We are excited to present you with our first proper edition of Smoke Signals since last year! (Although we did publish Smoke Signals “Lite” in June.) Enjoy reading it, as it is such an amazing …
In 2025 we announced our plan to purchase our property – and now we are pleased to announce our fundraising target, and the amount raised so far! Our target is R1 million, based on the …
It’s time for our annual “Rugby on the Big Screen” at the hall! On Saturday 22 August, it will be Boks vs All Blacks, and we are hoping to fill the hall with families and …
Judith (or Rafiki as many of us know her) is stepping down from her role as Den Scouter in September.Judith helped establish our Meerkat Den back in 2020 (as well as helping establish Meerkats in …
Before I talk about Swifts currently and where we are going, I would like to take a step back and thank our previous PL. Well done and thank you to Joel while being an exceptional …
This year has been a Rollercoaster for Bats. We started off the year firmly in last place for MOSCIP, with Harry also unfortunately leaving the troop. We then had the comeback of the century, moving all the way up to 3rd place and welcoming Matteo into the patrol. We’ve had some great meetings this term, with the cake decorating definitely being a highlight! (shoutout to Goshawks for the collab). We’re super excited to see where the rest of the year takes us!! And to the other patrol leader’s, watch your backs, Bats is coming for MOSCIP this term!
Julia Webb
Permanent link to this article: https://1stclaremont.org.za/1stclaremont-scouts/scouts/bats-patrol-report-2/
The Court of Honour are the leaders responsible for running the Troop. It consists of the Patrol Leaders from the six Patrols as well as the Troop Scouter.
A message to last year’s CoH
To start off I would like to thank Laura, Malaika, and Joel on behalf of our current CoH.
Thank you for giving your time and energy into helping run this troop. You were all amazing PL’s and a pleasure to have in each of our many CoH meetings throughout last year.
Each of you contributed greatly to our troop in your own ways and you have all left big shoes to fill.
From those of us who got to be in the CoH with you last year, We will always be grateful that we got to experience that with you all and will miss how we always managed to turn the most tense conversations into something funny.
We hope you enjoy this next chapter in your lives, whether you come back as scouters or step away, we wish you the best.
CoH Goals and objectives previously and going forwards
So far this year the CoH has been working on creating more beneficial meeting ideas, have created a wooden troop advancement chart (credits to Axel and Emily), and have been working on troop happiness over all.
While we have not created many physical changes, the overall troop mood has improved greatly in the past 2 terms and we are happy with the results.
Going forward we have selected a troop hoodie design and will be looking into them being manufactured soon. Along with this we are moving to enforce uniform completion and respect during parade, having reintroduced sadness points. While various small changes are still in motion, this is all we have on the books for now.
If any scouts have topics they would like to bring up or any meeting suggestions, please feel free to approach us after meetings to talk to us.
The Court of Honour
Permanent link to this article: https://1stclaremont.org.za/1stclaremont-scouts/coh-messages/
It was pointed out to me that my Springbok Camp was less of a Springbok activity and more of a regional event. And with Scouts from 8 troops across the Western Cape, I can’t disagree. I was lucky enough to have scouts from 1st Hermanus, 1st and 2nd Somerset West, 1st and 4th Claremont, 1st Rosebank, and 1st and 2nd Rondebosch sign up for my camp. The camp had 3 patrols, which were completely mixed up between troops, making it a camp of new friendships and lots of memories.
We were fortunate enough to be able to camp at the Wolvenberg Boskamp Campsite near Rawsonville, and despite it being a Springbok Camp in the June July holidays, which historically has been known to be a soggy formula, we had perfect weather throughout the camp. Although it was cold at night, during the day we had blue skies and no more than a light breeze.
The theme of the camp was Taskmaster, a comedy show in which comedians complete silly tasks to earn points. Throughout the camp, patrols took on a variety of challenges that tested their creativity, teamwork, and lateral thinking, leading to plenty of laughs for both the participants and staff. Combined with the scores from the morning inspections, the Beans Patrol finished the weekend with the highest overall score, earning the incredible Taskmaster: Springbok Edition trophy.
Thank you to all the participants, especially to those who signed up even though you’re not from 1st Claremont, to the parents for transporting, and to Matthew Darcy Evans and Chris Williamson for running the camp alongside me. Having you guys as my staff team made the camp such an enjoyable experience.
Julia Webb
Permanent link to this article: https://1stclaremont.org.za/advancement/springbok/julias-springbok-camp/
For my major project, I decided to run a banquet for 30 guests with five courses. The theme was Alice in Wonderland, and guests were asked to come wearing their most magical Wonderland look. I was absolutely blown away by the creativity of the outfits (shoutout to Josie Blaine for winning Best Dressed!), and the atmosphere was better than I could have ever imagined.
The guests were all people who have had an impact on my Scouting journey or have been there to witness me grow from a nervous Cub into the Scout I am today. Thank you so much to all the guests, it was so special having you there and being able to give you a glimpse into the Scouting world (if you aren’t a part of it yourself!).
The banquet was ambitious, to say the least, but thanks to my amazing team of Scouts cooking and serving the guests, it ran perfectly. Thank you especially to Matthew, Sam G, Laura H, Bridget, and Jocelyn for spending almost 15 hours cooking, setting tables, cleaning up, and doing all the other tasks I asked of them without complaint.
Thank you to my lovely waiters, Seth, Megan, and Chris, for making sure the guests were so well looked after throughout the evening. An especially massive thank you to Claire for doing a huge amount of dishes, even though she signed up expecting to be a waiter! I owe you big time, Claire!
Finally, a huge thank you to my parents for everything they did behind the scenes to make the banquet possible. From driving me around to six different shops to rearranging almost the entire house to fit the tables in, I couldn’t have done it without your support. Thank you for always believing in me and helping turn my ambitious ideas into reality.
Julia Webb
Permanent link to this article: https://1stclaremont.org.za/advancement/springbok/julias-springbok-banquet/
On the 6th of June I ran my First Class Meal at the hall. It was very fun to cook this meal with patrol and it was very successful overall. The meal consisted of braaied chicken, salad, bread, and iced tea.
We sang and danced to pop music pretty much the whole time we were cooking and it was an overall really fun experience.
The table was decorated with fairy lights and candles, it was dimly lit and a beautiful environment in the hall.
Poor Declan spent the whole day cooking and left just before we started to serve 🙁
We invited scouter Seb to come and judge our meal and he appeared to enjoy the meal. We had a lot of fun, interesting conversations and the whole event was a success overall.
Avila van Bever Donker
Permanent link to this article: https://1stclaremont.org.za/advancement/first-class/avilas-first-class-meal/
For Emily’s friendship activity on the 30th of May we went to the aquarium with a patrol from 3rd Pinelands. We walked through the aquarium and looked at all the animals like the sharks and fish. We bought a bit of a snack from the (overly expensive) store inside by the scuba diving area. It was fun while we were walking and laughing and taking photos of some of the animals. One of the highlights of our visit was the Touch Pool. We gently touched some marine items like seaweed and shells. We also saw different things from animals, like a shark egg or a whale’s jaw, also looking at some hermit crabs. Then we got some food from the food court and headed home. (Emily took quite a bit of patrol leader tax.)
Sarah
Permanent link to this article: https://1stclaremont.org.za/advancement/first-class/friendship-activity/emilys-friendship-activity/
Emily’s hike to put it simply, it was an experience to say the least. Small disclaimer Emily is not very smart to put it kindly for doing springbok (I got permission to say this)
So the first day was an expedition as the path wasn’t there but instead there was a RIVER directly in the path we were told to take. For 2 hours we were stuck until me and Ethan found a path (a very step hill) that got to the other side, then by some stroke of idiocy Emily entrusted me to guide the way (I had no clue where we were going) we got mostly up a very large hill, during one of our breaks Emily told us we went the wrong way, so we walked until we found a path. We walked for 2 hours until we decided to set up camp for the night. When we were making dinner Saskia lost the pot by dropping it in a large stream. On the 2nd we hiked 27km and we were lost half the time as the path WASN’T THERE for the whole time and we did some rudimentary rock climbing thing where we had to climb over some rocks after 3 or so hours we slept for 30 or so minutes. A while later we encountered the stairs to heaven, I think we took 2 or 4 hours to get over it and find a plateau where the cabin is, when we arrived we discovered that the milk had exploded in Ethan’s bag so all of his stuff was milky and wet, abruptly after that we went to bed. On the 3rd day we took the emergency route so we only walked 10 km on mostly flat land nothing memorable happened on this day ,except when we meet two other hikers(they were cool), then we played a game of DND for a few hours until it was supper time after that we went to bed. On the 4th day we woke up thirsty so we elected Ethan to go out to get water while he was top less and barefoot. He complained after this as it was cold, with the water we made breakfast, while breakfast was cooking me and Michael got into a wrestling match. After breakfast we set out on a 3km hike to the village. I was threatened to be abandoned multiple times for no apparent reason, it might have been that me and Ethan were purposely annoying every one but couldn’t be it. When we got off the mountain we went to KFC for a small meal.
Sam George
Permanent link to this article: https://1stclaremont.org.za/advancement/springbok/hike/emilys-springbok-hike/
Welcome back to the Goshawks Bush. Term 2 has been quiet so far, being a busier term on the school side we have had fewer patrol activities. The patrol has been bonding over the last few terms and are finally settling into a comfortable rhythm.
Our Patrol has been working steadily on their advancement throughout the term and I would like to congratulate Sophia on completing her traveller this term!
Next term is going to be a fun one with a sailing day, and multiple advancement days coming up! We will continue to have fun and enjoy meetings throughout the term and are aiming for MOSCIP next term!
We will continue to grow and bond as a patrol next term. Till next time.
Avila van Bever Donker
Permanent link to this article: https://1stclaremont.org.za/1stclaremont-scouts/scouts/the-goshawks-bush-4/
