6th Meath Ashbourne Scouts
Our scouts on a previous CSA expedition
This year we have 6 Scouts undertaking their Chief Scout Award. We have 5 taking part in their Expedition this Monday and Tuesday basing themselves in Larch Hill. We will split the distance over the two days with a Backwoods element added too.
Details:
We will be meeting at the community centre at 09:00 on Monday.
We expect to be back 18:00 Tuesday.
The equipment list for this camp is here.
Paul Fanning completes another summit in training for the Garda Four Peaks Challenge
Sunday 21st May we will take part in the Garda Four Peaks challenge Glen-to-Glen walk. This walk is organised by the Garda Four Peaks challenge in aid of Aware. The Glen-to-glen event is a great way to show our support for this important cause. It is open to Scouts, Ventures, Rovers and Scouters. Scouts are asked to bring €5 for transport and €5 euro as a contribution to Aware which will be contribution matched by the Scout Group making a €10 donation for every scout that takes part.
We will meet in the Community Centre at 7.45am sharp. The usual gear list for a hike is here.
The hike will be a point-to-point - a fantastic route that starts in Glendalough and winds its way up over high mountains before descending into Glenmalure.
On a related note our own Paul Fanning, Scout Leader is taking part in the Garda Four Peaks challenge this weekend and has been in training for this event for several month. Please show your support for Paul and Aware by taking part in this event.
The Girley Bog, Co. Meath
Saturday 13th of May is International Jamboree on the Trail Day. To mark this, our Venture and Rover sections will be embarking on a nature trail to survey flora and fauna. This was originally scheduled to be on Galtymore, but due to the relative difficulty of the terrain and adverse forecast we will relocate to our own Girley bog in north County Meath.We will set out at the later time of 8.30am, meeting in the Community Centre car park. The original goal of making a survey of the flora and fauna will apply.
The hike of Galtymore will take place on a different date to be announced soon.
on an ascent on Galtymore, one of Ireland's highest mountains. As part of the hike they will be recording the flora and fauna that they observe. This hike is now open to members of Scout section as well as Ventures and Rovers. It should be noted that being 919m, Galtymore counts as one of the over 800m mountains needed for Scouts attempting Hillwalking 6. There will be opportunities for practising navigation and leading sections of the hike.
For a fee of €4 will apply which includes transport and the cost of ordering a badge for the event (€1.40 each). This is a special badge available to any participating in this hike subject to availability from jott.org.
Note however:
Weather is looking mixed, we will make a final call on whether to proceed based on safety. We should be making this call on Friday evening and will communicate this at the Friday meeting. (see above, relocation)
We are somewhat restricted in terms of transport - we will only have a maximum of 6 spaces available with the 2 cars we are bringing. First come first served, and if we have numbers greater than that we may need parents to volunteer for transport duty. We will meet in the Community Centre car park at 8.30am sharp on Saturday 13th. (It's an early start due to limited parking at the site).
This hike involves some fairly steep ascent in places, so a reasonable level of basic fitness is required
The usual hike equipment list applies.
Ashbourne Scouts Pioneering!
As part of our journey to increase our Scouts' adventure skills we will be holding a Pioneering Activity day at the Buckley's farm on Sun. 7th of May. This will be a day long event starting at 10am and continuing until the project is complete, probably around 4pm. The day will consist of a large pioneering project which will test skills in a number of different areas. There will be plenty of opportunity for learning at all levels with tasks suitable for beginners as well as those looking for more of a challenge.
The entrance to the yard is on the right as you go from Ashbourne immediately after a large tree as seen here.
Scouts should bring:
This event can only happen with the kind assistance of the Buckley family, who store all of our pioneering spars and allow us to use their yard for our building projects.
Our Scouts on their trailfinding hike earlier in March
This coming Sunday 2nd of April is an important one for 6th Meath Ashboourne Scouts. The Scout County of Gleann na Boinne (Meath) normally organise a hike for everyone in the county a handful of times a year. This time it is the turn of 6th Meath Ashbourne along with 2nd Meath Trim to organise a hike for the whole county. Given that this is our hike we're keen to get the best possible attendance from our own scouts. This hike is a fantastic route with some super views and suitable for Scouts who have hiked before.
Equipment list is here
Cost for anyone going with leaders (see below) will be €5. The other option is to take the bus from Kentstown. This will leave from Kentstown NS at 8am sharp, bus fare will be subsidised by our Scout Group to the tune of €9 so anyone taking the bus will owe a balance of €5.
We already did a trail finder for this hike on Sunday 19th of March. Senior scouts who attended this trail finder will get the chance to win extra points for their patrol by acting as co-ordinators on the hike. They will have the important job of counting teams in and out and pointing them towards the next checkpoint. Checkpoint co-ordinators will work in pairs and will be accompanied by a Scout Leader so they won't be on their own!
Anyone wanting to be a checkpoint co-ordinator should be at the Community Centre on Sunday morning 2nd April at 7.20am sharp. In addition to the regular equipment list, checkpoint co-ordinators should pack extra layers e.g. fleece jumpers as it can be cold waiting in one spot for any length of time.