to me but it is not my pack so I don't make the rules. As i said, happy to follow the rules, but I I think they could... should be clearer what the rules are.
Anyway, I've got sewing to do, she's got the badge tonight. (And my 8yo was invested)
Well, we were camping at Linnet Clough this weekend with 27 scouts. Fair to say that is was a camp that I survived rather than enjoyed as I felt pretty crap all weekend, but they had fun which is the main thing.
They also learned that, as fun as it is to whack things with a mallet, if you drive an eight inch wooden tent peg in to three inches below the surface of the ground you're going to spend a looooooooooong time getting it out again...
Did you get any "Badger Action"?
We've got two scout teams and one explorer team at The Beavan Challenge this weekend, but I'm not going.
My next camp is over Halloween weekend at Whitley Beaumont near Huddersfield. Never been, so don't know what to expect.
Hammocks, pioneering, a "Tough Mudder" and a Halloween party.
Cycling cubs tonight.
- slow race
- track stand comp
- bike cleaning
- tube fix
- ride the bumps in the woods
Did you get any "Badger Action"?
Nope, but we did have a very strict "no food in the tents" rule which, amazingly, they stuck to. I think they're all well aware of the Legend of Jamie Beale and don't want a repeat.
"Legend of Jamie Beale"? Intrigued.
We had a badger drink a litre of cooking oil. It must have crapped itself inside out.
+1 invested in the Legend of Jamie Beale.
+2, unless it's an Eastenders thing
It's basically the story of Linnet Clough camp where a lad, let's call him Jamie Beale, started getting a bit angsty about badgers when we gave them the "no food in the tent cos of badgers" talk when we got there. So, when he saw a badger outside his tent at about 9pm he freaked out a bit. We got him calmed down and all went off to play a wide game. Then it was back for supper, hot chocolate and bed.
About half an hour after they'd all gone down he appears again, all teary and homesick and saying he can hear noises outside the tent, and whilst I'm dealing with him one of the other leaders gets a call from his Dad, cos unbeknownst to us Jamie had already rung him saying he wanted to be picked up. Jamie's dad was not going pick him up, cos Jamie's dad had, quite understandably as it was now about 11pm on a Saturday night, had about five pints.
So, again, we get Jamie calmed down and I tell him to go back to his tent and go to sleep and he'll feel better in the morning. He doesn't want to walk there on his own as he's now really freaking out about badgers, so I walked across with him. As we're walking, the light from my torch shines on the arse end of a big ol' badger, the front end of which is under the canvas of Jamie's patrol's tent...
At this point Jamie just explodes. Much, much, much cajoling and calming eventually get him back into the tent with his patrol, who thought the initial investigation of them by the badger was quite funny and they'd scared it away quite easily.
The following morning they weren't so chipper, as Mr Badger was nothing if not persistent and they spent the entire night trying to keep it out of the tent. They had the thousand yards stares of privates who've come off the front line of a war zone, one of them slept, when they did sleep, with the mallet in his hand.
I went to check the tent for damage, and it was no surprise that Mr Badger was persistent, cos the groundsheet was essentially a carpet of Doritos.
"Who's are those?" I asked?
"Jamie's".
My lot were warned and got raided on the first night. We warned them again and everyone got rid of the contraband food apart from one tent... that got raided again.
Had a badger snuffling about my tent in the middle of the night, so I told it to "**** Off". And it did. I'm just like Dr Doolittle.
There's a big winter camp at Linnet next February / March. Are you going?
here's a big winter camp at Linnet next February / March. Are you going?
Nope, you? We do our winter camp every year at Gradbach, last weekend of January. I might have a ride past the Linnet one though, see what's going on.
Any ideas for 'skills challenge' stuff that takes basically zero prep? We're doing it on Thursday and I'm supposed to be doing bike maintenance, but this week is turning into 'one of those weeks' and sorting out the tubes/wheels/glue/patches etc etc is going to be a bit of a faff. I need something that will work for groups of about ten scouts, lasting about 20 minutes.
Got any poles? Da Vinci Bridge?
We do a good teamwork/communications thing:
Three Chair River Crossing
- Split them into teams.
- Give each team three chairs.
- Tell them that they have to get from one side of the room to the other using the chairs without touching the floor.
- There cannot be more people than chairs when doing a crossing.
Basically they have to work out that they go across in twos by moving the unoccupied chair and stepping across, then one of them has to go back with two chairs to get the next person.
Starts off as a problem solving exercise, develops into a race.
That chair thing sounds good, will use that at some point, but I need something to tick off the 'practical skills' bit:
We've got a 'basics of using a drill' base (which I now wish I'd bagsied cos it'll be easy; just turn up with some scraps of wood and a drill), a 'how to clean a kitchen/floor/toilet' (which Useless John is doing, and he can have it), and I said I'd do basic bike maintenance.
Cub camp this weekend
But 50mph winds and rain making it look questionable!
Cub camp this weekend
But 50mph winds and rain making it look questionable!
Yeah, our cubs are theoretically off to a district camp at Barnswood which is looking iffy
...and I've had a brainwave for the skills thing. I've got an old table and chair that were simple flatpack builds. Split the group into two, one has to take the chair apart and the other the table, then they swap and have to work out how to reassemble them. If assembling flatpack with no instructions isn't a life skill, then I don't know what is.
Well, we've just pulled all of our teams our of The Beavan Challenge this weekend. 60mph winds in a wooded site. On top of the risk to the kids it'll potentially trash our kit and we wouldn't be able to use the parachute.
There's also the issue of it being miserable for the kids.
I think the organisers are hanging on for a day or so, but we've withdrawn in time to cancel the food order.
Bugger.
Yeah, our cub leader is just waiting for District to pull the plug on the Barnswood camp
The river at Gradbach comes in handy:
pretty handy for making a monkey bridge- they really have to make sure lashings are up to scratch or they get wet!
Back when we had walkie talkies, for skills sessions we’d split patrols- half of a patrol would be outside with gazebos and the others inside with the instructions and they had to communicate to get it put up.