Smoke Signals is our quarterly newsletter at 1st Claremont Scout Group, prepared by our members and filled with updates from our Meerkats, Cubs, Scouts and adult leaders.

You can read Smoke Signals October 2024 – PDF edition, or you can follow the links to the individual articles here:

The Group:

• Group updates and some goodbyes
• Rugby fundraiser

The Meerkat Den:

• Meerkats report

The Cub Pack:

• Cub Pack Updates
• Chapman’s Peak and Rooikat Ravine day Hikes
• Hasta luego amigos

The Scout Troop:

• Farewell Junior Kathe
• James Springbok
• Oliver H 1st Class
• Gordons 2024
• Regional Orienteering Competition
• Doc Trophy
• Patrol reports:
  • Bats patrol report
  • Boks report
  • Eagles Term Report
  • The Goshawks Bush
  • Kestrels Company Quarterly Report
  • Swifts Patrol Report
• Emily’s Cooks Badge Meal
• Malaika’s Discoverer Hike
• Winter Cederberg Senior Expedition
• Winter Cederberg Junior Expedition
• Table Mountain winter overnight hike

We have just had our annual census, and 1st Claremont has set a new record with 115 members, also making us one of the biggest groups in the region, if not the biggest. It’s great to be such a strong group but also a challenge to keep up with it all! 

A personal highlight in the past term was seeing my son James receive his Springbok Scout and the amazing experience of hearing the compliments and tributes to him from others who have been part of his Scouting journey. I’m so glad you chose to strive for this and other Scouting goals, James, and very proud of you.

Another highlight of the term was our Boks vs All Blacks rugby evening which was not just a successful fundraiser but also a great social occasion for the 1st Claremont community. I’m sure we will repeat this formula in the future. 

A special thank you and goodbye to several stalwarts of the group – the Sutherland family (Brian, Isabel, Vera and Oliver) as they return to Spain, and Junior Kathe as he starts a job in Dubai. Read more about them in these pages.

On that note, our Meerkat Den and Cub Pack have both lost a few adult leaders recently and we are always keen to build the team. If you would like to join in, please talk to myself, Judith or Lucy about how you can get involved. We are a community led by our own members so we really encourage you to get involved, plus it is a lot of fun.

The fourth term kicks off with Holly’s Springbok award ceremony this week. After that, I hope to see you at our spring work party on 12 October, and our group campfire on 1 November, not to mention all the other activities in the Den, Pack and Troop.

Ian Webb
Scout Group Leader

Heather van Zyl-Smit is not only our group secretary and organiser of our amazing Rugby Fundraising event recently, but she also made the new window blinds in the hall and also does garment alterations. She has offered her services to parents in the group. Please contact Heather for assistance – see below for details!

On 11 July, Patrol Leader James Webb received his Springbok Scout badge at a ceremony at the hall.

James’s Springbok Ceremony started with us all lining up outside the hall and playing a game. We then led into the hall like a wedding procession, and after a brief opening speech we recited the 10 Scout Laws. The hall was full – James’s friends and family, Scouts or not, had all come to celebrate.

Throughout the evening, heartwarming speeches were given to celebrate James’s enormous achievement. Ian, (who is both James’s dad and the SGL), Julia (his sister), Malaika and myself as his friends and finally Daniel as his TS. Lastly, a speech was given by James to inspire aspiring Springboks and to reflect on his Scouting journey. Then, James’s Springbok badge was awarded and the Springbok board, now complete with James’s name, was unveiled. There was, of course, cake afterwards , which James later mentioned was a strong motivator for why he completed his Springbok.

I’d like to take a moment to congratulate James on his Springbok (again), and remind everybody in 1st Claremont what a service this achievement has been for the troop. He has worked incredibly hard to be where he is and made significant changes in the troop and younger Scout’s lives, and we should always be thankful for the enormous amount of sacrifice, blood, sweat and tears that he has always dedicated to Scouting.

Good job James!! U cooked

Laura Owens

James is the 40th Springbok Scout in 1st Claremont’s history, and a third generation Scout at 1st Claremont: also at the ceremony were his grandfather John Webb who was a Scout and Scouter in the 1950s and 1960s, as well as his father Ian (current SGL) and his uncle Jonathan (current ATS and training team member) and his sister Julia (current Scout).

At the time of publication we are about to present our 41st Springbok, to Holly Raine.

The Meerkat programme runs for two years, but some badges are fun to repeat every year, especially those with options. This year, 1^st Claremont selected new items from the World Around Us Badge and teamed it up with the Pollution Pirate Interest badge.  

The biggest fun was when each Burrow had a country, made flags, brought pizza, pasteis de nata and croissants and talked about their experiences of Italy, Portugal and France. Then we played 20-questions with six animals each (the Meerkats were as sharp as anything) and made Origami twirly birds. The culmination was our great Olympics with cycling, running, and hopping, singing the Anthem, ceremoniously biting their medals and eating naartjies (of course). 

In between all that, after games and activities about pollution, a Great Litter Clean Up was held along the Liesbeek River with FOL. Because August was upon us, frogs were on everyone’s minds, and we made puzzles of three local frogs, and played a game of fascinating facts about them.  

Any Den Scouter will detect elements of other badges in there – Puzzles, Keep Fit, and even the National Challenge. That is what makes programming and planning our 46-minute Meerkat meetings so interesting for us. One thing leads to another, and all we have to do is keep track 😊.

(previously Doc Shield) 

I put together the Doc Trophy competition for my springbok camp. It was a fun challenge and was great to see it come together. I hope to see it continue in future and develop into a greater competition for the district.

Here’s what Julia had to say:

A million bases. A million STAs. Praying you remember the six basic knots. Stress. Pressure. This describes the typical scout competition. This doesn’t describe DOC Shield. DOC was a learning competition where we were tested and built on our basic scout skills. The vibes were there between the patrols, and the eyes were on our patrol for time traveling back to 2020. We obviously were the best patrol with the best costumes (and no I’m not biased). The bases were good fun and the juniors learnt how to do some campsite pioneering. Overall a great concept for a competition and really well executed by the staff (and of course Tim).

Tim van Zyl-Smit and Julia Webb

Saturday the 17th of August
1st Claremont
Against Western Cape Scouting

12 of our scouts as well as 2 scouters tested their orienteering skills with scouts and scouters of the Western Cape Region in a competition to see how many points they could gather in an hour and a quarter. The competition was held in the False Bay Nature Reserve next to Zeekoevlei where they set up multiple different beacons all over the terrain and marked them onto a map that we are given at the start. Put into pairs, we then have to find and secure as many beacons as possible by putting our tags over the top of the beacons and a light flashes to show that it has been recorded. 

However, there are too many beacons to tag every single one so you have to find a route which will give you the most amount of points while getting back in time. The faster you run and the better your route you plan is, the more points you will get, but don’t spend too much time getting the beacons. Every minute you finish later than the time given, 10 points are taken from your score.

1st Claremont actually did extremely well with our junior teams coming 8th, 12th, 32nd and 39th. Senior teams coming 5th and 21st and our scouter team coming 4th. As a troop we came 3rd overall which is an incredible result as this is our second time competing with quite a few years between our first and the last time we competed. 

Although it was pouring with rain and had an icy gale blowing, we had loads of fun. Next competition the troop has a good chance of winning so hopefully a lot of you will be there in a year’s time. Thanks to everyone who came this year and well done!

Peter Raynham