Summer camp med forms are due at the COH

SPL elections.  Summer camp merit badge selections.

Memorial Day Parade will be held Monday, May 30.  This is the only parade that the troop attends each year.  Scouts should meet in the Stop and Shop parking lot near the 99 Restaurant at 9:30 AM in full uniform.  Scouts may be picked up at Draper Park at Noon.  Please notify Phil Bedard if your scout plans to attend.  It’s important for the Troop to have a good showing at this important event.

White water final payment due

May Camping Trip will be Saturday, May 14th and 15^th, at the Troop campsite in Milford.  We will meet at the parish center on Saturday morning at 9:30 AM.  We will return for pick up at the parish center by 12:00 PM on Sunday.  Scouts need to bring a bag lunch and the items listed on the Troop 4 camping equipment list, including their scout handbook.  The list is available on our website.

This local campout at our secluded Troop campsite is very convenient for scouts that have sports games to attend.  Scouts can check out to attend their game, and then return after it is over.  Be sure to indicate on your permission slip if you arriving late, or need to leave for a period, in order to attend a game.

Any scout desiring to reach Tenderfoot, 2^nd Class or 1^st Class rank by the end of the spring season should attend, as we will be covering many of the remaining advancement requirements at this event.    This campout will have a survival and woodland games theme.  Activities will include archery, tomahawk throwing, and wilderness survival fire starting training and contests.

We will be cooking patrol style over open wood fires for dinner and breakfast.  Scout patrols will create their own menus and duty rosters at the May 5^th troop meeting.  Dutch ovens and dutch oven recipes will be available for scouts that have interest in this cooking technique.  Scouts need to bring a bag lunch for Saturday.

In addition to the survival and woodland theme activities, the troop will also cover other advancement requirements, hold several games and contests, and will conduct an entertaining Troop evening campfire.  Prizes will be awarded for the best patrol skit, song and stand-up comedy act.

If your son will be attending this campout, please complete the permission slip and return it to the Troop Scribe at the May 5th^th troop meeting (earlier is preferred).  If your son would like to attend but won’t be at the May 5th^th troop meeting, please call or email Phil Bedard at 508-561-7058 or pbedard1@gmail.com before May 5th.   We may need a few parents to drive to/from and/or stay for the event.  If you can help out please indicate on the permission slip.  Note that the troop’s Milford campsite has very limited parking, so adults that plan to attend are encouraged to carpool.

Advancement: We are in the home stretch to wrap up advancement requirements prior to the next round of scoutmaster conferences and board of reviews.  If you are interested in advancing this spring, please make every effort to come to the May troop meetings and campout to partake in the scheduled advancement activity.  Also planned for this spring is a continuation of our Environmental Science and Inventing Merit Badges.  Those working the Inventing Merit Badge should be bring their prototype and working model (along with notebook sketches and documentation) to the May 5^th Troop Meeting.  There is a great prize for the best invention; a deluxe BSA patrol chef kit.  This is a large and very complete kit with each piece emblazoned with the BSA logo.  The kit comes in its own stainless steel carrying case.  Inventions will be judged based on creativity of the solution, the effort involved, how well the invention addresses the user’s needs, and the quality of the documentation (invention notebook, sketches, etc).

IMPORTANT – The Troop will be having a great summer camp information night at the April 28^th Troop Meeting.  The session will start at 7:50pm.  Parents are welcome to join.  We will meet in the small hall, and will cover the merit badge program, camp activities, the waterfront, the troop’s Nomolos campsite, camp dining, and all other aspects of this annual troop summer camp tradition.

Summer Camp (Fees, and Important Information Night): A reminder that the early bird rate for summer camp payment ends soon.  To receive the reduced rate of $340, please turn in your payment at the May 12^th troop meeting (earlier is welcome).  After that date, the price is $370.  The rate for the second scout in a family is $269/$299 respectively.  The early bird deadline does not apply to new crossover scouts; you get the early bird rate even if you sign up later.  All checks should be made payable to Troop 4.

Merit Badge Info Night: The troop will provide an overview of the Merit Badge program to all new scouts at the April 28^th troop meeting.  Discussion will cover the signup/blue card process, roles and responsibilities of scouts-leaders-councilors, badges offered, eagle versus non-eagle required badges, and tips on keeping merit badge records and work well organized.

Meet at the Milford High School pool lobby.

Troop Day Hike: will be Saturday, March 19th at the Holyoke Range in the vicinity of South Hadley MA. We will meet at the parish center at 8AM so that we have sufficient day light for the hike. We will return for pick up at the parish center by approximately 5:30 PM that evening. Scouts need to bring: a bag lunch, poncho or rain coat if it looks like rain that day, boots, a hat and gloves/mittens. A spare pair of socks is a must to bring. If the weather is cold, bring a warm coat as well. Scouts should bring two quarts/liters of water (no soda, juice, punch, etc.). Do not bring water in disposable water bottles – get a canteen or hiking water bottle at Wal-Mart, Target, etc. for about $10. Scouts need to bring a day pack (school pack will work fine) to carry their personal and troop gear for the day.

The Holyoke Range is a great place to hike and explore. The range is home to the “Seven Sisters”, a continuous series of small peaks topping out at 1000 foot elevation, and overlooking the scenic Connecticut River Valley. We will be traversing the Metacomet-Monadnock Trail, which travels along the Metacomet ridge. This ridge is a unique and ancient traprock formation that extends from Long Island Sound in Connecticut all the way to the MA/NH/VT border area.

We will divide the scouts into age/ability groups and cover distances that are comfortable for each group. Younger scouts will tackle a 5mile route, and older scouts working on the hiking merit badge will tackle a 10 mile route.

At the end of the hike we will have some of Troop 4’s famous fried dough!

If you son will be attending the hike, please complete the permission slip and return no later than the March 10th troop meeting. If you son would like to attend but won’t be at this troop meeting, please call or email Phil Bedard at 508-561-7058 or pbedard1@gmail.com We will need a few parents to drive to/from and/or stay for the event. If you can help out please indicate on the permission slip.

DATE CHANGE: Eagle Court of Honor: The Court of Honor was recently rescheduled from March 3^rd to Thursday, March 24th from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM at St. Mary’s parish center. This special Court of Honor will honor our newest Eagle Scout, Stephen Ward. Awards earned by all other scouts since the last Court of Honor will also be presented. There will be a dinner before the awards ceremony. The troop committee is planning the details and will communicate more information to families shortly.

Advancement: For those scouts wrapping up merit badges, you must turn in a councilor signed blue card by the 3/10 troop meeting if you would like to receive the badge at the court of honor. Scouts looking to advance to the next rank at the next Court of Honor must complete all rank requirements no later the start of the 3/10 troop meeting, and you must email the scoutmaster in advance of 3/10 in order to have your scoutmaster conference scheduled for that evening.

Please join us for our annual Pancake Breakfast at the St.Mary’s parish center.  $5 per person.  All you can eat!

Saturday January 22, 2010 through Sunday January 23.

We will be camping in the Blackstone River and Canal Heritage State Park. Blackstone River Park has a large forest with lots of trails and a secluded and sheltered pine grove camping spot that is perfect for winter camping. Planned activities include sledding, hiking, animal tracking, snowshoeing, a visit to King Philips Cave and Lookout, and other adventures. At this winter camping trip we will be doing some aluminum foil cooking (no pots and pans to clean) and Dutch oven cooking. The winter is a great time to do this type of cooking because you need some good warm fires to cook – and to stay warm with, too!

We will be using the spacious regular troop tents (not the backpacking tents) to sleep in Saturday night. These tents have more room to keep gear out of the snow, and have worked great for other winter campouts. The Troop 4 Website has a list of gear needed for a one night winter campout. Most scouts already have most of the gear and anything else is usually around in the scouts homes.

We will be patrol cooking for Saturday dinner and Sunday breakfast. Scouts should bring a bag lunch for Saturday (no soda). A plastic sled comes in handy on this trip, for both sledding and for hauling in your gear. If you have one, please bring it.

We will meet at St. Mary’s parish center at 9:00 AM on Saturday January 22. Patrols will have an opportunity to assemble their ingredients into tin-foil cooking packets using the parish center kitchen before we depart. We will need a few parents to drive to/from the site. We will return for pick up on Sunday, January 23 by noon.

We will be planning the trip at the January 13 troop meeting. If your son is planning to attend, please return the  permission slip by the January 13 troop meeting. If your son can’t make the January 13 troop meeting but wants to attend, please call or email Phil Bedard before that date so we can include him in planning for the event.

Winter camping is fun and a great outdoor experience – and not that difficult. The adult leaders and troop have many years of winter camping experience and all of our trips have been a great time. Hope for lots of snow cover!

OA Election:

Re-scheduled for Thursday, Jan 13th at the regular troop meeting. A separate mailing has been sent directly to those scouts who meet the eligibility requirements for this BSA honor society. Questions can be directed to the Scoutmaster, or the Troops OA Rep, Richard.

This is a fun combination fund raiser and service project that we participate in with other scout units in town. We are looking for one or two more parents with pick up trucks or trailers to drive around our assigned territory in Milford to pick up the trees and transport them to the town disposal area. Our trucks leave the parish center at 8:30 AM sharp, and we will not return to the parish center until the end of the event, so please be on time. The event ends at noon. Please call or email Ken Matondi at kenmatondi if you can participate.

Eagle Scout Re-Union:

The troop is holding its first Eagle Scout re-union on Jan 6^th, at 7pm, during normal troop meeting hours.  We hope many of our 20+ eagles can join us for a night of fellowship, and inspiration to our younger scouts.  All are welcome to come and meet the elite scouts of Troop 4 who have made it to Scouting’s highest rank, and who are now active leaders at college, in their community, or in their profession.

Meet at the parish center

Holiday Party:

The troop’s holiday party will be at the December 16th troop meeting. Scouts that want to participate in our annual Yankee Swap gift exchange can do so by bringing an inexpensive wrapped gift in the $10-$15 range. Note that this will be the last troop meeting of the year. There is no troop meeting on Thursday 12/23/10.

Troop Knife Contest:

Will be held at the December 16 troop meeting. Scouts can bring a knife that they can use under the troop/BSA rules and enter it in the competition for sharpest, best looking, and most functional. There will be prizes for the winners.

Order Of The Arrow Election:

Scheduled for Thursday, Dec 16th at the regular troop meeting. A separate mailing will be sent shortly directly to those scouts who meet the eligibility requirements for this BSA honor society. Questions can be directed to the Scoutmaster, or the Troops OA Rep, Richard.

Decoration of the Town Nativity Scene:

Saturday December 4th, at 9:30AM. Please meet at Draper Park (near the general on the horse) Main St. We will wrap up by 10:30AM. Pick-up will be at the same spot.

The troop will once again decorate the town’s nativity scene in Draper Park. The troop is looking for scout volunteers to help decorate. We have a head start this year because we already chopped down a stack of pine boughs at the last campout. We plan to use these boughs to decorate the nativity scene.

This week’s troop meeting (Dec 2nd) will be a swim night at the Milford High School pool. Bring swim attire and a towel. No uniform required, and there is no fee for this event. Younger scouts will cover important advancement requirements related to swimming and water safety. We’ll also have pool games, diving, and of course, pizza/drinks to end the night. Normal meeting time: 7pm start (sharp) & 830pm pickup.

Saturday November 20 and Sunday November 21 at the troop campsite in Milford. We’re going with a backwoods BBQ theme. The troop chefs are just beginning to formulate an exciting menu to cook out in the field. If you’re not a BBQ fan, there will be some hot dogs and other food too.

We’ll have a full schedule of outdoor activities, including Archery, the troop’s famous obstacle course, and other games/contests. We have invited some Second Year Webelos to attend as well. We will have a troop campfire Saturday night.

The troop will provide a complete dinner and breakfast along with all the eating utensils, cups, plates, etc. The scouts will be planning the meals, activities, and doing the cooking for the weekend.

We will meet at St. Mary’s parish center at 9:00 AM Saturday November 20 and will return to the parish center for a noon pickup on Sunday the 21st. Scout should bring their regular camping gear and bag lunch for Saturday. As always, scouts can come / leave early late, etc, if they have conflicts with sporting or other local events. We will need a few parents to drive to/from the event.

If your son is planning to attend, please return the permission slip by the Nov 11 troop meeting along with a check for $12 to cover the cost of the food for the weekend (dinner / breakfast). If your son can’t make the Nov 11th troop meeting but wants to attend, please call or email Phil Bedard before the 11th so we can include him in planning for the event. Note that this is the only regular campout that we charge a fee, because this is the only regular campout that the troop provides the food.

The uniform of the night will be “costumes”. There will be prizes for the best costumes (funniest, scariest, most realistic, most creative). Prizes also awarded to the winners of our traditionally nutty games and contests.
Scouts should bring a snack or dessert to add to the food/beverage table.

Troop Eagle Court of Honor will be Thursday, October 21st from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM at St. Mary’s parish center.

This special Court of Honor will honor our newest Eagle Scouts, James Malnati and Spencer Carlin. Awards earned by all other scouts since the last Court of Honor will also be presented. There will be a dinner before the awards ceremony.

The first troop meeting of the 2010-2011 season!

Meet at the parish center.

For all attending scouts and leaders. Meet at the parish center.