Monthly Archives: August 2007

Advancement fest and first meeting

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Since we generally have meetings whenever school is in session, our first meeting ought to be Thursday, August 30. But that seemed like it might be kind of hurried, so that first meeting will be an Advancement Festival. Rather than having a regular meeting, we’ll work on whatever advancement items Scouts would like. It’s a great way to finish up requirements for camp and any others that have been hanging fire. Scouts, bring your handbooks or merit badge books, requirements sheets, and anything else needed to do the work. Adults, anyone who can come and help will be put to work.

Our first regular meeting of the year will be Thursday, September 6.

Overnight backpacking trip for Sat-Sun (9/22-9/23)

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Dear parents and scouts:

I hope that you have had an enjoyable summer. The troop 160 scouts and committee have been very busy planning the program for the upcoming 2007-2008 scout year. One key event that is fast approaching is a request by the boys to have an overnight backpacking trip that is separate from the annual Columbus day weekend white mountains trip (scheduled for 10/6-10 /8).

To honor this request the committee decided to schedule the backpacking trip for Sat-Sun (9/22-9/23). Paul Estabrooks has volunteered to be the trip coordinator and David Belford/Barry Griffiths have agreed to help plan a route. The trip is meant to be for boys who are eager to backpack, but who also have, or are willing to obtain (borrow, rent, or buy) gear that is appropriate. REI in Reading is a great place to rent backpack, sleeping bag, etc.. for those who do not have their own.

However, in order to make this trip happen, we need the following:

1) Must get commitments from at least two other adults with backpacking experience to participate on the trip that weekend.
2) Must get an early indication (by replying to this e-mail) of which scouts are truly interested in participating.

Once these preliminaries are established, we will send out a standard signup flyer with more detailed trip and planning info.

So, please print this out, discuss with your scout and reply to me in short order if you/your scout are very much interested in participating in this backpacking overnight.

Also attached is some useful info prepared by Dave Belford for these types of overnights as well.

Thank you

John Woodhouse
T160 Committee Chair

One last note about camp … I hope …

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Camp is a big place and there is no easy communication with the outside world so you can understand why the camp and the troop likes things to go smoothly. Anything that is not expected causes delays. As I mentioned in my earlier e-mail, it is not always easy to find the troop at camp and there are times when a trip to the campsite may be inconvenient.

I have three requests.

1. If you plan to arrive at either camp after 1 PM on check-in Sunday, then I need to know about it before I leave for camp on Sunday. Drop me an e-mail as soon as you can. Let me know roughly when your son will arrive so we can make arrangements for late check-in and figure out some way to get the gear to the campsite. As I wrote in my pre-camp letter, both campsites are a decent hike up a steep hill and we will have to lug the gear up by hand. So far I have information on Packard, Xu, and Foley. All others who plan to be late need to send me an e-mail.

2. If a Scout plans to leave early, I need to know about that because we have to have a leader at the admin building for the checkout. So far I know about Bonnell-Bradley. All others who plan to leave early need to send me an e-mail.

3. If you drive to Camp Bell, you will be asked to park in the parking lot. Then take anything which cannot be carried to the assembly spot for trunks and other heavy gear. Then the Scout should find his troop and report to the SPL. As soon as we are all there, we can check in and go to the unit.

-Hank

Planning meeting at Hidden Valley, August 17

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To all parents and committee members of Troop 160:

The troop committee will hold its annual planning meeting for the 2007-2008 scout year at the Hidden Valley campsite (Winni) on Friday Aug 17, at approx 2:30 PM

Steve Silva will be leaving from St Brigid Parking lot at 12:30 on that Friday afternoon for anyone who wishes to carpool up and back on the same day. Please try to arrive by 12:20 so Steve can leave on time.

The meeting is open to any parent who wishes to attend.

Thank you

John Woodhouse
Troop Committee Chair

Hey — We’re going to camp!

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from Scoutmaster Hank Manz:

This is a longish post and those who have been to camp before may decide to skip over it. There are some changes, however, so at least give it a quick scan. Above all, read the section about what route to take once you get to Crystal Lake Road.

Camp Guides
There is a quite a bit of information in the leader guides for each camp. The guides are posted on the Web site for the Daniel Webster Council. The links are given below.

Camp Bell (our first week of camp)
http://www.dwcbsa.org/camps/CampBell/2007BellLdrGuide.pdf

Hidden Valley (our second week of camp)
http://www.dwcbsa.org/camps/HiddenValley/2007HVLdrsGuide.pdf

Troop 160 Web site. There is a lot of great stuff here—just click on the link, then scroll down to Summer Camp.
http://www.troop160lexington.com/home/reference/

Mandatory Reading
Go to the Troop 160 Web site at http://www.troop160.com and read the first three postings. Explore the links embedded in those postings.

  • Tom O’s Eagle COH
  • Summer Camp Arrivals and Departures
  • Summer Camp Information

Continue reading →