At "The Stables" in Time For Tea

Greetings From The Heart of Scouting

Norman Scott mowing lawn GP 2011

Two weeks ago the long public holiday weekend was upon us without any warning. Well, to me that is, for holidays don't mean much to me any more as I am on permanent holiday with the odd day interrupting my leisurely lifestyle of absolute freedom, when I have to work. The down side is that I don't have a bulging bank account, which is a trifle worrying when the bills roll in; and I am not referring to those green dollar bills that every mortal spends his entire life collecting. However, I am not adverse to collecting them, so if you do have any green dollar bills that you don't know what to do with, then I have a large empty bin located in my backyard into which you can deposit them.

I only managed to get out to the Heart of Scouting very late on Saturday evening, as I had one of those unscheduled work days to attend to on the Saturday of the long weekend. Sunday morning dawned far too early as my eyes refused to open preferring to remain tightly closed until Chris said that the coffee was now cold and that if I wanted breakfast then I had to open my own box of wheeties. Bullying tactics! These youngsters of today, he knows perfectly well that Wheetie boxes are 'kiddy proof' as I have the greatest difficulty in opening them. Only one thing to do and that is to show some sign of life and get up.

We spent the Sunday in performing the usual routine tasks, but in addition we needed to check that all equipment that had been used during the Assagai Competition had been returned to the stores and repair that which was damaged. Ropes especially have a high rate of attrition. Having driven out to the Park in 'Emma' presented an opportunity to recover the last of the equipment from the Bowl well that had been used in retrieving the pump and motor when the well had fallen-in following the heavy rains accompanying cyclone Japhet in 2003. I did say that I was on a permanent holiday. Pipes and three metre sections of railway line were collected and loaded onto Emma. One rail section had fallen down the gapping hole in the ground where the well had been and so using Emma, a chain and a bit of ingenuity, the rail was hauled out of the hole. The next piece of equipment to be recovered was the windless which had also partially fallen into the well. Again Emma came in useful when we attached a chain to the windless and bodily pulled it out. Then it was playtime, for Chris stood on the base of the windless as I towed it back to Headquarters. I bet no one else has ever skied on a windless for two kilometres along a winding, dusty dirt track; and 'Emma' with me behind the wheel has only two speeds, stop and fast.... Very fast!

Monday and Tuesday being public holidays had been set aside to work on the replacement doors to The Naomi Connoly Lodge, but procrastination on anything like having to think too deeply in executing a project, always seems to find its way into my scheme of things, for we decided on doing a wood collection immediately following breakfast. It was not until ten o'clock before work was started on the construction of the doors. We managed to complete one door by late afternoon and the second on the Tuesday morning. The funding of this project has been kindly met by the Kent Scouts (England), through their ZIMBEX programme. Just to prove that my idea of an empty bin in my backyard is not such a hair-brained scheme after all as it has delivered some results.

This past weekend was livened up by the arrival in camp on the Friday morning of six Scouts of the 8th Hillside Troop led by their Scout Leader James Irwin. They were well into their camp programme by the time Chris and I arrived late on Saturday morning so after paying them a courtesy call, having a mug of tea with them, we too got on with our Park duties. The main project was to commence on the painting of the new doors and so whilst Chris got on with this task I attended to replacing a broken pipe on the generator at Headquarters. We were invited to have supper with the 8th Scouts and then to toast marsh-mellows at the campfire afterwards.

The stillness of Sunday morning was broken when we all disappeared from the Park to undertake an early morning climb up Shumba. Being the second weekend of the month meant that the Chapel had to be swept of leaves and the altar prepared for the service at midday. We welcomed Fr. Jeremy Dube, a new Priest onto our roster of clergy assisting us in our services.

Following lunch, Chris returned to the Lodge to put a coat of white paint on the doors as the pink wood primer he had applied on Saturday, had dried. The inside of the doors are white, whilst the exterior surface will be varnished to show off the grain of the wood. Our Sunday service guests had a great day in attending the Service and then following the lunch time braai, in strolling around the Park. Everyone was back at 'The Stables' in time for tea before returning home.

Cheers
Norman

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This past Week...

Remember the days when there were literally hundreds of scouts competing in the Assigia Competition!
Colin Smith
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1st Bulawayo (Pioneer) Scout Troop Programme of Activities for:-

September
3-4 Monthly Hike
Boys Skills Course: P.H.Q.
11 Gordon Park Service: 12.00 noon
Provincial Cookout Competition

October
1-2 Monthly Hike
Parent's Camp
9 Gordon Park Service: 12.00 noon
15-16 JOTA/JOTI
Arnold Carnegie Assegai Competition

November
5-6 Monthly Hike
13 Gordon Park Service: 12.00 noon
Inter Provincial Patrols Competition

December
11 Gordon Park Service: 12.00 noon
25 Christmas Day

Activities may be Deleted/Added to the Programme

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If youre planning to visit Zimbabwe - pencil in "Gordon Park's 75th Anniversary Camp" thats being planned for the 18th to 20th February 2011!
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The 2010 Troop's fundraising Calendar can be found at:-
http://matabele.altervista.org/1st-calendar/1st-pioneer-troop-calendar-2011.htm


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"A Thought For The Next 10 years"

Exactly 40years ago to the day, in 1971 President Nixon took the American Dollar out of the Gold Standard. When the American paper Bond market crashes, the Dollar will devalue and the $14 trillion USA debt will wiped out overnight. The USA will then return to the gold standard - so the price of gold will rocket to $30,000/oz. All the old gold mines will re-open!

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Matabeleland Scout Website http://matabele.altervista.org/
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Bulawayo, 17 Aug 2011