3rd Billericay Scout Troop

Leading Patrol Points: tba

3rd February - Patrol Challenge Night

Tonight was Patrol Challenge Night. The four patrols had to battle it out with each other through a series of competitive challenges.

The Physical Challenge - Potato Fencing

The Mental Challenge - Chess

The Skill Challenge - Catapult Target Range

The Creative Challenge - Straw Sculpture

• Seagull - First place (50 points)
• Kestrel - Second place (30 points)
• Bull - Third place (10 points)

This weeks challenges, for 10-20 points.

This weeks challenge is to find as many words as possible on the following Boggle board. (normal Boggle rules apply)

Send your list to Skip.
10 points for each entrant, with 20 points for the longest list of words.

28th January - District Swimming Gala

Our team for this years gala consisted of three Kestrels (Jennifer, Hannah and Callum), two Bulls (Edward and James) and a Cobra (Jerome). Charlie was also at the Gala, but he was there to support the Explorer Unit as he is currently going through the 'moving on' process.

Our team did their best and they have qualified for their staged Swimming activity badges.
A special mention for James who got into the semi-final for the freestyle. Callum, who got into the Final for the backstroke, and Edward who made into the semi final for the backstroke and the finals for the freestyle.

Well done everybody!

27th January - Wide Game - Predator vs Prey

Tonight we played the Predator vs Prey wide game. The Bulls were the muddiest patrol after the game, but it must have worked for them since they took first place. We were infiltrated by a Scout from the 8th Billericay troop who was in the area and couldn't resist joining in.

• Bull - First place (50 points)
• Cobra - joint Second place (30 points)
• Seagull - joint Second place (30 points)
• Kestrel - joint Second place (30 points)

Matthew E joins the Kestrels

Tonight we are very proud to welcome Matthew E to the troop. He made the Scout promise in front of the Troop and joined the Kestrels.
Glad to have you aboard Matthew.

Badge Awards

This weeks challenges, for 10 points.

This weeks challenge is to solve the following puzzle:

You have two "hourglass" timers a four minute glass and a seven minute glass. You want to measure exactly nine minutes. How do you do it?

Congratulations to Jerome who earns 10 points for the Cobras. Click here for the answer.

Start both the timers. Once the four minute timer has run through, turn it again. When the seven minute timer has run through turn it, then wait one more minute for the four minute timer (which has been running for three minutes now) to run through. At this point, eight minutes have elapsed, and the seven minute timer has been running for 1 minute. So just turn it over, and it will take a minute for it to run through giving a total time of nine minutes.

20th January - Swimming

Tonight we went swimming. The district Swimming Gala is coming up and the Scouts started working towards their swimming activity badge.

13th January - Compass training/Finishing the Patrol Boxes

Tonight we finished off our patrol boxes, and completed the DIY badge. We also worked on our compass skills.

Badge Awards

This weeks challenges, for 10 points.

This weeks challenge is to provide the correct answer to this puzzling question:

A bookworm eats from the first page of an encyclopedia to the last page. The bookworm eats in a straight line. The encyclopedia consists of 10 1000-page volumes and is sitting on a bookshelf in the usual order. Not counting covers, title pages, etc. how many pages does the bookworm eat through?

Congratulations to Harry and Jerome who earn 10 points each for the Kestrels and the Cobras. Click here for the answer.

The correct answer is 8000 pages. The bookworm does not have to eat through the pages of the first and last books.

6th January - First Meeting of 2012

For the first meeting of 2012 we did a variety of activities. There was a 'crossing the minefield' challenge, which was won by the Bulls. We practiced our pioneering skills, working on the Square and Sheer Lashings. The Scouts discussed some of the programme activities and badge work they would like to do this year. The Patrol Box project is progressing well, and will soon be finished.

Badge Awards

This weeks challenges, for up to 50 points.

This weeks challenge is to create, decorate and bring in a paper plane for a competition on troop night next week.
Bonus points will be awarded for the following categories:

• Longest Flight, Time - Won by Lincoln (Cobras)
• Longest Flight, Distance - Won by Charlie (Bulls)
• Most interesting design - Won by Jerome (Cobras)
• Best decorated - Won by Lincoln (Cobras)

As a special bonus this week, there will be 10 points to the first Scout to answer the following question:

Who is our most famous new volunteer?

The correct answer was "The Duchess of Cambridge" - first answered correctly by Charlie of the Bulls.