Scotch College

Venturer's exciting start

The first quarter of the year has been an exciting start to the year for the Venturer Unit. We have been involved in several activities in the last couple of months.

We entered a team of six into Formula Bike, an eighteen-hour non-stop competition, in which teams of not only Venturers but also Cubs, Scouts and Rovers from all over Victoria, had to complete as many laps as possible around Sandown Racecourse on a bicycle.

Despite having the minimum number of people, meaning that we could only grab a few hours sleep before it was our turn to ride again, we still managed to clock around eighty laps, and the participants definitely had a lot of fun.

The other activity was Hoadley Hide, which consisted of a competition hike held near Shepparton over the Easter holidays, in which teams had to hike around a designated area, trying to locate and complete as many stunts as possible. Stunts consisted of activities based around the theme of the circus, which tested the teams' general knowledge, fitness, intelligence and sense of humour.

They are scored on how well they completed these stunts as a team, and the team with the highest scores at the end of the three-day hike are the winners.

Unfortunately, due to the timing of the hike over the Easter weekend, we were unable to send a complete team and had to join up with another unit, meaning we were unable to gain co-holder this year. Our Venturers still managed to have fun though - catching up with other Venturers from all over Victoria during the evening.

Our first activity for this term was a wide game run by our Quartermaster, in which two teams set out to retrieve several items around the school. The teams had to first crack the codes to find the clues for the location of the items, then retrieve the item before the other team did, bring it back to base and answer several questions. The night was a great success with both teams enjoying it thoroughly. We also have some great activities lined up for this term such as wrestling, courtesy of Sandringham Venturers and a weekend at Elliot Lodge.

If you are interested in joining the unit, or just finding out more about the activities, please call Ned Letcher (Unit Chairman), 9380 4934 or just come down to the Venturer room next to the Scout Hall any lunchtime.