Well it has been a fun packed year so far. Here we are with 6 weeks to go and then Xmas.
The year began with Jamboree, AJ2010 in January at Cataract, for eight scouts and three Leaders. After many months of preparation to qualify and then followed by numerous shakedown camps and meetings, the boys were ready for the adventure that lay ahead. Two weeks later they returned completely exhausted, and as the dust settled they were left wanting more.
Easter District Camp, in April at Crosslands, was just what they had needed. Competitively we improved on last year coming 2nd in the Troop competition to Waitara and received a 5th and 6th place in the Patrol competitions. Waitara filled the 1st to 4th positions, so next year we go for gold!
Scouthike in May saw 11 scouts and 1 Leader head for Wingello State Forest. 1200 Scouts fend for themselves in the forest whilst Leaders oversee the activities. A very draining but worthwhile weekend as always. We then settled down a little and regenerated our energies.
In term 3, we had our most senior scout go on to become a Venturer scout thus making way for others to step up and lead. We sent 8 scouts to the Leadership course, and 9 to the Construction course. All with the view to better the boys skills and knowledge.
By the end of 2009 we lost 8 senior scouts to either Venturers, Cadets or sport. Our numbers naturally decline until the older cubs make their way to us. Now we have 15 scouts invested, with two cubs coming through and another new scout to the troop giving us 18 on the books by the end of November. With these numbers, the troop has now created 3 patrols again, enabling us to promote scouts to new rolls of Patrol Leaders and Assistant Patrol Leaders. They will do a good job going forward, and we expect big things next year.
Recently we ended term 3 with a night hike around Mt.Colah as a warm up for summer, as many of the scouts need to plan hikes as part of their achievements. Ventout is coming in November so details are now coming out about that. It’s a fun activity, run for Scouts by our Venturer Scouts, under Leader supervision.
Thankyou to our scouting families who help out when we need them, it does make a big difference to our Leader’s work loads.
Yours in scouting
Koala / Cougar / Bluey
1st Mt Colah / Mt Kuring-gai Scout Group 
