Photo of the Month - July 1999

The kind of photos we are looking for feature Scouts doing fun and interesting Scouting things. This is what we say in the competition entry guide. So when this photo arrived it was an obvious choice. Paul Baylis, who sent the photo in, tells us more.

Hi, My name is Paul Baylis and I'm the Scout Leader with the 1st Culverstone and Vigo Scout Troop, Gravesham District, Kent. We are named after the two villages from which most of our Scouts come. The event is our Gravesham District water sports and fun day, always referred to as Kontiki. We have a series of canoe events (bank to bank, obstacle and marathon) for different age groups, as well as two raft competitions - 'best built' and 'novelty'. This years theme for the novelty raft race, as you see from the photo of our winning patrol, was Vikings.

We have the event on the River Medway at Teston and use a farmers field which fronts the river. Its an ideal place with easy access for canoes and rafts and, if the weather's good, it makes a great day out for all the families to come down with picnics etc. As a Troop we tend to go down on the Friday night and camp for the whole weekend and it gives the kids a chance to get in some practice as well as generally messing about in the river.

By the way we also won the overall best place for the canoe events and took the District Paddle trophy. We have yet to decide what next years will be. Someone has suggested Titanic!!!! - but why not?