Brilliant campsite

In the middle of Gribskov, there’s this fabulous campsite -

4 shelters with a total capacity of 40 people or so (a little more in the case of scouts ;) and the central covered fireplace. In addition, a big campfire place a little off – and an old-fashioned traditional loo, complete with a heart-shaped hole in the door, in the far corner.

The pictures were taken Sunday evening while dinner was being cooked after a good long day and 30 km hiking behind us.

Once a scout

…always a scout, I guess.

On this rather ordinary Tuesday – apart from being a vacation day – as I was doing routine stuff in the kitchen, I could let my mind wander a bit. And after a little while found it planning the start of the autumn scouting season.

OK, I did get some inspiration from the DDS leader magazine ‘Broen’, which came in the mail today and had a section on a recent development session in the organisation. ‘TeenSpot’ it was called and was about today’s teenagers, what is rummaging about in their minds, how do we keep them or get them caught in the scouting and so on.

Many people – very surprisingly to scouts – think of scouting as nerdy. One major finding in the study is that one of the core values is the team spirit or solidarity (good English word for ‘sammenhold’, anyone?). That is what scouts again and again name as the most important bit of all the important bits.

And, surely, one that is most enjoyable. Which is why I’m planning on starting right out of the blocks with emphasis on building team spirit in the five new patrols after the summer holidays.

If the rest of the troop leader patrol agrees, of course. Because we need a good team spirit behind it!

DDS TeamSpot  (Danish only, sorry)

Reload 07 - Scouting's 100 years celebrated in Denmark

A big, big event - 10,000+ Danish scouts from all the scouting organisations. Together doing activities on a grander scale tham usual under the theme "mod på mere" which translates to both "we want more" and "courage for more".

So there were Guiness book of record attempts:
* 37 people did 2080 square knots in 10 minutes
*'Oh Boogie Woogie..." danced for 600+ people

As well as 50 scouts pulling a large truck 40 meters on time (can be done in less than 20 seconds), massive pillow fights for 1000 people at the time, mud rugby, orienteering races in Roskilde city in shopping carts - etc etc.

The first aid/accident post is a classic in scouting events - here it was large and more realistic than usual:




Two accident trials side-by-side, the one at left involving a bus and a car, with "wounded" passengers (they did look awfully realistically wounded!) and rescuing passengers out of a smoke-filled bus.

And at the end of all those activities, we marched from the city centre to the nearby area known also for hosting the Roskilde Festival - car drivers wanting to cross our route had to wait for a while as the parade must have been 500 meters long or more...




Just a small part of the parade in the pedestrian street in Roskilde. Both green (the KFUM - Christian - scouts) and blue (Danish Guide & Scouting Organisation) scouts in view :)

(Actually, what I think is nice, the 5 Danish scout organisations also run a common website)

All ended with a "campfire deluxe" - a big show on the stage with the Reload scouting song, music from Danish scouting band BP Spirit and Danish cover band "Robbie Williams Jam". And the hugest fireworks seen in those parts for a while sent us off to the smaller, more classical camp fires around in the area where we could rejoice, sing and swap scouting stories into the wee hours.

Nice!

Scouting 2007

Tomorrow is the annual Thinking Day - since 1932, every year on the birthday of Lord Baden-Powell, scouts use this day to "think about their peers in other parts of the world" (from the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts web site).

Also, there is a tradition to collect a small amount of money per scout/guide - in Denmark, it's 2 DKK (0.25 EUR / 0.35 USD) per year you've been a scout. The money is used for projects helping scouts and guides in other countries.

The theme of this year is "Discover your Potential by taking the lead, growing friendships, and speaking out." To me, this sums up a lot of the good that the scouting movement represents.

And this year is a bit special as it is also the 100 year anniversary of the scouting movement. So, at least in Denmark, Thinking Day is also the first marking of this - we'll all (more or less) be wearing a small pin (above) or bracelet with the typical knot, proudly showing that we are scouts :)



Due to the special year, the donation idea has been extended into activities for all scouts in Denmark with the aim of collecting approx 7 mill. DKK - enough to build 100 schools in Angola. Let's go for it, I'd say!