The
All Ireland Scoutcraft Competition, better known as the Melvin,
was Irish Scouting's most prestigious event. It was a tough four day
competition, a brilliant experience and not very easy
to win.
With the foundation of Scouting Ireland it was replaced with the National Patrol
Challenge.
Above: The team from the 7th which won the 2003 Public Speaking Trophy on the last ever Melvin Competition.
The All Ireland Scoutcraft Competition better known as the Melvin Trophy was held this year in Mount Mellary, Co. Waterford from the 21st to the 24th of August. The competition featured the usual tests of campcraft as well as hiking, initiative bases, public speaking and even campfire sketches. The Unit was proud to have both its troops taking part in the competition with the 3rd having qualified from the region while the 7th took part on a wildcard.
Above: The team from the 3rd being presented with the 4th place plaque by Pat O'Connor, National Commissioner for Scouts.
The 3rd were in excellent form and took 4th place overall and David Roche received the honour of being named the best Patrol Leader. The Melvin Trophy itself was won again by the 17th/20th St. Pauls troop also from Waterford City. Well done also to the 7th troop which put in an excellent effort throughout the competition and brought the public speaking trophy back top the Unit for the second time with their passionate discussion of " Its tough being a teenager - isnt it?" Maurice Kavanagh and Brian Walsh were the two speakers.
Above: David Roche being presented with the Best PL award by Pat O'Connor.
Below (L-R) Back: Pat O'Connor, Michael Kavanagh, Barry Kelly, Eddie Darcy, Maurice Kavanagh PL, Brian Walsh, APL, Peter Dixon, Chief Scout. Bottom: Emmet Flynn, Ian Grant, Darragh O'Callaghan and Eoin Kelly. Maurice and Brian are holding the Public Speaking Trophy.
Melvin 2002 - both 3rd and 7th do Unit proud
Above (L-R): Pat O'Connor, National Commissioner for Scouts; David Roche, Patrick McCormack, Cian O'Hogartaigh, Colm O'Hogartaigh, John Cummins PL with the campcraft trophy, Paul Power, Stephen O'Rourke, , Darren Doheny, Peter Dixon, Chief Scout.
The 2002 Melvin Trophy was held in Larch Hill in Dublin from the 22nd to the 25th of August last. The All Ireland Scoutcraft competition as it is also known featured the usual tests of campcraft as well as hiking, initiative bases, public speaking and even campfire sketches. The Unit was proud to have both its troops taking part in the competition with the 3rd having qualified from the region while the 7th took part for the first time since 1963 on a wildcard.
The 3rd were in excellent form and took the much coveted campcraft trophy back to the Unit for the third time since it was introduced back in Mellary in 1989. They crushingly missed out on the Melvin Trophy itself which was won again by the 17th/20th St. Pauls troop also from Waterford City. Well done also to the 7th troop (pictured above) which finished 19th out of the 53 teams taking part and who put in an excellent effort throughout the competition.
Above: Sunset and smoke over the Melvin field in Larch Hill in 2002. (Photo: Patrick Kelly)
Melvin 00 - Victory at long last!
Above:
Melvin 2000 Winners - 3rd De La Salle Scout Troop.
L-R: David Collins (ASL), Patrick Kelly (PL), Bernard Cunningham
(ASL), Conor Walsh, Kieran Gleeson, Ian Griffin, Conor Dempsey,
Leon Mullally, John Cummins and Brian Brazil. Paschal Guifoyle (SL
- absent from photo).
The De La Salle Scout Unit was proud to be represented by the 3rd Scout Troop at this years Melvin Trophy in Larch Hill especially since they were the first team to ever win it for the Unit after almost 40 years of trying! Why not read their Pre Melvin Log.
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The fiftieth Melvin and also the last one of the millenium was held from the 19th to the 22nd of August 1999 in Larch Hill. On the first Melvin held in 1949 the theme was 'The Land of Vanda', in recognition of this the theme this year was the 'Return to The Land of Vanda'. The Land of Vanda turned out to be the Glen of Imaal where we were based on Friday and Saturday. Thursday consisted mostly of the campcraft which was similar to previous years but which had a new marking scheme. We also had to hand in our Pre Melvin log. That night we also took part in the Mental Health Association's public speaking competition. The theme was "Is the Web of Knowledge, Wisdom and Life a Mingled Yarn?". Our speakers were Derek Ryan, Patrick Kelly and Conor Welsh, who performed excellently and got into the final. On Sunday we found out that they had won the public speaking outright.
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The team also won the patrol award in their subcamp as well as a segment of the bases which were held in the Glen of Imaal.
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The 1998 Melvin Trophy Competition was held from Thursday 20th of August to Sunday 23rd of August at Kilcully Campsite in Cork. This year the event was based on the theme of "Mythical Ireland" and 55 teams took part. Well done to the team from the 3rd Scout troop which represented the Unit. The team finished 10th in what was a very tough battle for the top placings. This year saw the return to the event being based on a solid theme which saw us on a journey through Mythical Ireland. As well as the Pre Melvin Log the competition contained the usual campcraft, public speaking, pioneering, orienteering, a treasure trail around Cobh and Cork City, an overnight mountaineering expedition for four members of the patrol, the Trek Cart race as well as many other bases and challenges. Well done also to the team from St.Pauls who came fourth as well as to competition newcomers Sacred Heart who also represented the Waterford and South Kilkenny Region at the event.
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Due to the success of both the 3rd and 13th Scout Troops at the Regional Competitions in 1997, the Unit was afforded the honour of sending two teams to the All Ireland Scoutcraft Competitions for the second year in a row. They were joined by the outright winners for the past two years from St.Pauls in the city. The competition was held from the 21st to the 24th of August at the SICSI National Campsite at Larch Hill in Dublin. It followed intense training and preparation in the troops over a two month period.
Above: The 13th Waterford on the Melvin Competition in 1997 with L-R Mark Casey, Eoin O'Shea, Michael Flynn, Robert Heylin, Jason Power, Paul Cunningham, Brian Casey and Traolach O'Sullivan.
The Melvin is a unique experience, for many it is the highlight of their Scouting career and something which they will remember for the rest of their lives. It starts on a Thursday morning with the rituals of checking in and getting all your camping equipment onto your site. There is also the Pre Melvin projects to be handed up and this year they consisted of a log of the team's preparation as well as a community based environmental project. Thursday afternoon is usually devoted solely to Campcraft (i.e. the building of gadgets). The rest of the weekend can consist of anything. This year two members of the team were packed off to the Wicklow mountains for an MPC style hike with full pack over two days. The hike was concentrated on the north end of the Wicklows (Toin le Gaoith and Mullach Cliabhain) and each pair were put with two or three other teams as well as a member of the MPC staff. There were also first aid bases and a navigation course held on the Friday evening.
Back at Larch Hill there were a
number of bases which included pioneering and the Circus which
consisted of about twenty initiative tests. The public speaking
project was entitled "Mental Health - Out of the Darkness
and into the Light" and each patrol had to speak for about
three minutes on the topic. 
The Campfire Sketch heats were held
on Friday night and although neither of our teams qualified for
the finals, St.Pauls did with their tried and tested "Fawlty
Fiction" sketch. Each days meals were tested by the
Campcraft marking team but on Saturday evening all the stops were
pulled out for the official testmeal with both our troops opting
for the reliable patrol meal of Spaghetti Bolognese.
Sunday morning is always a long haul particularly because everybody is so tired. That doesn't stop the National Trek Cart race from going ahead however. The race takes a course right the way around Larch Hill including through numerous rivers and forests. The secret to winning (or even completing) is to have a trek cart which is indestructable. This year the 13th finally buried the old style cart which weighed the same as a small caravan and opted for a new lighter and tougher model. The handle still fell off however although the cart did finish the race.
After the Trek Cart race it's back to work for the final inspection. Basically you have to get all your gadgets and tentage down and leave your campsite immaculate. If there is even a match to be found then the examiners will root it out. It's an intense two hours after which you can heave an enormous sigh of relief. At that stage it's all over bar the shouting!
The results at the end of any competition are always nerve racking particularly when so much time and effort has been put in. Everybody has the dream of winning the Melvin or even the Campcraft Trophy is a high honour. The 3rd have a long history of high placings in the Melvin and the 13th have come in the top 7 every year for almost a decade. Not forgetting St.Pauls who are also from Waterford, who won the competition in 1995 and 1996 and 6 times in total since 1985. After Joe McGloughlin, Joe Lawlor and numerous others have had their say for about an hour (or at least it feels that long), finally the results are given.
The two troops from the De La Salle Scout Unit came 3rd (the 13th) and 4th (the 3rd). In a field of over 60 teams from all over Ireland this was a remarkable achievement. The teams were also placed highly in the Campcraft section having produced two sites of astounding quality. It's always devastating to miss out on the top spot but at least it was to St.Pauls who showed that they were not after all tired of coming first in the Melvin (it being now their third in a row and seventh win overall). It was a very enjoyable weekend for all who were involved and at a reception hosted by the Chief Scout a month later tribute was paid to the leaders Paschal Guilfoyle and Tom Casey and all those who helped them.
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Melvin Training
Above: Paschal Guilfoyle gives some last minute advice at the end of training for the 2002 Melvin competition.
This is the summarised version of the training of the 3rd Waterford for the Melvin in 1998 which is taken from the online version of their Pre Melvin Log. Things happen pretty much the same way every year. The full version in the written log had about 55 different entries and included details of their training for the Ted Ryan and the Louis Murphy.
Leaders facing divorce? Bank bouncing your cheques? Spending more then 14 hours a day at the Scout Den? You've probably qualified for the Melvin. How in the name of God did we manage to do it again? The Waterford and South Kilkenny Regional Shield is made up of three elements - The Ted Ryan Challange for the Under 16s, the Louis Murphy Competition for the Under 13s as well as a troop inspection night. This year we came second in all three competitions which meant we qualified for the Melvin as St.Pauls were automatically through as last years winners. Here is an account of our journey to the 1998 Melvin Competition.
Above: Stephen White and Derek Ryan put the finishing touches to the Dresser during training beside the Waterford City Walls.
Training started way back on
Monday the 15th of June when the panel got together to build a
gate and make a few attempts at amputating John Kinsella's finger.
We made an early start on the mountaineering training the
following Sunday when we headed up around Mahon Falls and the
Coumtay lakes in the Comeraghs. In the evenings of the following
week we made a start on Semaphore. That weekend we took a break
from training and took part in "Faithlegg 70" which was
a weekend celebration of the De La 
Salle Scout Unit's 70th
Anniversary. As July came upon us we moved into top gear and got
into more regular training. On the 1st of July we made a start on
first aid and did some more work on Sempahore. We will never
forget the sentence "The quick brown fox jumped over the
lazy dog". The following weekend we spent our first full
weekend of training in Faithlegg and got some plane tabling as
well as observation and estimation done on the Saturday. On
Sunday we built all the gadgets.
After a hectic weekend in Faithlegg it was straight back in the following two nights to practice knots, map and compass and sign language. We also had our weekly meetings in the den every Thursday night but we usually took a break from training on those nights and instead got in some soccer and preparation for camp. On Sunday the 19th of July we once again headed up the Comeraghs to practice our navigation. The conditions were ideal as the visibility was very poor. Camp was coming up soon but we kept up our training during the week nights with more observation and estimation, first aid, campcraft and semaphore. The Saturday before camp we spent another day in Stephen Street building the gadgets. We had also started to prepare the public speaking with Billy Flynn. The Speach is about how the Celtic Tiger really doesn't mean equality for all.
From Thursday the 30th of July to the 9th of August we forgot about the Melvin and headed off on Annual Camp 1998 which was held in Blackwell Court in Birmingham. It was a brilliant Camp and as well as trips to Alton Towers, Birmingham City and Cadbury World we did things like abseiling, rafting, archery, survival skills and bamboo pioneering. We also had a swimming pool and the usual quizes, volleyball, soccer and basketball. It was great R+R before the run up to the Melvin.
When we got back from camp we all slept for about 24 hours and then slowly got back into training. The public speaking was starting to shape up and we also got some ideas for the sketch. We also had to get costumes together to match the theme of Mythical Ireland. Watch out for us with the cool brown sacks on the Melvin!. Over the weekend of the 14th to the 16th we headed out to the Unit's campsite in Faithlegg for one last burst of training. We did everything including the whole site, some pioneering, public speaking and semaphore. We were even visited by an American Scouter called Garry McLinn and his family. Garry is a member of Troop 698 of the George Washington District and he gave our site the thumbs up. That was the end of our real training sessions. The Melvin Week was upon us!
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