..and that’s Gradbatch not Gradback for the unitiated! Well as advised this was always going to be a different camp, however finding out belatedly that we were camped in one of the wettest places in England was mildly disappointing although it didn’t stop any of the activities; I suppose the family of ducks lodging with us for the week should have given us a clue!
So what did we do? (more…)
A big thanks to all for the donations. Despite starting our collecting efforts quite late in the scheme, we still amassed 592 vouchers which we’ve banked ready for 2011’s scheme.
3rd Hampton Hill cubs and scouts are going to Borough camp. If you would like your cub or scout to attend please fill in the form and place it with a cheque into the box at the back of the hall marked ‘Borough camp’.
The camp will take place at Walton firs scout campsite, Cobham, Surrey. The dates for Scouts are Friday 2nd July – Sunday 4th July, and for Cubs Saturday 3rd July – Sunday 4th July.
The following activities will be on offer: Archery, climbing, abseiling, the adventure course, sporting tournaments and lots lots more. Getting muddy and having fun may also occur.
Closing date for forms to be returned is the 11 June 2010 please.
Some of 3HH’s Scouts braved Hawaii’s roaring surf (well the River Thames at Richmond) to enjoy an evening’s rowing. Well done folks…
The Richmond Upon Thames Scout District are again running the incredibly popular and utterly fantastic “Water Weekend”. During the event, you’ll get an opportunity to try your hand at: sailing, canoeing, raft building, rowing and dragon boat racing! For those of you not already sporting them, this means you’ll have a clutch of new badges by the end of the camp. 
The camp will take place at Thames Young Mariners in Ham, and will run from Friday 11th June at 18:00hrs until Sunday 13th June at 16:00hrs.
Unfortunately the camp will be limited to a fixed number for the whole of the District and 3HH will be allocated just 20 places – these will be offered on a “first come, first served” basis and as such we cannot guarantee you a slot.
To see photos from last year’s camp please click here.
If you want to come along, please make sure you return your form with full payment to Paul C without delay.
As staggering as it seems, some of the scouts don’t find tying knots very exciting. How odd 
So to liven things up a little, we set them the challenge of building chariots and racing around the hall. Now that was more like it! (although we did have to ban them from attaching the blades to their axles like Queen Boadicea)
Do feel free to check out the photos and video to see more…
Well done folks… perhaps next stop the Roman Colosseum?!
Hi all, please see attached the Scout Summer Camp letter for our Peak District extravaganza at the end of July. This year we’ve gone for a complete change and are camping in a beautiful site in the south of the Peak District right next to a stream (hope no one sleep walks)!
We have a maximum of 36 spaces so application will be by post to ensure fair allocation and preference will be given to those still in the troop come July. There may be Young Leader spaces but this will be dependant on available seats, but do let me know if you’re ineterested.
Hi all, please see attached the super summer programme for Claws and Talons. Firstly a warning; we have a lot of variety this term which means that often Talons and Claws will be doing different things each week so please keep a close eye on the programme.
We’ll be entering two teams at this year’s NPL Water Rocket event so get some research in via this link, bring along your 2 litre bottles and kit and let’s see what we can do. The best rockets from Talons and from Claws will represent the troop at the event at 6pm on Wednesday 23rd June. P.S. if you have some old tennis balls, please bring these as they’re a necessary accessory (nosecone)!
Keep your eyes open for your troop’s backwoods cooking evening; we’ll be providing some food but of you want to eat yourself to a standstill don’t forget your own choice of food. You’ll also need to keep your eyes open for the water activity evening at Richmond and Superscout as these are on different evenings. We also have a joint wide games evening being run by the Claws team in June.
Activities, camps and outings include Dayprowl, the District Water Weekend, District Sports Competition (we are the current champions) and Borough Camp as well as Summer Camp (see seperate post). All this and we’ll end with our usual Great Parent Scout Cookout, rules attached.
Wow – What a camp: fantastic weather (a complete absence of snow, mud, hail, rainstorms etc!) and no real dramas.
Everyone had a brilliant time with all the scouts talking about different things that stood out for them. My personal favourites were the visit to the Snow Centre, building some hedging and potholing at night But there were lots more activities to choose from as potential highlights.
There’s a heap of photos for you to see on the group website – please do take a few minutes to have a browse. And if you would like a full resolution version of any then please do let me know.
On a final note, a massive thanks to all the adult team who made the camp possible either during the week itself, transporting scouts to and from camp, or helping out in a multitude of other ways. And although the camp simply wouldn’t have possible without them… you’ll see from the photos that they all had masses of adventure as well the Scouts themselves.
Well done to all!
Simon
As if we aren’t famous enough already, 3HH made the Scouting national news website today as part of a feature on National Outdoor Week.
3rd Hampton Hill Scouts have enjoyed a whole raft of successes recently on the shooting front at various competitions. Last night we completed our annual YPS course with all students passing with at least a skilled shot rating.
At the Kingston competition a few weeks ago our team took best troop and group pistol, best troop and group rifle with a large number of individual Gold, Silver and Bronze medal winners. We didn’t leave much for Kingston I’m afraid; I did wonder if they’d invite us back, but they’ll have to if they want their trophies back!
The Richmond competition was held recently and we entered teams from both Talons and Claws. Claws kicked off with an excellent team score of 610 which proved to be unbeatable all week even by Explorer or adult teams, so well done to Will H, Lily (116), Jacob, Tom (118) and James H and Jamie S. Talons didn’t disgrace themselves with an excellent 3rd place so well done to Matt, Lucy, Ruth and Emily, Isaac and Will W.
The inter-county competition was held on the weekend of 20th and 21st March and three current or former 3HH members represented Greater London South West, Jacob and Sam H and Tate (brother of Annie in Claws).
At this point I’ll hand over to our start reporter Rob (Sam and Jacob’s dad): (more…)
A terrific but cold evening greeted 42 Scout teams from across Greater London South West to the annual County Night Hike around Box Hill, five of which were from 3rd Hampton Hill. Our teams were:
Clones – Eddy F and Rosie J leading Ella, Annie, Lily and James H
Talons 1 – Rhiannon and Will H leading Becky, Joss, Lewis and Henry
Talons 2 – Ben M and James R leading Matt, Josh, Tom and Jack M
Talons 3 – Ruth and Will W leading Lucy, Owain, Isac and Monish
Claws – Chris and Jamie leading Jack S, Jonathon, George W and George M
Paul F, Simon, John, Sarah, Paul C and Dave M were manning base 5 and were really pleased as the evening wore on to see all five of our teams successfully to and through our base, with Ruth’s team being the only ones all night to score a maximum 25 on our mega-bagatelle.
There are now just 5 places left for this year’s Easter Scout Camp. Based at Phasel’s Wood (near Hemel Hempstead) we’ll be away from Tuesday 6th April to Saturday 10th April 2010.
We’re planning to do a number of site activities including climbing, potholing, cresta run, archery and a “mystery” hike – as well as teaching lots of “scouting” skills. We’ve also included a visit to the local snow sports centre where the Scouts can choose either skiing or snowboarding on real snow. It’s going to be a simply brilliant week.
If you want to come along, please make sure you return your form with full payment to Simon without delay.
The Royal Kingston Airgun competition last weekend saw some exceptional results for 3HH.
Well done to everyone that took part and had a go. The overall headline results for 3HH were:
U12 Pistol – Gold Jacob H
U12 Rifle – Gold Jamie S; Silver Lilly P; Bronze Jacob H. An overall clean sweep with Lucy R getting 4th place as well!
U14 Pistol – Gold Ruth H
U14 Rifle – Bronze Will W
U14 Best female – Lily P (also U12!)
U14 Aggregate – combined score of Pistol and Rifle goes to Jacob H who’s U12!
O18 Rifle – Bronze Jon H
O18 Pistol – Silver Jon H
O18 Aggregate – Gold Jon H
Trophies for Group Rifle, Troop Rifle and Pistol (for a team of three)
Well done to the entire shooting team, leaders, trainers and most especially, the Scouts. We already have the trophies and medals, and will award these at Scouts as soon as possible.
As if there weren’t enough excitement already, this week the combined Scout Troops had a karate demonstration.
Clare, an advanced Black Belt and Karate Instructor, bravely took on an electrically charged hall full of 3HH’s finest. She quickly assessed the required level of physical demands needed to keep control of the enthusiastic Scouts and after a thorough warm up, including some Japanese counting and shouts, set them to work.
Once satisfied with their mastery of some basic self defense moves, she introduced some pads she had brought along to focus their intensity. She needed volunteers to hold these pads 
and the adults can certainly vouch for the ‘effort’ the Scouts put into hitting them!
We were also delighted to see Matthew and Dean, our local PCSOs, come along to visit once again. Thanks guys for being game enough to hold some punch pads for the Scouts!
Don’t forget to get your forms and money in for the Quasar trip on 16th March (Claws) and 19th March (Talons). It’ll be a great opportunity to blow off a little end of term steam before we go away to camp.
Cost is £9.50 person and the deadline for returns is Friday 7th March 2010. Attached is the form for the Talons troop detailing arrival times etc. The Claws form will be added soonest.
For any questions please ask your section leaders. Happy zapping!
Today saw the first meeting of what’s hoped to be a regular Saturday shooting session at 3HH. We already have a rich history of successful shooters and we hope with these extra practice sessions we can bring throw the next batch of competitors. Fifteen budding shooters came along with a variety of prior experiences under their belts. Everyone had a great time and we’re all looking forward to the next one!
Click on the photo to see more…
Scout Association News