The County Shield will take place in Salesian College, Pallaskennery  on the 5^th-7^th May 2012. Please arrive on the Saturday at 9.00am. The event is scheduled to finish on Monday 3.30pm (after the event all Scouts are asked to return to the hall to put away gear.

The cost is €40 (if you had already paid for the County Overnight then you only owe €28). This must be paid by Wednesday 25^th April at the latest.

Gear List

• Neckerchief
• Sleeping Bag
• Sleeping Mat
• Day Bag (for bases)
• Eating Utensils
• Rain Gear
• Torch
• Hat & Gloves
• Full Uniform (See note below)
• Pen Knife
• Copy of the Scouting Trail if you have one

Prior to the Shield

Taking part in the Shield is a team effort that requires everyone to pitch in and help. If one person doesn’t do this then the whole patrol suffers.

The Patrol will be meeting at the following times

• Saturday 21^st April – Training Day @Scout Hall
• Wednesday 25^th April – Scout Meeting
• Fri 27^th- Sun 29^th April – Camp in Cratloe
• Wednesday 2^nd May  – Scout Meeting
• Thursday 3^rd May – Packing the trailer

In addition each Scout will be given some things to learn/prepare before the Shield:

here’s a copy of the Scouting Trail

http://caherdavinscouts.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/scouting-trail.pdf

A note on Uniform

Uniform will be inspected on site on the Monday afternoon after the final inspection. The uniform according to the marking scheme is as follows:

• Scouting Ireland shirt
• Scouting Ireland trousers
• Scouting Ireland belt
• Troop neckerchief
• Woggle
• Dark footwear (Boots, shoes or sandals) – no runners
• Dark socks

Please have as much of the uniform as possible on the weekend on the Shield. If there are items you need to get before the Shield please contact Barry before the 27^th April

Here are the details of the next three Scout activities.

County Backwoods Overnight

This will take start at 10am on Saturday 24^th March and finish 2pm on Sunday 25^th March in the Curraghchase Scout Centre. The cost is €12 per scout and this must be paid by Wednesday 29^th February.  The programme for this event includes challenges (building a shelter for the night, catching fish) and workshops (lighting fire by friction, wood carving and water purification. The aim is to cover the skills necessary for the Backwoods Adventure Skill up to level 3.

Camping Overnight

We will be holding a camping overnight in Curraghchase Scout Centre on April 14^th/15^th. During this event we will cover the skills required for the Camping and Pioneering Adventure Skills badges as well as preparing for the County Shield. The cost is €12 per scout and this must be paid by Wednesday 4^th April.

County Shield

The County Shield is an annual competition for Patrols in Limerick Scout County and tests the Scouts’ skills in a wide range of areas such as campcraft, pioneering, cooking, first aid, navigation and more. The Shield will take place in Copeswood College, Pallaskenry on May 5^th-7^th. The cost is €32 per scout and this must be paid by Wednesday 25^th April. The Shield is a team effort and we would ask all Scouts to take this on board.

If you have any questions, please contact the Scout Leaders.

The 23rd Limerick would like to wish our three Scouts Andrew O’Neill, Conor Hempenstall and Michael Quigley who will be setting off on their Icelandic Adventure at the weekend. Last August the three Scouts were selected to be part of the first ever Crean Challenge Expedition which is being run alongside the Icelandic Scout Association. Only 15 Scouts from across Ireland will be taking part in the expedition.

In September they met up with the Expedition Leaders and their fellow participants for a training weekend. The Patrols hiked from Castleconnell to the National Water Activity Centre in Killaloe where they made their way out to an Island and bivied for the night. A second training weekend was held in Dublin in Decemeber. At this weekend they got to meet Guðmundur Finnbogason from  the Icelandic  Scout Association and Brendan O’Brien, grandson of Tom Crean. A final meeting for each patrol was held in January. In between the training weekends, the participants had to go on several training hikes, keep a logbook of their preparations and work on personal challenges they had agreed with the Expedition Staff.

The Troop will depart Ireland and head for the Iceland where they will be challenged by the climate and terrain. Using the physical and mental training that they have completed in preparation for this Expedition they will overcome these challenges.

The initial few days of the trip will be a learning experience to allow them to familiarise themselves with some of the equipment that they will use throughout their Expedition including, Skies, Sledges and Safety Ropes. On top of this they will be shown how to build Snow Holes, Igloos and trek in the difficult snowy terrain.

They will then take part in a Two Day Expedition trekking to basic Mountain Huts high in the Iceland Mountains, spending a night in these basic lodges and returning to base camp the next day. The end of the event will involve a review and an assessment of the individual Scouts expedition and hopefully they will be awarded the Crean Challenge Expedition Award.

We  would like to wish our 3 scouts, their fellow patrol members and the expedition staff the best of luck on their epic voyage and look forward to hearing their stories when they return.

This weekend the Scouts headed off to Dundrum Scout Centre in Tippery for the “Discovery Weekend”. Friday night was spent playing wide games in the forest. Saturday morning saw the patrols collect fire wood while Conor and Eoin cooked breakfast. This was followed by a session on camping skills. After lunch, the Scouts worked on their pioneering- building towers for a game of man hunt later that evening.

We then had a campfire and scouts own. Barry invested Daniel into the Troop and then presented the Discovery Award badges, the first stage of the Crean Awards (the new scout award scheme) and Patrol Leader and Assistant Patrol Leader Badges. After the campfire the group split in two. The Ventures lead the younger scouts on a hike along the forest track while Barry went with the 3 older scouts on a cross country night navigation excercise through the forest as training for the Crean Challenge.

The next morning everyone got up and clean the house before getting to try out the impressive zip line on the site.

Thanks to all the Scouts for their work this weekend and thanks to the ventures (Andy and Ashley) and leaders (Baz, Mike and Neil) for running the weekend. Thanks also to Charlie Sullivan, the warden of the site. Photos available here.

Venue: Dundrum Scout Centre, Tipperary
Date: 25th-27th November 2011

Gear List:
• Neckerchief
• Old Clothes & Shoes
• Uniform
• Sleeping Bag
• Ground Mat
• Rain Gear
• Torch (preferably headtorch)
• Hat & gloves
• Packed lunch for Friday night

For more on what to wear/bring please consult the “Preparing for Adventure” chapter of the Scouting Trail

Programme
Over the weekend we’ll be covering the final parts of the Discovery Award as well as elements of the Pioneering and Camping Adventure Skills badges. On Sunday we will be having the investiture of the new scouts into the troop.

Transport
Scouts to arrange their own transport to and from the event. We’re asking all Scouts to be at the centre for 8pm on Friday. Collection is at 2pm on Sunday. Directions can be found here

When : November 13th 2011

Time : 10:00hr – 16:00hr

Start/Finish : Curraghchase Caravan Park (Directions)

Cost : €4.00 per Scout

Dress : Neckerchief must be worm by all Scouts

There will be two age categories for this years Orienteering competition.

• 13 and under
• 15 and under (individual)

The 15 and under age group will be run on an individual basis. While the13 and under age can run the course in groups of 2.

The cut off time for completion of the course is 2.30pm, by which time all Scouts must return to the check in area irrespective of how many checkpoints they have left to punch on their cards.

Each Scout should bring:

• a poly pocket to hold his/her map and punch card
• a red and blue biro.
• packed lunch
• Outdoor Gear (eg boots, rain-gear, gaiters, hats/scarf/gloves etc.)

Where possible Scouts are requested to bring along their mobile phones (fully charged!!! and in a secure pocket or day-bag). Scouts telephone numbers will be recorded on their control punch cards and only be used should an individual Scout happen to go astray or fail to return to the CSC by the 2.30pm cut off time.

Scouts to arrange their own transport to and from the event. A one way system will be place on the way and parents/scouters are asked to cooperate with the stewards on the day.