AMAZING ECO HOME TRAIL
[This blog was written by Scribe Jeremy Tan]
The theme for 2010 Amazing Trail centred on taking care of the environment. We were encouraged to go "green" and to display our creativeness to produce items which use recycled and energy saving materials. Using recycled and energy saving materials help to conserve resources and cut down on pollution.
In the evening, participants and guests attended a gala dinner where they were treated to sumptuous food and lots of entertainment. Top earners for 2010 Job Week and winners of the Trail were honoured that night. All had fun and many were screaming, laughing and clapping which broke the silence of a quiet Saturday night.
For the Trail, there were 20 Home Fix stores located across Singapore which teams would choose to visit, answer quizzes and perform tasks revolving round the Eco theme. Points were awarded for correct answers and completed tasks. The team that had the most points at the end of the Trail would be the Trail Champion.
It was compulsory for all teams to visit 3 of the 20 Home Fix stores located at AnchorPoint, Harbour Front and City Mall shopping complexes. At each of these 3 stores, in addition to the quizzes and tasks, teams had to collect 3 pieces of a jig-saw puzzle such that after visiting all the 3 compulsory stores, they had 9 pieces of jig-saw to form a picture. Teams had to report back to Henry Park Primary School ("School") by 5 p.m. 1% of a Team's total points would be deducted for every minute past 5 pm.
After much planning, and at about 9:45 am, the 15 teams (A-O comprising around 350 participants) made a beeline for the 2 bus stops along Holland Road opposite the School. It was an awesome and spectacular sight as cubs, siblings, parents and facilitators bond as they made their way to the bus stops. Bonding was even stronger at the gala dinner.
The weather could not be better and was perfect for the Trail. The day before, it poured and caused widespread flooding. We were very lucky as we now know that it also rained on Sunday morning, the day after the Trail.
My Six, Emu, was Team C and comprised my younger sister, 9 parents (7 dads and 2 mums), 2 facilitators and 11 cubs. It was very comforting to know that we had 11 adults to look after our safety and provide guidance.
Our first stop was at Anchor Point shopping complex. We crossed to Ikea and bought an ECO friendly table lamp stand and a shade. At Home Fix, we bought an energy saving bulb for the lamp stand. We were told that our table lamp would be auctioned at the gala dinner. We had to be creative in decorating the table lamp so that it would attract bidders.
At Ikea, we had to choose a colour for the lamp shade as there was black, white and , red shades to choose from. The Team chose red as it would glow and stand out at night. The cubs had great ideas on how to decorate the table lamp and soon finished the task. Team C had a beautifully decorated table lamp. We were very proud when at the gala dinner there was fierce bidding for our red table lamp. It was auctioned for S$64, the highest priced item sold.
From Anchor Point, we raced to our 2nd stop which was the Harbour Front store. Our task was to create ECO awareness to the public. We had to distribute posters and stickers. The public initially turned down the posters and stickers as they thought they had to purchase them but when we informed that the items were free for them to keep, the posters and stickers soon ran out of stock.
Our 3rd stop was the Home Fix store at
From
At this location, we had to count the number of rooftop solar panels, count the number of Pangolins (anteaters) sculptures, LED monitor kiosks and a structure (fountain) that used recycled water. Again the cubs displayed their ingenuity. We asked the security guards, information counter ladies and also combed floor by floor to look for the answers. With good leadership and hard work, we soon found the answers.
It was about 3:20 pm when we had to make a crucial decision. We had to decide if we wanted to visit the next nearest Home Fix store which was Compass Point at Sengkang. We wanted as many points as possible to increase our chance of winning the Trail. With the help of our parents, we calculated we had enough time to catch the MRT to Farrer Park Station, alight and catch a MRT to Dhoby Ghaut and made another switch to Senkang MRT Station. After completing the task at Compass Point store, we had to catch the MRT to Dhoby Ghaut and then walked to the nearby Penang Road and catch a SBS bus no 7 to School. We calculated to arrive at School by 4:45 pm. A few of us did not want to take risk while others wanted the points. It was then up to my Sixer Wilfred Cheng to decide.
At our 5th and final stop at Compass Point, we had to create a pencil holder made from recycled material. As we had disposable water bottles, we cut one into half and used the bottom half as a pencil holder. We had to put into the holder as many pencils as we could and 1 point was awarded for every pencil. We were lucky as a cub had brought his colour pencils. We had additional 35 points. Hurray!!
At around 4.20pm, we were all anxiously waiting at the bus stop at Penang Rd for Bus no 7. We were relieved when it finally came but sighed when we found it was crowded. All 23 of us managed to squeeze into the bus and it took a while before the bus moved off as the driver had to ensure the passengers were safe.
As it turned out, the bus journey back to School took longer than we expected. It made stops at many traffic light junctions and at bus stops along its route to alight and board passengers. We finally arrived at the School 1.5 minutes past 5 pm and had points deducted. We were then given time to decorate our items and prepare for the gala dinner.
The gala dinner was the other highlight of the Trail. Before the arrival of the Guest of Honour, Assistant Commissioner Mr Malcom Tan, we were entertained by Baloo (Mr Alex Chan). He told jokes and sung 2 songs, one of which was "La Baba" which had us tapping our feet and swaying our body to the rhythm of the song. Baloo put us all in the mood to party. He also performed a magic item which had all of us "spellbound" and conducted games which made us laughed. My dad commented that Alex is not only an excellent aeroplane Pilot but a very talented entertainer, writer and joker. My dad thinks Baloo practises his singing, dancing and joke telling immediately after his plane takes off and he puts it to auto-pilot mode.
The symbolic throwing of yarn signalled the start of the gala dinner. HPPS cubs performed a cultural dance and were loudly cheered by the guests. Another exciting item was the auction of items HPPS cubs made earlier in the day. We were the only Team that had a red table lamp. It was unique and stoodout amongst the others lamps which were white.
We were all excited when the bidding for our lamp begun. The bids edged up higher every 15 seconds and ended with two bidders outdoing each other when the price reached S$50. It was finally sold for S$64, the highest auctioned item that night. Our pencil holder was auctioned for S$5. We were very proud of our achievements.
Top earners of Job Week were honoured and special awards were presented.
And then the moment everyone was waiting for was the announcement of the top 3 winners of the 2010 Trail. The winners were 1st Team H, 2nd Team J and 3rd Team B.
2010 Amazing Trail had many first :-
For the first time, we had a business (Home Fix) sponsoring and partnering HPPS in organising the Trail. It had their 3 interns planned challenging activities and quizzes revolving around the Eco theme.
It was also a first for HPPS cubs when their creation of table lamps, photo frames and pencil holders were auctioned and funds raised were to support of needy pupils from the School.
For the first time we had 15 teams (A-O) participating in the Trail. It was also the first time Viking Cubs and ex-Pelican Cubs each formed a participating team. Just like ACS cubs, we hope they will return for 2011 Trail.
For the first time, we had 44 tables for the gala dinner to accommodate the large turnout.
It was also the first time Baloo (Mr Alex Chan) performed a magic show and sung 2 songs to the delight of the cubs and guests with a promise to cross dress as Lady Gaga for the 2011 gala dinner.
For the first time three new awards were presented in connection with Job Week earners. One for being a consistently high earner. And one each for a P2 and P1 cub for contributing to the Job Week despite their young age.
For the first time, we had two brothers as Top Job Week earners in their respective category earning identical amount.
And for the first time, the Trail was conducted in shopping complexes in the comfort of air-condition.
I was disappointed that EMU was not amongst the top 3 winners of the Trail. We had all the correct answers to the quizzes and completed all tasks. We worked and moved as a team under capable Sixer Wilfred Cheng and Assistant Sixer Timothy Liu . We were committed to want to become the champion and displayed urgency rushing from one store to the other.
I learnt that as much as we wanted our plans to go well, there were events that were beyond our control. The late arrival and a packed Bus no7, the numerous stops it made at traffic junctions because the lights were red and passengers had to alight and boarding the bus at every bus stop was just bad luck that prevented us to report to School before 5pm. These cost us points.
However the disappointment gave way to sense of pride when I think of our red lamp. It is not the destination but the journey that makes every Amazing Trail a memorable one for me.
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