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.

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