Troop Blog 2004

Above: The 3rd De La Salle Scout Troop on a hike in the Comeraghs in 2004.

Troop Faithlegg Overnight - 20th- 21st November 2004

It was a brave crew that arrived in Faithlegg on Friday night for our first overnight this year. It was a night that saw Deirdre Guilfoyle leading the troop into a pack of savage dogs (almost) as she became the first leader to ever become lost in the woods in Faithlegg.  Meanwhile an elite team was attempting to get the water to work in the den but not even Billy Collins could make it happen.  A few wide games were thrown in, the fire was eventually lit and the blood and guts which followed was limited to that which appeared group telly. Some late arriving leaders were shocked with the very late breakfast that went on, on Saturday morning (11.00am!) but it was a pretty horrible morning so it was allowed.

Saturday's activities included fire lighting and backwoods cooking which had delicious egg and orange, banana and chocolate and toast on the menu.  Cian O'hOgartaigh proved to be a champion at prussiking up a rope while Simon Gaffney made the most dramatic landing during the rope swinging.  We had made bamboo balistas the previous Thursday, so real life versions had to be built - one eventually fired well while the second struggled a bit.  Raymond Fan discovered that he could still tie a lashing however.

The hike happened after lunch and it commenced with a precarious crossing of the Pill River and an ascent up onto Gallwey's land.  Where the Pill enters the Suir, the ruined bridge had to be crossed before Dewberry's old boathouse was visited.  After everyone was literally dragged through the mud we picked up the riverbank and headed for the infamous Flooded Field.  Paul Power and Sarah Kennedy were crowned as supreme mud walkers.

 After wrestling with the reeds, plenty of rubbish and plenty of muck we finally reached the base of the Minaun where we picked up the road back to Faithlegg.  Everyone was good and filthy when we arrived back at the den so it was a hike well planned.  The overnight marked the conclusion of our Survival month.

 (Click to view a larger image).

Troop Hike - 31st October 2004

Our second hike to the Comeraghs of the new Scouting year took place on Halloween. 17 of us including Lucky the Dog headed off from Kilclooney bridge across the boggiest field in the Comeraghs.  After a fight through plenty of gorse and nettles, we made a dramatic river crossing before yet another tough forest fight brought us onto open mountain.  We made a long ascent to a col before a tricky descent down into the lake.  At the lake we learnt that Paschal's dog is a good swimmer and is mostly nuts.

A brave ascent of Crotty's gully was decided upon then and we completed it in a record 45 minutes with Stephen Bailey the first scout up and a Venturer who will remain nameless in last place! Well done to Sarah, Lisa, Kate, Jamie, Paul, Dean, Cormac, John, Lucky, Cian, Simon, Richard, Ian, Stephen, Ronan and Paschal on the ascent.  We swung through the window under Crotty's Rock before the rocky descent back down to the col before picking up a track that would bring us back down to the road. We were above the clouds for the last section and after our last forest fight we were back at the cars in no time.  It was a good hike on a good day.

Above: Sarah and Stephen at Crotty's Rock.

 (Click to view a larger image).

Night Hike - 9th October 2004

Going walking up the Comeraghs in the pitch dark is probably a fairly nutty idea but there were three National Scout Award chasers keen to give it a go.  Led by Deirdre Guilfoyle and Colm Ennis, Ronan, David and Cian abandoned the car at the lower Mahon Falls carpark and set off across countty to the summit of Daymore. Strangely the bearing led them straight back onto the road again leading us to the conclusion that we were actually at a different car park to the one we had thought.  From the upper car park we eventually reached the summit from where we could see the lights of Waterford City and Dungarvan.  More bearings and more wandering off them in the gale brought us to the cattle grid at the side of Coum Mahon.  It was a bog fight the whole way back across country to the car.  The Road was not allowed!

Annual Camp - 19th - 22nd August 2004

Camp 2004 was held at Cappanalea in County Kerry. It was a great camp and a full account with lots of photos is available on our Camp 2004 page.

Above: The Camp 2004 contingent on Lough Caragh.

County Challenge Weekend - 11th - 13th June 2004

Above: Members of St. Paul's working on their dresser during the County Challenge Weekend.

The first ever Waterford Scout County Challenge Weekend took place from the 11th to the 13th of June at Mount Mellary at the foot of the Knockmealdowns in County Waterford.  The idea of the event was to experiment with a change away from competitive events for the first year of the County.  There were a few troops on the missing list for the weekend but the troops that were there were determined to have the best possible time.  Troops rolled into Mellary from about 7.00pm onwards and straight away most got stuck into getting their tents and some of their gadgets up for the weekend.

Above: Michael Kavanagh and Neil Doyle of the 7th at work on their campsite.

Scout Programme Coordinator Tom Casey also did the official opening of the weekend and informed everybody of where things could be found and what to do if anything went terribly wrong.  We had a game of Infiltration to finish the evening which involved sneaking into the campfire circle with sections of verses from The Lord of the Rings and reassembling them once inside.

Above: A view of St. Paul's Campsite.

Everybody had a great night's sleep after all the campcraft - well of course that's a lie.  Some patrols had only got to sleep when the 4.00am bell calling the monks to prayer woke them up again.  It actually gets bright around then and that didn't help with getting back to sleep.  There were a few bodies up working on breakfast and gadgets from 7.00am - were they mad?  Most troops built a dresser, a table and seating, an alter fire or gas gadget.

Above: The guys and gals from the Sacred Heart.

The 7th put up an excellent store gadget and the 3rd had by far the most impressive gate - where did they get the design?  The campcraft continued until about 11.30am after which we headed over to the GAA field for a few games of rounders, touch American rugby or something like that and of course soccer.  Billy Collins was up to his usual cheating and shouting tricks during the rounders.  You can never have too many new bowlers!

Above: Jamie from the 3rd prepares to hit a home run during the Rounders battle.

After lunch and a visit to the shop to buy the usual range of smoke bombs and other junk, we divided up into two groups - the 3rd headed for a hike to the highlands behind Mount Mellary while everybody else headed for the lowlands of Glenshalane for orienteering and general messing about in the river.  Up in the highlands, we did some tracking signs, explored a ruined house, took a few dodgy route decisions and visited Mount Mellary abbey.

Above: Members of the 3rd with Eric Whelan trying to figure out where they are during their hike.

Everybody worked up an appetite for dinner where the great question was why did Sid, Kate and Colm buy so much meat but so little spaghetti.  Things were eventually sorted out and every scrap of what was cooked was devoured.  We had a bit of time to work on the sketches before getting the campfire started.  At flagbreak we also played the classic "Elephant and one other farm animal" game.  It's a good one.

Above: Vicki from Sacred Heart at work but is it Hells Kitchen?

The campfire had the usual highlights including Mr. Kenny's take on Crimeline and TC's Pavarotti voice in 'I Said a Boom'.  Special mention must go to the leaders sketch however which featured an emergency meeting of the County PL's.  The emergency was the naming of the new national scoutcraft competition as the Pat O'Connor Cup and starred Eric Whelan as Emer O'Connor, Tom Casey as Vicki Breen, Patrice Power as Cian O'hOgartaigh, Colm Ennis as John O'Keeffe and of course Billy Collins as chairman Maurice Kavanagh.  What will the PLs come back with? After another short wide game it was lights out and this time around there was a bit more sleeping going on.

Above: Members of the Dunhill Scout Troop with their Table and Seating.

Sunday morning involved a leisurely start and a good hearty Irish breakfast for most.  It also gave people time to count and compare how many times they had been bitten by midgets the night before.  Before we got stuck into taking apart the campsites and getting ready to go home. TC kicked off a bit of a water fight.  It got chaotic there for a while with even Paschal Guilfoyle getting an unprecedented soaking.  It was certainly an easy going weekend compared to the competitions of previous years and it got everybody in the mood for the upcoming annual camps.

Click to view a larger image.

Above: The 3rd explore a ruined house above Mount Mellary.

County MPC - 28th - 30th May 2004

Well done to David Duggan and Darren Doheny who successfully completed the 2004 County MPC in the Knockmealdown mountains.  For a full account read the Expedition Report.

Above: At the summit of Cnoc na gCnamh on the County MPC

P/L's Meeting - 11th May 2004

To say it was productive would be stretching the truth, well actually it would be lying.  We did nothing really. We decided that we are going on annual camp to Larch Hill and we also planned the meetings for the next three months or so. Darren, Stephen, Tommy and Paul are going to do the long hike on the county MPC. Niamh cant go due to study (yeah right) and Kate cant go because of her brothers communion. The scout meetings are going to consist of bases so as to prepare the patrols for the county challenge.

Above: The Patrol Leaders, Kate Hayes, Darren Doheny, Stephen O'Rourke and Paul Power.

Troop Hike - 9th May 2004

Above: The hike contingent.

We met at the den at 10 am. there was a very poor turn out with only six scouts taking part. Paschal and Guinter and Paschal's dog Lucky and six scouts all left the den at 10:10am. We arrived at about twenty to 11 and started to hike up towards the Lake from the Picnic area in Kilclooney woods.  We started off at an nice pace and everyone managed to keep up. At about half eleven we had a break and we headed up the easy gully. It was fun but very very scary stuff.

Above: In the gully. (Photo: Kate Hayes)

We reached the top and stopped for lunch. We then hiked and started to descend off the mountain. We did a small amount of map and compass work but Paschal got bored so we gave up we walked to the forest and were collected by parents and brought home. It was a good day that was enjoyed by all.

Troop Overnight - 25th - 26th April 2004

Above: Taking a break on the way out of Coum Iarthar with the Knockanafrinn ridge in the background.

The Rathgormac Hiking Centre was the venue for a quick troop overnight at the end of April.  It's an excellent spot located at the foothills of the Comeragh Mountains and has a climbing wall, large hall as well as a kitchen, showers and dormitory accommodation.  We got there at about 6.00pm and got stuck into some indoor soccer and generally tearing the place apart.  Cian O'hOgartaigh found the usual profitable market for selling food and drink to less well prepared Assistant Scoutleaders.

John and Colm set up the climbing wall at the back of the hall with a couple of ropes and nearly everybody gave it a go. There were a few exceptional performers with Fiona and Graham showing amazing technique with Cian and demonstrating the best endurance.  Only Darren eventually surmounted the overhang.  That was good going considering they had just arrived back from The National Scout Quiz in Leixlip with Sid.  They didn't win but at least they bet St. Paul's.  What is the capital of Vietnam again?

Above: John Kinsella on rescue duty in the Coum Iarthar lakes.

After a mad game with many many footballs, we ate more, made plenty of noise and a few people even went to sleep.  The next morning we had a good hairy fried breakfast in preparation for our hike to the Coum Iarthar lakes.  We were dropped off at a deserted farmyard and learnt of Colm's irrational fear of cows.  It was a long hot slog up to the lake and by the time we got there a few of us decided to swim/wade out to an island in the centre.  It was cold and a few people turned back but there was 8 brave souls on the island in the end.  Well done to Olympic hopeful Stephen O'Rourke who reached an even further off rock island.  The hike back involved bogs, nettles, fences, galloping cows, trenches, getting lost, taking lifts, refusing lifts and eventually ice-cream.  Good weekend - we will be back next year.

Troop Sandhills Hike - 14th March 2004

Above: Members of the 3rd at the highest point in the Sandhills in March 2004.

It was originally planned as a cycle hike but it was only one Assistant Scoutleader that appeared at 9.30am with bike at the ready.  It seems that bikes are not for cycling on.  We were transported therefore to Tramore and dropped off at the carpark behind the beach for a hike around the sandhills.  We decided to hike down the back way and stopped en route to try some sand body surfing.  We also reached the summit of the highest point in the Sandhills.  At 26 metres the Baldy Man is an astonishing summit.  After we had eaten lots of sand we got stuck into cooking some sausages on the trangia.  We even had oil for a change.  There was a fair gale blowing on the way back up the beach so we ducked back in across the sandhills and passed the site of the helicopter crash that happened a few years ago.  Our next stop was Splashworld for some swimming.  There were one or two leaders who were afraid to get wet as usual but overall we had a good time.

Above: Paschal Guilfoyle, Scoutleader on the Glacier d'Orny in the Swiss Alps.

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