SeniorBriefings
●It’s On Ice
If your Unit is in the two-thirds of the States in the snow belt, it can do something spectacular when called on this winter for an act in a Council circus, high school assembly, or Scout Week demonstration. That is an ice rescue staged in realistic fashion.
A skater gliding around a pond suddenly breaks through. As he thrashes around in the water, another skater comes along, tries a rescue by incorrect methods, gets too close, and also breaks through. Then two Senior Scouts—instead of the Lone Ranger—come along and rescue the skater-swimmers.
The action takes from five to ten minutes, depending on how much of a script is written for it. A commentator verbally sets the scene and explains the wrong and right rescue techniques as they are used. If a public address system is not available, a megaphone or a strong voice should be sufficient.
The spectacular part is the staging. It is best in an arena where the spectators look down on it, although a stage will do, the lower the better. A platform is set up and covered with newsprint. The platform can be put together from fifteen long tables such as found in many church dining rooms. Set them together, three long and five wide, with an opening in the center of the resulting oblong. In this opening set a tank of water. It may be hard to get and handle, but it is the crowning touch when the audience sees the victims splashing about in real water.
Cover the whole platform, including the hole, with three or four thicknesses of blank newsprint. Ask the press foreman at a newspaper plant for the paper left on the spindles at the end of the roll.
The four actors, wearing ice skates, can give a good imitation of skating on ice after a little practice. Rehearse the act—dry runs without the water and paper—until it clicks. The actors and commentator will have to coordinate themselves. The men at the mike may have to work up a few ad libs where action might slow down in a performance. Then have a dress rehearsal.
Ice rescue techniques may be found in theSafetyMerit Badge pamphlet and theScout Field Book.
Game Equipment
Game, equipment in your headquarters comes in handy during parties, and also is a pre-meeting attraction. The one danger is that sometimes the games are so popular they stretch the pre-meeting period over the major part of the evening. However, that can be avoided by a gentlemen’s agreement to close the games at a definite time on meeting nights.
Game equipment can be bought, of course, but it can be made inexpensively.
Darts is a game the GI’s found popular in war-time England. Make the target of corrugated cardboard cut from a large carton. Mark colored concentric circles on it with crayons. Make each dart of a match stick (kitchen size). On one end lash a needle with thread. On the other glue four small paper fins. Hang the target on the wall and let fly with the darts, making sure the firing range is not a thoroughfare.
Table tennisrequires a smooth 5´ × 9´ playing surface. If you don’t have a suitable table, get a piece of half-inch plywood. Sometimes you can make a better deal by taking two large scraps of standard pieces, sawing them to 5´ × 4½´ and then hinging or cleating them together on the bottom. If you don’t want to bother putting legs on this playing surface, lay it on a large table or two small ones, just so it is at least 30 inches off the floor.
Make paddles of quarter or eighth-inch wood, whittled or cut with a coping saw to shape and then sandpapered. They may be any size, but generally are 6″ × 12″ over-all.
The net must be 6″ above the table. Make it of cheese cloth or muslin, hemmed and reinforced with strong cord threaded through the hems. Hang it from dowels set in cleats that extend beyond the table edge at the center line.
Buy a supply of balls at the dime or sports store, or mail order house, and soon you’ll be searching for them under the furniture.
Other gamesfor which you can make most of your own equipment are shuffleboard and paddle tennis, providing you have floor space of 52´ × 6´ for the first, and 20´ × 44´ for the second. Buy or borrow a rule book, find dimensions of equipment, and turn it out in your workshop.