Official online magazine of Scouting Ireland September 2012 Castle Saunderson the Dream is Now a Reality! Phoenix Challenge one of the best Ever! Jamboree 2013 is your Group Attending World Scout Moot,Ventact, Challenge weekend and lots more Inside Communications Commissioner Intro Welcome to this month’s issue of Inside Out your monthly one stop shop for all that is happening in enture Scout Banner but of Course Scouting Ireland. This month we feature the official opening of our new International Scout Centre at Castle Saunderson and what a great day that was for Scouting Ireland. See all the pictures of the day and view the Videos of the occasion in our Scouting Ireland Video Section. Also this month saw one of the Biggest if not the biggest Phoenix Challenge take place in Larch Hill and what a great weekend that turned out to be. We also continue our coverage of Group Annual camps that have taken place over the Last couple of months. Also included this month is our regular features from the Beaver Scout ,Cub Scout and Rover Scout teams. In Last months issue we inadvertently included the Explorer Belt under the V we all know that this should have been under the Rover Banner. We apologise for this mistake. Challenge Page 12 Remember if you want to submit an article for next month’s issue then please forward them to [email protected]. Please forward this on to all Scouters and Youth Members in your group. Don’t presume they have got it.Deadline for next month’s issue is 31th Sept . See you next month! - The Communications Team In this issue... Castle Saunderson 3 Phoenix Challenge 8 Challenge 2012 12 Ventact 19 Quote of the Month Cub News 32 “Children seldom misquote. In fact, they usually repeat word International News 40 for word what you shouldn’t Provincial have said” Conference SE 45 Author Unknown work is not finished yet. “The builders knit together, the best recommendations are still on site, and our electricity has we have is to give the grass at least 18 not been connected yet. We are hoping months before allowing camping on it. for a handover of the building in mid After waiting for so long to get to this point, September. The hostel & building will we’re not going to rush into it and end up Castle Saunderson Opens then be open for use, however the ruining the camping ground”. camping grounds will not be ready”. The centre is now developing its So the day finally arrived were we officially opened Castle Saunderson Explaining the situation with the programme and to help with this the International Scout Centre. For those of you that may not know, this story began camping grounds Tony had this to say Programme Team Lead Gerry Finnegan way back in 1997, when scouting was offered the opportunity to purchase the “The majority of the grass was only has announced details of two work lands around Castle Saunderson at a reduced price. We bought the property in sown in May of this year, with about weekends focusing on Backwoods 1998 and so began the long trail to try to pay for the site and to develop it into a a quarter of the site to be prepared and Pioneering, details of which can Scout Centre. It wasn’t an easy journey, with many setbacks over the years. and seeded now in September. The be found on page 6. In addition to this, Yet finally on 18th August 2012 the President of Ireland travelled in the laneway weather over the summer periods didn’t Volunteer Team Lead Shane Maguire has under blistering sunshine to be greeted by over 500 enthusiastic scouts, local help as the heavy machinery couldn’t announced details of two complimentary facility on wonderful grounds, but now it representatives and government ministers from both sides of the border. This work on the ground. We envisage weekends of training for those that are was a truly cross-border event, highlightingis up what to us Castle to make Saunderson it into a world is all about.class it will be the 2014 season before interested in joining the camp staff team at Young people from both sides of the border,centre. both The Scouting work on Ireland that begins and the now! Scout substantial camping can take place”. Castle Saunderson, again details can be The programme activities for the centre Tony continued “the camping area is the found on page page 6. will need to be developed from now Association, Northern Ireland played a most important part of the centre. We Finally bookings have started to fly in, and going forward. The priority explained very important role in the preparation need to give the grass time to grow and information on how to book can be found Tony is “to establish the fundamental for the opening and in many of the on page page 7. scouting activities first and foremost”. ceremonial parts of the day. As we were Tony also explained that the building reminded in many of the speeches; this is their centre. There was a palpable feeling of relief that this day had finally come, and it was great to see so many of the people that worked on this project from its inception, through the hard years of trying to make it work, and those that brought it to a happy conclusion there to enjoy the success of their work. On the day the Camp Chief was quick to point out that this is only the end of the beginning for Castle Saunderson. We have been provided with a fantastic 3 Castle Saunderson Continued To See more pictures of the day you can check out Scouting Ireland’s Photo gallery here. 4 Castle Saunderson Videos Also our Video team was out and about on the day. You can listen back to all the action including the speeches, the presidential visit and the official blessing We also did some interviews over the day which are not quite ready but we will feature in a later issue. 5 Join our Biggest Adventure In August President Michael D. Higgins inaugurated Castle Saunderson International Scout Centre. Now is your chance to get involved and make your mark on the world’s newest international scout centre. We want your expertise in helping us to develop our programme of activities in two specific areas. Be part of the team from the very beginning and help us create a Programme that will be the envy of all other centres. We’re running two weekends to recruit Saunderson. If you are friendly, reliable, Camp Staff training: Venture Scouts, Rover Scouts & enjoy a good laugh and have a passion Saturday 6th October, training begins Scouters onto our Camp Staff team for delivering excellent programme and 4pm Backwoods here in Castle Saunderson. The experiences to our guests you’ll love Cost €10 per person Arrive Friday 5th October, Camp staff will be the face of Castle volunteering at Castle Saunderson. Food will be provided Programme development begins at If you want to get involved in either Finish on Sunday 12pm 9pm weekend the details are set out below: Cost €10 per person Friday 9th November, training begins Food will be provided 9pm Finish On Saturday 6th October Cost €10 per person 4pm Food will be provided Finish on Saturday 10th November 4pm Pioneering For further information about any of Arrive Saturday 10th November, the sessions please contact Finbar at Programme development begins at [email protected] or call +353-86- 4pm 0449354 Cost €10 per person Food will be provided Finish on Sunday 12pm 6 Booking Castle Saunderson Castle Saunderson can be booked on a per room per night basis. The cost of a four bed dorm is €44 per night and the cost of a six bed dorm is €66 per per night. There are 9 four bed rooms and 2 six bed rooms. Enquires can be made by contacting Finbar at [email protected] or +353-86- 0449354 You can keep up to date with all that is happening at Castle Saunderson International Scout Centre by checking out our Facebook page www.Facebook. com/CastleSaunderson or on twitter @SICasSaunderson. 7 their sketches including these lines in advance of the subcamp campfires on Thursday night. The programme bases were held on The Phoenix Challenge 2012 Friday and Saturday of the event. On each day two subcamps had f the event programme off site along the dart line This years Phoenix Challenge ‘the Olympics’ was one of the largest ever with and in Dublin city centre, while the almost 70 teams taking part in the event. The increased numbers was partly due other two subcamps remained in Larch to an initiative implemented this year where by scout counties who had teams who Hill. The off site programme involved finished in the top ten places in Phoenix 2011 were awarded additional places. challenges based on the SPICES. The The competition took place between the 16th and 19th August 2012 in Larch Hill. overall day involved patrol planning, The opening ceremony took place on Thursday morning and each subcamp was teamwork and time management to presented with a subcamp flag and lit their subcamp Olympic torch of fully complete all the tasks. The on Olympic flame before ascending upon their sites. trade fair, disco and campfire sketches. site bases challenged the patrols in The trade fair and disco were excellent the areas of teamwork and adventure and were an opportunity for the scouts skills such as pioneering, ropework, to wear their country themed costumes.