This month we have given Rover scout Andrew Agius some valuable editorial space to have a rant.

Not quite what we expected, Andrew gives us his thoughts on today’s musical choices available on the air-

waves!

Having been taxed, about two weeks ago, by our worthy editor to write this month’s feature, today (23rd January)

was the first day I was giving a thought to it. I was driving home after having filled my car up with fuel and having

gone for a decent drive up towards Rabat and Siġġiewi, happily getting lost in the little streets leading to previously

unknown beauty spots.

So in a contented frame of mind I began wondering what sort of topic I should pick for the newsletter feature.

Contented that is, until the DJ on the radio announced the next track. The resultant drivel that spewed out of my

speakers made me want to instantly rip my steering out of its place and chuck it at the nearest pedestrian. Luckily,

I was prevented from doing so by the build quality of my Renault, which contrary to popular belief, seems quite

strong enough to withstand repetitive tugging on the steering column. Otherwise I might have rammed into the

back of the pickup that was trundling along in front of me. The aforementioned build quality might not then, be

wholly able to withstand a rather large tow bar being rammed into the bonnet. And having just washed my car,

that would have made me quite cross.

Now I’m not an old person... I was born in the eighties, but far too late in the eighties to have any memory of lis-

tening to a Queen track while Freddie Mercury was still alive. Quite possibly, the very first song I remember ac-

tively listening to and bothering to remember, was ‘As Long As You Love Me’ by the Backstreet Boys in 1997. The

very first tracks that I owned were on a cassette titled ‘Greatest Hits of 1997’. I was brought up listening to Britney

Spears and Nsync on MTV, not Engelbert Humperdink on a gramophone player. Which makes me 24 years old. But

for the life of me, I cannot figure out

how people can listen to what passes for

music on most of our radio stations at

the moment. Some will say that it’s a

matter of taste, and that one cannot

judge something as subjective as music

because different people will want to

listen to different songs for different

reasons. Yeah right.

I have therefore come to the conclusion

that the biggest cause of Road Rage to-

day is the choice of music available to us

on radio. Sure the occasional Dire Straits

song does bring a smile to your face now

and again, and some radio presenters

are truly funny. But the spaces in be-

tween are filled with mindless senseless

drivel that would turn even the most

sac scouts

newsletter

from the courtyard

feature of the month

Of Car Radios and coups d'état...

What’s on

Feb 24th —

Annual Gen-

eral Meeting

(Group)

Issue 63

January 2012

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Issue 63

January 2011

reasonable person into a mouth foaming, murderous

lunatic. So what’s the solution? We can’t shoot the

radio presenters because we don’t live in North Ko-

rea. And besides, they probably only play what they

do because that’s what’s made available to them in

order to please their audience. So it’s our fellow mo-

torist’s fault. They must all be shot for liking Justin

Beiber. Erm.. no. We don’t live in the U.S.A. where

anybody can own a gun.

Therefore, the only solution left to sensible minded

individuals with a taste for good music, is to buy a car

with a fancy stereo that can take your USB stick, or

Ipod or CD or SD card... and in this day and age I’m

sure there’s something else that I’ve missed because

it was launched within the last 5 minutes. Or if you

don’t afford such a car, buy a flashy radio and pimp

out your ride with a flashing LCD display in the middle

of your centre console.

It’s all a sinister plot to make us spend more on cars and on radios. A dastardly communist plot designed to impover-

ish the man in the street by forcing him to spend money on a radio. Because the alternative is to become a berserk

serial killer. Which would mean jail. Once the people are all poor and unhappy they will invariably blame the govern-

ment for their plight. The government will crumble, another election would have to be called and the commies

would march in promising to rid our airwaves of Justin Beiber by sending the KGB after him. This year, The Russians

Are Coming! (Film directed by Norman Jewison 1966)

cartoon

corner

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Issue 63

January 2011

Annual General Meeting –February 24th

The St Aloysius College Scout Group will be holding its Annual General

Meeting on February 24th at the College Assembly Hall between 18:30 to 20:30. All members are to attend in full uniform whereas all parents are

invited as we are also having our sectional investitures. As mentioned in

the circular we sent you last week, should there be any parents that can

help with the provision of light snacks and savories it would be greatly ap-

preciated. The Group will take care of beverages.

Subscription forms and other data

All members should return the forms and subscription fees to their section

leader by the first week of February. Please try not to forget to return/submit as requested.

Internet Connectivity

I may finally announce that our HQ has internet connectivity. This is very useful for us as we can use it for

the benefit of our members when teaching scouting skills and to update our own Group information

online whilst at HQ. This saves us time and we can therefore spend less time at home on our PC doing

scouting work. Members may also use it to take part in LAN events and to connect to the internet using

their personal devices.

Obviously, we are going to incur more expenses on a monthly basis but we are confident we can cover the

costs if members help by supporting us during the end of month hotdogs evenings.

In order to improve the set up, should any members or parents be in a position to help us acquire a PC

better than the one we have with a suitable monitor it would be great!

Group Programme

In the following pages, please find the Group’s tentative programme for 2012. There will obviously be

changes and additions to the events as weeks go by. We are also still considering whether to organise an

overseas trip or not in summer. We shall keep you informed as soon as we have details.

GSL’s note

Pack Programme for 2012 Sat 7th Jan Dog Walk

Thurs 24th Feb SAC AGM

Sat 11th Feb Internet Safety Day

Sun 26th Feb Pack Hike

Sun 25th March Mdina Attractions Visit (Arrow Work)

5 - 7th April Easter Camp

Sun 6th May Annual Parade

Sun 17th June Trekking Hike

July (tba) Swimmers Badge Activity + Water Games

September (tba) Summer Camp

Wed 24th October Cubs Halloween Party

Sun 18th November Visit to Civil Protection Section at MIA

Dec (tba) Community Service/Fund Raising Activities

Wed 20th December Group/Pack Christmas Party

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January 2011

Troop 2012 Programme January 7th Dog Walk

February 10th - Rafting

24th - Annual General Meeting

17th-18th PLTC

March 11th - Community Work

24th - Troop Room maintance

April 1st - 6th Easter Camp

May 1st - Sports Day

6th May Annual Parade

June 7th - Operation Three Cities

July 1st - Night Hike

7th - Operation W.E.T

August 20th - Cooking Activity

September Summer Camp

October 20th - Outdoor Pioneering Activity

November 1st - 3rd - Operation Bulwark

December 19th - Troop Christmas Party

23rd - Outdoor First Aid Activity

Venture Unit programme 2012 January Survival Camp

Clay Pigeon shooting

February AGM

March Fund Raising – The unit wishes to organise a family camp.

Logistics of the possibility are currently being discussed.

April Easter Camp

June Exams

July End of Exam Venture Camp

August Canoeing

September Summer Camp – The Unit wishes to coordinate the logistics

for Summer Camp.

October Weekend Expedition (Over Halloween)

November Social Service – to be confirmed

Reynolds Cup – end of November

December Christmas Camp

Rover Crew programme 2012 January Last weekend of January a night hike

Paintball preparation

Paint ball joint activity with Sliema

February 26th Land Rover Marathon

March Horse riding / clay pigeon shooting

St. Patricks day

April Annual Parade & LAN Party

Easter Camp & weekend camp advanced party

May Cook out at HQ

July John A. Mizzi Cup

Pasta Night

August Parents Diving Activity

September Summer Camp

October 2 night expedition

November Assistance for Bulwark

December Christmas Party

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January 2011 From the Pack

SAC CUBS TAKE PART IN

ANIMAL AWARENESS EVENT

As part of their ongoing programme to instil good

citizenship values, on Saturday 7th January 2012 a

group of SAC Cubs, Scouts and Leaders joined in a

Dog Walk between Marsa and Qormi which saw the involvement of a number of non-profit animal

welfare organisations. The ultimate aim behind

such an activity was to say 'no' to animal cruelty.

The SAC cubs and scouts were given one of the

dogs residing at the Abandoned Animals Associa-

tion premises to treat these dogs for one after-

noon. The cubs and scouts who took part also gave

a small donation to help the abandoned animals.

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Issue 63

January 2011 From the Troop

Albert Galea on Scouts

Being a scout is a concoction of having fun and learning

things. When I say learning things, though, I am not refer-

ring to Algebra, Shakespeare or Science but I am referring

to learning things that are of a more practical nature like

tying knots, learning First Aid or knowing how to read a

map. Apart from these things, one also learns to be respon-

sible by, for example, doing duties or not forgetting a pot

for a cooking activity. You may argue that the feeling of

responsibility is taught at school as well, but scouts is some-

thing different because it teaches the same thing except by

using more fun and practical methods. The camps and ac-

tivities that we have also provide all scouts, from young to

old, with good memories and the odd funny moment here and there, like for example when during a cer-

tain summer camp we had a rafting activity and we started carrying the raft down to the beach whole and

arrived at the beach with it six or so separate pieces. In simple terms, Scouting is fun and also a method

of expressing oneself via creativity and ideas.

At the age of 15 (or 16) a scout becomes part of the unit as a

venture. There are some differences between the Troop and

the Unit, which take some getting used to when one is trans-

ferred. A couple of the biggest differences is the relatively

small size of the Unit (8-10 ventures) compared to the large

size of the troop (around 30 scouts). Another thing which is

different is that the patrol system that is used in the troop

does not exist in the unit so instead of being divided to com-

pete against each other, everybody is together is one group

meaning that there is no competition (apart from certain ac-

tivities which is when we are divided) and that most activities

are done together. The activities themselves are all in all dif-

ferent from those of the troop. While in the troop we would have pioneering, first aid scenarios and the

odd knot race here and there, the Unit's activities are more adapted to teenagers of 15-17 years old like

for example clay pigeon shooting, spending a night 'living' on a raft or building a bridge 2 storeys of the

ground and then crossing it. All in all though the aim of the troop and unit are the same, to have fun. And

this is most definitely fulfilled.

As one of the troop's new SPLs I, of course, already

have certain things in my mind and certain ideas for

activities. The general aim for any SPL is to make

life for a scout as fun as possible while still giving

him the opportunity to learn as much as he can. My

aim is no different. As an SPL I want to make meet-

ings and activities (camps and stuff like that) as fun

as possible and maybe toss in a few activities in the

weekends (during summer mostly). But, I state

once more, my main aim as an SPL is that the scouts

have fun :)

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Issue 63

January 2011 From the Unit

Survival Camp 2010 Log –

Team Charlie

The Unit kicked off the year by holding a survival camp in the first week of January. Here, Team Charlie

members Michael Micallef, David Pace, Matthew Zammit and Liam Curmi tell us all about it in their log.

Enjoy!

Introduction

The idea of Survival Camp was first conceived by the previous members of the Venture Unit, however it

was decided to carry on the tradition. It involves at least two competing teams, who strive to win points

during activities. With these points food can be bought from the store. The rule is simple; No points – No

food.

After several meetings and debates, Survival Camp was finally ready to commence. It would take place on

the weekend between the sixth and the eight of January 2012, the first Venture activity of the new year

as well as the opportunity to introduce the new ventures to how the Venture Unit operates. The meeting before the camp Matthew Zarb gave us the final equipment list that we could bring along with us, and

during the last half hour of the meeting we stayed hunting around SAC HQ in order to find the necessary

items.

Participants

The teams consisted of Luke Maistre, Jamie Maistre and Albert Galea as Team Alpha, while Michael Mi-

callef, Liam Curmi, David Pace and Matthew Zammit (Meli) made up Team Alpha. Leaders present were

Matthew Zarb, George Zammit Montebello and Edward Sciberras on the first day.

Friday – 6th January 2012

Finally the day dawned, and at 1630 everyone met at L-Aħrax tal-Mellieħa, the farthest point from civilisa-

tion that we could reach on this tiny island. Most of us were apprehensive as winds of force nine had

been forecast on the weather report, as well as heavy showers of rain. Little did we know what was in

store for us.

The first activity that we had was to set up our tents as fast as possible. The leaders present, Edward Sci-

berras and George Żammit Montebello, gave us 150 points, with a point being deducted for each minute

we took to set up the tent. Team Alpha took all of eighteen minutes to set up their tent, while for us it proved a hardier effort, as you shall soon read. It had been already anticipated by us that we would take

longer to set up our tent, as ours was bigger. This disadvantage was offset by the comfort that we thought

we were going to have; which we were so rudely deprived of.

The first omen of disaster that loomed from within the

packaging of the tent was surprisingly not the tent itself.

At the first inspection, it seemed quite roomy and we

were enjoying the fact that team Alpha's tent was very

cramped for three people, not to mention with three

rucksacks in it as well. The first sign of impending catas-trophe was rather in the poles which were meant to hold

the tent up. The first pole was a fine specimen of its spe-

cies, but the second was a worn out carcass of its former

glory. It looked as though it had been used for pole-

vaulting, barge-poling and anything and everything in be-

tween. The expressions of mute horror on our faces were

a sight to behold. The weather, which had been simply

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watching up to this point, decided to wash away our sorrows by deluging us with rain. Our equipment was

safe under a waterproof tarpaulin, but the same could not be said for us, as well as the tent spread out

across the ground. A break in the storm allowed us to set up most of the ropes, and finally the tent began

rising from the ground and forming the shape normally associated with tents of its calibre.

Finally our tent was as ready as it could ever be (calling it set up would be blasphemy of the worst kind!).

We moved on to the next activity, searching the opposing team for food that they were trying to smuggle

in. Thankfully it had stopped raining, but even so we were only given a minute to search our opponent,

and this caused some controversy later on as team Alpha managed to smuggle in 1.5 kilograms of choco-

late. We, who had hidden smaller portions of food in cleverer hiding places, smuggled in just 350 grams of

food. These included a bag of completely crushed nuts which were hidden under Mike’s foot and some

portions of unwrapped ham hidden in the lining of David’s jacket.

We then had a short time to arrange the tent. It was then that it was discovered, to our further anguish, that our tent was in possession of a small hole at the back, and a much larger rip in the front. To combat

this we decided to lower the waterproof tarpaulin over the rip, an endeavour which in itself took a consid-

erable amount of time and energy. By this time we possessed a considerable amount of ill-feeling towards

the tent, and it was with some relief that we went to participate in the next activity.

The next activity featured newly arrived leader Matthew

Zarb, whose passion for cooking was to be one of the high-

lights of this camp. In fact, this activity involved making our

own bread and butter, something not normally required in

the back of beyond. We also had to cook our meal for that evening. Our team decided to kill two birds with one stone

and eat fried bread that night, so as to save on our meagre

points. Team Alpha, on the other hand, had nearly 2000

points to spend on food.

We set about digging the fire pit and placing an old door we

found as a fire reflector. We then divided up the jobs. Meli

would light and take care of the fire, Mike and David would

start making the bread according to the recipe that Matthew Żarb gave us and Liam would start making

the butter. Needless to say, however, as soon as the fire was lit we all clustered around it, Mike and Meli even removing their shoes in order to ward off the oncoming frostbite and retain possession of all ten

toes.

With the bread mixture for tomorrow ready, we turned to cooking that night’s dinner. We simply took

from the bread mixture and roasted it on a grill over the fire, while Liam started the final process of butter

making. This involved vigorously shaking the container

the butter mixture was in for a long time. Ultimately, as

shall be seen later, our butter mixture failed, although

we did get some excellent whipped cream. Our cooking

was interrupted by the weather, which once again was determined to make our stay as uncomfortable as possi-

ble. This time hail started raining down, but thankfully

the fire was not extinguished and the barrage stopped

after about ten minutes.

Finally, that nights’ fried bread was ready, and we eyed

it the way a man lost in the desert might eye a bottle of

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freezing cold water. To be sure, that bread wouldn’t have gotten a crumb past the door of any self-

respecting cook or housewife, but to us it was like manna from heaven. And it also must be said that to-

morrow’s bread would put this one in an even better light.

Our stomachs were filled (to a certain extent) and we were as warm as a penguin in the Antarctic. Team

Alpha retired to their tent, while we went and contemplated our piece of plastic tied to a tree, which we

had to survive the night under. The winds, which had been at gale force all day, did not look as if they

were going to get any calmer during the night.

We entered the tent, which was no easy task due to the fact that the proper entrance was not set up and

the only method of entry was a hole in the side of the tent. We then set about organizing our gear, espe-

cially by putting a basin under the hole in the tent. Liam was close to the side of the tent opposite the

hole, with David next to him. On the other hand, Mike, partly out of a sense of regret, took the side clos-

est to the hole, with Meli next to him. We then attempted to block the whole as best we could by pegging it down, but the inside of the tent still felt like a walk in freezer. We then rolled out our sleeping mats and

sleeping bags, and settled down to what we were sure was going to be the worst night of our lives.

Saturday – 7th January 2012

After waking up from what by general consensus seemed to have been the coldest night of our lives, dur-

ing which we hardly slept a wink, we staggered over to the fire in order to start cooking the yeast mixture

from last night. We decided to wrap the mixture in foil and cook it just above the fire. This would not

work out the way we hoped.

When Matthew Żarb woke up he was suitably astonished and horrified at the new method of bread mak-

ing we had just invented. However, not to be disheartened, especially with the hunger pangs now rum-

bling fiercely in our stomachs, we removed the ‘bread’ from the grill about three quarters of an hour after

we had put it on.

As the reader may have noticed from the quote marks encasing bread in the paragraph above, the fruits

of our labours were not all that sweet. The first obstacle was actually finding the bread, a task which

might sound easy, until the reader realises that we spent ten minutes cutting through blackened foil until

we realised that it was the burnt crust of the bread that was blunting our knife. However, looking for a

silver lining from within this dark thundercloud, we reasoned that if the outside was burnt then the inside of the bread would be nicely baked. Therefore, we proceeded to cut the lump of bread into two slices and

eat it from the sides, despite the numerous pieces of foil embedded in the bread that were now coming

to light.

Each of us (including Matthew Żarb) but except

David grabbed a tiny piece of bread and popped it

into our mouths. Even an actor of the calibre of

Johnny Depp or Brad Pitt would have had trouble

mimicking the looks of disgust on our face without

actually trying the bread itself. Matthew Zarb pro-nounced it without hesitation the worst thing he

had ever eaten, and we could not help but agree. If

last night’s bread would not have been allowed in

any respectable kitchen, it would have been hard

to imagine this ‘bread’ being accepted anywhere

but a chemical weapons facility. Without further

ado the piece of bread we were eating from was

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consigned to the dustbin, for lack of better disposing fa-

cilities such as a nuclear waste dump. We then used 100

of our precious points to buy a packet of eight Dewfresh

sausages, which we immediately started to cook on the remnants of the fire. However, since we are scouts we

cannot leave trash on the ground, especially trash which

can kill any living thing within a radius of three kilome-

tres. So without further ado we started to look for the

second piece of bread which we had left lying on the

chopping board. We were very perplexed when we could

not find it, and we started looking for the departed

corpse of the poor woodland creature who had eaten it.

Imagine our astonishment when we saw David wolfing

down the last piece, and pronouncing it acceptable!! Between debating if it would be sensible to take him to Mater Dei or simply to tell a priest to come and perform the last rites on the spot, the sausages were

done and David’s imminent death from salmonella was forgotten in our mad scramble for food.

After breakfast we had a swordfighting activity, which perfectly suited our mood. Not even being able to

afford the rabbit for that night, we had nothing to lose and so we went on the attack. After being taught a

few sparring moves from the instructors, we had bouts of combat with one another. Finally we emerged

victorious from all our matches, and we won a colossal amount of 400 points. This was a great morale

booster for us. After the matches we stayed learning about the different types of swords and did a couple

of friendly bouts.

After spending the morning sword fighting, Team Charlie settled

down to think about the next challenge at hand… Rafting. We were

planning to build the best raft that the world had seen yet and we

were determined to win, just like we had done during the previous

activity!!! We were all famished since we had hardly eaten anything

since we arrived to camp!!! Up till then all we had eaten were two

lovely Pork Dewfresh sausages each ( with the exception of David,

since he had eaten what was left of a can of polpa and some sub-

stance which he insisted on it being called good, edible bread, but

the rest didn’t agree, especially Matthew Zarb, who after tasting it immediately spat it out!!!). Thus the team wanted a good lunch to make up for the previous meals!!! Raft-

ing on the coldest and wettest weekend in the winter gave a shock to both teams, especially when consid-

ering that we were in the wildest area in Malta (L-Aħrax) surrounded by cliffs all round and that it was

Gale force wind (wind speed 9)!!! But it was then later revealed that we were to build miniature rafts and

these would be raced against each other in one of the enormous puddles left by the previous night’s

heavy downpour! Together we came up with the idea that we should use two empty water bottles to

keep the raft afloat. These would be placed next to each other with a space in between. This made it look

like a catamaran! We then cut two slits in the two bottles and

inserted what was left of a pizza box to form our sail and to hold

the two bottles in place. On the sail we wrote TEAM CHARLIE …THINK FLOATING!!!! We then cut out two triangles out of a piece

of plywood and inserted them in a second pair of slits in the two

bottles. These were there just as decoration!!! We then raced

the two miniature rafts against each other in a huge puddle. But

as soon as we started racing Team Alpha’s raft collapsed into

pieces and the enemy team had to watch our wonderful raft

skimming gracefully across the surface of the water, while realis-

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ing that we had just won another 100 points and that we were going to have a really good meal!!!

We then bought some vegetables such as sweet potato, potatoes, carrots, onions etc and a small piece of

meat. Mike decide to try and make a stew/ soup. In the meanwhile Liam washed some dishes. Matthew Zarb then announced that who-

ever got a picture of a recognisable bird would instantly get a 100

points. He also said that this activity would keep on going throughout

camp thus we had to be alert for any birds in the surrounding areas.

He also said that if we manage to take another picture of a different

species of bird then we would get another 100 points!!! Thus Meli

and David immediately set out with their cameras to look for birds!!!

After quite some time looking for pictures of birds and not managing

to get any, David got fed up and he went to get what was left of that

morning’s so called “bread”. He said that he was going to try to use it to lure birds so that he can take their picture!!! But after spending

half an hour looking at the bread with not a single bird in sight, he

concluded that it must have been so repulsive that no bird wanted to

risk being poisoned!!! Meanwhile Matthew Zarb had told Mike and

Liam to make cheese. So after being given the instructions the two

started working on the cheese! At first they boiled the full fat milk

then they warmed some water and added half a lemon’s worth of

lemon juice to it. They then mixed everything together and added

some spices and chilli. Then they separated the cheese from the liq-

uid that was left and put it to dry in a dishcloth which was hung by a tree. After some hours the cheese looked, smelled and tasted won-

derful!!! By that time David and Meli had come back and they were greeted by the lovely smell of soup.

They quickly fetched their messtins and they had their share of the soup!!! We then all sat around our fire

enjoying the soup when suddenly a small robin landed on the tree right in front of us. David immediately

took out the camera , took a brilliant picture of it and then scared it away so that the other team wouldn’t

manage to take a picture of it!!! We then started clearing up, washing the dishes and putting out the fire.

Matthew Zarb then told us that our next activity involved a hike but we

were to plan our enemy team’s route. This was supposed to be done as

originally as possible since we also had to give them checkpoints to work out. Matthew Zarb told us to plan the hike in such a way that we

would all be back by sundown. After planning each others route we

sent it to each other by sms. We immediately started working it out.

We soon found out our three checkpoints. These were a chapel dedi-

cated to the Holy Mary, the White Tower and Armier bay.

Since sundown was only three quarters of an hour away we decided to split up. Meli went to the chapel,

Liam went to the tower and Mike and David went to Armier bay. That way we

all managed to arrive by nightfall. When we arrived we found Matthew Zarb

waiting for us by the fire. We then had a knots relay. This involved us sitting next to each other and doing a knot which the one next to us has to recog-

nise. If he got it right his team got 10 points and if he didn’t 10 points would

be taken away from his team. We then bought a rabbit and some potatoes

for dinner.

After cutting the rabbit into pieces we proceeded to fry the meat. While Mike took care of the meat David

started cutting up the potatoes into thin slices. These were then eventually fried as well. We then started

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splitting up the pieces between us. They were all wonderful but the best was by far the fillet which was

awesome!!! We then tasted the fried potatoes which we were lovely and tasted almost like chips!!! We

then proceeded to burning a whole lot of wood to keep us warm. Then Mani visited along with his cousin

and a friend. After spending quite some time talking Mani left and we turned off the fire. Then Matthew Zarb told us that each team would be given an egg to guard during the night. But both teams were so

tired that they both agreed on a truce that involved not taking up the activity since they hadn’t had a

good night’s sleep. We then all went up to our tents (or make-shift tents). We then barred up our en-

trance with a whole lot of fire wood so as to try to keep the cold out!!

Sunday – 8th January 2012

As the sun rose early in the morning on the third and final day of our survival camp, similarly we all woke

up, with food on our minds.

As we headed out of our “tent”, we made our way to the fire pit to start the preparations for breakfast. Whilst Meli and Liam took care of constructing and lighting the fire, David and Mike made their way over

to Matthew Zarb's tent who was by the way still sleeping. Anyway after a ”short while”...Matthew Zarb

and George stumbled out of their sleeping bags and opened the store in order for us to buy the food for

breakfast. Since it was the last meal of camp we decided to spend all the points we had gathered through-

out the camp (or nearly all of them). As we headed back to the fire pit with the “golden stash”, Meli lit the

fire and breakfast was underway. Mike had cooking duties, for a change!) whilst Meli took care of the fire.

Meanwhile, Liam and David washed some dirty dishes. In about an hour Mike had cooked breakfast, con-

sisting of sausages, scrambled eggs and baked beans. David also had some fried vegetables. Amazing!

After the hearty breakfast, Matthew Zarb told us to start clearing around the fire pit and moreover to strike down (if it actually needed it!), our ”tent“. We didn't have any activities left to do so we weren't in a

hurry but after a short chat around the fire, we began. We started off by clearing all the utensils and rub-

bish around the fire pit and once that was done, we made our way to the “tent” to “strike it down” (tear it

down!). Team Alpha also began clearing up their area. Since we were practically done from clearing up all

our equipment Matthew Zarb told us to clear up the whole area that we were camping in I.e. Pick up all

rubbish and clear up any fire pits. Before beginning the task given to us we had realised that there were

huge logs left that hadn't been used up so we threw them all in and made one massive fire

This task was given to the whole unit, so, together with team

Alpha and the venture unit leaders we started clearing out the whole area. Whilst David and Mike started collecting rubbish

from the ground, Liam and Meli together with team Alpha

started clearing out the fire pits. This took up a good portion

of the day lasting around two hours. Unfortunately whilst we

were clearing up the area, a policeman came and warned us

that he would give us a fine for cooking directly on the

ground. Fortunately, he realised that we had been clearing

out the area and therefore after seeing that we had also both-

ered to get a permit, he decided to let it slide. Once all the

clearing was done, it was time to put out the remains of our beastly fire. Mike poured the remaining of the water stored in the jerry cans onto the burning coal. Once

it had cooled down, we cleared up all the ash and threw it away.

Furthermore, in order to remember this great camp we planted (shoved) a small cactus, writing SAC on it.

We also buried the egg of Matthew Zarb that Liam had been holding for half an hour and took a picture

with our great “monument”. Everything was ready at around 12pm so we had around 2hours until our

parents arrived so in the meantime we just talked and laughed together. As the clock struck 2pm, the

camp was officially over and we all left the camp, with a smile on our face.