Week Ending 21.04.12
Top Awards for Alex and John
The District Commissioner has paid tribute to two active support members who have been honoured by the Chief Scout in the recent St George’s Day Awards.
Alex Buchanan, a District Scout Active Support Member was awarded the Silver Wold in recognition of services of the most exceptional nature.
John Blair, Group Scout Active Support Member from the 6th was awarded the Silver Acorn in recognition of especially distinguished service.
DC David McCallum said: “John and Alex are stalwarts in Greenock and District and I am delighted that the Chief Scout has honoured them in this way. It is a fantastic achievement for both men and reward the hard work and effort they have put in over the years.”
Amateur Radio Scouts go for the Century
Greenock and District Scouts and Guides Amateur Radio Club, operating from the new radio shack in Scout Headquarters in Finnart Street has had another successful night.
The club is trying to achieve one of the major milestones in amateur radio by contacting 100 unique countries as defined by the International Amateur Radio Union. The award is called the DX Century Club, and on Friday it passed the half-century mark.
This is due in no small part to the efforts of amateur radio operator and Young Leader Stephanie McCann, who took the club contacts past the 50 milestone and concluded a great night’s work by recording the club’s first ever contact with an amateur operator in India. The club total now stands at 54 countries logged.
Stephanie has been an amateur radio operator for over three years since passing the Ofcom examination and gaining her own amateur radio call sign.
She is a keen operator who has given freely of her skills to operate special event radio stations on behalf of the Scouts, Guides and other organisations. She is very confident speaking with fellow amateur radio operators from all over the world with whom she has completed many hundreds of contacts.
Other interesting milestones in the last week was radio contact with a Special Event Amateur Radio Station to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the sinking of RMS Titanic and the first activation of SOTA (Summits on the Air) summit Beinn Lagan in Argyll.
Stephanie and the other club members are now in the planning stages to set up and operate an amateur radio station at the District Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Camp and preparing for their three Munro SOTA Challenge over the weekend of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations and would like nothing more than to achieve their target of contacting 100 countries in this, the Queen’s Jubilee year.
Keep up to date with the Amateur Radio Club on Twitter @mm0tsg and their website http://mm0tsg.wordpress.com/
Beavers get Outdoor Challenge
A day out at Lunderston Bay went down a treat for the 32nd Beavers who completed the remainder of their Outdoor Challenge. Rock pooling with a Ranger from Cornalees was the highlight of the day along with sandcastle building, games, and playing play in the park, followed by an Easter Egg Hunt. Our thanks to Peter from Cornalees who helped make our day a great success.
Explorers on the Silver Trail
Nine Explorers from the North Face and Ardgowan units embarked on their silver Duke of Edinburgh qualifying expedition around the Trossachs.
The group consisted of two teams one starting at Callendar and the other at Brig O Turk. Teams proceeded to head north on separate routes to their chosen campsite where they immediately set about setting up camp and making their dinner before turning in for an early night after an exhausting days hiking.
The next day saw both groups continue on the second leg of their journey, now travelling in opposite directions southwards to the Scout campsite of Invertrossachs where they set up camp again, before their final leg of the journey to Aberfoyle in the morning.
All in all they covered a distance of over 40 kilometres resulting in several blisters, aches and pains; whilst enduring very wet weather. Despite all this, a truly unforgettable experience was had for all the right reasons.
The second weekend saw Explorers who had done training in all aspects of lightweight expeditions from the Darroch, North Face, Terra Nova and 80th units. They completed their bronze expedition over three challenging routes.
A massive well done to everyone who took part and to those who helped out.
Practice Hikes hit the peaks
Three members of the 80th Explorers headed into the hills around Inverclyde for a day to practice navigation and hill skills before their Duke of Edinburgh expeditions. During this day out the Explorers conquered a massive five peaks before heading to Cornalees Visitors Centre for lunch and a relaxing walk back to Waterman’s Cottage.
Blair Atholl team meets up
Blair Atholl participants have met up for the first time to enjoy a nights bowling and Laser Quest before being split into their new patrol for the Jamborette. A great night was had by all and the Blair Atholl Buzz is certainly around the District. In other Blair Atholl news this weekend’s camp has been cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances. Jonathan will be in touch with all the parents with a new date for the parents evening.
Bishy Birthday Camp
The Bishy Rovers took the long trip to the Isle of Wight for the 18th Birthday of the Revolution Camp. This camp is an Explorer and Network event during which the Rovers competed in synchronised swimming, lawn bowls, kayaking, canoeing, quad biking, hovercraft racing, hockey and dance mats before winning the Best Network Award for the event. The next major event for network will see them travelling to Coventry for “The Festival”. Please see Webbie or Sara if you are interested in coming along.