Above: The Team from the 7th Waterford on the National Patrol Challenge 2004.
Welcome to the online troop log of the 7th Waterford De La Salle Scout Troop for 2004. You can also see what we got up to in 01/02, 00/01, 99/00 and in 98/99.
Troop Log 2004
Maumturks Sionnach - 1st - 3rd October 2004
Michael Kavanagh, Barry Kelly, Ian Grant and Eoin Kelly accompanied by Colm Ennis attended this years Sionnach Adventure in the Maumturks. Check out our Maumturks Sionnach 2004 page for full details and lots of photos of the event.
National Patrol Challenge - 19th - 22nd August 2004
We took
part in the National Patrol Challenge which was held at Larch Hill in Dublin
from the 19th to the 22nd of August 2004.
The event was based around Campcraft
and a series of bases which included the Village, the Institute, Engineering and
Air and Sea bases. Campcraft was broken down in safety and hygiene, cooking and
the campsite itself. There was also the usual logbook to be kept as well as a
campfire. The weather made the weekend very tough going with the rain really
only letting up for a short time on the Saturday.
We finished in an excellent 17th place out of the 57 teams. The team consisted of PL Maurice Kavanagh, Barry Kelly, John O'Keeffe, Eoin Kelly, Michael Kavanagh, Darragh O'Callaghan, Ian Grant and Emmet Power. Well done also to St. Pauls from Waterford who came 3rd behind the 80th Cork in second place and the winners - the 34th Limerick. Finally well done to the 15th Sacred Heart also from Waterford City who came 12th.
Troop Annual Camp - 26th - 30th July 2004
Our very successful Annual Camp for 2004 was held at Larch Hill in Co. Dublin and activities included hiking, rock-climbing, campcraft, assault course and of course duck racing!
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County Challenge Weekend - 11th - 13th June 2004
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. A full account of this event is available on our Scouting page.
Above: Michael Kavanagh and Darragh O'Callaghan prepare the Saturday evening dinner.
County MPC 28th-30th May 2004
Well done to Graham Kerr, Neil Doyle, Darragh O'Callaghan (pictured above), Eoin Kelly, Ian Grant and Maurice Kavanagh who successfully completed the 2004 County MPC in the Knockmealdown mountains. For a full account read the Expedition Report.
Senior Patrol Leaders
- Macgillycuddy's Reeks Expedition
13th-15th February 2004
Three of our Senior Patrol Leaders decided this year to take on the Macgillycuddy Reeks in Co. Kerry. They of course climbed the three highest peaks in Ireland namely Corran Tuathail (1039m), Binn Chaorach and Cathair by the classic Com Lothair Horseshoe. The account of the trip by Maurice Kavanagh, Brian Walsh and Barry Kelly is available on our Expeditions page.
Above: Maurice, Barry and Brian on the summit of Corran Tuathail (1039m).
Waterford Scout County Fun Weekend 6th-8th February 2004
Mount Mellary was the venue for the Waterford Scout County's first ever weekend long event. There were 17 of us from the 7th De La Salle and 150 scouts in total from Tramore, Faithlegg, Thomastown, Ballygunner, Sacred Heart, the 3rd De La Salle, the 1st and the 2nd Port of Waterford Sea Scouts, St. Pauls, and Dunhill. We were staying in the Deise but the whole place was packed to the rafters with scouts and leaders crammed into Eamhain Macha, Caiseal, Cruachan, Tara, Dal Riada and a few deservedly in the Doghouse. The place was almost warm. Scouts have been heading to the halls of Mount Mellary since 1975 and we certainly weren't the first groups to spend half of Friday night figuring out where everything is.
Above: Neil, Barry and Emmet carry Lucy on the stretcher base.
After we had got settled in and dragged a few mattresses around, we met in the Half Acre where Tom O'Neill from Tramore divided us up into groups for a Treasure Hunt. We were given one third of a jigsaw and a question sheet about the new leaders in the county to get us going. When we had all the answers to that we got another third of the jigsaw and then had a sheet where we had to get the names of everybody in the place. It wasn't easy and the County PLs even gave out some of the wrong jigsaws - well done lads. The last part of the game was code breaking and the final section of the jigsaw. Brian was on the team that found the 200 lolly pops which were well hidden out in the obstacle course. After a fire drill we had a campfire which included a fine rendition of "I work in a Button Factory" by Micky Cahill amongst others. Supper was hotdogs and then TC called lights out and we went to bed but obviously not to sleep.
Above: Ian Grant - need we say more?
We got an 8.00am wake up call and headed down to the dining room for breakfast. We were going to spend the day at Glenshelane and Darren Cooke gave us a taste of things to coming by smashing around in the muck along by the river on the route down. We were divided up into four groups for the bases. The first was orienteering followed by Tom O'Neill's Dizzy Sticks and Corners - plenty of mud on that one. There was also firelighting, stretcher building and racing, initiative tests and plenty of mud slinging. There was no beating Ballygunner with their record of 27 seconds on the stretcher carrying course. There's nothing like a river, a few showers of heavy rain and 150 scouts running around in boots to turn a field a bit muddy. After lunch there was an assault course and well done to Emmet Power for finishing with the muddiest face and to Darren Cooke for spending the most time in the river. We squelched back up to Mellary and picked up a few guns and bombs in the shop at the end of the hill so that we could defend ourselves against everybody else who had done the same thing. Hot water got a bit scarce after a while but eventually everybody got the mud off.
Above: Sheltering from the rain at Glenshelane with Thomastown and Tramore.
Dinner was chicken, spuds and peas cooked by gourmet chefs Lorraine Coughlan, Ruth Fitzgerald, Kate Hayes, Sarah Johnston, Darragh Nevin Maguire and John Cummins. There was an Odd One Out and Famous People quiz after that which was eventually won by the 1st Waterford Sea Scouts. The leaders and the County PLs couldn't even beat them. DJ Gerry Casey was on the decks for the disco in the Games Room. Derrick Watson, the Provincial Commissioner and his secretary Ms O'Neill were named Disco King and Queen. O'Neill being warned however to do something about her facial hair. On the same subject, Billy shaved off his beard during the disco for some reason and everybody was dancing at some stage. Even Tom Casey and Colm Ennis gave a good lash at dancing like people half their age. Another discovery was that Guns N Roses, Britney Spears, Nirvana, Scooter and Korn can all coexist in the one set at a disco - hats off to the DJ. The disco ended with Brian Walsh throwing green fluorescent dye all over his head. For supper we demanded and eventually got toast.
Above: Let the mud wrestling begin.
We had a bit of a lie in on Sunday morning and some people actually believed TC when he said there was sausages and rashers for the breakfast. After beating St. Pauls in our first game in the soccer blitz we lost to the Sea Scouts in our second game but finished 3rd overall along with Dunhill and Ballgunner. Sacred Heart and the Sea Scouts clashed in the final which was tied at 4 all at one stage after some controversial refereeing by TC. The Sea Scouts eventually triumphed. After lunch we starting cleaning up to go home. In the Half Acre TC thanked everybody including the County PL's Vicki Breen, Matt Dolan, Darren Dalton, Jade Kinsella, John O'Keeffe, Emer O'Connor, Emily Watson and our own Maurice Kavanagh who had helped to organise and run the weekend. Derrick Watson, the new Provincial Commissioner also spoke and said that we had all gotten on so well over the weekend that you would never think that there used to be two associations. What's this they were called again? The weekend was attended by Billy, Darragh, Cormac, Lucy, David, Michael, Eoin, Darren, Brian, Graham, Ian, Shane, Craig, Barry, Jess, Emmet, Neill and Maurice. There are more pictures on our Gallery page.
Above: Brian, Eoin, Michael, Craig, Darren and Darragh drag Graham on the stretcher.
Troop Comeraghs Hike - 25th January 2004
Above: The troop prepares to depart from Coumshingaun Carpark.
As Billy Collins noticed, Michael Kavanagh is one of those generals who likes to lead his men from behind. And so it was that with map and compass in hand he steered us towards Crotty's Lake from Coumshingaun carpark. It was a course that weaved a bit and we stopped for a quick bite to eat before ascending a gully that overlooked Crotty's lake. Billy didn't quite make it up as he had to go back and find the map that Michael had dropped. He rejoined us as the top after "Below" had been shouted more than a few times on the way up. From Crotty's we crossed Uisce Solais again and headed to Coumshingaun where we had a fantastic view into the lake. After finding a few frozen mud puddles we skirted the top of the cliffs before descending the ridge back down to the carpark.
Above: Eoin Kelly at Crotty's Rock in the Comeraghs in January 2004
Special congratulations to Michael Kavanagh for carting more gear with him than you would bring on an MPC, Graham Kerr and Patrice Doyle for their first highly successful ascent of a Comeragh gully, Neil Doyle for falling asleep the most times, Barry Kelly for almost beating Colm Ennis in a run down off Coumshingaun and for the fastest ever consumption of two bread rolls and a pot noodle. Brian Walsh and Patrice Doyle both received the Brian Walsh Award for the Wearing of White Trousers in Black Boggy Mountains and finally Billy Collins yet again received the Billy Collins Award for Having Enough Extra Food to Feed the Entire Troop. No snow, but it was a good hike.
(Click on the pictures above to see a larger image)
Louis Murphy Competition - 6th-8th June 2003
The Louis Murphy Memorial Cup is the Waterford and South Kilkenny Region competition for those aged 13 or under and has been running since 1979. The 2003 event was held at the Kilmacow Sports Centre in Co. Kilkenny from the 6th to the 8th of June. The event began at 7.00pm on Friday night with the opening ceremony and uniform inspection which was performed by WSK ARC Scouts Tom Casey and Chris Heggs. This was immediately followed by pitching the tents (and lots of them) and building the sites. The sites had to include a sleeping tent, a store tent, table and seating, dining shelter, gas gadget, dresser, bin, railings, store shelving and a simple gate. There was also marks for site safety and environmental awareness. Tom called us all together for a meeting and told us the rules and what we would be doing for the weekend. He also told us to have supper ready as Chris and himself were hungry. After supper was inspected we nearly all went to bed.
Above: Members of Saint Pauls' Scout Troop enjoy their testmeal.
On Saturday morning, the 3rd and 7th De La Salle troops were up at cockcrow making the gadgets. Breakfast was inspected which was followed by more campcraft. After that we had a meeting and TC told us to get lunch and then to get over to the other field for bases. The new scout troop, Dunhill raised the flag. The bases in the afternoon included pioneering, strength, first aid, leadership, brainpower and general knowledge and of course human pyramids. When we got back to the site we worked on our testmeal on the fire we had built earlier (note: most fires turned out to be bonfires). We had to call TC and Chris to inspect the dinner and then were told to call them back for dessert (the cheek). Then of course the Venturers had to be there looking for food. When the test meal was finished, we washed up and were inspected. Everybody then sat down to relax but got straight back up again to go over to the campfire. After the brilliant campfire we had supper and went to bed.
Above: The 17th St. Paul's working on campcraft during a Louis Murphy.
On Sunday morning everybody got up late because there was nothing on straight away. "When" we got up, breakfast was made and we got ready for the fair. Someone had lost the Dangans (local Kilmacow currency) so we had euros instead. Kilmacow won easily. Their game was splash Pat O'Connor in the face with a sponge which De La Salle were the main sponsors of. After that we had lunch, broke camp, got into uniforms and got inspected. That afternoon, they held the closing mass followed by the award ceremony. The 17th St. Pauls won but everybody had a great time.
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