Down in the Woods at Denny

The Powerpod and its crew were the guests of Forth Valley Scouts on Saturday 26th May - this was part of their centenary celebrations and the theme of the camp was Past, Present and Future. The boy scout movement was founded by Baden-Powell in 1907 and is therefore 100 years old this year so the scouting movement is doing a lot of celebrating. There were centenary camps all around the UK during this weekend, there is also going to be a big summer camp, or jamboree, in SE England where they expect 40000 scouts from all over the world to camp over 10 days. The Powerpod has been invited to this too, unfortunately it cannot go due to prior commitments.

The venue was the Forth Valley Scouts camp at BarWood nr. Denny, Stirlingshire, which proved to be a large piece of hill with a lot of mixed woodland - so much so it was very difficult to see where all 500 campers were camped!

By arriving on site about 9:30 am there should have been plenty of time to prepare the trailer and its activities but the pitch offered did not meet with one of the basic requirements of the trailer - some sunlight - we were surrounded by trees! Thankfully after a bit of searching a good site was identified next to the local amateur radio enthusiasts. The first lot of 15 cubs arrived for the 10:30 am session of "Energy Mix*", "Polar Melt**"and a round of the three workshops solar, wind and trailer. Two hours and 30 cubs later there was a break of an hour before the drop in workshop sessions started which included those used earlier plus the "Hydrogen" cars and the bike generator. We entertained and informed throughout the afternoon to about another 70 people including parents and leaders who took an interest in the activities. Finishing about 5pm we manged to get off-site by 5:30 and home an hour later - so another succesful outing for the Powerpod and its crew of Lindsey, Stella and Ruaridh!

Postscript
Disappointingly, the question of "Who are the Woodcraft Folk?" never arose. Is this because they knew who we were or were they just not interested? It looks like we must continue to improve selling ourselves and not rely on what the people may read or not read on the side of the trailer.

Games we play - this is a first try at naming the games - further suggestions for names - and games welcomed!

* Energy Mix. A cooperative game introducing the terms of renewable energy.

Participants each have a seat (a piece of camping mat) which they sit on in a largish circle. They are asked to name three renewable enrgies that they know of e.g. wind energy, solar energy, wave energy, hydro energy, biomass). The leader of the game, who is not sitting, calls one of the renewable energies and the sitting participants now need to quickly change places , the leader shall also try and sit down thus leaving a person without a seat. This person now needs to shout an energy to gain a seat. When "global warming" is called everyone must change.

**Polar Melt. From the DFs - A co-operative game introducing the concept of the Arctic ice melting and the hardships encountered by polar bears.

Due to global warming the ice cap at the Arctic Circle is melting and the participants are polar bears trying to swim between the ice floating on the sea. When global warming is called they all need to be on a piece of floating ice ( again a piece of camping mat) before they are caught by the leader of the game (represents the bears drowning due to being weak from having to swim so far between the bits of ice pack ) . The game continues with the number of ice floats being reduced until they are left with only one.

Big in Falkirk - a tale of 2 days

The Powerpod was invited by the local Co-op to be part of their Fair Trade Pavilion at the Big in Falkirk Festival on Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th May, a description from the Big in Falkirk website is given below.

"Big in Falkirk, Scotland's National Street Arts Festival is an award-winning, FREE weekend extravaganza and has become one of the largest cultural events in Scotland, attracting over 100,000 people. Located in Falkirk’s stunning 180-acre Callendar Park, the cutting-edge entertainment features a wide variety of spectacular outdoor theatre, pyrotechnic displays, art, comedy and big name music acts alongside activities for all ages."

Pictures of the event can be seen on the BBC site here - PICTURES

This was the first really big event that the Powerpod had to fit in with. On previous outings it had been a stand alone exhibit so this one would prove a good test for its ability to attract and hold the attention of passers-by. At the Science Festival - see previous message - people were expecting to be entertained and informed about science - this audience was expecting just to be entertained.

Squeezing the Powerpod between the pavilion and the climbing wall was another problem to overcome - and as the solar and PV panels had to face southwards this led to putting the trailer in a position which did not show it off to its best advantage.

Saturday proved to be a dry, sunny day and the crowds were out and any doubts to whether we could attract attention was soon gone as we demonstrated, or so it seemed, to "hundrets" of adults and children. Unfortunately there were only four of the Powerpod team present and this meant that there was no relaxation time in order to visit and enjoy the rest of the festival. By five o'clock the crew were glad to start tidying up and putting things away. Leaving the festival we met Alex Wilde a Woodcraft Folk leader from the Partickle Elfins in Glasgow who had been singing in a choir three times that day and so disappointingly was not able to come and see the Powerpod in action. There were also some visits from members of Edinburgh Woodcraft Folk.

Sunday was another "kettle of fish" with showers and strong gusts of wind forecast. The 3ft ground stakes in the Fair Trade pavilion had been ripped out twice overnight by the wind and security were not allowing any members of the public to enter the tent - so the demonstrators had nowhere to retreat with their activities during the frequent showers of rain. Water and electricity is not always a good mix but it did show that the small PV panels could generate electricity even during the heaviest shower! With only three adult members available and with limited amount of Powerpod experience it was proving difficult to provide the activities even during the dry periods so the decision was made to stop trying and pack up. The next couple of hours was spent trying to get permission for transport to come on site to take the trailer away - the trials and tribulations of a co-ordinator! The decision not to allow the public in the Fair Trade pavilion proved to be prescient as it eventually collapsed in the afternoon with heavy poles falling down and heavy pieces of polyester tent flapping around - there should be a photograph here just to show the danger but we were too busy trying to tidy up the mess!

Reflections on the weekend by those present would seem to suggest that the demonstrators need to have some sort of cover for their activities - although these are obviously best done outside but with Scottish weather being as it is there shall always be the possibility of rain. The original plans for the trailer contained a canopy but this proved at the time a step too far - so it was withdrawn - the problem of some sort of cover may have to be addressed again. We aslo need to look into our monitoring and evaluation systems - how many people did we actually speak to? what infromation did they go away with? - including our ability to "sell" to people the Woodcraft Folk.

The next official gig for the Powerpod and its crew is Forth Valley Scouts Centenary Camp nr. Denny on Saturday 26th May where we are being asked to entertain 600 cubs and scouts and their families - hopefully not all at the same time!