On Sunday 17th April 2016 the Group participated in the Hornsby RSL Sub Branch Community Anzac day March.
The march is on each year prior to ANZAC Day and all local Community Groups are invited to participate.
Mt Colah / Mt Ku ring gai had Cubs, Scouts Venturers and Rovers representing the Group.
Following the March, a service was delivered. The Scouts we then invited to the RSL for an Icecream !
It is great to be part of an active community.
MCMK Venturers and Rovers at the Cook-Off (Sorry Tania, I cut your head off!)
“Let the games…. begin!!”
Well, it was about time we brushed up our cooking skills! It’s that time of year when it’s cold outside and there’s too many cooking challenges on tv! Time to give ourselves our own cooking challenge. The Venturer Cooking Night had evolved into a “Feed the Hungry Rovers Challenge”.
Good thing that we meet on the same night! We originally had 5 courses planned, but in the end, only used 3, which was enough – we had enough curry to feed a small country!
Here’s what was on our exotic menu:
Binskin relative.
– Guacamole: This is a south American dish, I think. Made with avocado and tomato and is delicious!!! We were lucky to have the Binskin secret recipe, which was handed down for thousands of years from ancient Binskin Aztec relatives.
– Jackfruit curry: Jackfruit is the largest fruit available. It can be cooked when unripe, and it’s like a vegetable. When it’s ripe – it’s a fruit!! When it’s cooked, it has the texture of chicken. Hey, this is meat for vegetarians!! (Sorry, I got a bit excited there!)
– Tzatziki: A greek dip made with cucumber, yoghurt and garlic!!! Mmmm… I got this recipe from an oldGreek lady in a bakery in Dee Why. Caution: makes your breath stink, but who cares?
Jackfruits - Why stop at eating one only?
All our venturers had a great time preparing the food, cutting up the veges, burning the curry powder (all curry powder has to be toasted!) and mixing all the ingredients. It was a lot of fun, noisy though, because the scouts were next door making a huge racquet (ie. noise – not the tennis stick thing)
Time to plate it up!! We served up our dishes to ourselves and the Rovers! Hey, they like this stuff! Many went back for seconds!
The night was a huge success!!!
I can’t wait for the next Venturer and Rover cooking night! It will be the Rovers turn to cook for us! Let’s see if they can cook something other than sanga sandwiches and sauce!!
“Rovers… the challenge is on!”
Cheers, Mazza
Posted in Rover News, Venturer News
Tagged masterchef, MCMK, Rovers, Scouts, Venturer, Venturers
Mt Colah Mt Kuring-Gai Rovers are a dynamic crew who strive to get active. Indoors or out, we enjoy a range of activities that suit a variety of interests. From putt-putt golf, martial arts, weekend adventures to helping out those in need, MCMK Rovers are always up for a challenge!
2010 went out with a bang, with MCMK Rovers running the Sydney North Region Christmas Rover Annual Party (CRAP), with the theme “CRAP on Fire”. Over 70 Rovers from across the Region gathered to celebrate another successful year of Rovers. Awards were presented to outstanding individuals and Rover Crews, with MCMK Rovers receiving the Sydney North “Roscar” award for Outstanding Effort / Most Improved Rover Crew.
In February, this year’s Roventure, themed “Rome-venture” presented an opportunity for us to spend the weekend with Venturers and Rovers from across the region. Likewise, Dragonskin which was held recently over Easter, was much anticipated by both Venturers and Rovers. Our crew ran an activity base, challenging Venturers with various mind games. Dragonskin was also a great opportunity for our crew to spend time together, with ten of us there over the weekend. Overall it was a successful weekend, except for an encounter with a pine tree.
MCMK Rovers have attended many Region events in the past months, including a Region Mexican dinner, and Western Moot, which was held at Nords Wharf in March, with lots of activities including a cowboy pentathlon. The Crew has many more events planned for the rest of the year, some of which we will be organizing. We will soon be running Not-a-Moot, a weekend event that will involve Rovers from around the region, which will provide a chance for activities and relaxation. Also, we are planning a Hornsby District camp at the Binskins’ farm near Taree, which was a huge success last year.
This year, MCMK Rovers are continuing their strong involvement with Hornsby Gang Show. Our crew has a strong presence both backstage and shining on the stage, and we can’t wait for the spectacular show it is bound to be. Cubs, Scouts, Venturers and Rovers will be blown away by the talent in this year’s show in June.
Service has long been an important part of Rovers, and MCMK Rovers are committed to helping out in the community wherever possible. Last year, our crew participated in Hike for Hunger in support of the Wesley Mission, and helped NSW Rovers collect over 11,000 items of food to help meet the needs of homeless and underprivileged people in Sydney. Our crew recently participated in the Region Service Project at Ingleside Scout Camp to help with maintenance of the site, with Tom Hickman acting as Region Service Coordinator.
MCMK Rovers currently consists of 11 enthusiastic members, including two new Rovers, four knighted Rovers and four in squire training. It is sad for us that David Blakeley and Chris Whitfield will be leaving the Crew later this year as they have almost completed their time with Rovers. Their tremendous contributions to the crew over the years have significantly shaped the crew, and will remain an inspiration to us in the future. We plan to farewell David with a booting within the next few months.
Yours in Roving,
Josef Urmenyhazi
Assistant Crew Leader
Posted in Rover News
Tagged MCMK, Mt Colah Mt Kuring Gai, Mt. Colah, Roventure, Rovers, Venturers
This year certainly has been a momentous one for our Group. After almost seven years in the wilderness, we finally have a new home. And, I am sure you will all agree; what a great home it is. However, it’s sad but true, that we can’t now sit back and relax. We still need to keep our focus up, to make those many final additions and adjustments to turn a great scout hall into an absolutely fantastic scout hall.
As I said it all in my speech at the official opening, there are many people we need to thank for their efforts in bringing this new facility to fruition. However, I find myself needing to once again specifically thank the leaders and the support committee members that have carried so much extra load in keeping our membership strong, during a time when 1st Mt Colah / Mt Kuring-gai could so easily have gone the way of the dinosaurs.
When I look back over the last seven years, the people who have held the Group together have all done so for their own particular reasons. Some for their kids enjoyment, some for their own enjoyment, some from a sense of duty, and some possibly even because they needed to escape their wife or husband for a few hours each week. Who knows! Regardless of the reason, they have all looked into their own lives and found some time for the benefit of our community’s youth. That’s all we can ever ask of them.
These thoughts, along with some terrible news I recently received about a young man who was a Cub and Scout in our Group, brings me to share my reasons for staying the course for so long now. Sadly, my reasons are strangely selfish. Everyone who has had much to do with me knows that I am fiercely patriotic. This, along with a realisation that today’s youth is tomorrow’s society, has lead me to do whatever I can to prepare today’s youth to be responsible and resourceful members of tomorrow’s society. Having been heavily involved in junior sport and having my own children go through various phases of dance and music, I know that Scouting is the best program around for delivering those responsible and resourceful members of society.
So, I hope you will all consider my logic, and test it against your own priorities. As always, I am more than happy to discuss my thoughts with almost anyone at almost any time.
On a less philosophical note, we have unfortunately had a serious safety incident this year, with one of our Rovers falling from a tree while hanging a banner during the Easter Dragonskin event. He probably should consider himself lucky, having a crushed vertebrae but not suffering any spinal damage. However this does highlight that Scouting carries some risks, as the exuberant youth push the boundaries in search of bigger thrills (and higher banners). So, I think we need to ask everyone to both be thankful that our Rover wasn’t more seriously hurt, and to also give serious consideration to the appropriate balance between risk and reward.
In closing, I would like to thank everyone again for their support this past year. Please join with me in looking forward to what promises to be a great coming year for 1st Mt Colah / Mt Kuring-gai.
Yours in Scouting
Greg McKinnon (Wombat)
Some lucky contestants get to eat "Iron Gut" food!
Ok, here’s a late post about the weekend that was Romeventure!
Well, we arrived at Cataract Scout Camp on the Friday night, after a brief stop over at Campbelltown Maccas (the staple diet of many venturers!). We pulled into the camp and set up the giant tarp that became our kitchen and lounge area for the Romeventure weekend.
I awoke at 6am the next morning with a burning sensation on my nipple (I hate writing the word “nipple”). A small black thing ran across my chest! I cornered it and realised it was a red back spider. I caught it, and spent the next 48 hours holding my “knipple”, a lot of my time was spent curled up like a cocoon in a hammock. It was just a burning sensation, and made me feel tired all weekend. So I was pretty useless all weekend as far as participating in all the action going down.
Everyone else though had a great time though!!! The Rovers from Berowra and MCMK did a great job with the food all weekend!
Here’s just some of the things that the guys and girls (about 150 or so) got up to:
– Round robin activities. Sounds naff, and some of it was, but there were some great and challenging things to do.
– Swimming in a dam. Kinda like swimming in pea soup really! For some strange reason.
– Trivia night. those wacky Rovers know how to put a party on!
– Disco. Party hard, party hard, party hard!!
– Waterslide – I didn’t see this but heard it was excellent!
– Iron Gut. This is a challenge where contestants have to eat multiple courses of disgusting food without “singing a rainbow”. Some the courses included, slices of bread soaked (and I mean soaked!) in olive oil, and a caesar salad. The ceasar salad sounds ok, but not when it’s been blended into a juice – complete with anchovies!
All up, it was an awesome weekend and our guys from Mount Colah Mount Kuring Gai and Berowra had a great time!!! A big thank you again, must go out to the Rovers for catering for us!
Cheers, Mazza
A big thanks to the guys and girl Venturers and Rovers, families and friends of the MCMK Scout Group who helped out with the recent working bee.
Did you know, that volunteering your time for helping out with the scout group will contribute to the Venturers Queens Scout Award?
Painting our new hall an enormous job, but it’s getting there. Stay tuned for more updates on when you can next help out! The rumours are that the new scout hall will be officially opened in late February!
Posted in Venturer News
Tagged MCMK, MCMK Scout, MCMK Scout Group, Rovers, Venturers
Thank you to all who have helped out in some form or capacity this year either on our fundraising BBQ’s or Lamington Drives. As a result, the money raised has gone back to the scout group to either assist families with the cost of Jamborees, Cuborees, other activities/courses and the eventual purchase of new equipment to replace all that was lost in the fire 6 years ago.
Thank you also to those who have attended the working bees so far: the clearing of the land ready for the build over 2 days, the electrical fit-out and the laying of the floor over 2 days. Rovers, and the families from Scouts, Venturers, Cubs and Guides have all assisted. Each time the volunteers have been under the guidance of the experts so thank you to all who turned up ready to just have a go, and thank you to the experienced tradesman ready to assist and guide. It all helps enormously and without your assistance we would still be waiting for the electrics to be completed and we wouldn’t have a floor.
With the painting and tiling still to happen, maybe we will be able to see a few different faces. It can be a fun day bonding with others, having a joke and a laugh, eating a picnic lunch and knowing that you have done something very worthwhile for the Hornsby community and scouting future.
Posted in Parents and Volunteer News
Tagged Cuborees, Hornsby community, Jamborees, Rovers, Scouts, Venturers
1st Mt Colah / Mt Kuring-gai Scout Group 