SCOUT AND CUB NOTES AND NEWS
Deep Sea Scouts' Xmas Camp
CUB SPORTS ON TUESDAY, DEC. 29
(BY E.J.M.)

​

   It sounds almost like sheer shame to think that with all the glorious hill surroundings around them, a majority of Hong Kong youths should needlessly spend their time in town during the weekends instead of getting out into the open air for healthier recreation. However, Scouts here in Hong Kong are as keen about camping in the hills as one should find and not a single weekend goes amiss without some local Troop biking to some remote camp site, near but yet far away from civilization.
   Last Saturday the 11th Kowloon (Wah Yan) Troop, under District Scoutmaster F.H.Chan sought out a splendid piece of camp ground set at the foot of Middle Hill, for which credit goes to the St. Andrew's Group for having discovered it some time ago. Undoubtedly, there are few, if any, sites like this one to be found elsewhere in the Colony. A twin stream runs through the section in which the 11th Troop, with true Scout like efficiency, pitched their tents on one side with the campfire circle on a lower level while they built their field stoves and set their mess tables among a clump of trees on the other side.
   Having planned to remain in camp until Tuesday afternoon, the Scouts, therefore, got down to making themselves as comfortable as possible during their stay. Upon the shoulders of Scouters Chan. Lobato de Faria and So, who were by the patrol leaders, fell the responsibility of organising the camp properly and arranging a suitable but busy time programme.

   Sunday morning proved to be Visitors' Day for an endless round of friends kept coming into the camp to spend the day out with the Scouts. The constant interruption to their work and the job of showing every visitor round the camp to point out those ingenious Scout gadgets and explaining their respective uses, kept the boys on a never ending move. Among the callers were the Rev. Fr. G.Gallagher, S.J. (Director of the Wah Yan College), Mr. Chow Cheng-lum (Headmaster of the Wah Yan College), Paymaster Cdr. K.Lawder (Fleet Scoutmaster of the D.S.S.), Mr. M.E.Lawrence (Scout photographer), and several other members of the Wah Yan College faculty.
   The tiffin menu called for "chicken congee" and other dishes but the former tasted never less Scouty - that is, one could not but help notice the slight burnt taste in it. However, the "repeats" that followed despite the casual first remarks did credit to the cooking done by the Scouts. Washing up followed and the visitors were not permitted to take a hand in it.
   Perhaps it is not out of place to mention the courtesy of the police when, notified of the intention of the Scouts to camp in the Kowloon Hills, they put a couple of Indian constables on duty along the path leading to the site with instructions to the pair to report to the Scouter in charge twice a day to find out if all was well. This action on the part of the police was very much appreciated by the Scouts as their friends kept coming in to see them throughout their stay in camp.
   While still on the subject of camping, the Deep Sea Scouts have announced their intention of spending the Christmas holiday at Saiwan and will be hosts to a number of visitors who are coming out with them. The Skipper (Paymaster Cdr. Lawder) hardly lets any week go by without himself trotting out into Nature's own playground on a solitary hike or with his crew. With his departure for Home shortly the Boy Scouts of Hong Kong will suffer a personal loss and their regret will be equally shared by all who have known him in Shanghai, Weihaiwei and other China coast ports.

   The Cubs' Sports will be held on Tuesday, December 29, at the Hong Kong Football Club ground at 2.45 p.m., with kind permission of the ground owners, when all Hong Kong and Kowloon Packs will vie for the Peter Dalziel Shield. Programmes will be sold during the Sports and, in view of the wholehearted success of the recent Campfire Display, it is expected that the public will give it their whole hearted support by their attendance.
   To the uninitiated in Scout matters, the Cubs represent the youngest members of the huge Scout Movement and it is here that they are given their first taste of the training which helps to develop them into law abiding and efficient citizens when they grow older. In the Cubs the youngsters learn those useful crafts which enable them to make their own toys and other things to the envy of their friends. Character training is one of the keywords of the Cub movement and coupled with this goes the development of the mind and cultivation of physical efficiency.