THE AMAZING XXX TRAIL
The 4th Amazing Trail is here, with more than 200 participants eagerly waiting to set off on a journey of fun and discovery.
BRIEFING OF FACILITATORS
As early as 0745hrs, some 30 facilitators gathered in the AVA room for a pre-trail briefing by Akela and Bertrand. The theme for this year's trail was finally revealed: The Amazing Sculpture Trail.
Teams had to travel by public transport to locations as described in the clues given and locate sculptures to earn points. Once there, teams had optional tasks to earn bonus points. The team with the highest points wins. All teams had to be back in school by 1700hrs. Late arrivals would incur penalties.
BRIEFING BY AKELA
BRIEFING BY AKELA
BRIEFING BY AKELA
At 0900 hrs, a general briefing was given by Akela to all participants who had gathered in the school hall. Akela outlined the objectives of the trail, and defined markers for all to observe. Parents were reminded to play a passive role and allow the Cubs to make all the decisions. Parents were to ensure the safety of the Cubs and provide necessary support. Amazing Trail T-shirts were distributed, along with some snacks and a botltle of Newater to all participants.
PLANNING STRATEGIES BEFORE DEPARTING
PLANNING STRATEGIES BEFORE DEPARTING
PLANNING STRATEGIES BEFORE DEPARTING
BAGHEERA & BALOO
Once the intial planning was completed, the teams set out on their journey of fun and discovery.
PLANNING STRATEGIES BEFORE DEPARTING
PLANNING STRATEGIES BEFORE DEPARTING
PLANNING STRATEGIES BEFORE DEPARTING
PLANNING STRATEGIES BEFORE DEPARTING
BAGHEERA & BALOO
Once the intial planning was completed, the teams set out on their journey of fun and discovery.
Teams started departing from 1000 hrs, with the last team leaving at 1020 hrs.
TEAMS BEFORE DEPARTING ON THEIR AMAZING TRAIL
TEAMS BEFORE DEPARING ON THEIR AMAZING TRAIL
TEAMS BEFORE DEPARTING ON THEIR AMAZING TRAIL
TEAMS BEFORE DEPARTING ON THEIR AMAZING TRAIL
TEAMS BEFORE DEPARTING ON THEIR AMAZING TRAIL
TEAMS BEFORE DEPARTING ON THEIR AMAZING TRAIL
THE LAST TEAM TO DEPART
While teams were out hunting down clues, Raksha and her team of dedicated helpers busied themselves with seating arrangements and decorations. Tables and chairs had to be arranged, balloons had to be sculptured and decorative facades put up. Gifts and souvenirs had to be arranged for ease of distribution later in the evening during the grand gala dinner. The programme had to be rehearsed and fine-tuned by Louis and Bertrand, the two MCs for the evening's programme. Our ex-Cub Scout, Timothy (BIG-T) turned up to lend a helping hand. Thank you, Tim.
In the meantime, Cubs were hunting down sculptures following the clues provided. Once there, tasks had to be performed. At the Registry Of Marriages, Cubs had to 'propose' to a member of the public, while at other locations, Cubs had to persuade members of the public to recite the Scout Promise! One task involved getting 15 members of the public to take a snapshot together with the team.
Most teams returned before the deadline of 1700 hrs. Two teams were a little behind, by 8 minutes each, and suffered a penalty of 8% off their accumulated points. The winning team, Team G, had a score in excess of 3000 points.
The following anecdotes was submitted by Paul Lin (facilitator).
1. It was around a quarter past noon. Group D was at the Dalhousie Obelisk. While the more senior cubs are taking down notes from the plaque to answer the mandatory questions and most of the others are taking a break, someone asked, "when's lunch?" "one hour later," replied one of the cubs. "ONE HOUR LATER?" exclaimed a little girl cub, with hands to her face in disbelief.
2. At the Registry of Marriages, there was a mandatory task which requires a cub to propose to a passer-by. There was no one around, except for the security guard. However, the girl cubs were too shy to propose. Just then, there was a lady coming in our direction and one of the boy cubs hurried over and did the proposal. The task was completed and she was literally married to one of the members in our group. She is the mother of one of our cubs and was coming to join us for the rest of the trail.
Another anecdote submitted by Bagheera (facilitator).
The most memorable and daring act was by a young Indian little girl cub from Group E. She knelt down to propose to an adult at the MOM without any hesitation in order to gain the 100 points.
2ND RUNNER UP
1ST RUNNER UP
TRAIL CHAMPIONS
The evening's programme was graced by the presence of the Deputy Chief Commissioner, Mr. Tan Cheng Kiong, and several Commissioners from the SSA. With a rousing 'Adiji' yell to welcome our honoured guests, the programme went into full swing with Bertrand and Louise directing. Akela welcomed all guests, and appreciated that some had taken the day off from work to spend time bonding with their children in this Amazing Sculpture Trail. Dty. Chief Commissioner Mr. Tan shared his excitement to be part of this Amazing Trail. He also talked about the 100 years of Scouting in Singapore next year, and the Singapore Jamboree as part of the centenniel celebrations. Although Jamborees are mainly for secondary school Scouts and beyond, he hoped to open participation to older Cubs Scouts to experience a Jamboree. He noted that Singapore held a Jamboree once in every 10 years, and this would be a great opportunity for Cub Scouts to join in.
DEPUTY CHIEF COMMISSIONER, MR TAN CHENG KIONG THROWING THE YARN
Mr. Tan was invited to 'throw the yarn', a long-standing Scout tradition. With other guests joining in, everyone was joined in a web of friendship.
JOINED BY A WEB OF BROTHEROOD AND FRIENDSHIP
JOINED BY A WEB OF BROTHERHOOD AND FRIENDSHIP
Dinner was a buffet spread of fried rice, vermicelli, sauted chicken, mixed vegetables and 'otak', with cakes and 'luohan kuo' for dessert. While everyone was enjoying the scrumptious food, a slide show highlighting the day's events was shown.
Games time is always a hit among the children. Seeing that the Cubs were getting restless, Baloo started a table game. 15 theme songs of hit movies and TV serials was played, and each table had to guess the title of the movie. There were 15 theme songs, ranging from the well known ones like Star Wars to lesser known shows like An American Tale and The Apprentice. Once all 15 theme songs were played, Baloo was inundated by Cubs rushing to the stage to submit their answer sheets. As it turned out 3 tables had the same number of correct answers, and a tie-breaker of 5 songs was played. Table 16 was the eventual winners.
Principle of Henry Park, Mr. Ng Teng Joo gave away plaques to the top Job Week earners.
Bertrand and Louise had 5 parents up on stage together with 5 Cubs for the next challenge: Marshmallow -in-mouth. Each contestant had to hold marshmallows in their mouth and say the word "Tabby Chubby". With more marshmallows in the mouth, it was increasingly difficult to make sense of what was being said. It was hilarious.
The Batucada dancers put up a fantastic performance by dancing and drumming on pails in time to the beat. Led by YiWen and Bryan Wang, they put on a great show of precision and synchronisation. Well done, dancers!
Next, Baloo invited 5 parents and 5 Cubs on stage to participate in a dance. As it turned out, more than 20 Cubs scrambled on stage, but NO parents. Despite calls for volunteers, no parents were willing to come forward. It was then left to the Cubs to "coerce" their parents to volunteer, and we finally had 5 sporting parents to participate. Baloo first showed them the steps and led them in a dance to the tune of Jai Ho, from the hit movie Slumdog Millionaire.
The audience were the judges, and we managed to trim the numbers down to 4 Cubs and 3 parents, and were treated to a gift each for their sporting nature, and great moves! A Cub Scout from ACS Barker was the crowd favourite with some very vigorous moves! Well done, dancers.
Dty Chief Commissioner Mr. Tan gave away trophies to the Trail winners.
Akela gave out souvenirs to all our VIPs and all those who had helped out in the Amazing Trail. Akela was thankful for all those who ahd come forward to help in one way or another.
It was time for the final hymn, the Scout Hymn, led by Baloo, to the music accompaniment of Bernette Koh, daughter of Akela and Raksha.
While teams were out hunting down clues, Raksha and her team of dedicated helpers busied themselves with seating arrangements and decorations. Tables and chairs had to be arranged, balloons had to be sculptured and decorative facades put up. Gifts and souvenirs had to be arranged for ease of distribution later in the evening during the grand gala dinner. The programme had to be rehearsed and fine-tuned by Louis and Bertrand, the two MCs for the evening's programme. Our ex-Cub Scout, Timothy (BIG-T) turned up to lend a helping hand. Thank you, Tim.
In the meantime, Cubs were hunting down sculptures following the clues provided. Once there, tasks had to be performed. At the Registry Of Marriages, Cubs had to 'propose' to a member of the public, while at other locations, Cubs had to persuade members of the public to recite the Scout Promise! One task involved getting 15 members of the public to take a snapshot together with the team.
Most teams returned before the deadline of 1700 hrs. Two teams were a little behind, by 8 minutes each, and suffered a penalty of 8% off their accumulated points. The winning team, Team G, had a score in excess of 3000 points.
The following anecdotes was submitted by Paul Lin (facilitator).
1. It was around a quarter past noon. Group D was at the Dalhousie Obelisk. While the more senior cubs are taking down notes from the plaque to answer the mandatory questions and most of the others are taking a break, someone asked, "when's lunch?" "one hour later," replied one of the cubs. "ONE HOUR LATER?" exclaimed a little girl cub, with hands to her face in disbelief.
2. At the Registry of Marriages, there was a mandatory task which requires a cub to propose to a passer-by. There was no one around, except for the security guard. However, the girl cubs were too shy to propose. Just then, there was a lady coming in our direction and one of the boy cubs hurried over and did the proposal. The task was completed and she was literally married to one of the members in our group. She is the mother of one of our cubs and was coming to join us for the rest of the trail.
Another anecdote submitted by Bagheera (facilitator).
The most memorable and daring act was by a young Indian little girl cub from Group E. She knelt down to propose to an adult at the MOM without any hesitation in order to gain the 100 points.
1ST RUNNER UP
TRAIL CHAMPIONS
The evening's programme was graced by the presence of the Deputy Chief Commissioner, Mr. Tan Cheng Kiong, and several Commissioners from the SSA. With a rousing 'Adiji' yell to welcome our honoured guests, the programme went into full swing with Bertrand and Louise directing. Akela welcomed all guests, and appreciated that some had taken the day off from work to spend time bonding with their children in this Amazing Sculpture Trail. Dty. Chief Commissioner Mr. Tan shared his excitement to be part of this Amazing Trail. He also talked about the 100 years of Scouting in Singapore next year, and the Singapore Jamboree as part of the centenniel celebrations. Although Jamborees are mainly for secondary school Scouts and beyond, he hoped to open participation to older Cubs Scouts to experience a Jamboree. He noted that Singapore held a Jamboree once in every 10 years, and this would be a great opportunity for Cub Scouts to join in.
DEPUTY CHIEF COMMISSIONER, MR TAN CHENG KIONG THROWING THE YARN
Mr. Tan was invited to 'throw the yarn', a long-standing Scout tradition. With other guests joining in, everyone was joined in a web of friendship.
JOINED BY A WEB OF BROTHEROOD AND FRIENDSHIP
JOINED BY A WEB OF BROTHERHOOD AND FRIENDSHIP
Dinner was a buffet spread of fried rice, vermicelli, sauted chicken, mixed vegetables and 'otak', with cakes and 'luohan kuo' for dessert. While everyone was enjoying the scrumptious food, a slide show highlighting the day's events was shown.
Games time is always a hit among the children. Seeing that the Cubs were getting restless, Baloo started a table game. 15 theme songs of hit movies and TV serials was played, and each table had to guess the title of the movie. There were 15 theme songs, ranging from the well known ones like Star Wars to lesser known shows like An American Tale and The Apprentice. Once all 15 theme songs were played, Baloo was inundated by Cubs rushing to the stage to submit their answer sheets. As it turned out 3 tables had the same number of correct answers, and a tie-breaker of 5 songs was played. Table 16 was the eventual winners.
Principle of Henry Park, Mr. Ng Teng Joo gave away plaques to the top Job Week earners.
Bertrand and Louise had 5 parents up on stage together with 5 Cubs for the next challenge: Marshmallow -in-mouth. Each contestant had to hold marshmallows in their mouth and say the word "Tabby Chubby". With more marshmallows in the mouth, it was increasingly difficult to make sense of what was being said. It was hilarious.
The Batucada dancers put up a fantastic performance by dancing and drumming on pails in time to the beat. Led by YiWen and Bryan Wang, they put on a great show of precision and synchronisation. Well done, dancers!
Next, Baloo invited 5 parents and 5 Cubs on stage to participate in a dance. As it turned out, more than 20 Cubs scrambled on stage, but NO parents. Despite calls for volunteers, no parents were willing to come forward. It was then left to the Cubs to "coerce" their parents to volunteer, and we finally had 5 sporting parents to participate. Baloo first showed them the steps and led them in a dance to the tune of Jai Ho, from the hit movie Slumdog Millionaire.
The audience were the judges, and we managed to trim the numbers down to 4 Cubs and 3 parents, and were treated to a gift each for their sporting nature, and great moves! A Cub Scout from ACS Barker was the crowd favourite with some very vigorous moves! Well done, dancers.
Dty Chief Commissioner Mr. Tan gave away trophies to the Trail winners.
Akela gave out souvenirs to all our VIPs and all those who had helped out in the Amazing Trail. Akela was thankful for all those who ahd come forward to help in one way or another.
It was time for the final hymn, the Scout Hymn, led by Baloo, to the music accompaniment of Bernette Koh, daughter of Akela and Raksha.
