Troop News and Views

Troop News and Views
Troop 1, Gaylord
January 2009

We wish all of you scouts and scout families a very happy and prosperous new year and a rewarding scouting experience. We are sending along a few notes to supplement the troop calendar and permission slips for the wood carving and Headlands events.

January 13th & February 10th, Wood Carving. The Gaylord carving club is hosting a carving class for us next Tuesday at the Gaylord Masonic Center on South Otsego in Gaylord. This is located just north of Pro Source Rental and south of Peach Lutheran Church. Scouts should not bring their own knives to the first session. The training is from 6:30 to about 8:15 and is put on by members of the club. Scouts who do wish to obtain the wood carving merit badge may do so and we anticipate a follow up meeting on February 10th where the project completed can be displayed. No age OR RANK restrictions. This should be fun. Make sure you bring the permission slip attached to this newsletter to the carving class.

Because of the carving class on Tuesday, there will be no troop meeting next Wednesday.

Headlands, January 23-25. This is a classic Troop 1 Trip and this year should be no exception. We leave Friday night and come back Sunday morning. Outdoor activities are the order the of the day but indoor activities usually take the form of games, fiddling around (adult terminology) with electronics which are permitted on this trip, and snow shelter building. Sign ups on the 7th and 13th. We may need an additional driver or two depending on the sign ups.

Pinewood Derby Car Races for Pack 1 will be in January and Pack 3’s are not yet announced. We usually provide help with set up, car weigh in and running the race. Stand by.

February 7th-Klondike Derby; Pending Trip to Andreas Cabin. The annual derby always gets a good showing by our troops. Kevin and his staff will begin planning in January. How many sleds to we have now—with Dwayne on board I think 4—so no chance we will not be cancelled for transportation. Andreas Cabin pending date is 20-22 February. We will communicate when we know.

March 25th is our Sportsplex Lock in under our committee chair Tom Wagar and our awards chair Ann Wagar. Band director will be Jim Marsh, as usual. March 14th is the big day. . . er night, so be ready to volunteer. All night swimming, hockey and skating and eating.

March 25th is also the date of adult leader training indoor up in Petoskey. Have I asked any of you to join me there so as to be out of Tom and Ann’s way in the setup for the Lock in? Seriously, there will be needs for leaders in the troop over the next couple of years that will require the training—will you consider coming along? The second phase of the training is in April—the outdoor training—and that is much more fun. . . . have I mentioned that?

Spring Camporee is May 1-3 this year, and that is when the camping season officially opens. Opens means that cooking gear comes out of the trailer for the first time, so plan on it now.

Summer Camp for Troop 1 is June 21st to June 27th. We will have scouts in the Boundry Waters, Florida Sea Base and in Philmont, as well as working at Camp Greilick this year—but our younger scouts should all attend camp with us. We are going to make a special effort to really coach our scouts this year. Janet Hancock and I are thinking about the activities and advancements now and I can assure you that no scout that goes to Camp with us will have a bad experience. Late January and early February this year we will have a meeting for parents on summer camp. This will give our new scouts the chance to understand how camp works and – for mom and dad -- how our scouts pay for it.

Welcome to our 3 newest scouts—officially. Pack 1 scouts Noah M, Brandon P and Jim H have come on board and we are very happy to see them. They will be busy boys the next month or so getting up to speed under the tutelage of Nick C and Andrew H, two of our Eagles. And let’s not forget their parents Dwayne and Vicki, Jeff and Jacquie—welcome all.

That’s all for now. This has been handed out as well as posted to the Troop Site.

From the Scenic Trail I remain, very proud to be your scoutmaster-

Ken Arndt