Another Year Has Gone By

Another year has gone by for the Ventures, in a way we have done much, and in a way we have not. Some could argue that for a Unit of 11 Ventures, we should be more active but we must realise the reality of the situation. Out of the 11 of us, we all have our own internal CCAs in our respective JC and out of that more than half of us are involved in the leadership of our individual CCAs be it within the Executive Committees or other areas, 2 of us are Student Councillors and that as we all know, takes a lot out of one's life. This isn't a attempt to justify our perceived lack of involvement this year, this is to commend all Ventures that despite our internal commitments in school, our academic involvements, our private lives and life in general, we have managed to maintain a constant involvement in Ventures be it through Venture Night, SAC Guides Pioneering or PLTC. Nonetheless as with every thing in life, it could always be improved upon, to borrow from ACS, it is indeed that "The Best is Yet to Be" but give me "Ora et Labora" anyday =).

There are 2 sides to our Venture Unit, our internal involvement with the Pelandok Unit and our external ventures (no pun intended) with regards to the Venture Chord and the eventual Holy Grail of Venturing known as the President Scout Award. Internally, we have been as always will be, supporting and advising the Scout Unit in any way possible while we maintain a respectful distance to allow them to grow into their own and develop ideas that will bring forth our Unit. I believe we have done it rather well with this batch of leaders looking to bring changes to our Scout Unit. In terms of external involvement we have 3 brave and ambitious Ventures who have attempted the Venture Chord Hike but however due to circumstances completely beyond their control and out of personal goodwill to other parties, were unable to complete the hike. Nonetheless it is my humble opinion and that of all Olympians that the honour is in trying and attempting and not completion so let us acknowledge the efforts of Jonathan, Shannon and Jia Lei for they have shown us that nothing is beyond ourselves.

For the rest of the year, we'll just be working on the Pelandok Christmas Party and taking time off to prepare for the future. When 2010 comes we will emerge with a purpose as we finalise our legacy before we sit for our respective final examinations.

A Merry Christmas to all,

SAC Pioneering Trois

Yeap, tml we are organizing the SAC pioneering once again. Lets hope they remember what we taught and leave the activity in God's hands

SAC Pioneering Deux

And so we are anticipating a good response on this coming Sat, preparing to built the structure designed by Tri and I.

This structure is designed to be the bow of the ship, featuring a play group, including a suspension pole and the "wind sail"

Pictures of the Model will be uploaded soon.

This skills required are : Square Lash, Round turn 2 halves, Pegging, Sheer lash and Clove Hitch

More details to be posted on a later date

SAC Pioneering

And so, we commenced our pioneering on Sat.

The Ventures came 1 hour earlier to do the preparations and we carried out our plans, aiming to teach them pioneering to the standard that they will be able to build a simple structure designed by Tri and I.

Through the day, we taught them the basics of pioneering, the reason for pioneering and the origins of pioneering. During this the knots that were taught were: Thumb Knot, Clove Hitch, Square Lash, Sheer Lash, Tripod Lash, Snake Lash.

Though the structure they built may not be really nice, what-so-ever, it is the effort and improvement i seen in them that matters.

The 2nd Lesson will be on 28th November 2009. My corrections to the previous post, there will be no lesson on the next week 21st November 2009

God Bless

Preparing for SAC Pioneering

Today a few Ventures(Shanny, Jonny, Leo, Tri and Jia Lei) got down to prepare for Pioneering teaching tomorrow (Probably later by the time i finish typing out)

The Pioneering course will be up till 28 November 2009 Every Sat. We aim to teach them the basic pioneering knots and eventually on 28 November, they will be able to tie a basic structure.

More will be posted soon. May tomorrow's training session turn out fine.

A feeble attempt to revive the Blog

Written By: Venture QM 09-10, Jia Lei

All for a gateway...(Random attempt of revival ... )

(or more precisely to highlight a certain individual's 'interesting' expression in the background...HAHAHA)

Ladies and gentlemen, this is what bamboo cutting does to you. I have a rational explanation for the individual's expression. It is because the hairs of the bamboo can cause allergic reactions...in certain cases and individuals, this tends to have pretty adverse effects...as seen in this individual.

Enough said...All the best for the A levels, my fellow level mates. Keep sane, and at it! After it, we can go cut more bamboo!

The rest is silence

Hi all,


Just wanted to post one final notice on this beloved blog before my batch mates and I end our journey as Venture Scouts. However, this does not mean that we are closing the door on our Scouting life. Hence, I just thought of saying a big 'Thank You' to all the following people who have made our life in the Venture Unit enjoyable:

Firstly, to our Valiant-Scout Leader, Mr. Tony Ng, for supporting all of us in our endeavours and teaching us a few choice words to relief our stress. And for also being a one-of-a-kind leader that I fear we may never find anywhere ever again.

Secondly, to our former Valiant-Scout Leader, now the RSL, Mr. Malcolm Tan, for also supporting us in many ways, especially through monetarism and kitchen-ism; but more importantly, for grounding us in the ideals of Scouting.

Thirdly, to our Another Valiant-Scout Leaders, Mr. Marcus Png, Mr. Desmond Ying and Mr. Eric Chua, for assisting us in our development into young men and women but more so for being our friends if we ever needed advice or help.

Finally, to the JC1s, for showing us what the word 'united' means. We are thankful to have spent our Venturing journey with you people both last year and this year and we appreciate your dedication to Pelandok.

Of course, this list can go on to include the resident Scout Leaders of the Scout Unit, the Scouts and pretty much everyone who has in one way or another, made the 2008/2009 Venture batch what it is today. However, I have to attend to administrative matters for the AGM this Saturday. And so, on behalf of my level mates, Koo, Rubs, Chee, Lim, Bob, Aaron, Kris and Kim, I would like to thank all of you.

And with that, just a reminder to everyone to prepare for the stayover at Malcolm's house tomorrow. Hope to see all of you there in good health but possibly in a brain dead manner after the strenuous Common Tests.

The Time is Out of Joint...

Late this post might be, but wishing all fellow J2 and J1 ventures the very best in their common tests.

Hold on for another week and it will soon be over (don't be distraught Nicholas)...

Ventures ADVENTUROUS JOURNEY

As the title suggests, the ventures will be embarking on a 4day 3night camp to seek for the true meaning of ADVENTURE. We will leave for Ubin tomorrow at 8.30am from Changi Jetty. I am sure, at this point in time, all of us are anxiously anticipating this event, so hyped up that we are unable to sleep. Well, lets pray to god that he give us the determination and courage to cross all obstacles, endure this endeavour and thus make this trip a success. Amen. Good Night.

2nd National Youth Programme Symposium 2009

Hello rovers, ventures, scouts, non-scouts,

Lend me your ears (eyes)...

HQ is organising this symposium for youth leaders from the 30th to 31st May and you're cordially invited to participate.

It aims to provide youth leaders with a platform to update and learn about the latest practices on Youth leadership, Youth initiatives from government agencies and an occasion for the exchanging of ideas and best practices.

In addition, the event provides an excellent platform for feedback on policies, program and activities of the current Scouting programme.

Well, if you're interested, you can refer to the symposium's official blog for more details. Do go there to comment on the forum on youth/scouting issues close to your heart.

Hope to see you there!

Birthday Wishes

Hey all,

Since Matthew has been ranting that the blog is perpetually dead, I have taken it upon myself to revive it. So here is a belated but nonetheless

Happy Birthday!!!!

wish to our dear Mr. Koo. So, remember to spread your wings and fly....

Venture Night Hike

On 3rd April 2009, the venture unit went on a night hike to explore Singapore's famous hawker centres and 24hrs open cafes. It was a enjoyable nightout, cam-whoring together, feasting on delicious food which ended with a nap at our last checkpoint :A playground.We started off at Newton MRT station, all energized and excited. Our first checkpoint was Newton Hawker Centre where we only drank sugarcane instead of ordering all the seafood that it is famous for ( SAVE $$ for other food later ) Next came Adam Road Foodcourt. Prawn Mee, Grilled Stingray, Mutton Soup, all mouth-watering dishes which put a smile on our faces :) Moving on, we walked/ran a whooping 4.7km to Upper Bukit Timah Food Centre with a mini-pitstop at Esso for a little treat! At Macs, we CAUGHT up with the J2s and entertained ourselves with a little arm-wrestling fun before continuing our hike. Here, we increased our pace as our morale heightened ( Vice-President Presence ). We reached Rail Mall in a flash and it was there where we bought the world's most useless coffee. Thinking that Coffee Bean might keep us awake so that we could CHIONG finish the last part of the hike, we spammed coffee. However, it did us no good as we fell asleep for 10min after consumption. AFTER our power-nap, we prepared ourselves for the hardest part of the hike, a 5.55km distance to CCK-MRT. Here, we plugged into our earphones or rather i did and silently walked that long stretch, just like a shadow- passing by and dissappearing without anyone's notice. No link to the hike but still.it was that midnight solemn mood. Upon reaching our destination, there were a few quarrels but we settled them peacefully and then like how a lifeless zombie approaches afterlife, we did the same to the CLOSED 24hrs Food Bazaar at Yew Tee. After our last checkpoint, we ended off at
Yew Tee Block 674 (A) Void Deck (End Point) and "died" there. Ignoring how dirty the playground was, we fell into deep sleep.

Overall, We had a really fun time together during this hike and trust me, if we had a chance to do it again. WE WILL

(p.s) I know this post sounds damn negative, Sorry i will edit it soon.

VSS Night Hike

This Friday, 3rd April 2009 we are going for VSS Night Hike!

Time: 8pm Friday to 7am Saturday
Meeting Place: Newton MRT station
Things to bring: Torchlight, Groundsheet, Poncho, Whistle

Please Bring along money - approximately $25 for food

Look forward to this wonderful hike!

A little inspiration for my juniors...

...nice?

Outing 310109

Hello All!

JC1s and JC2s
We will be having an outing this Saturday, 31st Jan 09.

We'll be going to CDANS Bt Batok in the afternoon for Bowling.
Time: 12pm-3pm

Meeting Place/Time: West Mall Bt Batok Central/12pm
We'll head over to CDANS together.

Attire: Venture Polo Tee, Black Shorts, Shoes + Socks.

See yall this Sat!

Survival Skills Training

This Saturday we are going to PULAU UBIN!

We are going to make fires and cook and do other stuff.

Meet at 10am at Changi Ferry Terminal to take boat to ubin.

Also bring 2 1.5 litre water bottles and also a jack knife.

Bring about 10 bucks for all expenses.

See you there...

A walk on the East side!!

ECP Outing! 080109

Hi All!

This Thursday, the 8th Jan 09, we will be heading down to East Coast Park to cycle, play soccer and go fishing.
Yupp, we havent had an outing in quite awhile.
Darren, Shannon and Aravind, do join us. and the upcoming ventures/sec4s will be joining us too.

Details are as follows:
10:30am: Meet at ECP Macs
11am: Cycling
1pm: Lunch/ Grab fishing gear
2pm: Soccer
3pm: Fishing at Bedok Jetty

Leaders may wish to join us in the evening.

Rubegan and Nick will help coordinate the fishing rods/gear/equipment.

Pelandok Annual Christmas Party 08

The 27th of December 08 was a time yet again for the SJI Pelandok Scout Group to gather round the Christmas feast table to celebrate and forge closer friendships as the annual Christmas party got underway at Sherwood Towers, RSL Malcolm Tan's place.

This time, it was organised not only by the ventures but also the rovers who availed themselves with their resources. Special mention must go to AVSL Eric Chua and Desmond Ying, Rovers Samuel Xie and Wu Zonglun who put together the organisation of the party despite a tight schedule.

The event was well attended by members of the Pelandok family, of various ages, congregating together. Scouters, Old Boys, Rovers, Ventures and Scouts. Also in attendance were several invited guests from various other units such as SP Rovers and Bukit Panjang. Various commissioners and distinguished guests from the Scout HQ were also there, making up a total of about 50 people. And it was indeed encouraging to see different groups of people gathering and chatting the night away. I am sure that everyone made a new friend that evening and old friendships were renewed.

One of the highlights this year, was a gift exchange session initiated by the host, Malcolm Tan. Each guest was required to bring a gift that was to be placed under the Christmas tree upon arriving for the party. Towards the end of the night, each guest would then make their way to the tree and receive someone else's gift.

All too soon, the time came for us to vacate the function room at 10pm. However the party continued up in the apartment where many stayed till late to mingle and join in the revelry.

All in All, it was a fairly successful event and as we look ahead to the new year with hope, the venture unit would like to thank God for guiding us, our leaders for availing much of their time and resources, and all who have helped us in one way or another this past year.

Venture Scout Cord Hike 2008

The Northwest Area Venture Scout Cord Exploration Hike Test was held from 27th December to 29th December 2008. Both Matthew Koo and Navin Pillay attempted the test together with their respective followers, Shannon Yong and Nicholas Chan.

The test was a highly strenuous journey covering almost 70 km over a period of 3 days, 2 nights. The ventures in attendence have slogged hard, shed sweat and killed our legs during the period. We all hope that it is all for the best, and both Matthew and I would sincerely like the thank all the other ventures for all their help in helping us complete the entire test on a good note.

Moreover, we would like to extend special mention to Shannon Yong for doing what no Sec 4 who has just finished his 'O' Levels would do, and of course, our dear Mr. David Kwang for being such a great help from helping us to print our photos and staying up all the way to ensure that we give our best for hike. Anoth set of people we would like to thank are all the leaders of our Group for helping to support us and assure us a spot in the examination and of course, the organising team of the Northwest Area Venture Cord Exploration Examiners Team for helping to organise this activity. And to God for blessing us throughout the journey and giving us faith in ourselves and our abilities.