We got it!

Every other year members of the Swedish Guide and Scout Asociation gathers for "parliament", where the new committee gets elected and various issues are debated. All members are invited, and as a youth moment, comitted to make sure that our members learn and upholds democratic priciples, we encourage everyone to go and take part in the democratic process.
Every other year all members are then invited to meet with the committee and ask questions about where the Asociation stand on the questions that were decided in "parliament". This is a less formal affair and there are also other activities.
Falkenberg Scout Group wrote, as we celebrate our centinary 2010, and asked to host the meeting then. It was a shot in the dark, but a good opportunity to show off scouting to the rest of our town, just at the end of the tourist season when the weather is great, and the sea is still warm. AND WE GOT IT!
So now the hard work starts: 300-500 people are going to be fed, housed and entertained for a weekend at the end of August 2010. It'll be so much fun! (And so much work) No doubt that the discussions about Simply Scouting will be plenty and interesting, and that we will set a big footprint on the minds of people in Falkenberg, which population by then will be back to its normal 14000, after having doubled for the summer season. Any good advice anybody?

District Cub Camp 2009

It seemed to have everything against it - 3 out of 7 groups pulled out and we only had a third of our Cubs down to go. The weather forcast was abominable. As Eva and I sat in the car down to the district camp site on Friday afternoon, we were wondering what we had gotten ourselves into...

Pitching the tipi


Chinese sticks in the rain

The first 20 hours were very, very wet. The rain was wet, the ground was wet the firewood was wet, the kids got wet through their rain gear, we got wet through our rain gear... We realised how spoilt we are, having our own hut in the woods, with facilities to dry gear and kids off, running water and water closets, when the kids almost refused to go to the privies.

Kubb, the viking game, works in any weather.
Brave Cubs

Our 10 kids became 7, when two boys got too wet and cold (one had forgotten to pack rain clothes though...) and one of the girls felt too far away from home for her liking, and they wanted to go home.

The Saturday held fun, slightly icky, and difficult tasks to solve. The aim was to win keys to help the Queen retreive her treasure.

Fishing for keys in all sorts of wierd stuff.

The consistant rain didn't prevent the Cubs in our neighbouring group to wake up at 4.30 and almost waking the whole camp up with their "cheerful" shouting, before their leaders took them for a long walk before breakfast in the rain 3 hours later.

Söndrum's new camp kitchen. (Worked beautifully with DRY firewood)

7 hours later, the ones that did stay got their reward when the sun came out. But then the wind picked up, but luckily not enough to prevent the Cubs to take the cannoes out for an hour or so. Some even ventured a swim in the freezing river! We supervised from a dry spot beneath a tree, well away.

They did go in the water, I promise!

The water level had risen almost 40 cm from the rain! The wind made the waves choppy and difficult, but everyone got to get out for a little while on the water.

Not even the parafin could get the camp fire going properly, but the Cubs enjoyed the singing and the entertainment, then had a cup of cocoa before tumbling into their now slightly drier tents. Only one, not ours, girl had to get picked up during the early hours of the morning as she got sick.

We slept quite well during the night, even if the wind didn't die down. The Cubs practised juggling and had a play, got packed up, and had hot dogs before the parents came to get them at 1pm. All that remained seemed to have enjoyed themselves.

Then we drove back and hung the tipis up to dry in the scout hut, went home to have a shower and a nap and started planning the next camp! It IS fun to be a Scout leader! (Almost always)

As the term is ending, the Cubs are now on summer holidays, and my role in scouting is changing this will be the last entry for this blog as you know it. It will be back though, most likely as general scouting blog, reporting from all age groups, possibly focusing on the new program, training and activities.

Group Camp 2009 - Nils Holgersson's wonderful travels

The Wonderful Adventures of Nils (Orig. Nils Holgerssons underbara resa genom Sverige) is a famous work of fiction by the Swedish author Selma Lagerlöf, published in two parts in 1906 and 1907. The background for publication was a commission from the National Teachers Association in 1902 to write a geography reader for the public schools.
"She devoted three years to Nature study and to familiarizing herself with animal and bird life. She has sought out hitherto unpublished folklore and legends of the different provinces. These she has ingeniously woven into her story." (From translator Velma Swanston Howard's introduction.)
Selma Lagerlöf, like many leading Swedish intellectuals of her time, was a friend of Swedish spelling reform. When published in 1906, this book was one of the first to adopt the new spelling mandated by a government resolution on April 7, 1906.

The book is about a young lad, Nils Holgersson, whose "chief delight was to eat and sleep, and after that he liked best to make mischief". He takes great delight in hurting the animals in his family farm. Nils captures an elf in a net and the elf turns Nils into an elf too, which leaves him shrunken and able to talk with animals, who are thrilled to see the boy reduced to their size and are angry and hungry for revenge. In an attemped to stop one of the farm geese from joining his wild fellows on their migration north, Nils takes off on the back of the goose. The wild geese, who are not pleased at all to be joined by a boy and a domestic goose, eventually take him on an adventurous trip across all the historical provinces of Sweden observing in passing their natural characteristics and economic resources. At the same time the characters and situations he encounters make him grow: Nils needs to prove to the geese that he is a useful companion, despite their initial misgivings. When he proves that he has changed his ways, he gets turned back into a boy. (Text adapted from www.vikipedia.org)

More pictures with captions at Picasa