Happy New Year!  Hopefully everyone has had a great holiday season capped off by a jump into a brand new year!  For the Troop here are some of the things to keep an eye on:

• First Troop meeting of the year is this coming Thursday January 7th
  
  
• First camping trip is our Winter Campout next weekend January 9th and 10th (more information below)
  
  
• Requirement changes - As of January 1st BSA has release revised requirements for the Boy Scout ranks.  Please see the separate note about how these changes will impact you
  
  
• Patrol changes - The Patrol Leader Council has worked with the Troop and has decided to reorganize Patrols for the upcoming scout year. To help make this process as successful as possible, scouts should make sure that they attend the Troop Meeting on January 7th. Coming to this meeting will help the PLC to create the most effective Patrols while keeping friends together.
• Elections - annual leadership elections are coming up in January.  nominations for SPL will be held on January 14th.  The elections will be two weeks later on the 28th.  This is one week later than planned to account for WA mid-terms on the 21st.
  
  
• Winter Court of Honor - will be held on February 11th.  This has also been moved out one week due to the shift in the elections.
  
  
• Ski Trip - Our February trip will be a ski trip to Pats Peak on February 5th and 6th.  Sign-up will be distributed shortly.
  
  
• Summer Camp - Not too early to start thinking about summer camp.  Our camp dates are now confirmed to be July 31st through August 6th.  We will once again be in the MEdicine Bow camp site.  All scouts will need updated medical forms so now might be a good time to schedule annual checkups!

Best wishes to everyone for a great new year!  It looks like the Troop has a lot of great things in store!

The Troop has signed up to help rake lawns in town for residents that need assistance. We are planning on everyone's help so we can swarm the one remaining yard and get the work done quickly!  

We also need adults with leaf blowers to help the work along.

When:  Saturday 10:00am to Noon,
Where: 59 Acton Road
What to bring:  Rakes, gloves, water bottle.  

Please sign up and let us know you are coming and what location you will be helping out at.  Signup by clicking on the button below or by going to this link.

The November backpacking trip to the Three Ponds shelter in the White Mountains was a big success.  12 scouts and 4 adults completed the trek.  Click on the image to the left for more pictures.

The Troop's 2015 Webelos Invitational was a great success!  Thank you to everyone, scouts and adults, who helped with the event!  We hosted 12 Webelos scouts and ran 7 events to help give them a taste of what Scouting is all about.  Click on the image to the right to see all the photos.

If you have not yet had your pack inspected for this coming weekend's backpacking trip please bring it to the troop meeting tonight.  Also, if you have not signed up but would like to please bring the permission slip to tonights meeting.

The November trip for Troop 437 is a hiking trip to the Three Ponds Shelter located in Stinson Lake NH. We will be hiking into and staying at The Three Ponds Shelter. This trip is in the southern end of the White Mountain Forest area of NH. We will be hiking the Three Ponds Trail that circles Black Hill.  Link to map

This is an introductory backpacking hike for new and old. We will be hiking 2.5 miles to the camp site on Saturday and the return trail on Sunday will be 3.5 miles. This is a backpacking trip with all gear carried in back packs. We will be staying in our tents at or around the Three Ponds Shelter. We will have activities at the camp site depending on weather - patrol challenges, and possible additional day hike.

See our Troop's "Backpacking Basics" web page for some usefull pointers.

The troop has a limited number of backpacks available to borrow, please contact Mr. Porter if interestd.