Greville Troop Friday Nights 2009

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By George

When they asked me to give a speech about Friday nights at scouts, I thought, "This is going to be easy." But as I tried to think of all the things that I wanted to say, I realized this meeting could go on all night.

Simply put, Scouting is fun. We are just 28 kids having the time of our lives. I love wasting my Friday nights lighting fires and playing games. I especially like it now that I am a patrol leader. The power!

Scouting has provided opportunities for me that probably I probably would have never got to try otherwise. I've kayaked (and unexpectedly gone swimming); gotten stuck in a cave, and hiked the whole night, just for the fun of it. I've camped in the pouring rain, the freezing cold, and the sweltering heat. I've made model aeroplanes, played with eggs (bit messy that Friday), gone on a very long cycle ride, gone to an awesome ice hockey match and raced maggots (an evening that I will not forget quickly I think). Where else would I get to do all those things?

Sports enthusiast, outdoor activities, and hobbies are just some of the badges I have managed to obtain. About every Friday we do activities and they help own our way to get different badges.

Ok, so we do scouts every Friday, but will it ever amount to something. Well these are a few facts I researched for this speech.

- 26 of the first 29 astronauts were former scouts
- Of the 12 men to walk on the moon's surface, 11 were involved in Scouting.
- Gerald Ford, an Eagle Scout, became President of the United States
- Steven Spielberg, the famous movie producer, is an Eagle Scout
- Hank Aaron, Walter Cronkite, Harrison Ford, Bill Gates, Bruce Jenner, John F. - Kennedy, and John Ritter were all Scouts in their youth.

So playing Yacks (a painful game involving violence) will help pay off for me later. So will all the other stuff I have learnt on a Friday evening, such as tying different knots, pitching a tent, cooking food (What I should have said was; cooking inedible food on an open fire) and the wide games where you learn team work, responsibility and the quickest way into the other teams.

But probably the main reason I come to scouts is to hang out with my mates and to have a good time.

Submitted: 20 Sep 2009