Hey everyone, if you’re in the Etobicoke area and looking for a Christmas tree, the 433rd Toronto Scout group is back selling again this year. We’re at 25 Burnhamthorpe Rd at Islington United Church. You can book an appointment at the link or just drop by during the hours listed. We are open as of Nov. 28th. Thank you for supporting Scouts Canada!
433rd Toronto Cub Scouts had an awesome weekend at Camp Nemo and hiking Mount Nemo. We learned how to navigate with maps, compasses and GPS, had a treasure hunt and a campfire, and explored the caves and crevices at nearby Mount Nemo.
Hey everyone, if you’re in the Etobicoke area and looking for a Christmas tree, the 433rd Toronto Scout group is back selling again this year. We’re at 25 Burnhamthorpe Rd at Islington United Church. You can book an appointment at the link. We are open as of Nov. 30th. Thank you for supporting Scouts Canada!
On November 17-19, 433rd Cubs and Beavers went to Fall Camp at Camp Everton. Fun was had by all exploring the forest, building shelters, climbing on the climbing wall and trying out the obstacle course. Campers enjoyed great food and a campfire on Saturday night.
Thanks to the parents and leaders who helped make it a great camp.
Cubs & Beavers climbing the net on the obstacle course
Cubs & Beavers enjoying hot chocolate and cookies - many on their first camp
Cubs and Beavers had their Halloween party the week before Halloween and met to have a costume contest and compare outfits. Prizes were handed out for funniest, scariest and most original.
Hello, everyone! This is our first update since the pandemic, and life is finally returning to normal. We’ve had many camp outings since things began to open up, and we’re excited about our upcoming events!
Park Clean-Up: April 22, from 10:30am to 1:30pm.
E-Waste Drive: April 29-30 in the Cloverdale Mall parking lot, northeast corner.
Hello, everyone! We recently revamped our website because it had grown too large and complex to maintain. This new site is much more minimalist, and we will endeavour to post only the most important information and updates so that you don’t get information overload.
The Scouting year is already underway, but it’s not too late to join up! Just use our Contact page if you want to get in touch with us or ask any questions.
Hello, everyone! We apologize for being remiss in maintaining the website as of late, but we will endeavour to do better in future, and keep you aware of upcoming events.
Tonight (September 21) is our first meeting of the year. We will meet at 7:00pm in Stewart East Hall (the gymnasium) of Islington United Church. Pickup time is 8:30pm. On occasion, we will have meetings elsewhere, in which case we will post notice here and by E-mail.
Since it is the first meeting of the year, Scouts are not required to wear a uniform if they don’t have one. However, you should try to get one as soon as time permits. Uniforms can be acquired from the Scout Shop. You can browse the Scout Shop online or you can use their (click Store Locator to find a retail location near you).
We will be distributing a handout at tonight’s meeting, with more information. We will also have a sign-up sheet where you can leave your E-mail address so that we can send you E-mail updates about upcoming events.
Here are some pictures from the winter camp that we completed last weekend, held at Camp Wildman on Georgian Bay. The camp went well, and the weather co-operated by giving us a nice variety of conditions (including high winds and snowstorms just when they tried to make an outdoor shelter), which miraculously cleared up and turned into a bright sunny day for our drive home on Sunday.
After nightfall, we made bird feeders from kits, and we used a wood-burning tool to write our names on this makeshift plaque, which we made from spare parts of bird feeders and left on the west wall.
The obligatory group shot
The sun came out later in the morning, and reminded us why winter can be beautiful.
Pancakes for breakfast! The Scouts prepared the meals and cleaned up the dishes (note to parents: this proves that they do in fact know how to do this, no matter what they might say to the contrary).
Time to relax and look out at the bay, before heading home.
The third and final day of our camp. This was taken in the morning before everyone woke up.
Our first night at the lodge. Everyone had just arrived. We went out shortly after this picture was taken and lit Chinese flying lanterns, which everyone enjoyed (no pictures unfortunately, since I was holding the lanterns instead of the camera).
The snowstorm did eventually calm down a bit.
As Day Two continued into evening, a strong snowstorm blew into the area. The boys went outside and tried to assemble a makeshift shelter against the wind and snow. Tarps just flew away, so they eventually barricaded themselves behind snow sleds and picnic tables :)
Toboganning on 8th Concession (don\'t worry, the road is closed in winter). The hill started off very slow because of the fresh snowfall, but it got patted down after enough people had gone down.
Here are some pictures from our October 23, 2011 hike to the Hilton Falls Conservation Area.
The quarry. When I saw it, I couldn\'t help but be reminded of the \"Rust\" multiplayer map on \"Call of Duty\".
Two of the guys at a lookout point.
The whole group at the beginning of the hike
One of the many crevasses we found on the Bruce Trail, part of which intersects the Hilton Falls area. Much of the day was spent getting into and out of these crevasses.
Here are some pictures from our most recent Queen’s Park tour, held this weekend. The trip went well, we arrived back at IUC 20 minutes ahead of schedule, and the Scouts had a good time and hopefully learned something.
And we\'re finally inside the building.
We were lucky enough to see the Lieutenant-Governor on his way to a ceremony. He looked up at us, waved, and said \"Hi, guys!\" Seems like a friendly guy.
This is the inside of the Legislature.
We\'re in the marble part of the building now (the part which was rebuilt after the original wooden wing was destroyed by fire).
The whole group in front of IUC. Actually, we were still one Scout short; another Scout joined us downtown, just in time for the tour.
In front of the parliament buildings, we see a statue of Queen Victoria
A statue of King Edward VII, if I recall correctly. This one was in Delhi, India, but it was apparently relocated to Toronto (I guess the Indians didn\'t want a big statue to the British Emperor of India after they broke away from the Commonwealth and declared independence).
A group shot in front of the war memorial in Queen\'s Park.
We took the subway downtown; we walked to the station and rode the subway to St George station, then walked south a couple of blocks to the parliament buildings, nicknamed \"the pink palace\" because of the colour of the stones it\'s made out of.
1) As we told the Scouts at last week’s meeting, this week’s meeting on October 19 is going to be held at a bowling alley because the church is busy with their yearly rummage sale. We finally managed to get our reservation confirmed, so we can announce that we will be meeting at PlanetBowl at 5555 Eglinton Ave W, at the usual time from 7:00pm to 8:30pm on Wednesday. To help pay for shoe rentals and lane rentals, we’ll need each Scout to bring $12.
2) This weekend is our Queen’s Park Scout tour. There is no fee. We will meet in the church parking lot at IUC at 11:00am on Saturday October 22, whereupon we will take the Scouts downtown via TTC so that they learn a bit about navigating our city on the way to the tour. We will come back to the church for approximately 4:00pm.
3) Next week’s meeting on Wednesday October 26 will be our yearly Halloween party. The kids are encouraged to wear their costumes to the meeting, and to also be prepared to tell ghost stories if they know any. We will have snacks and games too!
Click on the title to see pictures from our weekend camp at Goodyear Memorial Scout Camp near Orangeville Ontario. It rained heavily on Friday, but it cleared up in time to set up everyones’ tents. Saturday was a much more pleasant day, and Sunday it rained again, but not until we had packed up the tents, which worked out well for us. The Scouts had to “rough it” because there was no water or firewood, so we had to carry water from the reservoir to the camp on foot, and we had to forage for dead wood in the forest without damaging any living trees. But there were no complaints, and we had plenty of fun!
Inaugurating our campsite by hoisting our flag. We were unable to do this on the first night because it was pitch-dark and raining by the time most people arrived, so we had this ceremony after breakfast on the second day.
This is a hike we took on the second day, looking for the bigger Venturer-level obstacle course after our boys had sailed through the Scouts course on the previous day.
This picture shows the grade much better. When climbing on this kind of terrain, particularly with rain-slicked leaves beneath our feet, the footing could get quite dodgy at times.
Day 2: the boys climbing a fairly steep hill. At numerous points, we left the trail and took shortcuts, and these shortcuts always seemed to involve very steep climbs. Unfortunately, you can\'t really see the grade in this picture.
This picture is quite blurry, but you can see the embers floating into the air. It would have been nice to have a tripod, but that would be an odd-looking thing to bring on a camping trip.
Dishwashing detail! There was a small shelter on the campsite, which we did not sleep in but which came in handy for preparing meals and washing dishes.
One of our Scouts holding what appears to be a yellow garter snake. We caught this little guy while on a trip to get water. The campsite had no nearby water source, so we had to hoof it a few hundred metres to a water reservoir, and carry the bottles back. To their credit, the boys carried out this task with few complaints.
Me watching the boys prepare the foraged wood for a campfire. They were separating out the drier bits, removing bark, and breaking up larger pieces into kindling. In previous years, Scouts had attempted to use bark as kindling, so we made sure to pre-emptively disabuse them of that notion this time.
Scouter Alex chopping wood. Next time, we need to bring a saw. We had gotten spoiled by the fact that most campsites leave pre-sawed pieces of wood laying around.
Giving the boys a bit of free time in the afternoon.
The Scouts standing in front of what we nicknamed the \"Mortal Kombat\" area, so named because its strictly geometric rows of planted trees are reminiscent of a scene in that movie.
The climbing wall. It\'s not huge, but there is no safety equipment either, so it\'s probably just about the right height.
We just had our first meeting of the year last night, and it was good to see a lot of old faces and some new faces. We are holding our first fall camp very soon – the September 30 to October 2 weekend at Camp Goodyear. The fee will be $30 as usual, and we will be at the “Jack Pine” campsite, which is a nice round clearing in the woods and has a wooden shelter for cooking or severe weather. We need to know how many people will attend, so if you haven’t indicated whether you will attend on the sign-up sheet at last night’s meeting, please contact us via E-mail.
The next weekend event after that will be Apple Day, on Saturday and Sunday, October 15 to 16.
The May 7 “Jamboree On The Trail” hike is scheduled for 9:30am at Blue Springs Scout Reserve in Acton, Ontario. We will be meeting at the Chickadee Pavilion, in the
Take the 401 West past Mississauga and past Oakville until you get to Milton.
Take regional Hwy #25 north from Milton for about 10 minutes until you get to side road # 25
Turn left on side road #25.
Follow side road #25 west for about 5 minutes until you reach 6th Line Nassagaweya.
Turn right and drive for a couple of minutes. Blue Springs gate 3 will be on your left-hand side. The entire reserve is on both sides of the road, but we will be on the left-hand (western) half of the reserve, to your left.
Turn left into Blue Springs West (Blue Heron). There will be a parking lot just inside and to the left. Chickadee pavilion will be ahead. Here is a map of Blue Springs West.
The trip should take roughly one hour, so you will want to be on the road by 8:30am. The hike itself will be from 10:00am to 3:00pm. There will be a short lunch break, so bring a bagged lunch. There will be an opportunity to do tinfoil cooking over hot coals, so you might want to practice your tinfoil lunch preparation skills. Here is a handy guide which gives you instructions on how to make a tinfoil cooked lunch:
Packing list:
Lunch
Hat
Sunscreen
Bug repellent
Footwear appropriate for hiking
Drinking water
A jacket
The latest forecasts say that there will be no rain tomorrow, although one can never be too sure.
A big thanks to everyone who participated in this year’s West Deane park clean-up yesterday. The weather did not co-operate, but everyone pushed through anyway, and we cleaned up a lot of junk despite the blustery high winds.
Congratulations to all who participated in this year’s Hobby/Craft show! The show went off well, and many Scouts turned in enough projects to earn such challenge badges as the Handicraft, Artist, Collector, and Modeller badges. Also, many thanks to the Scouts who helped set up the show on Friday night.
Click on the title to see pictures from our winter camp at Camp Wildman in Tiny, Ontario.
Unfortunately, the batteries in my camera were dead, so we made do with a disposable camera and the low-quality camera in my cell-phone. These pictures are from Saturday.
And these pictures (all taken with my cell-phone since the disposable camera was used up by this point) were taken on Sunday, when we walked on a frozen-over portion at the edge of Georgian Bay.
A big thanks to everyone who came out for the Brownsea Island sleepover at the church this weekend. The church staff and congregation seemed pleased at our turnout, and all the kids seemed to enjoy the movie on the previous night. I look forward to seeing you at tomorrow’s Baden-Powell banquet.
Hey everyone, if you’re in the Etobicoke area and looking for a Christmas tree, the 433rd Toronto Scout group is back selling again this year. We’re at 25 Burnhamthorpe Rd at Islington United Church. You can book an appointment at the link. We are open as of Nov. 30th. Thank you for supporting Scouts Canada!
Hours starting Nov 30th:
Thursday: 6:00-9:00 pm
Friday: 6:00-9:00 pm
Saturday: 9:00 am-5:00 pm
Sunday: 9:15 am-5:00 pm
Prices – Fraser Fir:
Under 6’=$70, 6′-7’=$85, 7′-8’=$95,
and *NEW* this year 9′-10’=$150
Payment at time of pick-up – Cash, Debit, Visa, MasterCard.
Islington United Church is having their annual rummage sale next week and the large halls will not be available to us. Sections are planning offsite events. Please check your section events page for more information or contact your section leaders.
This coming weekend marks our first fundraiser of the 2010-2011 season.
Our Beavers, Cubs, and Scouts will be out at malls, shops and other locations ranging from Dundas to The Westway with decorated baskets and apples. Our leaders, Venturers, and parent helpers will be working with them.
Scouts don’t sell apples. We ask for the support of the community in the form of donations. There is no fixed amount – the apples are a thank you for your support. The money raised during apple day is used to subsidize events, buy equipment, and to help us run a strong youth program.
Our old home of 40 years at St Luke’s United Church at 516 The Kingsway closed in June 2010. We’d like to thank the congregation who sponsored us through all those years.
Beginning in September 2010, the 433rd has relocated to Islington United Church (at 25 Burnhamthorpe Road just north of Dundas Street). IUC has graciously offered to sponsor our group continuing their 50 year commitment to Scouting. We were fortunate to find a congregation with such a strong commitment and excellent facilities that include two halls.
Just a reminder for all of you parents who are last-minute income tax people (you know who you are): Scouts Canada appears to qualify for the Fitness Tax Credit for childrens’ activities, so if you still have your receipt from your sign-up, you can use that receipt to get the tax credit.
Remember that the amount you can apply to the tax credit is limited to $500, so if you have already spent that much on other organized fitness activities for your children, you should not bother adding any more entries.
Once a year our entire group gets an opportunity to show our appreciation to our sponsor St. Lukes United Church. It’s always within a few days of our annual Baden Powell Banquet.
Please have all your Beavers, Cubs, Scouts, and Venturers meet in the gym at 10:15am Sunday February 22, 2009. This is a full uniform event and we want to look as sharp as possible for the congragation. We also want to have the best possible turnout.
Each section will also be called upon to recite their promise.
For more than three decades, the 433rd Toronto Scout Group has been selling Christmas trees to raise funds to support their Scouting programs offered to Etobicoke boys and girls. This year our trees will once again come from the renowned Drysdale Tree Farms.
•• We offer Fraser Firs – the most popular Christmas trees ••
Please support our Scouting programs by buying your Christmas tree from the 433rd Toronto Scout Group. This is one of two major fundraising activities we conduct throughout the year and is how we can keep delivering successful programs for the 433rd Beavers, Cubs, Scouts and Venturers.
Where:
Islington United Church
25 Burnhamthorpe Rd, (East side of Burnhamthorpe just north of Dundas intersection)
When:
Starting end of November and extending into December (while supplies last)
Thursday/Fridays: 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Saturdays: 9:00 am to 5:00 pm
Sundays: 9:15 noon to 5:00 pm
For information about the 433rd Toronto Scouting programs please visit our web site at www.433rd.com and our blogs.
Registration fees pay for part of the Scouting program; however, it is through fundraising that we raise the balance of the funds that are necessary to Christmas tree sales are one of the major fundraising events of the year and we need your help to make it happen.
We have been asked by the church to once again remind parents that proper footwear should be worn when attending meetings. To our great pleasure, the gymnasium has been completely remodeled this year, including a brand new tile floor. Some scuff marks have unfortunately been appearing on the floor at our meetings.
We once again remind parents that the children should wear white-soled or non-scuffing footwear to the meetings.
Just a reminder: the first camp of the season is upon us. It is this weekend, Friday September 26 to Sunday September 28, at Blue Springs Scout Reserve, located at 14009 6th Line Nassagaweya, near Halton Hills. Click here for directions from St. Luke’s United Church to the camp, courtesy of Google Maps (all hail Google). If you have not already handed in your permission form and payment, please do so before Friday.
Arrival time is from 7:00pm to 7:30pm. Travel time is estimated at approximately 50 minutes, dependent on traffic. If you are not sure where to go once you reach the camp, go to the ranger’s office just north of 6th Nassagaweya Line and 25th sideroad, and ask for directions there.
What to Bring
Sleeping bag and sleeping mat
Pillow
Pajamas
Flashlight
Jacket
Sun hat
Coat
Rain boots
Running shoes
Rain jacket / splash pants
2 pairs of pants
Sweat shirt
2 T-shirts
Shorts
3 pairs of socks and underwear
Toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, towel
Book, games, cards
Sunscreen
Insect repellent
What NOT to Bring
No food or candy of any kind. We have two youths with extreme allergies, and you could be putting their lives at risk if you bring unsanctioned food to the camp.
Electronic devices, knives, or matches
Please note that any medication must be given to a leader upon arrival at the camp, with instructions.
Watch this space for news and updates in future. In the meantime, you may also want to check out last year’s 433rd Scout Troop Blog, located at blog.433rd.com.
again this year. We’re at 25 Burnhamthorpe Rd at Islington United Church. You can book an appointment at the link. We are open as of Nov. 30th. Thank you for supporting Scouts Canada!
Cubs & Beavers climbing the net on the obstacle course
Cubs & Beavers enjoying hot chocolate and cookies - many on their first camp
It's Taco Tuesday, except on a Saturday
Hiking alongside the overhangs on the escarpment.
Cubs & Beavers pose on the obstacle course
Found an adirondack shelter on the hike.
Cubs & Beaver building a teepee structure
Cubs & Beavers practicing their climbing
The girls leap over the hurdles
After nightfall, we made bird feeders from kits, and we used a wood-burning tool to write our names on this makeshift plaque, which we made from spare parts of bird feeders and left on the west wall.
The obligatory group shot
The sun came out later in the morning, and reminded us why winter can be beautiful.
Pancakes for breakfast! The Scouts prepared the meals and cleaned up the dishes (note to parents: this proves that they do in fact know how to do this, no matter what they might say to the contrary).
Time to relax and look out at the bay, before heading home.
The third and final day of our camp. This was taken in the morning before everyone woke up.
Our first night at the lodge. Everyone had just arrived. We went out shortly after this picture was taken and lit Chinese flying lanterns, which everyone enjoyed (no pictures unfortunately, since I was holding the lanterns instead of the camera).
The snowstorm did eventually calm down a bit.
As Day Two continued into evening, a strong snowstorm blew into the area. The boys went outside and tried to assemble a makeshift shelter against the wind and snow. Tarps just flew away, so they eventually barricaded themselves behind snow sleds and picnic tables :)
Toboganning on 8th Concession (don\'t worry, the road is closed in winter). The hill started off very slow because of the fresh snowfall, but it got patted down after enough people had gone down.
The quarry. When I saw it, I couldn\'t help but be reminded of the \"Rust\" multiplayer map on \"Call of Duty\".
Two of the guys at a lookout point.
The whole group at the beginning of the hike
One of the many crevasses we found on the Bruce Trail, part of which intersects the Hilton Falls area. Much of the day was spent getting into and out of these crevasses.
And we\'re finally inside the building.
We were lucky enough to see the Lieutenant-Governor on his way to a ceremony. He looked up at us, waved, and said \"Hi, guys!\" Seems like a friendly guy.
This is the inside of the Legislature.
We\'re in the marble part of the building now (the part which was rebuilt after the original wooden wing was destroyed by fire).
The whole group in front of IUC. Actually, we were still one Scout short; another Scout joined us downtown, just in time for the tour.
In front of the parliament buildings, we see a statue of Queen Victoria
A statue of King Edward VII, if I recall correctly. This one was in Delhi, India, but it was apparently relocated to Toronto (I guess the Indians didn\'t want a big statue to the British Emperor of India after they broke away from the Commonwealth and declared independence).
A group shot in front of the war memorial in Queen\'s Park.
We took the subway downtown; we walked to the station and rode the subway to St George station, then walked south a couple of blocks to the parliament buildings, nicknamed \"the pink palace\" because of the colour of the stones it\'s made out of.
Inaugurating our campsite by hoisting our flag. We were unable to do this on the first night because it was pitch-dark and raining by the time most people arrived, so we had this ceremony after breakfast on the second day.
This is a hike we took on the second day, looking for the bigger Venturer-level obstacle course after our boys had sailed through the Scouts course on the previous day.
This picture shows the grade much better. When climbing on this kind of terrain, particularly with rain-slicked leaves beneath our feet, the footing could get quite dodgy at times.
Day 2: the boys climbing a fairly steep hill. At numerous points, we left the trail and took shortcuts, and these shortcuts always seemed to involve very steep climbs. Unfortunately, you can\'t really see the grade in this picture.
This picture is quite blurry, but you can see the embers floating into the air. It would have been nice to have a tripod, but that would be an odd-looking thing to bring on a camping trip.
Dishwashing detail! There was a small shelter on the campsite, which we did not sleep in but which came in handy for preparing meals and washing dishes.
One of our Scouts holding what appears to be a yellow garter snake. We caught this little guy while on a trip to get water. The campsite had no nearby water source, so we had to hoof it a few hundred metres to a water reservoir, and carry the bottles back. To their credit, the boys carried out this task with few complaints.
Me watching the boys prepare the foraged wood for a campfire. They were separating out the drier bits, removing bark, and breaking up larger pieces into kindling. In previous years, Scouts had attempted to use bark as kindling, so we made sure to pre-emptively disabuse them of that notion this time.
Scouter Alex chopping wood. Next time, we need to bring a saw. We had gotten spoiled by the fact that most campsites leave pre-sawed pieces of wood laying around.
Giving the boys a bit of free time in the afternoon.
The Scouts standing in front of what we nicknamed the \"Mortal Kombat\" area, so named because its strictly geometric rows of planted trees are reminiscent of a scene in that movie.
The climbing wall. It\'s not huge, but there is no safety equipment either, so it\'s probably just about the right height.
We have been asked by the church to once again remind parents that proper footwear should be worn when attending meetings. To our great pleasure, the gymnasium has been completely remodeled this year, including a brand new tile floor. Some scuff marks have unfortunately been appearing on the floor at our meetings.