June 2006 Newsletter

Volume 6 Issue 4

NEWSLETTER OF THE

2nd Hayle Scout Group

Page 1            News and Gossip

Page 2            Answers to our Nature Quiz

Page 3            Congregations of Creatures

Page 4            Skips Campfire Yarn

Page 5            Anything Else

News and Gossip

Well done to our Scout Troop who have won the District Shield for being the best Troop in the District. We will get a picture taken and post it on the site soon.

The logo on the left is being used by Scout Groups to show that Scouting is 100 years old next year. As part of the celebrations each District in Cornwall has to do an activity and offer it to the rest of the county. Below are listed the latest ones we have been given but only the months. We will give you more information as we get it.

Jan    ????

Feb    22nd    Founders Day Service

Mar                County Wide Game                  Truro District

April              Coast 2 Coast/Figure of 8        Mid Cornwall District

May                Centenary Camp

Jun                 Fun Run                                   West Caradon District

July                Mining Challenge                    Stenek Ha'n Mor District

Aug    1st       Sunrise Ceremony   

Sept               Kernopoly                                Mount Edgecumbe District

Oct                Halloween??                            Falmouth District

Nov               Trial Biking                              Bude and Launceston District

page 1

Nature Quiz Answers

We have reprinted our quiz along with the answers

1.  The difference between a mammal and reptile is that a mammal is warm blooded. FALSE

2.  A stag beetle has horns like a stag. TRUE

3.  In Africa, there is a dung beetle that likes to eat elephant dung. FALSE

4.  The nuts from a horse chestnut tree are shaped a bit like a horse. FALSE

5.  A male swan is called a cob. TRUE

6.  A humming bird hums because it can't whistle a tune. FALSE

7.  Paper comes from trees but cardboard doesn't. FALSE

8.  You can make tea from nettles. TRUE

9.  The earth is fatter round the equator than around the poles. TRUE

10.  Eating cat food will help you see in the dark. FALSE

11.  Your hair and nails still grow even if you are dead. TRUE

12.  One oak tree produces enough oxygen to keep two people breathing. TRUE

13.  Leather is made from animal skins. TRUE

14.  Cotton comes from a moth like silk. FALSE

15.  A golden eagle gets it's name because it nests near old gold mines. FALSE

16.  Some worms can grow over 2 mtrs long. TRUE

17.  Slugs are snail that have broken their shells. FALSE

18.  All snakes bite their prey. FALSE

19.  Cocoa comes from coconuts. FALSE

20.  Barn owls always live in barns. FALSE

21.  You can eat the nuts from a beech tree. TRUE

22.  Pineapples come from pine trees. FALSE

23.  Some mammals lay eggs. FALSE

24.  Every mammal and reptile has red blood. TRUE

25.  A mushroom is a fungi. TRUE

26.  Wasps make their nests from wood. FALSE

27.  Bananas grow facing downwards. FALSE

28.  A wagtail is Britain's smallest walking bird, anything smaller hops. TRUE

29.  A palm tree gets it's name because it's leaves are shaped like a human palm. FALSE

30.  If you watch the sea, every seventh wave is bigger than the rest. TRUE

31.  In South America people eat guinea pigs. TRUE

32.  White bread is made from maize. FALSE

33.  Pigs can fly. FALSE

34.  A germ is bigger than a virus. TRUE

35.  In Britain, when water goes down the plug hole it always goes clockwise. TRUE

36.  Coal comes from old crushed fossilised wood. TRUE

37.  A tree has rings because it is married. FALSE

38.  A dingo is a wild dog. TRUE

39.  A rabbit's teeth never stop growing. TRUE

40.  Man used to eat dinosaurs. FALSE

41.  Ink for pens comes from octopi. FALSE

42.  Cats always land on their feet. FALSE

43.  A bald eagle has to wear a wig. FALSE

44.  Polar bears eat Emperor Penguins. FALSE

45.  A female blackbird is brown. TRUE

46.  Oil comes from the little creatures that build coral reefs. TRUE

47.  Bats will fly into your hair in the dark and there is no such thing as Vampire bats. FALSE

48.  Orange or lemon juice are acids. TRUE

49.  Giraffes never lie down. FALSE

50.  Money grows on trees. FALSE

PAGE 2

Congregations of Animals

We have all heard of congregations of animals from "Herds of Cows to Flocks of sheep". Below are listed a few that we know of. Go to our Forum via our Front Page and make up your own. Some have already been posted. Add yours, make them funny but not rude.

Make up your own and post them on our Forum

page 3

Skips Campfire Yarn

Here it is the bit you are all waiting for. My tales from around the campfire (or let's read this cos we've nothing better to do).

As I sit by my campfire I am reminded about something that happened to me when I was a young lad. We didn't have electric in those days (and it was freezing going down to the bottom of the garden for a pee) so we used to sit and tell each other tales by the light of the candles. This is a true story (yeah right)

A Porker in the Family

When I first left school I wanted to be a vet so I got a job at the local vets surgery. My job was to help out at operations, sort out the prescriptions, deal with appointments, etc. The best part of the job though, was to go out with the vet on his rounds, visiting the local farms.

One day when I came in to work he told me that he had to go to a conference and would be away for a week. He said that I could do his farm round. So off I peddled (I couldn't drive then) with my bag of pills and medical equipment. I spent a week bandaging dogs paws, giving medicine to sick sheep and sticking my arm into cows checking on calves.

On my last afternoon I was at Farmer Giles's farm. I had just checked up on a poorly horse and was sitting with Farmer Giles on a bale of straw having a cup of tea when around the corner came a large piglet. The thing is he had three wooden legs! One wooden leg yes, but three, that was unbelievable.

I asked the farmer why the piglet had three wooden legs and he replied, "He's special that pig, called Pinky, he is. No other pig like him in the world". So I asked him what he meant.

"Last month I was out baling the hay when the baler got jammed. So I jumped down to clear it. As I bent down the tractor rolled forward and trapped my foot under the tyre. Pinky must of seen this cos he ran to the kitchen and grabbed hold of my wife's dress and pulled and pulled. My wife followed him and she saw me under the tractor. She ran across and drove the tractor back off my foot. Luckily it was OK. Doctor said if I was stuck much longer my toes would have fallen off. Special pig is Pinky".

So I said, "That may be but it still doesn't explain the three wooden legs".

"Ah", he says, "Pinky saved my boy's life the other day. He was swimming in the duck pond and he must have jumped in and hit his head on the bottom, cos he was floating in the water. Pinky must have noticed cos he ran to my herdsman and pulled him towards the pond. Old Jack found my boy and dragged him out. When he was on the bank, Pinky jumped up and down on his chest until he spluttered and coughed and my boy started breathing again. Doctor said he saved my boys life."

"What an incredible story, but why has he got three wooden legs"? I ask.

"Wal, last year the old farmhouse burned down," the farmer continued. "Like as not we all would have been cinders, but for that little porker. We was all asleep when the fire started, but ol' Pinky ran squealing 'round the house 'til we all woke up, and went and dragged my youngest daughter from her bedroom just seconds 'fore the roof collapsed."

"That's one special pig," I admitted, "But please, tell me, why does Pinky have three artificial legs?"

"Wal," said farmer Giles, "A pig like that's just too valuable to eat all at once!!!!!"

page 4

The Smelly Trainers Competition

Like all of Skips stories this is a true story about a Scout from our Group who wanted to win a competition really badly. The competition was the Stenek Ha'n Mor Scout District Smelliest Trainers Competition or SHMSDSTC for short. This Scout (we won't mention his full name) had dreamt about winning for years since he was a Beaver. Imagine being in a tent and stinking it out with your smelly feet and trainers and no one moaning. This lads first name was Todd but everyone called him Toad. His dream was to win SHMSDSTC.

Toads trainers were smelly, no doubt about that. But the first year he entered he didn't even get third prize. The second year he entered he had a plan. He gave up taking baths and started having showers instead. But he was being clever he put his feet into plastic bags and washed the rest of himself leaving his feet. He knew his Parents could tell if he had washed because his hair would smell clean, and if his hair smelled clean his Parents trusted him to have washed all over properly. Toad did not wash his feet and this helped him in the competition but still he only got third place.

So the next year he tried another trick. As well as not washing his feet he stopped wearing socks as he knew that your feet sweat really badly with bear feet inside trainers. For a whole year he didn't wear socks, even when it was freezing cold during winter. He went jogging to build up the sweat levels, played football in them, and they stank to high heaven. When entered that year's SHMSDSTC he was so sure he would win as he couldn't think of anything else he could do. Imagine his disappointment when he only came second.

He ran out of the Scout Hall and went round the back to have a good cry. As he was sitting there amongst the rubbish bins he heard a small voice telling him to shut up as he was disturbing some ones sleep. He looks behind the bins and spots a small Cornish Pixie wrapped up in an old sleeping bag. The pixie asks him why he is crying and Toad tells him how for the last three years he has been trying to win the competition for the smelliest trainers and no matter what he did he still couldn't win.

The pixie asked him what would he give if he had help to win and Toad said he would give him the winning trainers. So the pixie agreed the deal and gave him a small bottle of liquid. Toad opened the top and a horrible smell came out. Quickly putting the top back on the bottle he asks what it is. The pixie tells him it is the juicy sweat from the inside of the of the trainers from the last four year's winners.

Toad rushed down to the shops and bought a brand new pair of trainers and took them home. He opened the little bottle and poured half the liquid into each of the new trainers. The effect was instant, his eyes started to water and he coughed his head off, the smell was so strong.

All that year he went sockless and put plastic bags over his feet when he showered. He put his trainers in plastic bags when he took them off to keep the smell in. They stank and his parents made him keep them outside when he wasn't wearing them. They said if said if they found them they would through them away so Toad had to hide them in the garage every night. Even Skip insisted his trainers were left outside the meeting hall. Toad did as Skip said, bagging the trainers first to keep the smell in.

All Toads dedication and hard work paid off. As the day approached of the SHMSDSTC drew close it was clear to the other Scouts Toad would be a clear winner.

At the competition the contestants had to take off their trainers and put them on a stand.

The first Judge, a new young Assistant Scout Leader from Redruth, approached Toad's trainers. He got about six feet away from then when he turned away and started retching.

The next Judge, an old experienced Skip from Camborne, walked up, gagged, wiped is eyes and started waving a wad of papers around trying to clear the smell, but even he didn't get close.

The last Judge, the local District Commissioner took a whiff and grinned saying that that was more like and awarded Toad first prize.

He had done it! After years of trying and he was the champion.

As Toad is walking down the road with the Trophy in his hand the pixie jumps out from behind the tree. He demands the trainers as that is what Toad promised him if he won. Toad refuses to give him the trainers as he wanted to keep them. So the pixie says that he will put a curse on them. Toad doesn't believe the pixie and walks off down the road.

After he was walked part of the way home he gets an itchy feeling on the bottom of his feet. He doesn't want to take the trainers off until he gets home so he keeps walking. the itching gets worse and he is desperate to scratch his feet. The itch starts creeping up his feet until it gets to his ankles.

He gets home and sits outside the front door to take off the trainers. He undoes the laces and pulls the trainers off. As his trainers come off he looks at his feet and they have gone! Just then the pixie reappears and tells him that the curse has worked. Now he won't need trainers!!!!

More in our July Newsletter