Troop 4 Family Newsletter – January 25

Winter Sports Weekend

The annual NH Winter Sports Weekend is almost upon us. The Lanciano’s have once again graciously invited the troop to their mountainside cabin in Alexandria NH. Venture scouts (high school) are eligible to depart with the advance part on Friday. Ventures will meet and depart at the St. Mary’s Parish Center on Friday February 26th at 6pm. All other scouts will meet and depart at the Parish Center on Saturday February 27th at 800am. Scouts will return from the event for pickup at the Parish Center at 3pm on Sunday. All scouts should eat a meal before they arrive, as there will be no meal stop on the ride up north.

The weekend will be filled with winter activities such as snowshoeing, cross country skiing, shelter building, and other activities. The annual winter relay will be the Jamaican Bob Sled Relay; a high speed team challenge down the mountain. The winning sled team gets a snowmobile tow back to camp, losers have to walk! Scouts will design the course, and assign leaders to man the obscure corners for safety, and to catch short-cutters.

Ventures should eat dinner prior to arrival, and plan for an outdoor patrol breakfast on Saturday. All scouts should bring a bag lunch on Saturday, and will cook patrol style meals for Saturday dinner and Sunday breakfast. We’ll stop for a fast food lunch on the ride home. Meal planning will be done by scouts at the Feb 4th troop meeting. Meals will be cooked by patrols outdoors over their wood fire.

NEW THIS YEAR! – Your Saturday night patrol meal will be part of the 1st annual Troop 4 Outdoor Cooking contest. A fabulous patrol prize will be awarded to the winning patrol, and a bonus prize if you can top the adult dinner (good luck on that!). Details will be discussed in a special contest meeting scheduled for the Jan 28th troop meeting.

Scouts will be sleeping in the heated luxury of the Lanciano cabin ground level (aka basement). While no tents are required, scouts should bring their full complement of winter camping gear (see website checklist), including sleeping pad and sleeping bag. If you have a plastic sled, bring it along.

A permission slip for this event is due at the beginning of the Feb 4th Troop Meeting, in order to allow meal planning. Remember, as with all camping trips, if you sign up to go, and something comes up at the last minute, you must make arrangements to provide your assigned food items to your patrol leader. If you can’t go to the Feb 4th meeting, and want to go on the trip, you must call/email Phil Bedard before Feb 4th so that your patrol leader includes you in the plan.

Pancake Breakfast Update

It’s almost here. Thanks to all the scouts who are working hard to sell tickets and advertisements. All scouts should have picked up their initial 20 tickets to sell for the breakfast. It’s not too late to get more tickets, and cash in on the outstanding prizes to be given out to the top salesmen. See Mr.Bedard or Mr.Gallagher if you need more tickets. Cash/checks (payable to Troop 4) from ticket sales must be turned in at either the Jan 28th or Feb 4th troop meetings.

The pancake breakfast is one of more important troop events of the year. All scouts are expected to sell their initial $100 allotment of tickets and to participate at the event. The SPL has put together a plan with roles for all scouts. Plans will be discussed at the next troop meeting. If you can’t attend because of a serious schedule conflict, you MUST contact the SPL. The venture kitchen staff should report for KP no later than 630 AM sharp. Cooks should wear a Troop 4 T-Shirt. The wait staff (all other scouts) should arrive between 700 – 730AM for set-up and waiter training, and must be in regular Class A uniform. Looking forward to seeing you there!

January Winter Camping Trip and Christmas Tree Pick-up Report

The coldest troop campout on record! Sub-zero. Great time and performance by all. See the troop website for photos and the recent entry containing the full report.

Despite a snowy morning, we had a great turnout at the annual Christmas Tree pickup. The troop had a dozen scout volunteers (12 fold increase from last year!) and we raised $450. Thanks to all who helped out, including the adult drivers.

Pioneering Merit Badge

The Pioneering Merit badge continues at troop meetings. Most scouts have completed the basic knot & lashing requirements, and will be moving on soon to the ‘construction’ related requirements. The goal is to have participating scouts complete this badge by season’s end.

Merit Badge Night

The troop will be holding a merit badge night at the January 28th troop meeting. Scouts will receive a refresher on the merit badge process, and an introduction by merit badge councilors on a variety of eagle, and non-eagle required badges. Featured badges include, but may not be limited to, woodworking, home repair, cooking, citizenship (all 3), personal fitness, cycling, dog care, surveying and personal management. Scouts will have the opportunity to sign up for two badges on this night; one eagle required, and one regular.

Camp Resolute and Maine 50 Miler Canoe Trip

Plans are moving forward on the troop’s participation in two summer events; Camp Resolute, and the Maine 50 Miler Canoe Trip. Dates and details are posted on the troop website. An important date to remember: March 4th. That is the date that the $100 Maine canoe trip deposit is due. Our reservation will be based on the deposits that we turn over to the outfitter at this time, so please submit on time. On this same date, we will also be giving a presentation and information session for Camp Resolute. More details will be coming prior to the event.

Court of Honor

Please note that the next two Court of Honors have been moved one day earlier, and will now be held on Wed 2/24/09 and Wed 6/9/09. This change was made to accommodate a request from the Parish Center. This Court of Honor will feature TWO Eagle Scouts; TJ Fasulo, and Tim Brundrett. Tim is our most recent Eagle Scout, having just passed his Board of Review on January 19th. Congratulations!

Families should arrive at the ceremony at 630pm. Please be on-time, as it’s a busy night, and we will be starting immediately. Scouts will be contacting families to bring a two-liter bottle of soft drink and a small desert. Dinner will be served.

Venture Career Night

The troop is re-starting our Venture career night series. First up is Mr. Bob Garber, with a presentation about careers in technical writing. Mr. Garber is a technical writer for Cybex International, a provider of premium fitness equipment. Information on Cybex can be found at http://www.cybexintl.com/products/default.aspx.

Milford Youth Center Pajama Drive

The Milford Youth Center is partnering with the Boston Bruins and other organizations in the third annual PJ Drive for Massachusetts Children in Need. Members of our troop may also participate in this worthy cause by bringing a new set of PJs to the Jan 28th or Feb 4th troop meetings. The troop will bring all donations to the Youth Center collection box. Thanks.

Upcoming Event Dates & Reminders:

  • Jan 28, Feb 4, Feb 11 Troop Meetings
  • Feb 7th – Pancake Breakfast
  • Feb 18th – no meeting / school vacation
  • Feb 24th (Wed, not the typical Thursday) – Eagle Court of Honor
  • Feb 26th – Feb 28th – New Hampshire Winters Sports Weekend
  • Mar 4th – Troop meeting, Resolute presentation, Canoe trip $100 deposits due

Questions

Please call the Phil Bedard at 508-561-7058 or email at pbedard1@gmail.com if you have any questions.

January Camping Trip Pictures – 2010

Christmas Tree Pickup – 2010

Black Mountain NH Pictures – December 2009

Pig Roast Pictures – November 2009

Reminders for January 9 Camping Trip

  • Bring your backpack AND a sled. The sled is for fun….and to help haul troop gear. Hooking a rope/cord to the front of your sled makes hauling much easier.
  • If you don’t have a winter sleeping bag rated to cold temperatures…. bring a thick blanket or two to put on top. Given the snow/sled… it should be easy to haul in this bit of extra gear… and will make for a comfy night sleeping.
  • Bring ALL the stuff listed in the winter camping checklist on the website. Dont forget **2** FULL water bottles.
  • Dress/pack smartly… wool socks…good winter boots…. etc…etc… bring ALL the winter gear called out in the checklist. SPL/ASPLs will be checking that you’ve brought the right gear. If you’re missing critical gear, you’ll have to go back home to get it.
  • Drop off / pick up times are listed on the event page.
  • This will be a fun trip…. see you there.