TAMPINES DISTRICT

PATROL LEADER TRAINING COURSE

PARTICIPANTS COURSE NOTES

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7. Campfire Planning
Presently the very mention of ‘campfire’ all will associate it to scouting. Although others
have copied it, it is still recognised that scouts generally organise a better campfire.

Campfires originate from the Africans & the Red Indians. After a day’s hunting, the tribe
would celebrate with a feast, singing songs and offering prayers to the gods. It is also
known that during such events, the elders would share his wisdom with the young ones.

The magic circle (campfire) was one of the activities organised by Lord Baden Powell
during the Brownsea Island Camp, the first scout camp.

The reputation of the scout campfire is dwindling fast as more & more campfires are
running away from the scouting traditions.

7.1. How to organise a Scout Campfire

Before organising a campfire you must first ask, does it have a purpose?

The purpose may vary from unit to unit, person to person. You may want to
organise the campfire to commemorate your unit’s anniversary, National Day
celebrations, etc.

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 7.2. Campfire organizing checklist

List of Items Check Notes

Do I have a purpose What?
Do I want a theme -If do, inform guests to follow the chosen theme
Date
Time
Venue
Approval School, Town Council, Police, etc
Invitation: Guest of Honour Who (must he give a speech, if yes do inform in
Guest (Parents) advance)
Other Units/Uniform groups Invite parents of the members of your unit
especially if there is an award presentation.
Send Invitation early & monitor response closely
Number of guest/ Have a confirmed list latest 01 day before the event
Participants attending
Committee members Try not to use only the PLC members

Equipment Planning What equipment do you need

Catering Not necessary but a good touch. Only light
refreshments please
Plan a budget (if necessary) Stick to the budget & do not over-spend!!!

Back up plan (must have one) Wet weather programme

IMPORTANT: Time and again we forget to take note of this and end up spoiling
the whole event. Always, always have a wet weather programme.

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7.3. How to prepare a campfire programme
• You are going to construct your programme for a particular campfire and
be it for anything, the method and general principles involved are still the
same.

• Ask yourself first; what is the theme? How long should it last? Most
standard campfires should not exceed 90 minutes. You will start to lose
the audience’s attention after that length of time.

• All experienced Campfire Leaders know that campfires have moods. In

planning your programme try to visualise accordingly but more
importantly, try to assess early on in the campfire, its mood and change
your programme to suit it. Keep in touch with the mood or you’re heading
for FAILURE!

7.4. Balance & Variety

Arrange the following in an orderly pattern:
• National/Folk/ Scout songs
• Yells
• Round or Part songs
• Items & Sketches
• Yarns
• Duty to God

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7.5. The Programme
Programme planning is something you have heard about in connection with unit
meetings. At a campfire, it is very important too.

A campfire programme should be like a curve graph that starts from the bottom,
gradually goes up, hits the highest point and then comes back down. Here’s how:

• The campfire should have a good cheerful start, so choose a well-known,

cheerful and exciting song for this, to enable everyone to join in
immediately and enjoy himself. Eg. Campfire’s Burning, The More We
Get Together etc.

• You must let the mood get more and more exciting, with faster and more
engaging songs. You can also have items, dances and yells in between,
until about ¾ of the way through the campfire. Eg. Father Abraham,
Thousand Legged Worm, Ginglee Nona, Onion Yell, Flea Fly Mosquito
etc.

• Now it’s time to slowly quieten things down leading towards the end. It
would be wrong to have noisy lively chorus only a few minutes before you
want to give the ending speech, yarn or prayer. Eg. Edelweiss, By the
Blazing Council Firelight, Five Hundred Miles etc.

• If you have a guest speaker to give a yarn, then this quieter period is the
best; when the boys have worked off their extra energy and excitement
and are quiet and ready to listen

A good campfire can be a first class scouting experience if handled in the right
way.

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7.6. Opening of Campfire
• There are many ways to open the campfire. Perhaps one torch bearer could
approach from the north, one from south and so on. It’s up to your
creativity.

• Always remember to light the fire first before asking the Guest of Honour
to declare the campfire open. It is always nice for the Guest of Honour to
enter the campfire circle with a big fire to welcome him/ her.

• Always brief you Guest of Honour on how to open the campfire if he/ she
has never done so before.

• After the opening ceremony, everyone sits down. It is not necessary to

stand up when a song is sung unless the campfire leader says so. Only
those who are actually performing need to stand up as for example when a
patrol gets up to do a sketch or sing a song together.

7.7. The Closing

• The last fifteen minutes should consist of quieter songs to allow the boys
to settle down. Remember, no more feeding of the fire. The end of the
campfire should be calm, controlled and peaceful. Remind the scouts of
the presence of the Almighty.

• If you may have any notices, give them out about five minutes before the
end. No one no matter what, should interrupt the peaceful ending of a
campfire with announcements or even votes of thanks. If you have a guest
who wishes to speak, let him speak before you make the announcements.

• Finally end the campfire with one or two quieter songs like “Taps” or
“Auld Lang Syne”.

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7.8. What to Plan for?
• Campfire Programme
• Campfire Songs
• Sketches
• Yarn
• Guest lists / invitations
• Budgets
• Approval
• Souvenirs
• Wet weather programme

7.9. Manpower Planning

• Reception / ushers
• Campfire Leader
• Torch bearer
• Song-leaders
• Fire-keepers
• Physical arrangements I/C
• Safety/ First Aid/ Security

7.10. Equipment Planning

• Firewood (must be soaked in kerosene & dried in advance)
• Gunny sack (for torch & base of the fire)
• Kerosene
• *NOTE: “Petrol Bombs” are not recommended as they are dangerous
unless you have experience in handling them
• Torches
• Rags
• Matches
• Garbage bags

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 • Zinc sheets
• Sand
• Parang/ Axe
• Saw
• Ropes
• P.A. System (if necessary)
• First-aid kit
• Fire extinguishers
• Pails of water
• Gateway, etc.

7.11. Dos & don’ts

• At any time never let more than one person lead the campfire. This will
lead to different rhythms & tempos thus upsetting the campfire.

• Never allow bad manners during the campfire. Pause for a moment in
order to regain control.

• Be prepared to change the programme as songs may not be appropriate for

the situation at hand.

• Place song leaders at strategic areas to help in keeping tempo & order of
the campfire

• Never issue a songbook during the campfire. Try to send the rough
programme together with the invitation.

• Try not to teach new songs during the campfire. If you want to, use only
catchy tunes & simple words.

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 • Run the programme smoothly with minimum interruptions between items
& songs.

• Never serve refreshments in between the campfire. This is a very

disruptive act. Do serve only light refreshment at the end of the campfire.

• Never start a song with the introduction of the title & say “1, 2, 3…” Just
start the song & let the campfire participants follow you.

• Choose songs that are familiar & popular.

• Start the campfire with a bang and end it with a memorable finale.

• Declare the campfire open only after the wood stack has started to burn.

Final Note:
Times have changed, we live in a modern world with new technology and new trends, be
it music, fashion etc. and as Scouts, we must move with the times. But, we must never
forget that in the face of modernisation, we can still maintain our traditions and values.
NEVER forget the traditional aspects of the campfire for it is those traditions that make
the Scout Campfire so unique!

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