Our central catering system is getting silly.

I need to be able to do a cooked breakfast for 20 people quickly. We have
two propane double cookers and 4 14" frying pans but it doesn't really work
as the pans are only hot in the middle, can anybody suggest a better way of
doing this please?

I wouldn't say money is no object but we will find it of we need to.

Everything booked. Check. Kids have all details. Check. Routes
planned. Check. New backpacking stoves bought. Check. Hike tents
okay. Check. Explorers taken to supermarket and bought their food.
Check. Scout / leader food bought. Check. Home contact list
printed. Check. Vans sorted for kit. Check.

Excellent. All is sorted. I'll go to HQ and pick up the minibus, so
that I can drive it up there first thing tomorrow and leave my car at
home. Get a lift up there, open up, get gate keys for the three
padlocks for the compound with the 'bus in. Undo locks, brief check
of the minibus, get in. Log book completed. Check. Start 'bus up -
bit of a bang, then exhaust blowing. Curious. Why should this be?
Only drove it last Sunday, when we went over to Shropshire for the
practice hike. Seemed alright then - it's only just had a service and
a new propshaft...

Ah-ha. New propshaft. Next to the exhaust. Bet they knocked it when
they were fitting that. Grab torch and look underneath.

Nope. Over the course of the last five days, someone has been up to
the Scout Hut and cut the exhaust in two places - allowing them to
nick the catalytic converter. GITS.

A door knocker.... for scouts

http://search.ebay.co.uk/search/search.dll?from=R40&_trksid=m37&satitle=scout+kn...

It must be synchronicity, or something, but for no good reason there I
was looking for cheap bouncy castles on ebay.... just don't tell my
Chairman yet :-)

Anyway, I kept seeing some with legend PIPA tagged. So I looked it up.

Oooh er!

How many of you have used inflatables and checked that they were
tagged as tested annually? Yup, they need an MOT.

Apart from the legality for the operator if the inflatable is not
tagged and tested, there is a real issue for us as users if we have
not checked and something goes wrong.

If you are hiring an inflatable, you should check that it is tagged.
You should check the tag against the register on the PIPA website.

If it is okay and it then fails, then it isn't your problem. Just
another little gem for us to check if we expect kids to have fun.

The more paperwork I see the more that I think the GSL role should
become remunerated :-(

PIPA http://www.pipa.org.uk/

Ewan Scott
http://www.claytonwestscouts.org.uk

no connection, it just looks worth a fiver

http://www.play.com/Books/Books/4-/5118945/The-Boy-Camper/Product.html?ptsl=1&ob...

or http://tinyurl.com/4nlbto if that does not work

Remember those great summer camping trips from your childhood—the
magical ones when you discovered the fish hiding in the shaded
swimming spot and cooked a meal over an open fire? This collection of
outdoor activities from long ago pays tribute to an age when every kid
knew how to bait a hook. And there’s plenty in these vintage pages
that children of all ages will still find worth learning...and lots of
fun.

CONTENTS:

1: Welcome
2: Official Charter
3: Netiquette
4: FAQ about URS

1: WELCOME
Welcome to uk.rec.scouting (URS), the newsgroup for discussion of all aspects
of UK Scouting and Guiding for boys, girls, Leaders, and anyone else with an
active interest in promoting the Scouting and Guiding ideals.

This newsgroup, by charter and in spite of its name, is open for the discussion
of both Guiding and Scouting, centred on the UK. It covers programme activities,
administration, equipment, etc. and is used to solicit advice and opinion from
other members on what to do in certain situations. It is also used to generally
seek and provide support and encouragement with respect to Scouting and Guiding
in the UK and its associated dependencies.

Therefore... "The Scout and Guide Laws are the Laws of this Newsgroup." Please
post within the spirit of the Laws and the Spirit of Scouting and Guiding.

Has anyone had any success with the ASC award, I come across it the other
day and was quite inspired and considering seeing if it will work with the
Troop, I have received an information pack today.

There are 2 awards Junior and Senior both with 2 stages where the young
people have to complete something from the A, S, and C and it is for
children aged 8 - 14, there is great flexibility.

The ASC is recognized and recommended by the Duke of Edinburgh's award as a
lead in for Bronze and from what I have read so far it look so much more
flexible than the Scout Badge scheme and DoE scheme. I have yet to read it
properly but i think there may be potential to use this.

http://www.asc-scheme.org.uk

Got this today on my "clean" personal email address!

"Dear Marc,

Further to my previous email about the fundraising campaign with the
Invitation Book for your scout group this year, I just wanted to see
whether this might be of interest for your scout group. I would
appreciate if you could sent me a quick reply to let me know if you need
any further information or whether you are not interested.

If you would like, you could contact the 34th Cardiff Scout Group, 77th
Cardiff Scout Group or 1st Cornelly Scout Group ...."

Which part of Dodge do you think flogged my email address off to the
spamming b*******S? My money is on the incompetent commissioner (who
shoudn't be allowed anywhere near anything electronic)that sends out
emails that include up to 30 other addresses in the "to" field. I wonder
how many pieces of silver they got for "recomending" me?

Catching up on posts this past weekend I see my son has been leaking
secrets! :-)

I wish he'd have used his own account instead of mine - obviously due
to searching my address books - and I hope I don't now get a bucket
load of spam. Grrr.....

To the one or two of you who may recall 'me' from the distant past,
hello again.

I'm back home now recovering well from the op though I've still got
many tests to go to get things sorted.

Thank you all for the many kind thoughts and get well soon messages.
It'll be a few months yet before I'm back even part-time scouting. For
now I'm enjoying the rest.

And talking of rest, it's time I took this personna back into the
sleepy distant past.

(Cue: Vera Lynn 'We'll meet again....' etc.)

:-)

Dave Gorman

Does anyone have a supplier for pulley blocks please.

I need, doubles and singles for pioneering.

Thanks

Paul Symons
18th Edmonton (Methodist) Scout Group