Jo Padwick
4 Plantagenet Park,Yeovil,
Somerset,
BA20 2ND
Tel: 01935 479630
Mobile: 07811 083630
e-mail:
Dear Parent,
Your child has expressed an interest in entering the East Somerset Fox Trophy Hiking weekend, I felt that it may be useful for me to give you some information, and therefore hopefully a greater understanding of the event in case you do not know about Fox Trophy.
The first and most important point I want to make is the health form. These need to be handed in 2 weeks before the event and MUST be fully completed with any problem, however small highlighted. Nobody else sees these forms apart from the leaders running the event but if anything should happen we have all the necessary info for any medics and we can keep an eye on any scout who may experience some difficulty. If we don’t know anything is wrong we can’t look out for the signs.
The Fox Trophy is a test of Navigation skill and teamwork. It is not a race; in fact teams will lose points for going too fast!
Scouts walk in teams of between 4 and 7 members, through a series of manned checkpoints and hopefully end up at the destination.
When the teams arrive on the Friday night they will have their bags weighed and any unnecessary weight such as canned food, footballs, and radios removed. Ideally the bags should not weigh any more than 22lb with no scouts being allowed to carry over 26lbs or one third of their body weight - whichever is the least.
On arrival the whole team will be given a briefing of the rules and times such as lights out and what time they leave in the morning, and their route for the first day, they will then be required to plot their route using their maps and complete a route card. The route they are given will be a list of around 12-grid references, which they must pass through during the day. The scouts do not know which checkpoints will be manned, which means they have to travel through all of them.
The general rule that we work is that teams should see a manned checkpoint every 2 hours and if they are on route, and walking at a sensible speed then this should not be a problem.
If for any reason they have not seen one of the checkpoints each team before they leave will be given a list of information on which will be an emergency home contact telephone number. We allow the teams one mobile phone which will be sealed in a bag when they arrive and is not to be opened unless there is an emergency. Any team that has not had an incidentand that has an opened bag at the endof the event will be disqualified and any team found with a mobile will be sent home.
Once the emergency number has been rung the lady who answers, who will not be leaving her house all weekend (poor woman), will contact the leaders who are at the event using a system of both mobile phones and CB radio’s.
If we have not seen a team for 2 hours, then we will start to search ourselves. Both the junior and the senior route have a team of people walking at the back that will pick up any stragglers and look for any who may have had a mishap with their navigation.
Throughout the weekend the teams have to write a logbook of their experiences (which can be an eye opener). Points are awarded for this as well and it is essential in the build up to Queen’s Scout Award hikes.
Teams have to be self sufficient for the weekend carrying everything that they will need in a rucksack. This includes a tent, cooking equipment, food, emergency rations, clothes, first aid equipment etc. with the group gear divided between the team. Novice teams will not have to carry their tents but must strike them and we will transport them as these make up a large portion of the weight and some of the scouts are still quite small.
Each scout must have emergency equipment including high energy emergency rations, a whistle, a personal first aid kit (which should include headache tablets that they are allowed to use) and a survival bag (these are large plastic bags which scouts can climb into to keep dry and warm in emergencies. These are available at shops such as the scout shop or Millets).
Teams stay at a campsite that we have arranged in advance where there is water and toilets.
The teams are marked for their cooking, camp tidiness, team spirit and menu.
On the Sunday the teams leave in the opposite order to the one they arrived in (the theory being that the ones who arrived last are the slower ones) and are again given a route plan to follow through manned checkpoints to the finish point where they have 15 minutes to complete and hand in the logbook.
Results were previously announced at St George’s Day Parade so an alternative will be considered.
As I hope you can see from these notes, there will be somewhere in the region of 30 adults there for the weekend, whose sole task is to keep track of the teams. Even though we are not doing this in what is classed as ‘adventurous areas’, and that we cannot be with the scouts at all times, we are committed to ensuring that the scouts are as safe as possible. There will be many leaders there who are highly qualified in this area, most of whom are trained first aiders.
I hope this answers any questions about both the camp and the infrastructure we provide. If you have any questions or concerns, then please do not hesitate to get in touch at the address or numbers above.
I look forward to seeing your Son or Daughter at the Fox Trophy.
Yours in Scouting
Jo Padwick
District Scout Leader