Term 4 again! As we come to the close of another successful and rewarding year of cubbing, we can safely say that this term has passed in a flash. We began with a programme on senses, keeping in mind that our cubs should have some serious fun while learning. And that’s obviously why we included a chip-tasting challenge!

Once Spring finally reached Cape Town, we planned some outdoor activities – first a joint meeting at Klaassenbosch with 2nd Plumstead and later, we did the best hike ever to Eagle’s Nest (which the cubs always moan about but secretly love!). Big smiles and lots of photos at the top!

Hathi, aka Bruna, decided that the cubs are capable enough to do housework, and arrived with irons, bedsheets for bed-making, cloths for handwashing and toilet brushes for scrubbing the hall toilets.

We also had Karen Hewson show the cubs her thriving worm farm (which luckily survived). Towards the end of the term we were fortunate enough to have a team of scientists from UCT come to demonstrate how bacteria spreads using cool experiments and allowed the cubs to use their microscopes (which also survived)!

Congratulations to two cubs on their Leaping Wolves – Payal Patel and Ariella Young. They worked hard and were thrilled at their achievement. Proud moments for their parents as well! We wish them well as they move up to scouts.

Other highlights included our participation in Edwards Shield, where we came 8th, and also receiving a Gold Star Award for our pack for 2024.

We ended a busy term with an evening of games and treats – the weather was perfect and the cubs were carefree. Loads of badges were handed out!

We are so proud of each and every cub, and look forward to seeing them grow and mature next year. Have a wonderful holiday season!

The 1st Claremont Cub Pack Leadership team

Meerkats forged to the end of the year, completing the National Challenge, the Denboree and having a really fun time. The last part of the National Challenge was to learn something new, so we tried two knots. Knots don’t appear on the Meerkat programme, but they found them easier than tying a bow, which does! 

The Denboree National Camp was a highlight. Together with 4^th Claremont Fernwood and 1^st Pinelands, the whole Den spent an active day and night at Glencairn Rotary Youth Camp. The wind was howling, but that did not stop the Meerkats, Cub siblings and parents from enjoying themselves.

Terran Ferreira was awarded his Gold Star. He and Luke Helfenstein started their journey up to Cubs.

Recycling, Keep Fit, Handcraft and other Challenge badges were completed, and the term ended with a grand party. We are looking forward to a holiday now, and to seeing everyone again next year.

It is with bitter sadness that I write Eagles last termly report as PL. As you know, in the wise words of Demi Demi, “Tuff time neva last” and they finally have stopped lasting for the Eagles patrol, as their cooked PL is finally leaving them. Throughout this term the academic weapons of the patrol were locked in, and our attendance unfortunately was slightly lower, but not to the extent that one would expect, as ‘school is a scam and everyone should come to scouts regardless’ – Daniel, 2026. We had a fantastic patrol meeting where we made many a pizza, and unfortunately Alex managed to turn his pizza cheese into the consistency of strong rubber, but Bridget’s pizza turned out great and I do have an inside proof of that statement as I ate half of it. All in all, Eagles had another term flying above the clouds, especially as we welcomed our new members Bridget and Greg.

Holly Raine

Troop Rope Weekend

This weekend was a task motivated by the large amount of quirky rope boxes in the basement. For those confused a quirky rope box is a box where all of the cursed rope is thrown into and forgotten about. Examples being unwhipped rope, half-chewed rope, rope that was plaited (ahem, Malaika) and other various infringements of that nature. On the rope weekend we made a production chain, our first order of business being cutting the rope from the reel, then it got whipped and then, the best job, the end got melted off with a hot knife. Although some people (most people, including me) miss the manilla rope due to its delightful smell and ability to be frapped until breaking point, the new rope (of unknown material) was welcomed into the troop over the weekend due to its uncanny ability to be chopped up into many small pieces with the hot knife, which were consequently thrown at Daniel. At the end of the weekend it would be safe to say that there was a sum total of about one quirky rope in the entire basement, so I think we can call the rope weekend a win.

Holly Raine

JOTA (Jamboree On The Air) – 1st Claremont’s 1st

On 19 October 2024, 8 1st Claremont members (Including our 2 most interesting 🤨 scouters) went to the CTARC (Cape Town Amateur Radio Club) next to 6th Rondebosch Scout Hall to try and communicate with scouts via long distance radios.

It was a dangerous and daring mission (not really) but incredible to see the equipment used and how the variable orientation allowed us to send and receive signals from different directions all over the world. Greg, who was highly certified in his radio knowledge, showed us around and we tried to get hold of any scouts also on the JOTA frequency.

Unfortunately, even though in previous years it has been done, we were unable to contact any scouts at all – possibly due to different time zones or different frequencies used. We did however manage to contact a random guy speaking German but that conversation ended quickly.

Although a slightly anticlimactic activity, everyone who went learned a few new things about long distance radios. (They have a big pole with receivers which can be rotated on command to face which part of the world we are contacting). It was a pretty fun activity either way and we even watched a bit of hockey afterwards. 

The one problem is…

Still no one knows what happens if you pull “THE BIG SWITCH”!!!

Peter Raynham

JOTI (Jamboree on the Internet)

JOTI this year happened on the 18th of October, and for this event, scouts from different countries connected and enjoyed various online activities. This is an event where scouts can exchange ideas through online games and forums. 

For our troop this year, five of our scouts participated. The evening began with a Discord call, where our scouts chatted with each other and engaged with other scouts worldwide via JOTI’s online chats and forums. After some conversations, we dived into gaming activities. We started by exploring the official Scout Minecraft servers. 

To cap off the night, we played a few rounds of Last Train Out of Worm Town. This fun-filled activity was the perfect conclusion to an incredible evening of connection and adventure. 

JOTI 2024 was an unforgettable experience, leaving us with lasting memories and an even stronger appreciation for the global scouting community.

Oliver Ringrose

Excitement was high as a handful of scouts met at the hall on the morning of the 17th of November, to head out to the crag and go climb. We did a stocktake of equipment, deciding to leave the skiff troop ropes safely at the hall and bring newer ropes to the crag. We set off to Silvermine, where we would meet Musa, a scout from Rosebank, and then head down to the Lower Crag. We set up a 15, two 14’s and a 13. It was great fun with most people being able to climb all four, being rewarded with a beautiful view over the city from the top, and if you were lucky, a slight breeze to help cool down. Towards the end Simon and Musa tried to lead up a 20, and both were able to complete the route, so well done to them. Shortly after we had to pack up and head back to the hall, as time was up and we were starting to cook at the base of the crag.

Emily Gilham

Laura Owens’ Community Service

Laura’s comserve was really enjoyable and a great experience. We started early in the morning to make the long drive out to Franschhoek and luckily arrived slightly early so we got coffee and a deviously delicious loaf of bread for the day, we were doing the com serve at the local community centre, we got to experience the local environment and culture of the community. We spent the day making kids gift bags for Christmas for the school kids, it was really fun and we all enjoyed it and the people working with us were really kind and grateful, for lunch we had a local made beboete which really scrummy, we ended around 3 and made the long drive back home getting back to laura’s house by 5 where her fantastilicoius cats were waiting.

Oliver Van Zyl Smit

Laura Owens’ Cooks Meal

Laura’s Cooks badge meal started at 1:45, with a couple late arrivals, and MK being unable to come last minute. We were first briefed on what we were going to do and jumped straight into cooking we had to prepare a 4 course meal in 4 hours, serving at 6, Simon set the table, laura, jos and I began cooking. We made bread for starters, vegetarian curry with naan for mains with homemade ice tea, for dessert we had apple crumble and 2nd dessert was delicious sugar cookies. Caleb and Chris were judging and we all loads of fun and an incredible meal to stuff ourselves. The day was super well run and everything went smoothly without even a small bump.

Oliver Van Zyl Smit

Laura Owens’ First Class Expedition

We started by going to Laura’s house where we waited till everyone arrived and set out on our expedition. The people on the expedition were Laura, Daniel, Alex, Axel and me. We had to stop a bit in because I had forgotten my medicine and we had to pick it up. After about half an hour we stopped at an ice cream place and got massive ice creams. Me, Alex and Axel spend a lot of the trip there talking about time travel. About an hour later we stopped for lunch at some rocks where we ate our lunch and then went to the rock pools nearby and looked at the fish. And then we continued to the hermanus scout base but the first aid course was still happening so we went to the old harbor and looked around. We saw some whales in the ocean and discussed how Emily would have known more about them. Then we went back to the hermanus scout base where we dropped off our bags and did an activity with the people who are on the first aid course where we went to the old harbor and tried to figure out a geocach which only after we had mostly figured it  out Laura told us it wasn’t there. Then we went to checkers when Laura got a large green bear for the PL’s den and after that we returned to the Hermanus scout base where we ate food and then played priest of the parish before Laura said it was bedtime and we went to bed. The next day we woke up and ate breakfast while the people on the first age course ran after breakfast we set off back to Cape town stopping along the way at a dam so Laura could talk about bullying. After that we went to Laura’s house again where we ate the brownies she had prepared for us to eat on the day we left which she had forgotten about before being picked up.

Simon Halse

After two years of my writing this article and always leaving it to the last minute I have done it again, my final bats report.

This term was quite smashing, we had a load of fun scout meetings aswell as a patrol camp and I ran my springbok widegame, all in all it has been a great term and I’m very happy to have been bats patrol leader. 

‘When you can’t see where you’re going, scream’ -Bats law number 1

Tim Van Zyl Smit