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 …
For Joel’s springbok advancement, we (As Swifts) visited the Wynberg firestation.
When we arrived, we were greeted by a fire Marshall. At first we learned about what firefighters did. We learned what outfits they wore for different types of fires. (They wear light and thin clothes for bushfires because they might be working for several hours. They wear heavy jackets for house fires because they need to keep smoke away.)
Next, we learned about their equipment, and hoses. We picked up their heaviest equipment and learned how they used it. We used the firemen’s hoses and sprayed the top of a rea;lly tall tower type thing. Then we gave the cookies and left.
All in all, it was a good day.
-Sarah.
Permanent link to this article: https://1stclaremont.org.za/smoke-signals/ss2025q3_firestation/
Juliet ran her first class camp from the 12th to the 14th of September at Miller’s Point campsite.
The people who were on Juliet’s camp were Juliet, Axel, Christopher (me) and Aarya. When we got to the campsite it was very windy so we pitched camp and then we played card games for a while before we made supper. Then we played more card games and went to bed. Saturday morning was still windy so we made our French toast behind a wall of basins. We spent the morning doing some advancements like knotting and map work after which we built spaghetti and marshmallow towers. I really enjoyed this activity and built the tallest tower. We saw a troop of baboons raiding the campsite next to us, and after that was all over we had lunch and we made a solar oven and tried to cook some marshmallows which didn’t work as it was too late in the day. After our siesta we made keyrings, then we made a fire to cook supper on. We prepared the potjie and the bread. Then we waited for them to cook. Once the bread was ready, we ate it and were too full to eat the potjie! When we were taking the potjie off the fire, Axel poured all the coals which were on the lid into the potjie so we couldn’t eat it. AXEL!!
We got up in the morning and ate our cornflakes then we took the tents down and packed almost everything away. We went down to the jungle gyms (which Axel loves playing on) and held Scout’s Own there. Then we played ninja and played more ninja. Back at the campsite we played charades and card games before packing the car and the trailer and went back to the Scout hall.
I had a really fun and chilled camp in a beautiful place with cool people.
The end
– Christopher
Permanent link to this article: https://1stclaremont.org.za/smoke-signals/juliets-first-class-camp/
Hello my name is Reza Teunissen. I am 13 years old. I am part of the kestrels patrol and Laura is my patrol leader. I attended Laura’s springbok community service at The trinity children’s centre where Laura’s uncle Andrew assisted in Mitchell’s plain.
For most of the duration. I helped with digging trenches, painting walls, making hand tennis courts, and even creating hopscotch game in the parking area. After digging the trenches we took the grass out so we can create a maze from concrete and spekboom.
We had to wash the walls with Laura’s uncle Andrew’s power washer so we could remove the dirt off the wall to paint chalkboard paint so the children could also use the wall to draw.
I felt very privileged to give back to the community of Mitchell’s plain, although when we got there was a bit worried because on the news they always say it’s not safe in Mitchell’s plain.
While I was there I could see how people lived their lives in Mitchell’s plain and how grateful I was for what I have, the lesson I learnt is to always be grateful for what you have and when you have more than others you should give back.
– Reza Teunissen
Permanent link to this article: https://1stclaremont.org.za/smoke-signals/ss2025q3_lowens_sb_comserve/
“MAN OVERBOARD!!!” was something we were yelling over the treacherous waters of Zandvlei. On the 13th and 14th of July a few scouts from 1st Claremont learned the basics of sailing with me in 1st Bergvliet’s Saldanha – the main type of sailing craft that all sea scouts use and race in. Unfortunately no one actually went overboard save for a water polo and tennis ball.
It was awesome to have everyone and to be able to teach scouts how to sail. Every scout there got to helm the boat for quite a while and learned how to steer and control the sail. Learning words like gybe, forestay and gaff seemed to be quite a challenge though
I would love to organise more sailing activities as they are SUPER fun. 1st Claremont will definitely have more in the near future so long as we get people who want to. Maybe we could even enter a regatta eventually. Who says land scouts can’t sail?
Peter Raynham
Permanent link to this article: https://1stclaremont.org.za/smoke-signals/activities-smoke-signals/ss2025q1_troop_sailing/
Jars of hope have become a popular way for 1 st Claremont to involve the cubs in ‘giving back’ on a day when many South Africans do the same in their communities. We had fancy labels and everything! We spent some time discussing what Mandela Day is about and why it’s an event in SA. The jars went to The Hope Exchange in Roeland Street again, where they are always received with gratitude. That’s how we started the term and it only got better.
A joint meeting with Constantia Naruna Cub Pack had the cubs in stitches while they blew huge bubbles using dye, some special chemicals and plastic bottles. 1 st and Naruna have a special bond after trying to dye each other also!
Over time we have tried to instill a sense of ceremony during the opening and closing Grand Howl. This means getting cubs to stand respectfully (for just ten seconds!), making sure shirts are tucked in and hats and jackets are off, and to observe the proceedings quietly in stillness. On 01 August, which is also Scout Scarf Day, we ran a programme on the Cub Promise and Law, and cubs spent the whole programme in their sixes. The point is to get cubs to think about how we can live the Cub Promise in our daily lives, and how this would look (age-appropriately of course!). Quite a lot of time was spent on the Cub Archaeology badge – two and a half programmes later the cubs can tell us what this big word means, what someone who is an archaeologist does, about artefacts and about 10 amazing World Heritage Sites in our very own country, which they all now want to go and visit. They got to walk around a ‘museum’ and learn about a few historical artefacts, discover an artefact for themselves by ‘digging’ for one and
listened to a real live marine archaeologist, who gave us a fascinating talk on his chosen profession and patiently answered about a million questions from our enthusiastic cub pack. They loved him even more when he gave them Zoo biscuits at the end! Well done to those cubs who have achieved their badge.
And we ended the term on such a high note with a Heritage Day programme, where the cubs created excellent entertaining skits using an object associated with our heritage (e.g. an SA rugby T-shirt). We could actually hear the cubs this time! Special mention about our very own Neema Galetta, the first member of Scouting to have gone through Meerkats and Cubs and who has just gone up to Scouts. Go check out the write-up about his journey. Proud Scout moment! For more entertainment, read the article on our very successful sleepover as well as that of the District Campfire.
Here’s to the last term in 2025! Thank you to our cubs, who make every Friday evening so much fun, and to our dedicated team of leaders!
Permanent link to this article: https://1stclaremont.org.za/smoke-signals/cubs-smoke-signals/2025q3_pack_report/
On the 22 August 1 st Claremont Cubs held our annual Pack sleepover and it was once again a huge hit! This is an important event on our calendar as many of our Cubs have either never slept in a tent before or have never slept away from their parents before.
We pitched our Scout bell tents inside our hall, explaining to the Cubs the different parts of a tent and tent etiquette – how to care for them and how to behave in and around a tent. Dinner was simple hot dogs followed by hot chocolate and getting ready for bed. The Cubs were excited to sleep in tents with their friends while knowing that their Cub Leaders were sleeping in the middle between the boys tents on one side of the hall and the girls tents on the other. Once everyone was settled down in bed, we enjoyed some bedtime stories in the form of South African folk tales. Our Cubs are really enjoying the National Challenge theme of My Heritage!
Heavy rain in the night meant that everyone slept all cozy – glad to be camping under a roof! 7am Saturday morning we set of for a 1km at Scouts Pace through the neighbourhood before tucking into muffins and fruit for breakfast. Next it was packing up (dry!) tents and cleaning up so that the Meerkats could come into the hall at 8:30am for their meeting!
One parent shared: “I just wanted to share how incredibly impactful these sleepovers have been for our boys. After the last one, we saw a noticeable boost in their confidence, not just in sleeping away from home, but in how they approached new experiences overall. These moments might seem small, but they’re huge steps in helping our kids grow into resilient, capable young people. Thank you for creating such a safe and supportive space for them to take these steps. “
-Lucy du Toit, Pack Scouter
Permanent link to this article: https://1stclaremont.org.za/smoke-signals/2025q3-packsleepover/
1st Claremont entered four teams for orienteering this year which was held at a wine farm near Franschoek. The four teams were:
Axel and Sudi (team A)- senior team,
Zoë and Claire (team B),
MK and Reza (team C)
Christopher and Declan (team D)
Orienteering is running around following a map to look for checkpoints and involves running through bushes, streams, and up over hills. It’s generally very fun. The aim of it is to find control points which are like a square piece of plastic on top of a wooden or metal pole stuck into the ground with an orange and white flag. The plastic on the top of the control has a hole in it and so when you get to it you can put your emit in it. An emit is a sensor you strapped your finger to. There were 90 teams from around the Western Cape competing in the Scout Orienteering Event. At the end team (A) got 80 points, team (B) got 11O, team (C) 10 points and team (D) 120 points and came third in the Junior Division.
I really enjoyed the event and would like to encourage more Scouts to do it.
By Christopher
Permanent link to this article: https://1stclaremont.org.za/smoke-signals/ss2025q3_orienteering/
The Cooks Meal with Matthew and Declan was a lot of fun. We made naan bread with two dips to start, then homemade burger patties that turned out surprisingly good. For dessert we baked a chocolate cake and some chocolate chip cookies, which everyone enjoyed. The food kept us busy, but it was worth it in the end.
Matthew hosted the event and Seb was our judge, which basically meant he got to eat everything. He was really nice about it and gave us good feedback. The best part was that we all worked together, had a good laugh, and enjoyed the food we made. It was a great time for everyone!!
~ Diya D
Permanent link to this article: https://1stclaremont.org.za/smoke-signals/ss2025q3-matthew-cooks/
