Jordan's Scout Visit

The scout night began with the cooking of dinner which was sausages, rissoles and salad. When dinner was finished it was time to set-up the tents, a little more problematic than one would expect. It took us a while to work out which way the fly, but after an hour and a half we had it sorted and the scouts were ready for a tradition supper of Milo and biscuits. I woke up disgusting early to a kid with a bloody nose (the perfect morning wake up :S). Once that was under control we were off to GoMA, where The String Room was the hit of the day. Finally it was home time and we loaded up onto the bus and back to the den.

By Jordan

Crew Programming - Winter

Date	Time	Activity	Location	Organiser	Under 18s
15/16 May		R.A.B.B.I.T	Sunnybank Scout Group	Rachel	No
16 May	5:30 to 10:30pm	UC and QBRE	QSC	Matt	No
20 May	7:30 to 10:30pm	Spicks and Specks Night	St John's Wood Scout Group	Samwise	Yes
22/23 May		Gang Show Camp	BP Park	Matt	No
27 May	7:00 to 10:00pm	Squires' Training	St John's Wood Scout Group	Rachel	Yes
29 May	4:00 to 7:00pm	Group AGM & Skits	St John's Wood Scout Group	Chris G.	No
3 June	7:00 to 10:00pm	Thai Night	Green Mango Restaurant	Jordan	Yes
6/7 June		Travis' Squires Hike	Lake Manchester	Rachel	No
11 June	6:30 to 10:30pm	Inter-Crew Challenge - UrbanSprawl Car Scavenger Hunt	St John's Wood Scout Group	Travis	Yes
17 June	7:00 to 10:00pm	Red Faces	St John's Wood Scout Group	Peter	Yes
24 June	7:00 to 10:00pm	Video Game Night	UQ - Colin Clarke Bld	Stephen C.	Yes
2 July	5:30 to 11:00pm	Brisbane Gang Show Rover Night	Schonell Theatre Pizza Caffe	Matt	Yes
6 July	1:00 to 4:00pm	UC Meeting	Schonell Theatre Pizza Caffe	Travis	No
10/18 July		BGS Sydney Trip	QSC	Matt	No
20 July	1:00 to 4:00pm	UC Meeting	Law Library	Travis	No
23/25 July		Urban Challenge	QSC	Matt	Yes
31 July	6:30 to 11:30pm	World Scout Day Ball	TBA	Matt	No
5 August	7:00 to 10:30pm	Car Maintenance Night	St John's Wood Scout Group	Owen	Yes
11 August	8:00am to 10:00pm	Ekka Strawberry Sundae Service	RNA Showgrounds	Travis	Yes
14 August	7:00 to 9:00pm	Crew History Launch	St John's Wood Scout Group	Samwise	No
14/15 August		Operation Nighthawk	TBA	Travis	Yes
20 August	6:30 to 10:30pm	Rock the River	TBA	Peter	No
27 August	7:00 to 10:30pm	Inter-Crew Challenge - First Aid	St John's Wood Scout Group	Travis	Yes
2 September	6:00 to 10:00pm	Tour of BP Refinery	Pinkenba	Kerry	Yes
9 September	6:30 to 9:30pm	Iain's Night	TBA	Iain	Yes
17 September	6:30 to 9:30pm	Venturer Night	St John's Wood Scout Group	Samwise	Yes
18/25 September		Agoonoree	BP Park, Samford	Iain	Yes
19 September	5:00 to 10:00pm	Goonie Rover Night	BP Park, Samford	Kerry	No
30 September	7:00 to 10:30pm	RA's Night	St John's Wood Scout Group	Chris G.	Yes
8 October	7:00 to 10:30pm	Inter-Crew Challenge - Construction	St John's Wood Scout Group	Travis	Yes
9 October	7:00 to 10:30pm	St George's Ball	Irish Club	Matt	No

Banana Bash

The crew joined this year's Banana Bash without a car - but that was A-O-K with us! Much cheaper, and the fun was all still there. Almost 100% of crew members were there.

The funniest moment of the weekend came when Chris' Greener's

camping chair broke. In typical Chris Greener fashion, he went about trying to fix it... Without much success.

That's Saint ingenuity if I ever saw it. Why this man isn't an engineer I have no idea.

Along with Chris' chair escapades, St John's Wood was mainly involved in Administration tasks and Beverage Appreciation. While there are currently no plans to have a car ready for next year (it is an expensive task, and we do not have the skillset), we will definitely be there in person next year. A pretty fun weekend in total.

Jordan's Cub Visit

A night of lacerations, bruisers and black eyes were the theme of cub pack on the 27th April. It wasn’t a night of abnormal amounts of injuries, but a first aid night. We began with a relay race with the addition of correctly wrapping a bandage before running to tag a team mate. The next activity was where the real fun began, creating fake injuries such as arm, head and leg wounds as well as an assortment of black eyes and bruises. The cubs loved their cuts, adding sticks and nails for a particularly gruesome effect and of course with the addition of “blood”.

By Jordan

Cub Visit

On the evening of Saturday 24th April, Iain and I were welcomed to the St John's Wood Cub Scout Leadership Camp. Extra hands were needed as a dozen or so 7- to 10-year-olds were cooking over a fire.

Firstly, we were introduced to everyone and the Cubs were told the plans for the night. We all went for a walk along the creek and collected firewood. Since it had been raining that day, much of the wood was slightly damp. There were some sticks with ants crawling over them, so Iain bravely carried them back. Four fires had to be lit, so four groups laid out the firewood in a pyramid style, while others prepared damper or cut potatoes.

The rain held off and the damp firewood was ablaze, four fires were warming four grills. The potatoes in a billy of water were placed on the grill first. Then the sausages were added, followed by a billy of peas in water. Despite several fires almost burning out, and one fire with flames half a metre high, each group managed to cook everything safely and have a nice meal.

Just as the rain started again, a Vietnam veteran arrived to talk to the Cubs. He was part of the Infantry and was injured in Vietnam. I believe he was there for one to two years. They seemed to somewhat enjoy his speech, and liked asking questions at the end to find out more information. He kindly stayed for damper with the Cubs.

As the rain clouds moved away, the Cubs, two of the Leaders, Iain and I walked to the other side of the creek to a large open park to play Spotlighting. This was the first time I had ever heard about the game, but seemed to be a favourite amongst the Cubs. Some Cubs were spotted every time, and some had clever strategies. After one game, they begged for another.

We walked back to the hall where Iain and I received a Cub-style 'Bravo' and lots of hugs! We left them to finish the rest of their overnight leadership camp. I think the Cubs appreciated learning with us two Rovers, as we were older but not too old, and the Leaders appreciated the extra hands needed around the fires.

- Rachel -

Vigils and Investitures

I have learnt that Rover investitures are somewhat secret to those who have not been invested, so I'll keep this short and sweet.

Very late on the night of Friday 23rd April, also the Feast Day of St George, two cars carrying: Rover Advisor and Squiremaster at the time, Chris; Rover Knights, Matt and Stephen; and Rover Squires, Emile, Sam and myself; left SJW Rover Den for the location of three vigils and three investitures.

Hours pass by. Dozens of leeches get fatter.

Just after sunrise on Saturday 24th April with a foggy view over Moreton Bay, two cars carrying: Rover Advisor and Squiremaster at the time, Chris; and Rover Knights, Matt, Stephen, Rachel, Sam and Emile; left with a different view about the Brotherhood.

I'm sure I can speak for Emile and Sam when I say this, that morning we felt very proud of what we had achieved and welcomed the responsibilities ahead of us as Rover Knights and as members of Scouts. And I'm pretty sure Chris was pleased that the Rover Knight numbers had increased by 150% at once!

- Rachel -

22nd April: Dinner at The Gap Tavern

This Thursday night we all rendezvoused at The Gap Tavern for a casual dinner and drinks. We were allocated a table away up the back - possibly so that we didn't detract from other diners' experiences! - and enjoyed the nice walk to and from the bar to order food and drinks. Owen joined us to talk about the Bash Car project. Most of the Crew was in attendance.

The meal was followed by a mini business meeting about Urban Challenge, and a lively "Rovering To Success" discussion followed, focussing on the controversial the topics of religion and relationships.

A great night was had by all, and hopefully we will be back another time for another dinner.