This was our 10th year in a row attending the Phoenix Challenge/Melvin. The weekend was based in Mt Mellary Scout Centre with the campcraft portion of the weekend taking place a few miles away because of last minute changes. The Expedition part of the competition was held in Glenshelane woods, we’re our own county projects was held 2 years ago.

The format for this years Phoenix was a lot like last years with 8 members of the team on the Campcraft Patrol and 4 on the Expedition Patrol.

The mountain team left for Glenshelane Woods on Thursday afternoon. Upon arrival they set up their tents, cooked dinner and prepared a route card for the following day. On Friday the troops left early that morning and started a hike which would take them across the mountains around Melleray centre. The patrols were expected to use their compasses to make sure they were going in the right direction and pick up little markers on the way.

That evening, after a short rest and some dinner, they then had to partake in a Score Orienteering event based around Glenshelane Woods. The next morning started with bases where the patrols’ Scouting knowledge were tested in areas such as Fire lighting, outdoor cooking and river crossing. That evening they rejoined the campcraft patrol for dinner and the rest of the event.

The campcraft patrol was kept just as busy over the course of the weekend. They spent most of Thursday setting up their campsite, Then that evening each patrol had to come up with their own version of the New Zeland All Black's “Haka”. The Haka’s were marked by each PL with the top 8 patrols going on to perform at the main campfire on Saturday evening. On the Friday the patrols were bussed to their base location. The first base was to build a raft so they could complete challenges on the water. In the 2nd section, each patrol had to build a Ballista. Yet again when they got back on site, their day wasn’t finished. They still had to cook their Test Meal and complete an environmental base.

On the Saturday there were 2 more base sections. In the morning there was a craft base ran by our own Eamonn Kiely and in the afternoon the patrol had to complete 30 minute bases testing their First Aid, Compass, Ropework and backwoods abilities. During the campfire that night we were chosen to perform our Haka infront of over 400 people. An experience I’m sure the lads won’t forget.

As you can see from above the lads are very busy over the 4 days, but yet again they were able to keep their energy levels and spirits high enough to reach a Gold standard for the second year running. And even more impressively this year we got to take home the All-Ireland Campcraft Trophy. This trophy is awarded for having the best campcraft site as well as the best expedition site and keeping it that way over the 4 days of the competition. It’s been said to me a couple of times that 3rd Cork set their eyes on this trophy way back in 1993, long before a lot of us, including myself knew what the 3rd Cork was. It’s a massive achievement that we’re all very proud to be apart of. Well done to the 12 lads who pulled it off.

Campcraft Patrol
Shane Maher
Barry O’Sullivan
Keith O’Regan
Ollie MacMorrow
Diarmuid O’Callaghan
Leigh Doyle
Cathal O’Callaghan
Stephen Pardy

Expedition Patrol
Denis Desmond
James Maher
Luke Cassidy
Aaron O’Callaghan








Phoenix 2009 3rd Cork Results
Phoenix 2009 Photos
Almost Perfect!

For camp we went back to Gilwell Park which is located just outside London. Gilwell is considered the international home for Scouting and therefore it sees a lot of scouts from a lot of different countries visit each year. This is the third time 3rd Cork has used the site in the last 10 years, 2005 and 1999 being our last visits.

This year because the troop recently bought a van, 2 leaders, Eamonn and Simon travelled over on the boat the day before with all the gear in the back. We flew over the following day and met them at the campsite. When we arrived we found our site and started setting up. The process usually takes 2 days before we can really call it home.

As part of this year's interpatrol competition, each patrol were given one gadget to design and build which had to serve the entire troop. Eagle built a dresser to store the plates, cups and cutlery. Curlew built a waist disposal area. Swift built a washing area and The Fox patrol built a clothes line. Gadgets were marked on their quality, whether or not they could service the entire troop and how they held up over the 2 weeks on camp.

We travelled to London centre 3 times. To get to London we got a train from Chingford Station to Liverpool Street Station which took about 25 minutes. Once there, we went to The London Dungeons, The London Eye, The War Museum, The Natural History Museum, Wembley Stadium, Hyde Park aswell as others. For our 4th Tour day we went to Thorpe Park. It was by far the best/scariest Theme park I’ve ever been to.

In Gilwell Park itself, there was also plenty to do. We took part in many of their activities and had our usual base and sports days. I could keep writing but I think it’s better for you just to take a look for yourselves so go ahead and have a look at all our pictures and our newest video “Reigning” to check out all that we did on camp.

At this years Phoenix we were lucky enough to come away with the Campcraft trophy and a Gold standard for the second year running. We’ll be adding a lot more about the Phoenix over the next few days, but for now, take a look at the photos of the competition on our Gallery page.

Camp Photos
Phoenix Photos
Camp Video (Reigning)

Camp Report
Interpatrol Campcraft results
Interpatrol Bases results

DOWNLOAD A Different Angle.

The 3rd Cork Scout troop sent a team to the Leinster MPC, held in Wicklow this weekend. The team consisted of Luke Cassidy, James Maher, Diarmuid O'Callaghan, Ross Marshall, John Maher and Finbarr Burns.

We arrived at check in on Friday night and headed for base camp. On Saturday morning we woke to miserable weather. The lads did incredibly well to make it to the top of Lybagh in these terrible conditions. From Lybagh, we headed to Slievemann where the weather improved greatly.

From Slievemann – we headed for the summit – Lugnaquillia (925m), the highest mountain in Leinster. The views from the top were brilliant. We then headed over to Clohernagh 800m and down to Kelly's Lough, high camp.

Chicken curry was on the menu for dinner and then the lads got to know the other groups. A god nights sleep was had. We awoke Sunday to a glorious day; the sun was splitting the stones. We hiked back to the car park without getting lost :) well maybe a small bit lost.

Well done to all the lads

Yours in Scouting
John Maher

I’m delighted to report that for the forth year running we have retained the Shield Trophy. Congratulations to both our Expedition and Campcraft teams who won their events respectively. Both Patrols finished with over 90% of the points on offer which is a major achievement for us. The leadership team have been thrilled with all of our members taking part in the competition. The attitude and effort all through training and certainly on the weekend was fantastic. A personal thanks and well done is owed to all our leadership team for an excellent performance.

Congratulations to 21st /71st Cork & 46th / 92nd Cork on their result and also to the 12th Cork Scouts for their achievements. Thanks also to our own John Maher and his team for running two excellent weekends again. I’d also like to thank all those who congratulated us on our victory on Sunday. As always it means a lot.

Yours in Scouting

Graham Hayes
3rd Cork Scouts SL

Its been awhile since we updated the Gallery so here's some new photos to keep you going:

Phoenix 2008
Investiture 2009
The Challenge 2009
Soccer Tournment 2009
Projects Competition 2009

Last weekend the Expedition competition was held in Fota Woods’ Scout Centre with some parts taking place in the Little Island Scout hall.

We’d like to say a big well done to our Swift patrol, who did a great job in the competition. We feel the Expedition event this year was a major success with the training being more streamlined, the attitude and commitment from the 8 on the patrol being as good as ever and our general performance being very good and hard working.

In my opinion the Expedition is the most challenging competition that we take part in. It’s a very long day with a lot of things expected of the scouts. They all checked in at 9am, Then following a gear inspection, the lads hiked a few kilometres into the woods. When they arrived at the campsite they put up their tents and started thinking about what they’d need in the afternoon. The afternoon Bases were split into 2 sections. The first was held in little Island Scout hall where he patrol had 2 hours to build a monkey bridge. Then in the afternoon the patrols were brought back to Fota where they were tested in 5, 30 minute bases that covered First Aid, Knots, Backwoods, Teamwork and Compass work.

And after all that there was still A Sketch Map, A Log Book and A Route Card to be finished, a test meal to cook and tents to fix. All in all a lot to get done in 24 hours, that is why I don’t say it lightly when I say that the lads did a great job throughout the day.

It’s now over to the Campcraft patrol to do what they can, to try to retain the Shield. I hope to see a lot of familiar 3rd Cork faces on the field next Sunday (May 3rd).

3rd Cork Scouts
Expedition 2009 – 11th of April

Meeting at the Hut on Saturday Morning at 8am. 2 leaders Cars will drop the patrol to Fota.

Will be back in the Hut on Sunday at 12.45pm.

See Gear list and please bring a packed Lunch for the Saturday Hike.

Cost is €20 per scout.

The Challenge made a very welcome return after two years out of our Program. This years Challenge took place in the windy but very beautiful Gap of Dunloe. The troop broke up into two patrols, the Red and Blue patrols. Each patrol were set the task of walking through the Gap of Dunloe (9kms). Along the way there were a series of bases. Many of the bases were 10 minute challenges such as boil water on a gas ring, estimate a distance, make a knot board and the measure the speed of the river. The other bases were a compass challenge, semiphore and a First aid challenge.

Both Patrols did very well in the challenges, but the thing I was most impressed with was the fact that the whole troop completed the walk without any problem. I firmly believe that it takes a really good scout troop to get everyone to complete a long hike in wind and rain. A big well done to the Court of Honour.

After our Hike we settled in the Black Valley Hostel for the night. We all watched the Irish game before heading to bed. Sunday we took the long walk back to be picked up by our bus in Kate Kearneys Cottage.

The Challenge
Please Note: If you are interested in being on one of our Shield Patrols then this is a very important event.
Two Patrols to be picked, this will be based on the troop Shield Patrols.
Two Patrols will be called the Red and the Blue Patrols.
      (They can wear these colour’s if they wish)

Where and how
Each Patrol will start their Challenge at Kate Kearney’s Cottage.
One of the two Patrols will take the Bus down to Killarney.
The other will take spins down.
There will be a gap of 30 minutes between each of the patrols at all time.
      This Challenge is not a Race.
Patrols will Hike the Gap of Dunloe Stopping at Bases / Challenges along the way. The Gap is a 9km walk which is perfect for any scout.

The Bases / Challenges
Each Base will be Exactly 25 minutes. No longer or Shorter. These will be a series of scouting Skills done in a fun manor with a chance for the patrol to ask any questions after the base.

• Rope work base
• First Aid / Emergencies Base
• Team building Base
• Communications base (Semaphore)
• Compass Mapping Challenge

Also, there will be a number of tasks at the Hostel for each patrol.

• Speed Log writing
• Route Card
• Estimation / Observation Photograph Challenge
• Meal preparation

The Shield Sketch
On the Saturday night the leaders and scouts will try to make up the sketch

The Possible Shield Patrols
Below is a list, these Patrols Are not in any order.

The Scouts that will be picked to represent our troop in the shield will be judged on Commitment first and ability second.

The Red Patrol - Campcraft	The Blue Patrol - Expedition
Shane Maher	Brian Considine
Barry O'Sullivan	Diarmuid O'Callaghan
Denis Desmond	Jame Maher
Keith O'Regan	Ross Marshall
Ollie MacMorrow	Luke Cassidy
Leigh Doyle	Brian O'Leary
Jason Hawthorn	Stephen Pardy
Aaron O'Callaghan	Declan O'Leary
Darren Pardy	Ethan Bonner
Shane O'Brien	Cathal O'Callaghan
Eoghan Cronin	Connor Considine
Dijon Coffee	Jordan walsh

The first 3rd Cork Investiture took place 79 Years ago in the old Arcadia on the Lower Road. We always view our Investitures as the most important event on our calendar along with camp and I can safely say that this year’s investiture was bigger and better then any I had been to in previous years.

Events began with a guard of honour, welcoming the Chief Scout and his wife to The Hut. Ray Lockheed, the appointed Chairman for the day, then started the ceremony with the scout prayer followed by an introduction to the investiture. After that came the awards. 16 scouts were invested on the day with others receiving their Explorer, Star and National awards. Then we gave out our own personal Scout of the year awards for best new Scout, Scout uniform and overall Scout of the year. A small presentation was then given to Paula, our 3rd Cork Cub leader for almost 10 years who stepped back from the role earlier this year, but is still involved in the troop.

As everyone is probably well aware, last year saw us achieve the Gold Standard in The Phoenix so we were delighted to welcome the Chief Scout; Michael John Shinnick who was there to present the trophy to our 2 PLs, Stephen Kelleher and Shane Maher.

The last thing on the agenda was a performance of our Phoenix sketch followed by the first showing of our new DVD "A Footprint" We'd like to thank everyone who turned out on the day to support us. We hope to see you all again at our next big event.

Tracker Award:
Leigh Doyle	James Maher
Aaron O’Callaghan	Ethan Bonner
Eoghan Cronin	Darren Pardy
Diarmuid O’Callaghan	Jason Hawthorn
Stephen Pardy	Ollie MacMorow
Declan O’Leary	Connor Considine
Cathal O’Callaghan	Jordan Walsh
Shane O’Brien	Dijon Coffey
Explorer Award:
Keith O’Regan	Barry O’Sullivan
Ross Marshall	James Maher
Leigh Doyle	Jason Hawthorn
Brian Considine	Ollie Macmorrow
Luke Cassidy	Ethan Bonner
Brian O’Leary	Denis Desmond
Diarmuid O’Callaghan
Star Award:
Stephen Kelleher	Shane Maher
Leadership Award:
Shane Maher
National Award:
Shane Maher

We will look at making Monkey bridges at out troop weekend on the last weekend in March.

I can’t help but notice that all these logbook reports are being written by the leaders. All scouts are welcome to write a report. Send it to me or Kevin and we will put it. Don’t worry about how good or bad the spellings are we will fix it up. Looking forward to our next event..

Yours in Scouting
Graham Hayes

As you can see from the giant countdown clock above (which i find slightly unsettling), camp is quickly approaching. All the information we have on camp can be found on this page. We'll be updating it regularly so make sure you keep checking back.

The troop spent a great scouting weekend in a number of our favourite places over the weekend. Following a great weekly meeting on Friday, we headed for Fota Woods on Saturday morning. The scouts got the train in their patrols and arrived at the woods in great form.

There were 5 bases when they arrived at the woods - Building a zip line, stretcher building, fire lighting, water survival base and the “All new Pitch a Tent in the Fastest Time” base. The weather was fine but just as we headed home the skies opened.

Back to the Hut for some “Chicken Curry – 3rd Cork Style” – after dinner the scouts chilled out playing soccer. We headed out to Leigh Dale Cottage where we settled in and played a few game – “Matthew, Mark, Luke and John” – Big Brother Eviction Style was well enjoyed by all – well done to the winners.

After breakfast on Sunday morning we headed home after a great weekend. A lot of scouting covered and a great spirit amongst the troop. Looking forward to the next few months programme.

Yours in Scouting
John Maher

This week the site is officially 1 year old. It first went up in October 2007, but didn't get its official lauch until the following January. In that time we've had 14,552 page views from 3,689 visits. That means people are looking at roughly 4 pages per visit. We have posted 38 different items on the news page, uploaded 2031 pictures and 5 videos to the site. We've had people from 28 different countries checking us out from places like Australia, Sri lanka and Pakistan. All the red dots show the location of different people who found our site.

While those Numbers can only get bigger in the future we have a couple of ideas to make the website even better so make sure you all keep checking back.

This photo of one of our scouts really sums up that day for me.

This photo was taken on one of the first days of camp in Austria. We all rented out mountain bikes and ended up finding this suspension bridge. It's a picture of the forty of us lined up across the bridge. What makes this photo funny is that the following week we were told that if we had to use the bridge, to make sure we only crossed in groups of 5.

When we finally get around to releasing that album we've been working on, this will be the cover shot. People are supposed to not be smiling.

I took this with my mobile phone. I can't remember where it was taken but that silhouette in front of the fire is John Maher... One of my more artier photographs.

The pioneering competition is always one of the best events on our calendar and last year was no differnet. This shot shows the distance of one of the catapults launches. Pretty impressive.

This was taken on our last night in clonbur. The sun was just setting when we sat down to have the final camp fire. It's a great shot.

The mine workers finishing after a hard days work. This was taken just after we finished caving in Clonbur this year.

This is another one of the pictures taken by me. We were on the train returning from a tour in London. As you can see by the two Mahers in the photograph it was an exhausting day.

Not everyone is a fan of this picture, but i really like it. It was taken by a cottage we stayed in, near the Galtee mountains. The place had no electricity and if i remember correctly, it was pretty cold.

I'm putting a list together of my 10 favourite photos currently on the site and the reason why they were chosen. If you have any suggestions at all please leave them in the comments section of this story or on our guestbook. I'll put the list up on Friday the 19th of this month and unless you want 10 photo's of me, you'll make some suggestions.

Finally, be sure to have a look at the Camp 08 gallery which has been updated with new photos courtesy of Timms. You'll find all the new photos towards the end of the gallery

This year we took part in the annual FRED competition held in Mount Mellary.

Four other troops took part. Throughout the weekend there was a whole load of activities on offer. On Saturday there was Soccer, Basketball, Handball, Racketball, Gaelic Football, Volleyball and Archery. Then in the evening everybody got together in the games room where there was darts, pool and table tennis being played. Sunday morning was also filled with running races, tough men challanges and tug-of-war events. It was a hectic weekend with little time to rest for the scouts.

The camp fire, I loved it. Jason Hawthorne, Eagle Patrol

The windsurfing because I never did anything like that before. Ollie MacMorow, Eagle Patrol.

Catching frogs. Keith O'Regan, Eagle Patrol.

I Can't pick one, I just loved every part of it. Dennis Desmond, Curlew Patrol.

When I went caving with Moyney and Timms. Diarmuid O'Callaghan, Swift Patrol.

Being in the tent with Barry and the lads. Mocking Billy and Simon, ha funniest. "V for gammy" ha-ha. Shane Maher, Fox Patrol PL.

The tour to Salt Hill. I enjoyed the swimming and the fun-fair. Stephen Kelleher, Eagle Patrol PL.

John and his attempts to scare the sheep off site every morning and Timms and the corner guy of our leaders tent........ who put that there!!!!!!. Overall I think the laugh in the Marquee has got to be up there for all the troop. "you could be anywhere" isn't that right john. Eamonn Kiely, Assistant Scout Leader

The closing ceremony, it was very exciting and the campfire was very emotional, it was my last, bye lads!! Glenn O'Donovan, Swift Patrol PL.

When Jason took out the main guys when we were taking down the tent and the tent fell over. Barry O' Sullivan, Fox Patrol.

The Abseiling, it was brilliant. Declan O'Leary, Eagle Patrol.

Being the witness in the incident report from when Billy broke his finger on the river gorging or when I watched Timms fall head over heels over a tent guy!! Funny stuff. Simon Kelleher, Assistant Scout Leader.

The time when we were walking back from the shop and a guy in a Nissan Skyline did a drift. Aaron O'Callaghan, Eagle Patrol.

When we were kayaking and we nearly drowned the instructor on work experience ha-ha! Brian O'Leary, Curlew Patrol.

I loved all the activities, especially the rock climbing. Jamie Walsh, Swift Patrol.

Mass, it made me feel good about not becoming a priest. Paul Hayes, Assistant Scout Leader.

Every night in the tent. Ross Marshall,Fox Patrol.

The abseiling was brilliant. Michael O'Donovan, Swift Patrol.

When Paula and Myself decided to hide one night under the ping pong table to frighten the male scout leaders coming back from the shop. We were crouched down under the table eagerly awaiting their arrival, when we saw a dark figure walking into the woods alone. Myself and Paula started to freak out. Palpitations were beginning to take affect. Now instead of being the hunters we had become the hunted! After 2 minutes of anxious paranoia under the ping-pong table, Moyney emerged from the woods, but wait there's more. After the shock of seeing young Kevin appearing mysteriously from the dark woods, my accomplice proceeded to have a panic attack/stroke. The moral of the story is quite simple… Loitering under the table while Moyney's around can lead to heart problems. The End. Timms Quinlan, Assistant Scout Leader.

When myself, John and Simon were sitting down by the water, really late one night and it started to rain. We spent 30 minutes trying to ignore it before it finally beat us and we went to bed, Crough Patrick was great too. Kevin Moynihan. Assistant Scout Leader.