Due to its growth our Group is currently seeking new leaders, particularly for the Scout section. The good news is that it's never been easier to become a Cub or Scout Leader! Support your kids, help the community, learn some new skills and have a great time. Please speak to the Group Leader for further details. Remember – it is YOUR Group and we need YOUR support.
1st Russell Vale Scouts has claimed a major victory, winning the hard-fought and prestigious Pig Skin competition.
The annual competition is for Scouts in the South Coast and Tablelands region, a huge area stretching from Helensburgh in the north down to the Victorian border, and west past Cooma.
The three-day event, held this year in the rugged area behind Wandandian on the South Coast, requires teens and pre-teens to draw on all their physical and mental reserves. The terrain includes a hill so steep it is known as ‘the widowmaker’.
If you’ve ever felt concern for the development of teenagers in this digital age, take heart. The 100-plus participants showed impressive determination, self-reliance and teamwork.
Split into “patrols” of four, the Scouts (aged 11 to 15) had to carry all their own food, tents and sleeping gear, clothes and supplies. They were given basic co-ordinates and then had to find their own way through dense bushland to a series specified posts. On completion of each day’s route, the young adventurers had to set up their own camp and cook their own food.
“It’s a very sought-after trophy,” says John Osseweyer, Scouts’ District Commissioner, Keirawarra. “It’s a huge achievement for the kids who won it. They showed wonderful teamwork and leadership, and that’s what Scouts is all about.”
The honour was doubled when the leader of the winning group, “the Tasmanian Tigers”, 14-year-old Bridy Garnon was named Best Patrol Leader. “My patrol was stoked,” says Garnon. “And I felt great because it’s the first time Russell Vale has won anything like that.”
In fact, the 1st Russell Vale story is one of triumph over the odds. In the past few years the troop had an enforced move after losing its Bellambi hall, and numbers dropped so low it almost disbanded. Now, however, with a new base in Robson Street, and a solid enrolment of Scouts and the younger Cubs, it is thriving.
Each Monday evening during term time happy, energetic children and their parents gather at the hall in Harry Henson Park, where the Pig Skin is proudly displayed and new members are warmly welcomed. As Bridy Garnon explains, “We’re all friends and we co-operate together. Everyone’s learning something.”
