Walking the Rails

Have you ever tried walking the rails? As a youngster growing up, I had to walk about a mile to school. The railroad track ran past both my house and the school. It was the shortest and quickest route. I can remember many times while walking to and from school that I would try to walk the rails—seeing how far I could go without falling off. I usually didn’t get too far before a foot would slip and I would be off the rail and on the crosstie.

I read once of a group of Scouts who happened upon some abandoned railroad track. Each Scout took his turn trying to walk the entire length of the track without falling off. None of the boys was able to go the entire length without falling off. Two of the boys got their heads together, and after some discussion came running to the group, smiling from ear to ear. They told the group that they were willing to bet that they could walk the entire length of the track without falling off. The others in the group thought it was a good bet because they had already seen each of the boys fail in the attempt to accomplish the feat.

So the bet was accepted and the two boys moved toward the track. Each of the boys got on one rail and began their walk. Side by side they were walking down the track. Soon one of them became a little shaky, so the boys stopped. They then did something none of the other boys had thought of—they reached out and joined hands! After joining hands, they were able to walk the entire length of the track without falling off. Joining hands and supporting each other, they were able to accomplish what neither of them could accomplish alone.

When we help another, we help ourselves. When we lend a helping hand, we receive one in return. Neither of the boys could walk the length of that track separately. But by the boys joining hands, the task was made relatively easy. There are many rails in life that have to be walked. Some of them are very difficult to master by ourselves. But if we are willing to extend a hand and receive a hand, we will find that walking the rails of life is much easier to accomplish.

Beaver Trek, 17/02/06

The Beaver Trek is not meant to be an arduous affair. It should be a short walk, either instead of the normal meeting or a morning or at another more suitable time.

There are a number of tips that you should bear in mind.

- Plan your trek to take into account the youngest / smallest Beaver.

- Plan the route in advance. Allow plenty of time for lunch and stops to point out items of interest.

- Devise reminder cards, noting items of interest that you will encounter.

- Carry out a reconnaissance.

- Ensure that all Beavers have Raingear and a packed lunch if appropriate.

- Remember the Country Code, see below.

Leave nothing but footprints, take home nothing but memories and photographs.

Things to do on a Beaver Trek.

You could give the Trek an exciting theme. You could all be Explorers, exploring the Amazon, a desert island – finding "Man Friday's footprints" in the sand. You could discover dinosaurs, animal tracks. Use your imagination.

Trails

The trail could be set up in advance by the Leader and a few older Beavers using flour, rice or barley. Leave a winding trail around your chosen area. Leave a hidden message to say that they have reached the end, or what they should do

next.

Colour matching trail

Pieces of coloured wool or paper are given out to the Beavers and they are asked to match the colour with something natural. Alternatively hide the different coloured wool or paper amongst the vegetation and get the Beavers to find as

many of the hidden colours as possible. For a St. Patrick's Day theme, cut snake shapes out of coloured paper and hide them for the Beavers to find. Or hide mouse shapes in different colours and let the Beavers be hunting owls. Discuss why bright colours are more easily identified and easily found while it is harder to find those which match the vegetation. Make sure that you clear up after you.

Follow basic tracking signs made from natural materials. Let a Leader set up the trail in advance for the Beavers to follow. Try and make it into an adventure, such as "Escape from the Vikings". How about camouflaging themselves with face paints or leavers. The Beavers could "write" their names or leave a greeting such as "Hello" using leaves, stones or fir cones.

The Country Code

Respect farmers and their land

Respect wildlife

Leave gates as you find them

If a dog comes with you, keep it under control

Do not damage fences or walls

Take all your litter home

Do not damage wildlife, plants or trees (Weeds are wildflowers, don’t destroy them)

Make no unnecessary noise

Do not pollute water

Guard against the risk of fire

Weather, 03/02/06

This is suitable for a late autumn or winter programme.

Opening ceremony 5 mins

River banks, roll call and tail slap.

Ice King/Queen and the Icicles 5 mins

Choose an Ice King or Queen and 3-4 Icicles. If these 4-5 tag anyone and say “Freeze”, that

person must stand still until they are released by an unfrozen person saying “Melt”. After 1-2 minutes choose a new Ice King/Queen and Icicles.

Activity 10 mins

Introduce the weather. Go outside and find out what the weather is like. Talk about weather and clothing. How do you keep warm and protect oneself from weather.

Make a weather chart 15 mins

Refer to present conditions on the chart.

Outdoor Clothing 10 mins

Ask the Beavers to bring the clothing they would take on Outings. Show them the sorts of clothing that you would like them to have in terms of woolly hats, wellington boots scarves and gloves.

Game 5 mins

Snowballs

Closing ceremony 5 mins

Build your dam; give out notices, prayer, Goodbye

Pearls of Wisdom—Quotes from Baden-Powell

“In Scouting, a boy is encouraged to educate himself instead of being instructed.”

The Scoutmaster’s Minute

The Scoutmaster’s Minute is brief in duration but one of the most important parts of a troop meeting. Occurring at the closing of the meeting, it is the thought that will go home with the boys. It is the time to teach one of the ideals of Scouting. The Scoutmaster’s Minute is a special time when you have the attention of all the boys in the troop, and it is your opportunity to convey a special message of inspiration. Many of the Scoutmaster’s Minutes listed below are parables, short stories about everyday people and occurrences that illustrate a moral attitude or religious principle. Boys are “visual” thinkers; they relate well to stories that are accompanied by props. Using a postage stamp as a prop, you can suggest that a stamp sticks to its job to get a letter to its destination. The moral is that Scouts should be as determined as a postage stamp to stick to a task until it is completed.

Once per month new examples of Scoutmaster’s Minutes will be published for you to use in inspiring the Scouts entrusted in your care, but don’t hesitate to begin a collection of your own inspirational messages to use in the future.

Circus Capers, 20/01/06

Beavers might come to the meeting dressed as someone from the circus.

Opening ceremony 5 mins

River banks, roll call and tail slap.

The Circus Game 5 mins

The first game is to get rid of pent up energy. Have the Beavers form into 3-4 teams. Name each Beaver in the team a different member of the circus, for example Clown, ring master, tigers, lions elephants, jugglers or tight rope walkers. Call a name at random, everyone with that name runs up the hall, touch the wall and run back to their place. On the call “circus” everybody runs up.

Activity 30 mins

Split into 3 groups.

• Group 1: Juggling balls or bean bags. Start with one, then try two.

• Group 2: Balance on low beam, plank or thick rope. Then balance with bean bag on head. Balance going forwards or backwards. Pretend that are high wire artist.

• Group 3: Face painting.

After 10 minutes, the groups rotate and go to the next base until everyone has done each base.

Craft 15 mins

Make juggling clown.

Closing ceremony 5 mins

Build your dam; give out notices, prayer, Goodbye

Circus Skills, 06/01/06

Plate Spinning
Required: Paper plates, bottle tops, garden canes, glue, felt tips
- Decorate the top of the plate in any pattern
- Stick the bottle top to the bottom of the plate
- Wait for the glue to dry before balancing the plate on top of the stick; the stick should fit into the bottle top
- Spin the plate around

Acrobatics
- Draw a chalk line on the ground for the Beaver Scouts to 'balance' along
- Perform roly polys

Juggling
- Begin by throwing one ball from hand to hand
- When the Beaver Scouts are comfortable with this add a second ball; they will throw the second ball just after throwing the first
- For the really good ones add a third ball to juggle

Scouting in 10 words

Scouting offers challenge and adventure to 400,000 young people across the UK.

Pearls of Wisdom—Quotes from Baden-Powell

“The spirit is there in every boy; it has to be discovered and brought to light.”