What We’ve Been Up To
Sherwood Scouts – Urban Rogaine
On 1 December, Sherwood Scouts sent two teams to participate in Raid Adventures’ Urban Rogaine. Now in it’s eleventh year, the Urban Rogaine is a three hour metrogaine set in the heart of Brisbane’s CBD. In teams of up to five, the idea is to navigate to as many checkpoints as possible in a three-hour time limit, with a question posed at each checkpoint eg ‘What is hand painted on the power pole?’.
Teams decide their own route upon being given the map. This means that the fastest team doesn’t always win, and teams are constantly having to adjust their route taking into account the allotted time, distance and navigational ability. On the map were 43 controls (checkpoints), each of which corresponds to a location on the map. Each control is worth a certain number of points. You plan your route to gain the maximum number of points in the time allowed. There is a time penalty (30 points per minute) if teams arrive after the cut off time.
This year, there were 85 teams (over 240 participants).
Upset at missing out? You can still put your orienteering / navigational skills to the test with the free Six Days of Christmas challenge or with the free MapRun parks series.
Mount Gravatt Scouts helping their community
During the last month Joey Scouts, Cub Scouts, Scouts and Venturer Scouts from the Mount Gravatt South Scout Group collected non-perishable food and toiletries to hand out to the homeless at the BBQ for the homeless held by a charity called “Signal Flare Helping the Homeless and Others in Need” at Musgrave Park on Sunday 26 November.
On the day the Scouts and Venturer Scouts handed out these items to the homeless. Some of the Scouts and Venturer Scouts also helped on other stalls as well.
More information about this charity can be found here.
Bunya Park and Withcott Scouts Building Bridges Workshop
On 17 November 2023, the Bunya Park and Withcott Scout Groups joined forces to participate in a workshop on diversity and inclusion, facilitated by Building Bridges, Singapore and sponsored by Pureland Learning College. The workshop, titled “Diversity by Default”, aimed to raise awareness and understanding of the different dimensions of diversity, such as culture, gender, sexuality, ability, and socio-economic status, and how they impact the experiences and outcomes of young people in education and care settings.
The workshop involved interactive activities, discussions, and reflections, as well as presentations from guest speakers who shared their personal stories of diversity and inclusion.
One of the highlights of the workshop was the card game “Be Inclusive”, a diversity and inclusion card game that enhances employee engagement through facilitated conversation. The game consists of 52 cards, each with a question or a scenario related to topics such as culture, beliefs, race, disability and ethnicity. The Scouts were divided into patrols and took turns to draw a card and answer the question or discuss the scenario with their peers. The game encouraged the participants to share their opinions, experiences, and perspectives on diversity and inclusion, and to listen and learn from each other.
The workshop also covered topics such as cultures, multiculturalism, social justice, and human rights. The participants discussed the diversity and richness of different cultural backgrounds, the importance of respect and empathy, and the role of scouts in promoting equity and harmony in the community.
The workshop was well received by the participants, who expressed their appreciation and enthusiasm for the learning opportunity. They said they gained new insights and perspectives on diversity and inclusion, and felt more confident and equipped to embrace and celebrate the differences among themselves and others. They also said they enjoyed meeting and interacting with scouts from another group, and hoped to collaborate and share more experiences in the future.
Solar Buddy Project – Kirwan Cub Scouts
During Scouts in Action Solar month, Kirwan Scout Group Cub Scouts completed Earth Tribes’ Scouts Go Solar’ badge. The key aspect of the badge was completing a STEM project in building SolarBuddy lights to give the gift of light to children living in energy poverty. We learnt about energy poverty and how millions of people around the world are plunged into darkness every night and why it is important to stop the unhealthy use of kerosene as well as understanding how important it was for students to have access to light at night to be able to study. Our SolarBuddy project was aligned to the Sustainable Development Goals:
- SDG #3 Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all.
- #4 Ensure inclusive & equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all,
- #7 Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all,
- #13 Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts and
- #17 Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalise the global partnership for sustainable development.
The project involved Cub Scouts and their families fundraising the cost of the SolarBuddy and once receiving them, Cub Scouts had to use their STEM skills to build the light. It was a great experience of all the Cub Scouts as they learnt that together, they could transform lives!
Crows Nest Scout Group Christmas break up!
“About lunch time today I was asked by Pete Polkinghorne the GL at Crows Nest Group if I knew of anyone with a Santa Costume. As luck would have it, I knew Mark Ready the Stage Manager of Darling Downs Revue, parent of two Rovers and husband of Wendy in our Region Office, has masqueraded as Santa at Scout Carols in recent years. Apparently as a TRC employee Mark I mean Santa has an appointment at the Toowoomba Region Mayors Over 80s Christmas party on Thursday.
With a bit of magic Santa arrived in Crows Nest tonight and was dropped off at the Scout Den by the Crows Nest Fire Brigade with lights and sirens on show.
Attached are a couple of photos if you want to put in the Chiefs Newsletter or Scout Family News. There are no permission issues with the young people pictured in the photos. If you need some information or different image file type let me know and I am sure Jamie Humberdross who provided the photos will organise it. Jamie and Natalie Parrish are the two leaders pictured with Santa in one photo. All the young people present received a Scout Dilly Bag and Scout Christmas Badge from Santa. Santa enjoyed a sausage sizzle but had to remove one of his white gloves.
After a number of years being closed Crows Nest restarted earlier this year with wonderful help from the Highfields Scout Group.”
Barry Keleher OAM – Assistant Region Commissioner (Darling Downs)
