Last weekend we competed in The Phoenix Challenge in Larch Hill, Dublin.

The Phoenix is the national scouting competition. To qualify for it you must first place either first or second in your county shield.

This year’s Phoenix had 41 troops competing. The format of the competition was slightly different with 2 teams from each troop taking part rather then one.

The first team is The Campcraft team. There side of the competition was more or less based on the traditional Melvin weekend. Their sites went up on Thursday. On Friday morning there was a pioneering competition where each patrol had to build a monkey bridge, then they were given two hours to complete several scouting tasks such as light a fire using flint and build an alpine stretcher. Then that evening was the test meal and sketch competitions. On Saturday the team spent the day doing bases around the grounds of Larch Hill with a trade fair and disco that evening.

The second team were The Mountain team. They left Larch Hill on Thursday afternoon and were bussed to the Wicklow Mountains. After walking a few kilometres to their campsite they set up their tents and cooked their dinners. On the Friday the patrol took part in a hike with several bases located along the route followed by a campfire that evening. On Saturday there was more hiking and bases to be completed before returning to Larch hill that evening for the trade fair and the disco.

Both teams did amazingly well reaching a gold standard which only 2 other troops in the country received. Well done to all our 11 lads who took part in the competition. Hopefully not too many of those names will change for next years Phoenix in Cork.

Mountain Team:	Expedition Team:
Shane Maher	Stephen Kelleher
Dennis Desmond	Brian Considine
Barry O’ Sullivan	Jamie Walsh
Keith O’ Regan
James Maher
Diarmuid O'Callaghan
Leigh Doyle
Michael Marouf

Camp Report

Inter Patrol Marking System

The Information pack should answer most of the questions that you might have about camp.

The gear lsit covers all the items you will need. (Please try to stick to this closely)

Lastly, if you are buying new gear please take a look at our list of recommended equitment, there's no point buying a sleeping bag fit for Everest, when we're sleeping in Kilcully.

Parent's Information Pack
Gear List
Recommended Scouting Equipment

Petersburg Outdoor Education Centre

PL's Note
Camp Booklet

Last weekend the annual campcraft competition and the second part of the shield took place in Kilcully. The weekend is about testing scouts in a broad range of skills, but focusing on living and being self sufficient on a camping field.

There is a lot of work that goes into preparing for the campcraft weekend. 8 scouts between the ages of 11 and 15 are expected to be able to build and take care of a campsite, prepare a sketch, design a raft, cook a test meal, write a log, etc. So for everyone involved the competition really starts weeks and months beforehand, learning and perfecting all these skills.

The weekend begins with a quick opening ceremony. I can't speak for our scouts this weekend, but I can remember when I was on the patrol there were some serious butterflies in my stomach and that's something that has never left me when I see the scouts run up the field to their sites.

The Patrols are given 3 hours to start their sites on the Friday night. In this time it is expected that their tents will be pitched and the rest of the site started. The teams are also given a couple of extra hours the following morning. That night we held a céile in the storm shelter. It was great to do something different on the Friday night and although people were tired I think everyone enjoyed it.

On the Saturday morning the Patrols are given more time to finish the campsite, then its off to the Lee Fields to take part in a raft race on the river. The scout troops have to supply there own rafts and are given about an hour and a half to build them. The race is a really exciting event. A lot of parents and other people involved in scouts come to this event to cheer on their scouts. I'm delighted to say that 3rd Cork took gold in the construction of the raft as well as the race itself.

There isn't a whole lot of free time on the weekend. The minute the lads get back from the raft race it's time for them to start thinking about the test meal and then the sketch later on that night. Some of our younger scouts camped out with us on the Saturday night. They got to go to the camp fire and see the sketches as well as camp through one of the wettest nights that I've seen and it was great to see them all the next morning with a smile on their faces.

Results:

Overall Shield Trophy:
Shield Champions	3rd Cork

Expedition Trophy:
Expedition Winners	3rd Cork
Backpacking Skills	3rd Cork
Log Book	3rd Cork
Bases	46th/92nd Cork
Pioneering	21st/71st Cork

Campcraft Trophy:
Campcraft Winners	3rd Cork
Campcraft Section	3rd Cork
Raft	3rd Cork
Log Book	21st/71st Cork
Sketch	25th Cork
Test Meal	29th Cork
Leader Assisted	12th Cork
Baden Powell Spirit Award	53rd Cork

The Patrol:

Shane Maher
Peter Cronin
Stephen Kelleher
Danny O'Sullivan
Brian Considine
Denis Desmond
Barry O'Sullivan
Jason Hawthorn





Both 3rd Cork Cubs and Scouts were also awarded gold for the year which is a great achievement.

Congratulations to the 20 lads involved in both weekends. We don't have to look at the results to know what a great job you did, but it's nice to glance up at them anyway...

Lastly I'd like to say how great it was to see so many old and new 3rd cork faces at the closing ceremony. Whether they were Scout Leaders, ex Leaders, Cub Leaders, Scouts, Parents or ex Scouts, it was great to see that 3rd Cork still means a lot to so many people.

After a very cold night, we woke on Saturday and began the hike; it was a lovely clear day but extremely windy. There were some fantastic sites including Mount Mellerary from the top of Knockmeal and Knocknafallia.

Reaching the peak of Knockmealdown was tough, with strong winds and a tough climb, but fair play to the lads; they conquered it with no troubles. From the top of Knockmealdown, we headed for high camp. Stew was on the menu for dinner and it was lovely. Bar of golden crisp with a cup of tea for dessert, magic.

Last weekend (12th – 13th of April) we took part in the annual Projects competition. It was held in Glenshelane Woods near Mt Mellary. 8 different scout troops and 11 teams took part in the competition. 3rd Cork entered 2 teams.

The weekend began with a short hike into the woods. On arrival at the campsite, all patrols were given time to pitch their tents before the bases begun. There were 2 base sections. Section 1 consisted of 5, 30 minute bases. They were, First aid, Semaphore and Estimation, Compass work, Backwoods and a challange base. In section 2 everyone had 2 hours to construct a ballista after which each patrol were given water balloons that they could fire at their P.L.

After the bases there was still no time to relax. The dinner had to be cooked and the Log book had to be started. That evening there was a camp fire. I think everyone enjoyed the sit down as well as the heat from the fire.

Well done to the 14 lads who were involved in the competition. Check out the photos here.

The 3rd Cork troop won both the under 13 and under 16 County Soccer Tournamment, held in Kilcully on March 02nd. The weather was great and the pitches lined out so it had all the signs of a good day.

We had 2 under 13 teams and 1 under 16 team, with a total of 25 teams taking part in both competitions. All our teams progressed through the group stages comfortably and got through to the semi finals. Unfortantely our under 13 B team got knocked out in the semis while our other teams got through to the final, with the under 16's final going into penalties.

Well done lads (Check out the pictures of the teams in our gallery)

A great day was had by all.

Under 13 A
Jason Hawthorne
Cian Kelleher
Luke Cassidy
Brian O Leary
Leigh Doyle
Scott McKenzie
James Maher

Under 13 B
Keith O Regan
Barry O Sullivan
Liam O Gorman
Diarmuid O Callaghan
Ross Marshall
Alan Hegarty
Michael O Donovan

Under 16
Glen O Donovan
Shane Maher
Stephen Kelleher
Peter Cronin
Denis Desmond
Danny O Sullivan

Yours in Scouting
John Maher

I remember writing in the guest book of Curraghchase all of 10 years ago something about “finding something in Curraghchase and some day we would come back to reclaim it.” Sounds all a bit strong I know but it was my first weekend as scout leader of the troop and it was the start of something big. (I think I took it from Bob Dylan album somewhere, so sorry Bob, for the next time you log in :) )

Ten years on I’m glad that Curraghchase is one of our regular weekend spots. This weekend we held the “The Base Challenge Weekend”. It was a first for our new patrols and especially for our new Court of Honour, Dennis, Brian and Jamie. All patrols made a great effort in all 5 bases. I think from talking to our scouts that the Fire lighting base was the most popular with “The Water transport” coming a close second. All the leadership team were very happy with the attitude of the 4 patrols during the day. With a couple more events I think we will be in great shape for the “competition end” of year. The results will be announced this Friday night and posted on the site over the weekend.
You can download the bases in Important Documents to find out what type of challenges we took part in

The highlight of the weekend must be the “Rocket launch” session we had on Saturday morning. Eamonn did a great job getting all the parts together and giving the instructions out on how to make the best rocket. We spent a couple of hours launching the 2littre bottle into the air trying to break the height record. I think it’s safe to say we reached a height of about 70 meters. I hope you will get a sense of how high the bottle flew from the photographs in our Gallery. On Saturday night we held a campfire which we weld enjoyed. Job well done to all involved.

Yours in Scouting
Graham Hayes

You can also find the handout from last friday night here which contains a gearlist for the weekend and some details about it.

First of all well done to everyone for getting your uniforms up to scratch. If we keep that level up for the next few weeks I'm sure we'll do well in the inspection. Remember it can happen at anytime this month.

There's now a campsavings list up on the site. The camp saving's list will be updated regularly so keep an eye on it. This will give you an (unlosable) record of how much you've paid off for camp.

A new feature to be found in the galleries is the image. We're still working with the logistics of it but it should help you spotting when old galleries get new pictures or new galleries are created.

Finally don't forget that on the 22nd of Febuary we're going to Curraghchase Scout Centre. You'll find out more about it in the next week or two. For the moment have a look at their website. (not as good as ours i'd say)

Carrauntoohill, being the tallest mountain in Ireland, was left up to our older lads to conquer. Our 4 PLs and our Venturer group went on this hike. About 20 brave souls went in all. They left before day break and took about 5 ½ hours to reach the summit. While the reports that came back said that it wasn’t as hard as they’d originally thought, I think they deserve to be congratulated on a job well done.

The rest of the scout troop went up Mangerton. There were 21 3rd Cork scouts and about 60 scouts in total from other troops such as 21st/71st Cork, Cobh sea Scouts, Youghal and Little Island. We left St Patricks Church at 9:00am and got to the car park by Tork waterfall about 10:15. When we got there we all got kitted out and left in search of the summit. Parts of the hike were tough going, but all our lads were well able for it. Also to the guys who were helping the leaders make sure that nobody got left behind, well done to you too.

John “The Chicken King” Grace, one of the Producers of “The Story Of The 3rd Cork 2003-2004 – Volume 1” also joined us on the hike. He’s in training because later this year he plans on climbing to base camp on Mt Everest, the tallest mountain in the world. I think I speak for all of us when I say good luck.

By the end of the day everyone had one thing in mind… Food. After the hike on the way home we stopped off for some Burgers and Chips. In my personal opinion some of the nicest I’ve ever tasted.

Last year we were lucky enough to go on 3 of them. Munster, Leinster and Connacht. While they are challenging, they’re also a lot of fun where you get to meet other scouts from all over the country, Every scout should aspire to go on at least one. Have a look at the photos and tell us what you think.

There's also a weekend to Curraghchase Scout centre in Limerick coming up at the end of Febuary and an investiture in March. Hope to see you all there.

The video contains photos from France and Clonbur as well as activities and competitions we took part in, in 2004.

Also to your right there is a countdown to camp (which scares me a little) and some handy forms which should be of interest to new members as well as ex-scouts.

Clonbur is one of the best campsites in the Country. They do great actrivities such as river gorging, caving, canoeing and rock climbing. As someone who was a scout the last time we went there I would say that it is still one of my favourite camps.