7th Waterford Troop Log 1999/2000

We had two patrols on Annual Camp this year which was held in Fethard on Sea in Co. Wicklow. James White was on his last camp as a PL and Gavin Cooke was the other patrol leader. All in all the camp went very well and James White's patrol scooped top honours in the interpatrol competition as well as the volleyball. Full details are available on the Group's Camp '00 page

At this time of year we always like to escape from the den for a few meetings and our first trip was out to the Black

Rock on the Tramore road which everybody had passed many times but very few people had actually climbed it. The route out to it takes the line of the old Waterford to Tramore railway along a riverbank. On top of the rock is an old civil war type watchtower from which there is an excellent view of the Tramore road as well as of Waterford City.

The 7th Scout Troop showed their brilliance yet again when they won the Waterford and South Kilkenny Regional Soccor Blitz which was held at the Villa Park. After some tough qualifying matches the 7th eventually defeated another De La Salle troop - the 3rd, in the final. Well done to the team which consisted of James White, Dylan Lumley, Peter Wright, Gary Deasy, James Brennan, Barry Kelly and top class goalie, Colin Power. The subs were Ian Grant, Peter Murphy and Ronan Power and the team was managed by Billy Collins.

We spent two full days in Faithlegg as training for the Louis Murphy competition and between rolling down the hill in barrels and snow sleds, we managed to put a fairly decent campsite together. We also practiced the cooking for the testmeal on the competition as well as building shelters and the pioneering project which is a ballista. Pictured below are members of the 7th having completed the table and seating.

The first ever joint MPC/Sionnach was held in the Galtees in Co. Tipperary and the 7th were delighted to send James White, Dylan Lumley, Ray Doyle, Peter Murphy and ASL Peter Murphy along to take part. A full account is given on our Expeditions page. The lads are pictured below doing a bit of mapwork before they ascend Galtymore (918m).

Even the firemen in Waterford City don't know how many firemen there are in the city - is it 36 or 34? There are 72 windows on the front of the tower hotel, there are three urinals in the toilets off the lobby in the De La Salle Centre and Gino's Pizzas are currently recruiting for staff. These were amongst the discoveries made by the troop during the orienteering course designed by PL's Gavin Cooke and James White. The event was won by Maurice Kavanagh and Derek Kavanagh with a score of 11 and a half.

Explaining to people why you're heading off for a hike in the Comeraghs in the pitch dark is a bit of a laugh but we were genuinely aiming to improve our navigation skills. A 'Night Nav' is great for simulating poor visibility conditions and allows people to get to trust their map and compass skills. The night owls included nine of our senior scouts with Billy, Paul and Colm along to laugh at people veering way off on their bearings. Believe it or not there were even one or two scouts who thought that they could walk in the mountains in the dark without a torch. Another, brought one, but only turned it on once he had fallen over a rock.

Above: Gavin Cooke, James White, Peter Wright and Maurice Kavanagh on the 'Night Nav' in the Comeraghs.

Eventually we got the hang of it and having parked the cars at the lower Mahon Falls car park we headed for the top of Daymore. En route we were actually stopped by the guards and we were fortunate to have our own member of the force along to explain why exactly we were setting off on a hike at that hour of the night. We divided the group up into twos and everybody led a stage or checked up on somebody else's navigation. Our route took us as far as the Coumtay lakes before we veered back down the valley, past Ned Curran's cottage. From there we had a Blair Witch Project type walk though a forest before the long slog back up to the Mahon Valley. It was definately the first hike that we finished at a quarter to one in the morning. We'll have to do it again.

Above: (L) Ian Grant on his first Night Nav and (R) Billy Collins double checks the compass bearing while Gary Deasy looks on.

The De La Salle Scout Group den at Faithlegg has been the venue for some classic weekends and overnights over the years, so for our first troop weekend of 2000 we decided to head there. After getting settled in, we headed for some 'night vision' training in the forest. This is where you walk through a load of trees with no torches and it can get a bit dangerous! After that it was up to some of the younger scouts to defend the grotto from the marauding horde of James White, Billy Collins and Colm Ennis. Billy's classic distracting tactics were almost enough for him to succed in turning off the torch but the defenders stuck close to their base and won out in the end. A certain PL also managed to throw a certain ASL's head torch battery away during the game. After a quick game of taboo we were landed on the top of the Minaun for a midnight hike and almost joined in with a local rave.

Despite the snoring from the leaders room, we actually got a decent night's sleep and after breakfast we got stuck in to some firelighting and backwoods cooking. The banana and chocolate souffle was pretty impressive but the baked potatoes were a bit on the unbaked side. Following a review of tracking signs and some pacing we had lunch, mixed with rolling people down the hill in a barrel. The blindman's trail after lunch also had a fairly mucky end for those who kept their blinds on. James White set a short tracking trail around the forest and even managed to be on the team that were quickest to complete it.

Keeping with the survival theme we spent the rest of the afternoon on some shelter building and tree climbing. Two impressive shelters were built, even if there was enough plastic used to cover a football pitch . After a highly argumentative game of rounders, an excellent dinner was served up by Ian Grant and James White although Maurice Kavanagh slacked off from his cooking responsibilities a bit. Red Bull and Cream Eggs, put Billy and Colm in fine form to lead an excellent campfire which lasted about two hours. After some star gazing and an unofficial midnight raid across the river, we put in some hard wooden floor time (god bless Thermarests).

Above: Brian Meehan, Maurice Kavanagh, Jason Ryan, Peter Blewitt, Shane Gavin, Jamie Flynn and Michael Kavanagh try a bit of tree climbing.

Michael Kavanagh failed in his promise to provide everybody with a full Irish breakfast in bed so frosties had to do again. After a clean up, we set out on another expedition across the river and along the bank on Gallway's land. Michael was then punished by an evil tree branch for his breakfast failure and was thrown into the river. After reconstructing the bridge at the end of the Pill, we headed along the banks of the River Suir and past the port of Waterford City at Belview. The Flooded Field is still flooded but we managed to get around it and back to the bottom of the Minaun before heading back to Faithlegg. We had the usual lunch of leftovers including a half dozen ponds of sausages and then we headed for home. It was a great weekend and our track record of having all rain free events was yet again kept intact.

Above: The 7th Waterford at the edge of the 'Flooded Field' with Waterford City Port in the background.

The 2000 National Scout Quiz was held in Leixlip in Co. Kildare on Saturday the 5th March. The troop had earned their place at the event having come second in the Regional quiz. The team consisted of James White, Gavin Cooke, Dylan Lumley and Peter Wright. One of the biggest challenges of the day was actually finding the venue after a certain ASL dropped of the motorway and drove around in circles for a while. The questions were tough enough and the 7th finished in the middle of the field of 69 teams with a score of 46. Well done also to St.Pauls who were the other team representing the Waterford and South Kilkenny Region and who achieved a score of 41. The 7th are obviously the smartest troop in Waterford!

The first troop hike of 2000 drew a small but enthusiastic crowd for a Saturday morning. Eight scouts, most of them new to the troop met at the den at 9.00am before heading to Coumshingaun car park. ASL Colm Ennis knocked on the door of PL, Dylan Lumley on the way but he was to asleep to risk dragging up the mountains. We set off from the car park at about 10am after Billy had distributed the 5 maps and compasses (he wasn't taking any chances). The sun was already shining and conditions were ideal for Colm to show off his new digital camera.

Above: Members of the 7th DLS at the car park in Coumshingaun with SL Billy Collins.

From Coumshimngaun car park we headed in the direction of the Uisce Solais river to the right of Coumshingaun before heading towards Crotty's lake. Billy had already said "Jamie hurry on" a few hundred times when Colm followed the said Jamie over a small rock and managed to sprain his ankle. He hobbled on and we stopped for lunch at Crotty's rock. Only one or two scouts kept up the 7th's long held tradition of always bringing cream cakes on a hike but Billy and Colm got through an eclair or two. From Crotty's we headed for Coumshingaun and we even managed to find some snow at the top. After a fantastic view into the coum and a brief snowball fight, we started to descend to the lake before pointing ourselves in the direction of the carpark. ASL Paul White and PL James White who had absconded to Africa for the week also missed our investigation of a dead goat. Overall it was a great hike with genuine summer conditions.

Above: Jamie Flynn enjoys some hot chocolate and Shane Gavin crosses Uisce Solais.

The 1999 Waterford and South Kilkenny Regional Orienteering competition had been rescheduled from a previous weekend and the new date and venue were a major secret although we did eventually found our way to the start below the Minaun. Well done to James White and Owen Griffin who came 23rd overall in the score event in the field of 90 competitors. A good performance was also put in by Peter Blewitt, Barry Kelly and Jamie Flynn.

There's nothing like a quick cycle out to Tramore on a Sunday morning to wake you up and after that a good circuit of the sandhills really gets you going. We managed to locate numerous dead fish including a very very small shark on the way around before we cut across through the middle of the sandhills where some attempts at sliding down slopes on a survival bag. We were less than successful with the survival bags and we eventually resorted to running or rolling down them. After lunch we headed for Splashworld for the usual mess about, before heading back in the road to Waterford.

It was ASL Paul White who pointed himself in a westerly direction with a fierce heavy pack on his back after the team consisting of Gavin Cooke, Dylan Lumley and James White (his son); refused to carry it. The event was held in the Twelve Bens area and a team from the 13th De La Salle was also in attendance. Both even managed to make it back in time for the Regional mass and award ceremony on the Sunday. At one stage on the Saturday the wind was so strong that we had to link arms just to move and Gavin Cooke managed to lose the cover of his rucksack. We have to say a big thank you to the MPC staff who assisted us around/through that knee deep bog!

Above: L-R James White, Dylan Lumley, Paul White and Gavin Cooke from the 7th Waterford on the 1999 Connaught MPC.

The Regional MPC always gives as many of the younger scouts as possible a chance to experience an MPC style event over a less difficult route than a national MPC. Overall we had about 8 scouts in attendance at the event which begun at the Scout Centre at Mount Mellary and took in Dyrick and Knockmealdown (for some).

Above: Ronan Power, Peter Blewitt, Ian Grant and Barry Kelly of the 7th shoulder some heavy packs on the 1999 RMPC.


James White Hawk Patrol	Gavin Cooke Panther Patrol	Dylan Lumley Wolf Patrol	Gary Deasy Cobra Patrol