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.

Eco-Adventure Trip to Vietnam 2010

On the 9th of June, Beatty Beaver Scouts embarked on a trip from Singapore to Hanoi, Vietnam. We were there to learn about the Vietnamese culture and their way of life, as well as to take the opportunity to commune with Nature through Adventure.

We had to reach the airport by 6:30 in the morning and most Scouts, who were not willing to part, came with their parents. By 7am, all the Scouts had already arrived and the Scout Leaders brought us to check in our luggage. Soon, we walked through the gates, got our passports stamped and were eagerly waiting to board the plane. We boarded the SIA plane and which took off soon after. It took 3 to 4 hours to reach Hanoi from Singapore and there was a 1-hour time difference between the two countries. The food that the plane serves was okay and there was even ice-cream.

We reached Vietnam at about 11:00am, Vietnamese time and met up with the tour guide after checking out of the immigration. The tour guide introduced himself as Mr Ling and we boarded the tour bus which brought us to a restaurant where we had some traditional Vietnamese noodles. The soup was salty but the chicken was cut into small shreds and was very tender. After lunch, we visited a temple which used to be an university for the royal family, which the Vietnamese takes pride in being the first university in Hanoi. Currently, it serves as a temple for Confucius believers and also as a popular tourist attraction.

The next place we went to was the Ho Chi Minh Memorial. We were not able to enter the Memorial but we knew that many tourist as well as Vietnamese came to pay their respect, to the late freedom fighter that brought victory to the Northern Vietnam communist during the Vietnam War. We visited a Shrine known as Lotus Temple and learnt about the story behind it. In order to go to Sapa, the next destination we are going, we had to spend a night in a train. The train ride lasted for 6 to7 hours and there was only one toilet in each carriage. We had a sumptuous dinner before boarding the train which left at about 9pm.The train arrived at 6am the next morning and we boarded a bus to a hotel.

Unfortunately, we were not staying in that hotel as we were only there to bath and have breakfast. We had to eat as much food as possible as we were about to trek 14kms to a village for home stay. We started trekking soon after breakfast. The Sec 1s were not experienced and they had trouble keeping up so the seniors had to rush them and keep a watchful eye to ensure our juniors don’t get dehydrated. While trekking up the mountains, the cool fresh breeze and the great green scenery kept us company all the way. Of course, fatigue kept us company too, but we managed to overcome it in general. As Vietnamese depend heavily on agriculture, we saw many rice terraces along the way. Hills were cut into rice fields and pipes made of bamboo were used to transport water to enable good irrigation for the land.

Although it was a very challenging trek throughout, with some of the trails rather narrow and muddy making it easy to slip and fall into the mud, we managed to finally reach safely the house that we were supposed to stay in, at around 12pm. We washed our shoes and feets before placing our bags next to the beds we were sleeping. The bed was simply a mattress with a mosquito net above to keep out the many insects that fly into the house at night.

The next thing we did was trek to the river to have a good swim in fresh pool. The water was extremely cold and the current in the middle of the river could sweep anyone of us away. But under the watchful eyes of our Scout Leaders, who were ensuring our safety, we had a refreshing swim and went back to the house to bath again in hot shower, just before nightfall. For dinner, they served us traditional Vietnamese food. Most of us have not eaten Vietnamese food and were not use to it. After a Scout’s Own led by the Scout Leaders, we were ready to sleep.

We woke up the next morning at 6:30am and had a simple breakfast of bread, biscuit and, coffee or tea. We packed our bags, thanked the host and left for the next village. As it had rained the previous night, we were lucky to be able to walk on a road rather than the planned path which was too muddy to walk on. We trekked about 9Km, learning new campfire song as we walk and looking at the scenery. We stopped for lunch at a picnic ground and had sandwiches. We had to prepare the sandwich by ourselves with the ingredients that were given to us, such as eggs, cheese and chicken. After lunch, we continued our journey to the next village. We took a shortcut which was filled with mud, on which some of the Scouts slipped and our shoes became very dirty. We finally reached the house at 4:30 pm and had to wash our shoes with a pipe and a sponge. After a bath, we walked around the village; to see what was village life in Vietnam was like, before trekking to another waterfall nearby the village. . We did not swim in that river but rather, clean our shoes and socks in it. Thereafter, we were served dinner which consisted of the same Vietnamese food we had yesterday but we had French fries made with butter as well. It tasted saltier than the normal French fries and had a buttery taste (obviously!!!). We had our usual Scout’s Own before going back to our bedside to pack our bags and sleep.

We woke up early at 4:45am the next morning in order to catch the train back to Hanoi. We had Vietnamese noodles for breakfast which were rather salty. A jeep came to take our bags and the Scouts sat in a coach. The ride was bumpy but the views of the mountains were great. We reached a hotel next to the train station to have dinner. There were plenty of Vietnamese in the hotel as they were watching the world cup in the restaurant that we were having dinner. The food was better than the past few days and we had a great time. We boarded the train and spent a night in it just like the first day. We arrived at the Hanoi station at 5:00am and had a walk around a park with a huge lake. We had the same traditional Vietnamese noodles as the first day and after breakfast, we visited a market. The market sells things like coffee filter, bags, shoes and Vietnamese coffee. You can bargain for the price you are willing to pay and the shopkeepers give special discounts when you buy more of their goods. After shopping, we went to the airport, bid farewell to our tour guide, and went back to Singapore.

Reported By,

Jason Tan

Troop Scribe

CCA Open House 2010

On the 9^th January 2010 was Beatty’s CCA Open House. It was on this day, that our newly arrived Beattyians will go around to see the many interesting displays put up by all the CCAs, and choose the one that they are going to be with for the next 4 years. Certainly not an easy decision to make, especially so when there are plenty of CCAs in a school.

As the Beavers wanted to do something special and captivating, we decided it would only be wise to plan well ahead. Scout are always Prepared. Plenty of weekdays were spent together in December, planning and preparing our stuff, so that we can showcase the best of Scouting to our Sec 1s.

In the end, we planned to build a gateway, a clothes rack and a tower for the students and parents to see. We had drawn the designs, figured out where to place them and how to decorate them. A week before the CCA open house, we started building the clothes rack and gateway. Most of the Scouts did the gateway as it was very big and it required a lot of manpower to build. Not an easy task you, you know. Two other Scouts and I were appointed to build the clothes rack. Our Scout Leader, Kumanan Sir, printed for us coloured brochure to give to Parents and students during the CCA open house. Want to know how it looks, well just go download it at the left hand side of this Blog.

On the actual day, all of us had to arrive in school by 7.30am to prepare before the Parents arrived. We started putting up the banners, placing our awards and cleaning up the place. Our booth was located next to the Koi pond and so we had plenty of space to place our structures. The Rover Scouts came back to Beatty to help us, which we Scouts deeply appreciate. Reminds me of the Scout Law, “A Scout is Loyal”. Our Patrol Leader, Xuan Jie, even brought a radio to play the many Scout songs we have. We also build a billboard which some of the schools wore to advertise scout. We were all very excited about this recruitment!

The Parents arrived at 9 am, at the entrance of the school; we handed out brochures and told them to visit out booth. The Parents and students then proceeded to the hall for a briefing about the CCAs available in the school. Some of the Scouts helped to distribute water bottles to the Parents who were watching the performance by different CCA groups, all so that we would be visible.

When all the Parents and students left the hall, most of the CCA groups line up in front of the hall to promote their CCA and to give out pamphlets. We wanted Parents to check out our booth and let their children experience what Scouting is all about. So, we too tried our best to lure the Parents and son. While the Parents were at our booth, the Seniors gave each Parent a tour and showed them the benefits of being a Scout.

As the process of meeting and marketing Scouting went on for each Parent/son duo, we realized that quite often, Parents have this stereotype that Scouting is all about Adventure and Outdoors. Which is of cause, a positive stereotype. And of cause, there were those who thought Scouting was all about knots only. But in general, we did manage to pull in the right type of students into our booth. Those who were keen in Outdoors. These were the kinds we wanted too.

At the end of the day, when all the parents had left, we went to dismantle all the structures we build. Though tiring it was the whole day, we enjoyed very much, because we knew we put in our very best. We were not so much worried about the numbers of Scouts we would get.

As a “Well Done” token, Mr. Tham, our Auxillary Volunteer Leader, bought us lunch from KFC. We had a grand lunch that day, eating chicken and drinking soda. Tired but satisfied, we felt proud of what we did. Beatty Beavers Rockz!!

Last but not least, on behalf of the Scouts, I would like to thank all Rover Scouts, Old Beavers, Former Teacher Mr. Koh KM, Mr. Tee & Mr. Tham, Mr. Kumanan & Mr. Aru for their time and effort that they took to be there with us, to give us their support and guidance.

Reported By,

Jason Tan                                                        Troop Scribe