3rd Waterford Pre Melvin Log 2000

The online record of our qualification and training for the 2000 All Ireland Scoutcraft Competition including (nearly) all the things we saw, hallucinated, stood on and found crawling up the side of the tent and all the people we drove mad in preparation for this years Melvin.

Melvin 00 | The Team | The Qualification

The Training | Last Minute | Thanks! | Melvin 99

The 2000 Melvin Trophy Competition will be held from Thursday 17th of August to Sunday 20th of August at

Larch Hill in Dublin. According to the official details the theme for this year's Melvin is 'Living the Adventure - Facing the Challenge'. - "Most of the great adventure stories are centred around exploration, all of the great explorations started out as a quest for challenge. Over the weekend you will follow in the footsteps of the great explorers and face many different challenges, some more challenging than others".

The 3rd's Melvin Team this year is under the watchful eye of Patrick Kelly. He's definately the one to be around if you accidently cut off your arm. Leon, the APL is the one you shouldn't pick a fight or an argument with. Conor Dempsey and John Cummins are the team's secret weapons in the campcraft department. Brian Brazil is completely off his head. Ian Griffin and Kieran Gleeson are probably from another planet. Conor Welsh is out of his tree.

3rd Waterford Melvin Team 2000

PL Patrick Kelly	Brian Brazil	Kieran Gleeson	John Cummins
APL Leon Mullally	Ian Griffin	Conor Dempsey	Conor Welsh

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? Here is an account of our journey to the 2000 Melvin Competition.

We arrived at Kilmacow for the Ted Ryan and Louis Murphy competitions at 6.00pm on Friday the 16th of June 2000. The Ted Ryan and Louis Murphy are the Waterford/South Kilkenny Region's competitions to see who will represent the region in the Melvin. Usually the two competitions are staged on different dates but this year they were to be

both at the same time for convenience. When we arrived the weather was good and the wind gently rustled the leaves on the trees which surrounded the large field. Billy Collins (the leader of the 7th DLS) was awaiting the arrival of Pat O'Connor who was in possession of the site layout plans. By 7pm we were cutting sisal and frapping square lashings. Seldom did we help the Louis Murphy team, who were also on our site, even though there was only four of them on the team. At 10pm, Derek, Conor welsh (Squeeks) and I were called to the marking tent for the public speaking competition. This was the first time they put public speaking in Regional competitions and we were fairly confident that we'd win as we had won the public speaking on the Melvin last year. The topic was "Brandname clothes, a parents nightmare". All teams were allotted 3 minutes in which they would present their speech to the rest of the participants and the judges. Some troops obviously weren't aware of the time limit as some went over 3 minutes and they still hadn't passed over to the 2nd team member! The key to good public speaking as we were told 100s of times is: little help from the notes, plenty of eye contact with the audience, clear and loud pronunciation and body gestures to convey important points and emotions. When we delivered our speech we all felt that we had to integrate those vital points. The public speaking concluded at 10.45pm so we made our way back to the campsite. By now the sun had set and the sky was dimly lit with soft shadows, following everything that moved or lay still. We continued till 11.30pm until a sharp whistle blow pierced the quiet mumbling of the field and its inhabitants, signifying to everyone that it was time for bed. We then got into sleeping bags and began a midnights feast. Everyone was famished since we hadn't eaten since dinnertime. It was about 12.25am when the snoring started. We were forced to wake Brian and Conor as their loud slumber prevented the rest of us from sleeping.

Saturday, June 17th 2000 - Beep, Beep....Beep, Beep. We awoke to the sound of Kieran's watch emitting a substantially loud noise forcing us up out of our sleeping bags. It was 6.00am and the sun was well on its way into the cloudless sky. The birds were chirping like there was no tommorow which would have made it impossible for us to go back to sleep again even if we had wanted to. Within 15 minutes of waking we were up tightening the lashings on the site. At 7.30am we were sitting at the table having cornflakes under the cool shade of the shelter tent.

The bases were scheduled to begin at 10am so we had to have everything clean, tight and ready for inspection. At 10 we were rounded up for a flag break and then we were paired into groups of 2 teams with each group being given a Venturer Liason. We were given Vivienne and Tara from Kilmacow and all they did was make us laugh. The very first base we went to was a map making base. The field was irregular to say the least and some points weren't visible. I can't remember the rest of the bases in order but I can remember what they were about. We went to the Swinging Derrick base to find a tailback of about 30 minutes. Cider and Billy were running the base and it was quite difficult. There was an egg on a silver plate in the middle of a stream and the idea was to retrieve the egg with the use of some spars and then to cook the egg on a candle. While the rest of the team tried that, Brian, Kieran and I were making a rope ladder. We assembled the ladder and then nearly broke our necks trying to climb it. We eventually managed to swing the frame and retrieve the egg for cooking. We wouldn't eat the egg but Billy who is insane did and for obvious reasons we didn't eat Ballygunners.

Since each troop was asked to design their own base for the competition, we soon found ourselves at Tramore's base which was basically raod safety and a bicycle repair course. we each had to answer a question on raod safety and then work as a group to repair the damage to the bikes. We were then asked the following question: "What would you do if a dog was chasing you while on a bike?" I said it depends on whether it was a friendly dog or if it was viscious and wanted to kill you. The examiners response was don't be silly as dogs can't cycle bikes. Ha Ha. We then went on to a more challenging base which was the nature base. We first had to climb an 18 foot rope using 2 short pieces of rope for your feet, a longer piece for your waist and a safety helmet. It involved the use of a knot which could be slipped up and down without pressure being applied. half the group attempted this while the other half were trying to transfer water from one bucket to another over a distance of 6 metres. All they had was some tubing which was 5 metres long. At the second part of the base, we were given logs submeresed in water, 6 matches and 3 sheets of paper and we had to set the logs on fire. Unfortunately a person who will remain un-named threw one of the logs into the fire that we eventually started and put out the flame. We also had to make paper bullets and shoot tin cans. Derek managed to shoot all 7 tins with his first 7 bullets. The next base was the the archery base where we were given some spars , a hay bale and some sisal and had to make something out of the spars which would support or suspend the hay. We then needed to shoot arrows into the hay. Next we made our way to the ballista base where we used spars to make the ballista which basically consisted of a quadropod on an A Frame. That was our last base so we then moved back to the site to prepare for the test meal.

For the testmeal we cooked sweet and sour chicken. For starters there was vegetable soup and rolls, then the main course with rice and for dessert we had strawberries

and cream with angel delight. The presentation was brilliant, go hiontach, incroyable and the judges were very impressed. At the presentation at the end on Sunday we did win the plaque for cooking. On the final day of the Ted Ryan there was more bases. One base was the spiders web where ropes were tied between 2 trees and we had to slip through the web without touching it. It was then on to the bottle base. A bottle of water was in a square area and we had to get it out with pulleys, ropes, spars and sisal. We went to Bernard's base where we had to build a trestle and drag our team back and forth. It was off to the roller coaster base then. We were given bamboo, elastic and some marbles and had to make a small rollercoaster. Following that we had to build the biggest tripod we possibly could and allow it to stand freely. The last base was a memorising base held by Billy Collins. we went into a tent and had to remember as many items as possible. We got about 23 out of 30. When the bases were over we headed back to the tents to get ready for the final inspection which went fairly okay.

After mass they held the presentations. First was the Louis Murphy competition results. In 3rd place was Ballygunner, 2nd was the 3rd DLS (us) and first was St. Pauls. They also won the cooking, campcraft and bases prizes. It was then onto the Ted Ryan teams. In 4th place was Ballygunner, 3rd was Faithlegg, 2nd was us and first was St. Pauls. We did win the public speaking, cooking and campcraft to our delight. St. Pauls were the overall winners of the Regional Shield.

This is the summarised version of the training for the Melvin. The full version is in the written log. But anyway you should still get the picture that we did an ass load of training!

We waited a week after the end of the Ted Ryan before we started Melvin training. On Monday the 26th of June we began with an assessment of our performance on the Ted Ryan. After a rigorous assessment we decided we needed a more efficient cleaning rota as we didn't have enough time to clean up after the testmeal. John Cummins said that he was delighted with the Louis Murphy competition and that St.Pauls had deserved to win. On Tuesday the 27th of June we started at 11.30am building the table and the dresser.

We gave a couple of days building the entire site. The first two were on the 12th and 17th of July. 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. Camp was coming up soon but we kept up our training during the week nights with more scout skills. We had also started to prepare the public speaking.

From Saturday the 29th of July to the 4th of August we forgot about the Melvin and headed off on Annual Camp 1998 which was held at Fethard on Sea in Co. Wexford. It was a brilliant Camp and full details are available on our Annual Camps page. 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. On Friday the 11th of august we tried our hand at some pioneering with an excellent production of the Brynbach tower and on Monday the 14th of August we gave one last full run through the campcraft. That night we dared to camp where very few people have camped before - right in the middle of Waterford City. We should add that we were also enclosed behind the 800 year old city walls. That was the end of our real training sessions. The Melvin was upon us and we were to leave Waterford at 1.00pm on Wednesday the 16th for Larch Hill.

If it wasn't for the last minute nothing would be done. The last week before a Melvin is always pretty amazing. Pages of lists (for gear, shopping, logs etc.) have to be written out and checked off, uniforms have to be dug out and checked, personal gear as well as troop gear has to be packed, finishing touches are added to the Pre Melvin Log, ulcers start to develop and so on.

The competition starts on a Thursday so Wednesday morning is the time when all the gadget wood, trek carts, boxes and tents have to be loaded onto the trailer which is to be pulled by the minibus. Eventually it all does fit (even if it is 20 feet of the ground). Paschal also gives his last "go out and do your best and enjoy yourselves" talk and eventually we set off to the Melvin.

"So long and thanks for all the fish" as the dolphins said before they left earth.
If it wasn't for the help of lots of people we would never have arrived in Dublin on Thursday the 17th of August.
Thanks to our long suffering and ever patient Scoutleader Paschal Guilfoyle and his assistants Bernard Cunningham and David Collins (Ginter).
Thanks to Betty Guilfoyle for letting Paschal out for about two months.
Thanks to everyone else who we forgot to mention (the cheques are in the post).


Paschal Guilfoyle SL	Bernard Cunningham ASL	David Collins ASL

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.

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.