Guy Fawkes - 3rd November 2006

This was certainly a campfire to remember! ..... a floating campfire! But let me start from the beginning.

The cubs joined the scouts for a fun "guy fawkes" programme. The evening started off with the cubs trying to catch "rockets" that the scouts were shooting up. This is a bottle half filled with water, inverted into a contraption and air pumped into it with a pump. Eventually it just shoots off ..... the cubs love this activity.

Each cub then had a sparkler to light while the scouts got the fireworks display ready in Arrow Park. We watched as the rockets were set off, one by one, illuminating the dark night sky with their beautiful colours.

Floating campfire.

A trip in a million..

Cubs were loaded onto boats and paddled across the dam to Arrow Park where the floating campfire was waiting for us. You can just imagine how excited all the cubs were!

Lighting sparklers

Cubs catching the "water bottle rocket"

Until next week.... keep cubbing

Akela Joy

Prize Giving - AGM Evening

Friday night - 27th October 2006 - was the AGM and Prize Giving of the 9th Benoni Group. Straight after our pack meeting, and a quick wors roll, the chairs were arranged in the hall. This event is normally held outside but due to ominous clouds about, it was held indoors. Just as well cause on a number of occassions we had to break for a few moments to let the rain pass.

Our Cub recipients are:

Excellent Attendance : Kendra McAravey

Good Attendance : Jonathan Campbell

Six of the Year : Grey Six

Best Cubbing Spirit: Thomas Witt

Cub of the Year: Dean Verheyke

Thomas Witt - Best Cubbing Spirit on the left and

Dean Verheyke - Cub of the Year on the right.

..... and now I have to do a little bragging of my own!

My son Luke, Patrol Leader for Leopards, received the cup to Senior Scout of the Year and his whole patrol received "patrol of the year". Well done guys!

Luke Hutchinson - trophy for Senior Scout of the Year - 2006

A great campfire was held after the AGM and Prize-giving - one with a difference! It was held indoors around an electric "fire" but the atmosphere was just the same!

Until next week - keep cubbing

Akela Joy

AREA CUB FUN DAY - GILWELL

Our Area Cub Fund Day was held on Saturday 20th October at Gilwell in florida. Approximately 250 cubs attended with family and friends.

Cubs completing the bases would earn their Flying Models interest badge. The only further requirement was to find out the Safety Rules for flying kites and be examined.

Bases were manned by the Cub Leaders from each district.

Cubs busy making their aeroplanes.

Part of the obstacle course.

Fake wounds!

Rockets!

A great time was had by all.

Akela Joy

Friendships around the World - 20th October 2006

Being the Joti/Jota weekend, we celebrated friendship around the world. Here the cubs are playing a game - singing like opera stars at Covent Gardens!

Dean and Thorisa - our great opera singers!

Cheese from Holland! Nishlan is seeing how far he can roll this cheese!

We received a wonderful scrapbook from 1st Otumoetai Cubs in Tauranga New Zealand. It is jam-packed full of information about their Pack. We are also going to put together a scrapbook for them about Benoni and South Africa. Here the Cubs are busy telling them about what we do at 9th Benoni and a little about themselves.

Our Friendshop Totem is made up from the different characters from the Jungle Book. The pictures I have included show the cubs sticking their Jungle Characters onto the cups making up the final totem. Aren't they great!

See you all next week

Akela Joy

HALLOWEEN

With Halloween fast approaching, we decided to do a bit of "Trick or Treating" ourselves. We asked the Cubs to dress up appropriately for Halloween and our programme was filled with fun throughout!

Above you can see the whole bunch of them ready for their Trick or Treat mission.

Apple Bobbing was a 'devil' of a game! and it is harder than it looks!

The cubs made their very own "Trick or Treat" bags...

...a very scary Thoriso.... who won the prize for the best dressed outfit.

and here we have Luke and Conner...

All cubs had face painting done and here we have Jared having a bat painted onto his face.

Some more SCARY FACES!

Thanks to our Girl Scouts for helping with the Face Paining.

All in all an enjoyable programme.

Akela Joy

13 October 2006

Pow Wow - 2006

Not only is Cubbing a whole lot of fun for the cubs but it is great lot of fun for the leaders as well. Every two years a National Pow Wow is held somewhere in South Africa. This year Durban was lucky enough to host this event.

This is the Gauteng contingent - well over 40 delegates.

The theme was HERITAGE and at the banquet at the end of the weekend, each province has to do a skit. Here is Gauteng doing the Gum Boot Dance which is a traditional dance that the black miners did many years back to "talk" to each other in code so that the white bosses would not understand.

A visit to the iShaka Water World and Aquarium was certainly a rewarding and most beautiful experience. Dolphins certainly have a special place in my heart. This is Ruth and myself inside the aquarium.

A collection of coral.

An evening of fun and games! Here some of the leaders - apple bobbing!

Some craft work - making animal puppets.

And finally.... what would going to Durban be without taking a trip to the beach! Nevermind that the wind was howling and gusting! As you can see these fearless Gautengers waded in the water and took a gentle "stroll" up the beach and back while others waited patiently in the restaurants or any availble shetler they could find!

Pow Wow is certainly not to be missed. It is a time to make new friends as well as renew old friendships; it is a time of laughter and fun while learning and sharing new ideas and skills to bring home to the pack to teach the cubs.

The next Pow Wow takes place in Cape Town in May 2008 - see you all there!

Akela Joy

Kite Flying - 15th September

A wonderful time was had by all this Friday! It was a fairly windy day - perhaps not quite windy enough to fly kites but the cubs tried!

Here we have Martin and Jonathan colouring in their soon-to-be kites.

Completed kites by Thomas and James.

Another compled kite - this time by Jared.

Flying "high".

Just a reminder that it is school holidays from the 22nd September. There will be no Pack Meeting on the 22nd September and we will resume our Pack Meetings when school starts again next term.

Happy Cubbing

Akela Joy

Swiss Family Robinson Camp 2006

I cannot explain to you the fun, excitement and pure exhileration the boys and girls have experienced this weekend. What a joy it is to be a Cub Scout!

The Swiss Family Robinson really enjoyed the company of the Benoni District Cubs and right from the start it was action packed with games, boat rides, treehouse building, fishing, fireworks, search and rescue work by trained dogs, campfire and much, much more!

But they first had to find shelter and here we have a few of the cubs putting up their tents!

They always have fun fishing in the dam and here we have some keen fishermen!

Having fun crossing the suspension bridge that led to the treehouse - this was a huge success for both Cubs and Akelas!

Nothing would be complete if we did not have campfire patches to sew onto our campfire blankets!

It was time to take the long journey home and leave the island behind. Here is the team getting ready to sail....

..... and the 9th Benoni team.

Balloo, Akela, Nishlan, Shane, Thoriso, Keagan and Dean.

Join us again next week when we will take you on another cubbing adventure with 9th Benoni Bambanani.

Akela Joy

MAD HATTER'S TEA PARTY - 25 August

The Mad Hatter's tea party was just that - mad, crazy and fun for all! Each cub started off by making their very own, specially crafted "mad hat" and as you can see some where quite ingenious.

What followed was "The Mad Hatters Quiz" - a quiz of nonsense questions with the cub with the least amount of answers correct, the winner! This entitled him or her to the first choice of specially prepared tea!

("Teas" ranged from Smarties, Jelly-Tots, Crunchies, Biscuits, Liquorice All Sorts, etc

put into polystyrene cups and sealed so that nobody could see what they were taking.)

Some happy "Mad Hatter" tea drinkers.

Games relating to the theme were played in between all the above, making it a happy and fun programme for all.

Akela Joy

Omelettes with a difference!

Just look at these cubs ... doesn't it look like they are having such fun?

The best part of making this omelette was putting all the ingredients into the bag and mushing and mixing it all about! They then dropped it into the boiling water and after about 20 minutes they were ready. All you need to do is roll them out of the bag onto the plate and enjoy!

Cubbing turns 90 & a photo in the Benoni City Times!

As part of our National Cub Challenge, we had to do something special for 90 year olds or collect 90 "things" for the elderly. We chose to visit HomeTalk as mentioned below. Zoe, from our local newspaper, the Benoni City Times, was there and snapped one of the cubs from 9th Benoni - Nishlan Lingoomiah handing over his gift to Ailsa Northgate.

Another great web site!

Here is a link to another great web site. This is for all those Pack Scouters out there! It has millions of activities and ideas for all the different themes you can think of, in alphabetical order.... have a look! http://www.teacherplanet.com/resource/atoz.php