7th National Patrol Challenge 2011

The highly intense and competitive 7th National Patrol Camp held once every three years had just been concluded at Sarimbun Scout Camp. This 5 Days 4 Nights camping competition has been billed the Mother of All Scouting Competitions since the first camp of this latest edition started in 1997. To the glory of Beatty Beaver Scout Group, our 8 boys - 4 Sec 3 Scouts, 2 Sec 2 Scouts and 2 Sec 1 Scouts as per competition minimum requirements - have returned home yesterday evening on 28 November 2011 triumphant exceeding expectations - they were awarded the SILVER AWARD for this 2011 Camp.

District Outdoor Cooking Competition

The District outdoor cooking competition was organized by St. Andrew's STAR Scouts on the 10th of September at the Woodleigh Park, amidst the lush greenery. The cooking competition was a great opportunity for the Scouts of Toa Payoh to come together and live the Scouting Spirit, over a friendly competition that served well to prepare the Scouts for the upcoming National Patrol Camp.

National Exploration Challenge 2011

This is the second of the series of National Exploration Challenge, after 2005. The competition organized by the Scout HQ, aims to challenge the Scouts' idea of Adventure, Challenge and Exploration. 

The event saw Scouts from various schools challenging themselves to complete as many checkpoints as possible over a five hours window, which saw them traveling from CBD area up to the heartlands of Bishan. In each checkpoints, Scouts are mentally challenged on their Scouting skills, before they are are allowed to proceed to their next destination. 

Perth Goodwill Camporee 2011

Beatty Beavers ventured Down Under for its annual overseas expedition in June 2011 in response to an invitation from the Scouts of the Swan Valley District, Perth, Western Australia to participate in its annual District Camp. Beavers ventured to the Great Southern Land of Australia on the wings of a Flying Kangaroo Qantas flight QF72 leaving Singapore on 2 June 2011 and never to return to the Lion City of Singapore until 8 June 2011.

Upon arrival at Perth, we quickly loaded up our camping gear onto a trailer which was attached to our coach and embarked immediately on a 100km plus journey up north to our campsite at Wannamal which was supposed to take about two hours. But it ended up being longer than that due to an accident along a two-lane road causing a jam on both sides as Australian traffic police controlled the movement of vehicles around the accident vehicle which had ended up in a ditch. So it was already becoming dark very fast by the time we arrived at our campsite.

  

Over the next three days, Beaver Scouts learnt that Scouting in Western Australia is largely community-based and we the leaders hope that the Beavers will learn that everything has its purpose and function in society when they saw how the Australian troops recycled materials such as refrigerator cooling pipes to supply piping hot water for thirsty Scouts in the dry and chilly Australian winter in June and how each patrol is really responsible for planning its own daily menu to the extent that if one member forget to do his duty in getting the patrol’s rations, his patrol members will go hungry or have less food to eat that particular day or meal. It was truly a Three Musketeers moment of ‘one for all and all for one’ affecting some Beaver Scouts as some Australian patrols truly have more to chow and enjoy than the other patrols.

 

I personally encountered this firsthand at Bellajura Scout Group which was where I joined two of our boys Qing Lun and Terence Chew for the first day of getting to know our brother and sister Scouts from this part of Australia. We were fortunate that the patrol leader that took in Qing Lun and Terence prepared lots of food as compared to the other two patrols in Bellajura.

 

Willerton was where Chuan Jian and Dean were attached to. Morley Scout Group was where all the Muslim Scouts were assigned to, Beavers such as Syabil, Syafiq and Azfhar together with a Peirce Triace Scout. Australian hospitality Scouting-style truly shone when one realized that Morley is the home base of the Swan Valley District Commissioner himself Mr Steve Hunt as he ceaselessly ensure that we the Singapore Scouts were well-fed and made to feel at home with them.

  

Joshua Ong was adopted by Bullsbrook Air Scout Group whereas Emerson was in Breechboros. Chun Yang & Pak Jun Wei were assigned to Gingin Scout Group which will be coming to Singapore in January 2012. Overall, it was a good experience for the various Beavers to be assigned to different Australian groups as they get to learn and understand some differences in the way Scouting is being carried out between the two places. More importantly they learn how to enjoy themselves by immersing themselves in the activities such as clay shooting, mud baths and of course, the pioneering project of building the ballista which is a form of giant catapult launcher. Kumanan and I also truly enjoy ourselves as well in helping to build and blasting our friendly opponents at the other end of the playing field.

 

On 6 June 2011, we were taken to the award-winning Caversham Wildlife Park located on the Tumbulgum Outback Farm within the spacious Whiteman Park on 6 June. Here we had a personal guided tour showing us the farm facilities and the animals, of which two of the most popular animals such as the kangaroo and the koala bear. We even saw albino kangaroos and we had fun feeding them. During the popular Farm Show, Kumanan had a blast at trying out in being an expert in lashing out the whip.

 

We also visited the Headquarters of the Western Australia Scouts – a lot of us went a badge-buying spree when we saw the bounty of Australian Scout badges on display and for sale. Some hot items were Scouts Australia’s memorabilia of its 100^th Anniversary of Scouting celebrations such as coins, mugs and of course, badges.

We also had a chance to be shown around the Scout HQ Museum, which was just above the Scout Shop and that visit was an eye-opener chronicling both the myriad activities and achievements of the Scouts of Western Australia.

 

 

We visited King’s Park and Botanic Gardens by taking a CAT Bus to the nearest bus stop from where we proceeded on the top of the park by walking briskly. The park is nicely set on a hill overlooking two rivers making certain spots along the walks good spots for taking photographs by the various Scouts.

The trip to Fremantle was a chance for the boys to catch a few winks save for some inquisitive souls who were seen gazing out of the windows of the big coach that took us to this bustling port city of Western Australia.

 

Fremantle grew up on maritime trade and services and evidence abound of this link with the seas. Of particular interest to me what the Fremantle Maritime Museum. Needless to say, the highlight of this was the guided tour of a Australian Navy submarine, the HMAS Ovens which is housed in a separate enclosure of the Museum.

No Scout trip overseas is complete without shopping for non-Scouting products. Likewise on 8 June 2011, our designated shopping day, the Singapore Scouts managed to squeeze in a fair amount of shopping time in the outlet stores just down the road from the Scout HQ. It was an eye-opener for some of the boys to see some of their favourite brands on sale in outlet stores at Harbour Town as such shops for products like PSP game cartridges were practically non-existent in Singapore. We also went for a jaunt along and around Hay Street and Murray Street Mall where we saw interesting shops and major department stores such as David Jones and Meyer.

  

That night, we had a scrumptious buffet dinner at a nice and cosy restaurant started by a Malaysian Muslim. It was a nice time of fellowship as we also took this opportunity to thank our Australian hosts for their kind hospitality in taking care of us while camping with them.

 

We departed for home on 9 June on Qantas flight QF77 leaving behind great new friendships forged during three days of camping in the Australian wilderness. New friends such as Corri Hoffman of Bullsbrook Air Scout Group who came to Perth Airport to send us off with some Cadbury chocolates and a promise to visit Singapore one day in the near future.

Frank Cooper Sands Ceremony 2011

Beatty Beaver Scout Troop has once again done it! We have achieved the Gold Award for Scouting Year 2010. This is our second consecutive year receiving the GOLD award. We are especially proud to be the only Uniformed Group in Beatty Secondary School to be receiving GOLD.

 

Mr. Chia Waihan, Teacher-in-Charge, receiving the award from President of Scout Association 

Earth Hour + 2011

This year’s Earth Hour was held on the 26^th of March. It is a global event organized by the WWF (World Wide Fund) and the purpose is to raise awareness on climate change by encouraging organization as well as individuals to switch off their lights for one hour on 26 March 2011 at 8.30 pm local time.
As the Singapore Scout Association is one of the key partners for this event, Scouts are also involved as volunteers. Beatty Beavers volunteered for this year’s Earth Hour+.

Toa Payoh District Campfire 2010

A month long of preparation and extra meetings combined with lots of hardwork and planning. It all culminated on 20^th November 2010, when Scouts, Cubs, Leaders of Toa Payoh District gathered round the campfire for a night of rekindling brotherhood and Scouting fellowship. The Campfire was jointly hosted by Beatty Beavers Scout Group and First Toa Payoh Eagles Cubs Pack guided by our Akelas and Scout Leaders.

It was a very busy day for the Cubs and the Scouts, making sure all things prepared a month before were all in place ready for the evening. Gateway construction; Firepit installation; Backdrop; Performance rehearsals; Refreshment preparation and the list goes on. We arrived early in the morning, and everyone were busy on their work till evening. After much sweat and effort, the sun was about to set, signaling the arrival of our District mates and the commencement of Campfire soon enough.

The Quartermaster - Inaugural E-Newsletter Issue of Scout HQ

At last after a 10 years hiatus, the official newsletter of The Singapore Scouts Association is out with a BANG. Refreshing, youthful and exciting is what we can describe about this new and bold initiative undertaken by the ICT Commitee of Scout Association. Kudus to the team, and Happy Reading!!!

Open publication - Free publishing - More ssa

National Badge Patch Carnival 2010

On the morning of 14^th August 2010, 19 Beatty Beaver Scouts met at the Scout HQ to participate in the Badge Patch Carnival. A badge patch carnival is a chance where badge collectors in Singapore come together and trade their badge, or so I thought initially. But I soon realized, badge collecting is a traditional hobby, which every Scout would have been involved, in one way or another. Not only did I see the older Scouters involved in trading, but some Scouts who just returned from Nippon Jamboree were seen enthusiastically trading off their badge collection.

Congratulations, to our newly minted Woodbadge Leader

On behalf of all member of Beaver Scout Group, we would like to extend our heartfelt congratulations to, VKK Arumugam, on his Woodbadge Investiture. He was invested with the Woodbadge symbols, by Asst. Chief Commissioner Mr. Lester Lee on 7th August 2010 at the Scout HQ. In attendance were the Leaders of South Area and Beaver Rovers.