Paradise Point Sailing Day

One of the joys about being a Cub Leader is being able to expose young minds to new things. On 19/11/2011, the Beenleigh Cubs went on an outing that they will remember for a long time. The Cubs were taken sailing at the Paradise Point Sailing Club, and through the wonderful efforts of John Murphy and Peter, from the club all those that attended will earn their Sailing Level 1 achievement badge.

These cubs were faced with having to capsize a small sailing craft and working together to upright them in the water. The photos that we have do not really relay the tail, but the looks on the faces, as they we upturned and thrown into the Broadwater was one of those moments that make you know why we are Cub Leaders.

Apart from upending and refloating the crafts, the cubs were exposed to setting the sailing and rigging, learned about the safety requirements before heading out on their adventure. It is rare when we have so many cubs sitting quiet throughout a safety lesson, but they were all intently listening, and taking in the information.

For us leaders, it was a day that did not go as planned. We had intentions o having a nice day on the beach, watching the cubs go by. However, that disappeared very quickly after the first couple of vessels capsized and cubs were having difficulty getting the crafts back upright. Most of the leaders and helpers on the sidelines jumped in to assist – and i personally think they were enjoying it, even though it was challenge!

In the end, 26 cubs were exposed to a new challenge and provided another magic opportunity that will see them coming again, with their families on Dec 11, when Paradise Point Sailing Cub hold a free sailing day for a Gold Coin donation to the Children’s Hospital.

In all, we had only one craft that did not upturn and these cubs showed everyone how to really sail. By the end of the day the leaders we provided the opportunity to get onboard and I think most of the cubs enjoyed that experience.

Thank you to all the leaders and parents on the day, it truly was one to remember, and we have plenty of photos to prove it. Our deepest thanks to John Murphy and the Paradise Point Sailing Club for allowing us to experience the joy of sailing, your patience and truly great attitude towards our Cubs is to be commended. Beenleigh Cubs will be back again, you can guarantee it!

Grandparent night

This is a night where we invite our grandparents to come along and have a little bit of fun. As November is grandparent month it is the prefect time to thank them and be acknowledged.

The cubs were challenged to put together a sock bear. They were to sew and stuff a pair of socks and then place buttons for eyes.

Unfortunately we ran out if time to complete the task so their were takeaway bags at the end with eyes and stuffing. More inatructions on how to complete it will come out this week.

Supper was served and everyone seemed to really enjoy the night.

Investing new cubs

We welcome aboard our cub pack, Shayden, Kori, Damien and Matthew. Three of these new cubs have moved up from Joeys and the othe cub is a new chum that has happily decided to stay.

Welcome to our pack. We now have 32 cubs and 1 more will join us by the end of the month and we have one who is linking.

McDonalds Fundraiser Night

On November 8, Beenleigh was invited to McDonalds Beenleigh to have a pack night and fundraise for Cuboree 2012.

Between 5:30pm until 8:00pm, a portion of the sales were to be donated to our cause. We would like to thank Stacey and McDonalds Beenleigh for allowing us to have so many cubs there and take up a one section of the restuarant.

The cubs were tasked with 5 bases,
+ knot tying
+ making poppies for rememberance day
+ making invites for grandparents to come along for a night on Nov 15.
+ road sign bingo
+ woggle making.

The Cubs were also treated to a McHappy meal for attending, which was put on by the Cub Leaders.

They all had a heap of fun, and I know Stacey and McDonalds were very pleased with numbers that showed up (25+).

I , for one, am proud of our cubs and I know the other leaders were too. Yes we can be noisy but the behaviour of our cubs is why we are being asked to attend community functions. I had some friends come along they were surprised at how well they behaved, considering the numbers we get.

Well done cubs you have earned the thanks and appreciation. We are still awaiting thw final numbers on what was raised. But McDonalds are keen for us to do it again.

As for our section it is really important to be out in the community and showing what we do and how well we do it.

Thanks to Grizzly and Rikki for organising the night.

Environment night

Well it is a 2 weeks late, but better late than never, so here is the wrap from our Environment night.

To finalse the work started earlier in the year, the cubs were provided an opportunity to complete sections of thier Environment badge.

The first activity was to identify how trees absorb the pollution from the air. The trick here is to grab leaves from trees that are close to traffic or in parks. As trees and plants turn carbon dioxide or carbin monoxide into clean air, the gunk that is deposited on leaves after it absorbs the oxygen are easy to extract.

The experiment saw the leaders collect leaves from trees around where they work in and around Brisbane and the Gold Coast. There were a variety of leaves and locations provided a great bevy of things to test.

Cubs using clear sticky tape placed the tape on the shiny part of leaf and peeled it off to see what was left behind. I must say it even surprised me the levels of gunk on the leaves. Some of the tape was at least 50% black with what was collected. Obviouaky trees nearer to roads were dirtier than trees in parks and backyards.

The next experiment was to learn how to build a water filter. Using 1.25lt bottles, sand, small rocks abd a serviette we turned muddy water to clear water. the idea is to cut 1/3 of the bottle from the top, creating a funnel. Add serviette to funnel to prevent sand and rocks falling through, but also provide a layer of filtering, then add a cup of sand and rocks.

Taking a clear plastic cup and taking a cup of muddy water fro a bucket prepared earlier,the cubs ran it through the filter several times. The results were amazing and after several run throughs the water was clear enough to drink. I took a finger taste and even though sandy tasting it would be ok to drink if you boiled it. But in desparate need could be drunk.

The cubs had a ball, due to a long parade no games were played but thet still enjoyed the night.

5 Grey Wolf's Awarded

At Region Camp, Beenleigh had the privilege of presenting 5 Grey Wolf awards. The well earned recipients were:
+ Lachlan M
+ Kaleb P
+ Sam P
+ Ashley R
+ Danielle S
These cubs put their leaders through heavy hikes and many great presentations. They are all very well deserving of the award.

This week

This week we still held.our Cub night. Good to see so many after a camp weekend. We had a games night where we challenged our cubs to the following games:

+ River Crossing
      - using 5 tiles and 6 cubs they have to work together to cross the other side of a crocodile, pirrhana,hippo and elephant bathing river. The square tiles are the pontoons they have to cross with all in and start again.Made it even harder when we made them cross each others path and then do it backwards. Funny to watch the crews meet in the middle on run one.

+ Hangman
      - dividing the cubs in two - yes messy as that sounds-groups that is, we had the groups sit opposite sides of the whiteboard. Ably and myself shared a word and it was the first team to get it right. We did not use the hangman symbols as it was about thinking quick.

+ Guess who
     - this is a game where we split the cubs and place them either side of a sheet picking one cub from both sides, quietly, they sneak forward and when the sheet is raised, the cubs have to call the others name first. It is good to see who knows the names of everyone.

These are fun nights and enjoyable for everyone.

Next week we are doing environment bagde work.

Oh What A Night!

Well, what can I say about a night that was filled with fun, fun, fun and more fun. The first Maverick Night was held at the Beenleigh Den last Saturday night. We were very grateful to the 98 people that turned up on the night to make it very successful. Based on numbers we have raised $2258 from the night.

This night was just one fun activity, and I believe that everyone that came went home very pleased with night. From conversations in the past few days, it certainly as been a great hit, and we will be organising another next year. And it is very likely to be bigger and better.

The night was a Casino and horse racing night. It was an Adults only activity and it showed just how much fun one can have playing with funny money and fake horses.

The major activity was 5 horse races, that we were toy horses, tethered to fishing line and a reel, were ll placed in starting gates. The 8 horses in each race were auctioned to the highest bidder and they became the owner of the horse. In the end, the total money raised in the auction was then given as a prizes for 1st and 2nd. I know one race owner won $104,000 in funny money. Once the races got off, the cheering was loud and the excitement unbelievable.

I was fortunate enough to be in one race and to win the heat, I was then added to the final race of the night, against several cub parents and my own brother. At 1-1 odds I was the outright favourite and came home the champion. A trophy was my reward.

There were 4 tables placed around the den, one was a spinning wheel with colour dots, each dot had odds, and yellow was the most common. Another table had the dice that was pulled from a hat. The image on the dice would align to a symbol on the table. If your image was pulled out - 3 draws each hand - you won.

The third table was the roulette wheel, and this was popular on the night, however, the loudest and most enthusiast table was the Golf Ball challenge. Based on two up, you had to either get 2 pink balls or 2 whites. If you had 5 draws that yielded a white and pink the house won.  The croupier on the night was very enthusiastic and it was noted by the Games Show host that this game was normally the most boring, but somehow it was one of the most popular tables on the night.

In the end once the tables closed, all money won was traded for tickets in a final prize draw. All items on the table were donated from many sources, and we have a lot of people to thank for that - Liza H, Sonia B, Troy an Yvette, plus many others.

However the biggest laugh came at the end of the night, when the party/hangover tree was awarded. Let's just say there were items on the tree that any party goer would possibly use on a big night out! Well when a lovely elderly couple from Toowoomba won this was just the icing on the cake!

For me, I would like to take the opportunity to thank all those that turned up on the night. We were expecting 63, but 98 showed. I know you all had a great time and those that dressed to the theme of 'glitz and glam' were amazing and helped set the night. I know a lot were not all scout families and this is very much appreciated.

To the organising committee of Jan, Yvette (Grizzly) , Amber, Jacqui (Rikki), Steve (wombat), Janine, Katrina and Dingo, I can not thank you enough for the time and effort spent. From the fear no one would show to 98 shows how much efforts was put in. The next one should be bigger and better, as I know a few have already asking to get tickets to them.

To Michelle and Maddie for the food service, to the croupiers on the night, to Amber for being on the drink stall and everyone that pitched in to make this a great night. Thank you.

We are now edging even closer to that first deposit for all cubs and leaders that have assisted in fundraising for Cuboree.

Come back soon and I will have a few photos to add to the long blurb.

Silver Boomerang Awarded

Well Done to Natasha Lys. Her patience has been rewarded as we waited to receive her Silver Boomerang award.

Camp Preparations

Last Week the Cubs , in preparation for our Regional Camp, all Cubs need to know how to pull down a tent and pack it away. It is up to everyone to pull together and get our site packed up as quickly as possible.

I was truly amazed at how this years bunch of cubs needed little help to assist in getting the tents packed away. well done to you all.

Once that was completed, the boat for our Pirate Ship race was revealed to the cubs. All cubs got to have a go at working the boat, and we have now selected the cubs who will race on the day.

It is nights like this where 1.5 hours is too short, but we were still able to finish on time.

Pinewood Derby Day

Last weekend saw Beenleigh Cubs run its first ever Pinewood Derby. The Cubs were to build a car, weighing no more than 145g and within  a specific height, length and width.

We had 22 entries on the day and there were many fantastic looking cars too.

The races were broken up into 4 races per heat, and each cub would run their car on each lane. This allowed to test the track to see if each lane would run the same. This proved accurate.

Our Joey leader - Emu - provided the entertainment and we kicked off with a song and action dance.
All cars were scrutinized before they were entered to ensure they met the requirements. We have to thank Kanga - Cub Regional Leader and Numbat for doing this for us.

Once sorted into the race classes, scout members and open we would have 15 cars for cubs and another 12 for open.

The cubs were asked to pick numbers from a bag to start on the grid for first heat. For the other three heats they would rotate one lane each race.

We had fast.cars, slow cars and ones that came off the track. The track had a malfunction at one stage with the start gate spring breaking, this was quickly repaired and races continued, plus the finish line electronic marker failed to pick up a car when needing to finalize results. So stewards  were called to check the race results.


Once the heat was over the car was examined by the technical team and it was found the holes in the car were the problem and a ice block stick was placed over the holes to fix the problem.

Once all the heats were over the four winners from each heat, were raced to define 1st ans 2nd place.
We had a last car race to where the slowest car was awarded a trophy.
In the end our winners for the day were:

Scout member races:
1st:Kaleb
2nd: Alex

Open
1st: Numbat
2nd: Samuel

Slowest car: Payton

We had special guests on the day, the.Torana.Club were along to see our.event. They were asked to judge a.best presented car, as to was Kanga for Region Scouts.

Torana club best presented went to Daniel.for his Lightening McQueen car. He had added.the Scout logo to the car for that winning touch.

Kanga's best presented went to Ashley's car.

In all it was a fun day and we will be doing it.again on March 18, 2012.
Thanks must go to Bunyip and Rama for their huge efforts in getting the track and day ready. They were each presented with a car as thanks, Rama was presented with Darth Vadar and Bunyip with a 56 Chevy.
Too all that assisted and took part thank you it was a fantastic event.

Scout Members Class Racers

Open Class Racer

Cuboree Applications.

As we are on the leg for fundraising, and the deadline for applications is December 2, I require all Cuboree application and Payment forms in by November 2.
I need to review each application.and have it signed by our Group Leader. By then we will know how much fundraising has been made and what - to those that assisted with fundraising - will be the offset.
If you provided assistance with fundraising you will be portioned fundraising money. Once it.is all finalised.I will provide the details.to.you as to what is left to pay.
The deadline of November 2 is fixed and if not in you will likely miss out.

Grey Wolf Hide 5

Danielle Soilleux the 5th of our Grey Wolves has successfully completed this stage of her achievement. Danielle's hike was around the reserve situated on top of Mount Warren.

This made for a interesting hike to say the least, lots of steep hill climbs and descents.
Danielle stopped at several points on her hike to point out interesting things, such as waterholes, mosses and the water tanks. This was followed by asking the group questions later to see who was paying attention.


I was ready to head back by this stage. But we continued.

Danielle was posed with several tests whilst on her hike, mainly from the 2 leaders feeling their age going up and down hills.


We all made it through the hike without slipping down any of the tracks.


Great job Danielle. Only a few more things to go and we'll have another Grey wolf completed.

Thanks to those that attended I hope you had a good time. I know my legs are going to be paying for this one for days.

Term 4 - Begins

This term see's us getting the Cubs prepared for Region Camp.
First night back and it right into knot's. Rikki, Dingo and Alby all helped teach these (even with some needing a revision themselves).

The Pirate boat for region has been built thanks for Steve L and Ably for all their efforts.

Joey Jump has been canceled for those that we're attending.
Pinewood Derby moves to the Scout Den and looks set to be a fun time so hope to see you there. Remember this is a scout event and therefor the kids need to be in either uniform or their Race Costume.

The next 2 weeks will be more prep for camp with teaching the cubs how to pack up camp.

Until next post. This is Rama covering for Bagheera who is at Roma this week.

Pinewood Derby Update

Thanks to Alby and Rama for their efforts on the 10/09/2011 for holding the Pinewood Derby workshop. Thier efforts saw the completion of the Pinewood Derby Track. to see the construction head over to our Facebook page to see the guys at work.

This will be a great event, please come along and have some fun with us.

It's Spring!

For the final week of Term 3 it was time to do some gardening. The Cubs had a chance to pot some tomatoes and do craft activities.

Let's hope the cubs grow their tomatoes and bring in the results in a few weeks.

Thanks for a great term everyone. Term 4 is going to be big. See you all in 2 weeks.

Fundraising: coin jar

Thanks to all that have contributed to our coin jar this month we raised $61.30.

Alex L was that winner and she earnesld a set of Cuboree 2010 badges. Alex and family were not able.to attend last year, but watched on from the caravan park next door.
They we coming to the open day until.it.was.cancelled due to weather. So the badges have a special meaning for her.

Breakdown off collectors were:

Ashley A        $  1.30
Ava B            $ 10.00
Elliot F           $  2.00
Alex H           $ 11.10
Alexandra L   $ 19.35
Jason P          $  4.00
Jasper P        $  3.25
Ellyse V         $  5.10
Bagheera       $  5.20

We have started again for the jar. Another prize will be awarded on return from School holidays

Every cent collected gets us a little closer to $10,000 and sending all cubs to Cuboree.

Grey Wolf Hike - Hike 4

Kaleb P is the fourth cub, in a wave of 5, who have completed or about to complete their Grey Wolf Hike. Saturday afternoon, Bagheera undertook his second hike with Kaleb in the lead.

This hike saw us walk around Beenleigh from the den. Our path was to the library, on to Coles, then through to the Historical Village and the old Rum Distillery.



View Larger Map

This walk had more challenges than some as we had to cross many roads, and some of the participants asked to join in struggled on their first hike.

Not only this but we had to battle loosing hats in the wind that would blow on the road. Bagheera had a few heart attacks of Cubs chasing after wayward hats. One actually blew across the road, Bagheera rescued hat, but on return had a friendly visit from a snake. Yes small, but with the climate right for snakes to wake from hibernation no chances were taken.

Kaleb did a great job on such a challenging hike. The hike was a fraction long and we did run over time, but in the end many lessons were learnt and Kaleb will be make a good leader in the future.

Well Done Kaleb on a great hike and a challenging one at that. All cubs that attended were finding it hard on the return leg, but in the end we all returned safely.

Kaleb has now completed all the requirements for his Grey Wolf award and his application will be sent through this week for completion.

Grey Wolf Hike - Hike 3

Last Saturday, Sam P took asked 3 cubs to assist with him completing his Grey Wolf Hike. Bagheera was asked to go along as his leader - but he would be like a cub on the day.

Sam's hike would take us to Witches Falls at Mt Tamborine.


View Larger Map
It is very windy and cold at the top, but once down in the grove and trees it was very pleasant for a hike.

On the journey the cubs learnt certain things to look for in the bush, water they can drink when in need, and if a day as windy and cool would dehydrate cubs as quickly as a hot day.

I, for one, enjoyed this hike as it is a chance to get out into the bush and I am sure our cubs also enjoyed the outing in a different environment. Bagheera Cub also challenged Sam with walking slow and hiding behind a tree.

Sam adjusted well to the fact we could not cover the entire walk in the timeframe and had to head back on a shorter path. Not everyone walks at the leaders pace and we have to adjust to the slowest walker.

Well done Sam, you have now completed your base requirements for the Grey Wolf and I will be sending in your application for the award in the next few days.