Today, we headed to Mt Colah McDonalds to help raise funds for McDonalds McHappy Day.
Cars were washed for a donation with all funds going to the Ronald McDonald House Charity.
A total of $376.90 was raised.
The temptation for a water fight was too great for some, but fun was had by all !
Posted in Cub News, Scout News, Venturer News
Tagged Car Wash, Charity, Cubs, Hornsby community, Mount Colah Mount Kuring Gai Scout Group, Venturers
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
Mount Colah / Mount Kuring Gai Scouts recently had it’s very own design competition. The objective of the competition was to come up with a fun design concept that can be used on our scout section t-shirts.
We’re pleased to announce that the winner is Max McDermot! Max has made a fantastic illustration of a manga styled whip cracking dude! Very cool! This is an awesome illustration! Thanks Max!
The design has been converted for print and design purposes into an EPS file, which is designer speak for “ready for printing”. Mazi, from Venturers, simplified the image, so it’s ready to be printed on shirts!
These shirts will look great on our guys at Ventout, Scout Hike and all of the other activities these whip-crackin’ dudes get up to! Awesome!!
Posted in Scout News
Tagged Mount Colah, Mount Kuring Gai, Scout Hike, Scouts, Ventout, Venturers
2010 has been another successful year for the 1st Mt Colah Mt Kuring-gai Scout Group. I am very pleased to report that the Scout Group’s finances are in good order.
Having moved into our new hall in 2011, the 1st Mt Colah / Mt Kuring-gai Scout Group is in a good financial position. However, having a new home will add new and varied demands on our finances.
The group is in a good financial position to help support each section of the group with their planned activities.
I would like thank all our section leaders for their efforts over the past year guiding our Cubs, Scouts and Venturers along with our Group Leader Greg McKinnon, who continues to provide strong leadership to the entire Group.
I would also like to thank the parents for paying their fees in a timely manner, which in turn assists with ensuring that the group remains financially strong into 2012.
Yours in Scouting
Jeff Buwalda
Group Treasurer
Posted in Parents and Volunteer News
Tagged Cubs, Mt Colah Mt Kuring Gai, Scouts, 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
Greetings from the mighty MCMK Venturers! There have been some major changes with Venturers this year, and our Unit has been evolving rapidly over the last few months! Our numbers are in continual flux, but that’s part of the territory with the Venturer age group. However, there has been a major change of events with Chris “Spesh” Whitfield and Gary “Gator” Binskin coming on board to steer the Venturer Unit into a new era. Just like a punt up uncharted waters!
Belinda Binskin and Matthew Urmenyhazi have been at the helm for some time now, but Gary Binksin’s enthusiasm and skills is a tremendous benefit to all in our Unit. Just a few days ago, we made delicious pizza out of an oven made from a beer keg – whilst Belinda kept a watchful and helpful eye over the chocolate fondue!
Of course the big news for us is that we have our own hall now! We’ve officially cut the umbilical cord from the Berowra Unit and we are on our own! The Berowra Unit has been a great support over the years, and without them and the use of their hall, we wouldn’t have our Unit. However, we are on our own feet now, and are all enjoying a type of newfound freedom – and no more possum poo in the hall!
Another of the big changes has been changing our meeting nights, from Wednesday and Fridays, to now Monday nights. This change has been FANTASTIC!! (Thanks Gator!) as all Venturers can now participate throughout the year!!
Our numbers have declined a bit in recent months due to age, friendships with other Units etc. However, we have had a very full program since the last AGM. You can see most of our activities on the mcmkscoutgroup.org.au website, which we keep updated regularly, or on our Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/mcmkvents. Here, though, are just a few of the activities that we’ve participated in since our last AGM. We have been VERY busy over the last 5 months or so…
• Ventout (3 days of camping with Scouts)
• Snorkelling
• Deep Pass Christmas Camp
• Tie Dye Night
• Roventure (3 days of camping with Rovers)
• Visit to a Thai Buddhist Monastery
• Debating night
• Outdoor cooking
• Bush tucker weekend
We also recently had a very successful soap swap night. Check out the website and read about how we turned a bar of soap into a giant flat screen TV – in fifteen minutes!
Other news… on a personal note, I’ve decided to hand over the steering of the Unit to Gary. Time for me to focus on other projects! Although I won’t be gone completely, I’ll be hanging around on most nights like a bad smell! Once a scout leader, always a scout leader!
MCMK Venturers is back on course! Belinda, Gary, Spesh and to a lesser part myself are now full-swing into a new term and term plan! Our Venturers are very motivated and enthusiastic, and it looks like we’ll have some Scouts coming up soon! It also looks like we may have some Queen Scout candidates too!
Cheers,
Mazi (Matthew Urmenyhazi)
Firstly, I would like to thank all of our leaders for the time and effort they have put into their Scouting programs over the past year. As you will read in their reports the Cubs, Scouts and Venturers have been very active over the 12 months and have achieved many high goals. Without the dedication and perseverance of our leaders we would not be in such a great position to move forward in our new hall.
The Cubs have a new Akela in Jeff Argent with Gary moving into Venturers. They have continually made their presence known at district events and ended the year at the state Cuboree held at Cataract Scout Park. All the leaders and Cubs had a great time despite the wet weather.
Peter, Geoff and Jeremy have also done well with the boys coming second at the Easter Scout camp at Crosslands and a patrol gaining a silver award at Scout hike. All of this can be put down to their enthusiasm in teaching the boys the Scouting program.
The Venturers have struggled a bit over the last year and hopefully with the new hall will be able to settle into a more stable routine and grow their numbers. In January next year a few of our Venturers will be attending the 15th Australian Venturer in Tasmania. I’m sure that the Venturers attending will have a great time and meet many new friends.
Over the last year the Group committee has been run with the dedicated support of a small number of parents. With the new hall up and running we are now able to have our committee meetings at the same time as the cub meetings. This has proved a success with some of the cub parents staying on for the committee meeting while their child attends cubs. I would also like to thank Sandra Raymond-Jones for her secretarial efforts over the last few years; she will be standing down from the Secretary’s job, and will need to be replaced by another parent.
The main news on a group front is that our builder Ray Becchio has completed our new hall. We now have all of our sections meeting at our new hall. With the hall 95% complete we still have to keep focus on finishing the last minor elements to create a great hall. In the coming months we will be having a few more working bees to complete the hall. With the completion of the hall drawing closer there are many people to thank, the parents and youth members who have turned up to the working bees and members of the reconstruction committee who have lead the building program. At the head of the building committee was Greg McKinnon, who has been the main driving force behind all the work. Without Greg’s determination and perseverance over the last 7 years we would still be looking at the plans of the new hall and not the actual building.
The role of the Group Committee is to support and look after the group and its assets so that the leaders can go about giving the boys and girls a complete scouting program without worrying about “Has the hall insurance been paid?, Is the electricity bill currently paid?” Over the last few years this has been mainly left to the efforts of 3 or 4 parents. It would be good to see some new parents get involved with the running of the group. It is not the commitment of a Cub or Scout leader, but does require the attendance at 1 meeting a month; this coincides with the Cubs meeting night. The group committee has a very important role in the Group structure and without it there would be no Cubs or Scouts. I wish the new committee all the best with the coming year.
Peter Dudfield
Group Committee Chairman
Posted in Parents and Volunteer News
Holy Guacamole!! Now that's a tv set!!!
Want to know how to get anything you want within minutes? Read on to see how our Venturers scored a giant tv for their new hall!
There’s a tradition that the MCMK Venturers have had over the years, that has always been a lot of fun and brings in some great rewards! However, we weren’t expecting our night to be successful as this!
A soap-swap is a night that we usually run once or twice a year. Venturers are split into groups of 4, however, on this night, we only had one group. Bummer! Not to worry though, as they were all very enthusiastic as none of them had participated in a soap swap before!
Here’s a story of a recent really successful soap swap. It’s about a guy who turned one red paperclip into a house!! Check out this link: One Red Paper Clip
The venturers were given one bar of soap only! The objective of the night, was to see what they could turn this into! By door knocking, and saying who they were (wearing their scout scarf is important!) they offer to swap the bar of soap for something else of greater value.
Although door knocking or “cold calling” as sales people call it is an uncomfortable process initially, it is a skill that can be of tremendous value. We all have to “sell” or convince someone else of our values, be it our friends, family or an employer at some stages in our lives. Soap swapping is easy and fun. You meet all types of people – fun, welcoming, weird, but usually generous!
Usually the venturers end up with a few tins of food at first. They accept the swap, thank the householders and move to the next door. This process continues, swapping items of greater and greater value. Usually the venturers return with arms full of shampoo, packets of biscuits, golf clubs, anything really.
On this cold night however, they returned with a giant flat screen tv within 15 minutes of door knocking! Time to call the night quits! It started raining as well, so it was good timing!
We realised afterwards that this is an event that’s more suited to the warmer daylight savings nights. After 8:00pm people really don’t want to be interrupted on a cold winters night! In summer however, we start at 7:30pm and finish at 8:30pm – and end up with carloads full of stuff!
Who knows what our Venturers will be bringing back with them this Summer!
Write below and let us know about what you think of our night!! 🙂
Watch the above video from Dragon Skin
2008 to see what our unit will get up to.
Well, it’s that time of year when our Venturers brave the wilderness for three days of hiking, camping, partying and insanity! Best of luck to all our teams who are venturing into Belangelo (I just got a chill down my spine!) At last count, we had combined teams with MCMK Venturers, Normanhurst and Berowra Venturers.
If you’re keen on getting into Dragon Skin and want to know more about it, check out the Dragon Skin website
Go for it guys, have fun!
Mazi
Posted in Venturer News
Tagged Berowra Venturers, Dragon Skin, MCMK Venturers, Venturers
Why is Ari standing like a monk?
…aahhh no. Not really. But sort of!
A small group of Mount Colah Mount Kuring Gai Venturers and Berowra Venturers spent a day at Wat Buddha Damma, which is a Buddhist monastery, deep in the bush in northern Sydney. This retreat is 15kms north of Wisemans Ferry, and offers a glimpse at the lives of two Buddhist monks who live there.
It’s quite a long and dusty drive out there (sorry James – I was in front!), but the dirt track goes through some beautiful untouched scenery, up amongst the hills!
On arrival, we were shown around the large property, which is surrounded by national parks. After a walk of about 15 minutes, with a monk chatting along side us, we came to a “sala” or meditation hall. We were given a brief talk about some basic principles of Buddhism.
Rick digging trenches. "Watch out for the worms!"
We then went back to the main kitchen area, and offered food to the monks and received a blessing before we ate our own food. I think it was mainly vego, but everyone thought it was pretty good!
Then we had a few hours of helping out the monks. We helped them dig trenches to lay poly pipe that directs water to the monks little huts in the forest that they use fore meditating. The monks aren’t allowed to dig the earth, as they may accidentally kill a living being. So, we helped them out.
Tom looking busy. Mazi... just looking?
After that, we cleaned up and went to a talk in the sala. The talk consisted of principles of Buddhism, and also included a short (15 minute!!) meditation. Try not doing anything for 15 minutes – it’s along time! The Venturers seemed to get it though! We then went for a quick stroll and looked at a bodhi tree, which is a tree that is sacred to Buddhism.
All up, it was a very interesting day for our Venturers. These monks live a very secluded life, yet seem very content with their lot. We’ll go there again if anyone is keen!
1st Mt Colah / Mt Kuring-gai Scout Group 