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

Kestrels Company Quarterly Report Term 4 – 2024

Yet another term has passed by the Kestrels Company, and it was an incredibly profitable final quarter. During this term, many of our employees were preoccupied with writing exams, so we naturally saw extremely high attendance, involvement and motivation within scouting in an effort to do anything but study.

Throughout the term, many of our employees participated in community service, such as a venture to Franschhoek led by APL (and soon to be CEO and PL) Laura. One of our newer employees Ov completed a tasty Cooks Meal, leading to a respectable rise in share prices. 

Crisis Department Manager Simon swears he has done a flag ceremony before. The CEO believes otherwise. We also welcome Layla into our business, with high hopes for her keen and eager-to-end-the-day-on-a-profit attitude. 

To the end off the term, we finished second overall in MOSCIP, so very well done to all in our patrol. Many employees also completed the National Challenge, getting us on the good side of TS and Executive Struggle Manager Daniel. Colleagues, your paychecks will reflect a nice Christmas holiday bonus. 

Unfortunately, this was my last term of employment here. Thank you all for an incredibly memorable time, I will never forget this company. 

Signing off,

CEO and Big Boss James

Oliver VzS cooks meal

The cooks meal started nice and late at 1:45, most of the scouts forgot, and I had to remind them. There was first a brief introduction to the food which was to be prepared. The cooking went moderately smoothly with a few bumps, the the cooks who were finding ingenious ways to cut chicken, with scissors. We made quiche for the starter, scrumptious butter chicken curry and naan for mains. lemon meringue pie with ice cream, and soet cookies for dessert. The day was really fun and chill and the food was absolutely incredible with Chris judging the meal, we finished by 8.

Oliver van Zyl-Smit

Discoverer Community Service

On the 19th of October we finally went to SANCCOB to complete my Discoverer comserv. It was a truly amazing time, seeing their rescue birds and learning more about the facility. Our help with weeding was greatly appreciated. We also helped replace the pen dividing, that the birds peck away at. While we were there, we were fortunate enough to witness a new arrival come in. Thankfully the bird wasn’t badly injured and by now has probably made a full recovery and been released back into the wild. While weeding Jenny spotted a beautiful adult Cape Dwarf Chameleon crossing the road from one garden to another. It was a really lovely experience, and I think everyone should visit SANCCOB at least once.

Discoverer Hike

A small hiking party would set out on the 24th Of November, ready to do my Discoverer hike. We started by the Silvermine dam and walked up to Noordehoek peak, catching beautiful views over Noordehoek. We were even able to see the Kakapo, stranded on Noordehoek beach. From just next to the peak, we took a path down towards Chapman’s Peak Saddle. We then walked across toward Alta’s Pool. It was a lot more like Alta’s Pond, the photo’s I saw made it look a lot bigger! But it was beautiful and a perfectly shaded spot for a much needed relaxed lunch. Before we set off back towards Chapman’s Peak and then down towards the road. The whole hike had stunning views over Cape Town that we don’t normally get.

Emily Gilham