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HYDE BAY HOME LETTER
VOLUME 43 July 20,1969 No. 3
WEATHER: Clear and warm Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Thursday and Friday were hot and humid with Saturday turning cloudy. Sunday was a very overcast day ending with rain in the evening.
IN—CAMP ACTIVITIES: The waterfront saw the most action throughout the week with aquaplaning and water skiing showing the greatest participation. Earlier in the week finishing tests were given for Junior Life Saving and many swimming tests were also passed. Tents #12, 14, and 15 worked hard all week preparing their plays for Saturday night. Another fine group of plays was presented. The best actress award went to Dave Procter, the outstanding actor was Ken Raff, and the best play was put on by Tent #15. There was a special award for music composition in the best play which went to Dave Schwartz. The sailboats were busy most of the week. All in all it was a very active camp.
The Sunday morning church service was led by John Stidham. His topic was concerned with love and the many ways in which it can be dealt with, expressed, and manifested. Danny, from our kitchen, gave us an appropriate solo and, as with previous Sundays, the accompaniment for the hymns was expertly done by Ken Davies.
The Inspection winners for this week were Tents #11 and 14. They had their reward trip into Cooperstown for purchase of extra goodies.
There are no plays scheduled for this upcoming Saturday since this is the changeover weekend and the tents are changing some of their occupants. The plays for August 2 will be announced in the next Homeletter.
TRIPS: About every day of this past week there was a volunteer group to Beaver Valley to gather hay. Most of the participants were ULs, but a few of the younger campers joined in. On Monday afternoon, a large contingent of campers took off for Lookout with Larry Sager, Stewart Wise, and Sam Spragins in charge. Among those they took with them were campers Artie Hahn, Tod Sizer, Micky McKee, Paul Pickett, Chris Skerritt, Bill Spragins, Andy Evans, Jonathan Clapp, and Dave Patrick. The next day the first Susquehanna trip departed with McKee Lundberg in charge along with Tom Ratcliff and Mike Prowda. Roddy Usher and David Peggs were the ULs assigned to the trip as was Andy Carl. Campers joining them were Brett Schuler, Timmy Sager, Whit Fish, Ken Raff, Dave Lytel, and Skip Miller among others. On Thursday, Alton Davison along with Bob Tucker, Skipper Hebb, George Radcliffe, and Charlie Fisher left for the first Trenton Falls trip. Some of the boys going with them were Tom Casey, Andy Carl, Ken Earll, Larry Jerome, Charlie Stone, Peter Callahan, Bill Radcliffe, Dave Colson, David Peggs, and Bill Dube. All agreed it was a fine trip....from Thursday a.m. to Saturday at suppertime.
On Friday, Mouldy took a group of boys and councilors on an exploratory trip through Beaver Valley. The territory covered had not been previously traversed by Hyde Bay boys. Councilors going were Sandy Pickett, McKee Lundberg and ULs Mike Hilliard, Jack Blalock, Tom Fisher, and Rod Usher. Some of the campers were Paul Pickett, Ken Davies, Eric Reid, Paul Mangano, Bill Doolittle, Blaise deSibour, Bill Mahaffy, and John Low.
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Entertainment: The Wednesday night movie was entitled “Hell Below Zero.” The Sunday night movies consisted of the fourth and fifth chapters of “Jesse James” and assorted short subjects. On Sunday morning at 11:00 the annual hot Rock contest began. Many rocks painted various colors were hidden in and about camp in places where rocks are not normally found. A special award is given for each rock found with various values assigned to each rock. Paul Mangano was the champion rock finder. It was good fun and exercise for all those participating.
ATHLETIC EVENTS: The only event of the week was a twelve—and—under baseball game with neighboring Camp Chenango. Unfortunately, we did not fare too well and ended up on the short end of the score, 7—1. There are, of course, a variety of intramural games that are played after supper each night. These continue all summer.
SPECIAL EVENT: At the risk of making a superfluous statement, the entire camp was most excited about the moon landing. We set up two televisions, one in the councilor’s lodge and one in the camper’s lodge where everyone, was given the privilege of viewing the various steps of this historical event. We were prepared to wake everyone up had the walk been at the originally scheduled early morning hour. We, of course, were pleased that the decision was made to run it during the evening hours. The campers were permitted to stay up as long as they wished until the walk was entirely completed. The camp finally was asleep by about 1:00 a.m. Monday morning. To mark the occasion, we served lemonade, referred to as “moon juice” and Space Sticks which are now on the shelves of many grocery stores. We had both chocolate and peanut butter flavors...this is an energy food developed by Pillsbury under a government contract in support of the U.S. aerospace program. It was truly a magnificent event, and we are pleased to have been able to share it with so many of your youngsters. We hope they will remember it for many years.
The mimeographed enclosure for the first month boys is self explanatory. You are perfectly free to do exactly as you wish regarding it.
VOCABULARY: We have been and will be using many of the following names. We thought it might be helpful to you if we give you a brief description of each.
Beaver Valley -- This is about 900 acres of our land about 4 1/2 miles the other side of Cooperstown. The only building is a storage barn, otherwise, there is just woods, fields, beautiful views, and two active beaver ponds. We have the land to use for our own overnight camping spots. It gives us free rein to use the the land as we wish with no restrictions imposed.
Lookout -– is the mountainside just back of camp within hiking distance. Again used for overnight trips (supper and breakfast.) It overlooks our end of the lake.
Trenton Falls -- is a trip to the Adirondacks (3 days) for all boys who have passed Junior Life Saving and are with us for the full eight weeks. This involves three days of hiking, swimming, and canoeing.
Nebo -- is a mountain side about nine miles from camp where we send groups of boys on overnight trips. We own about forty acres of wilderness which gives the boys an opportunity to camp in unpopulated surroundings. Around-the—Lake or Up-the-Lake -- This trip is either for the day or an overnight stay at the foot of Natty Bumpo’s Cave, depending on the weather and age of boys making the trip.
Natty Bumpo -- is a cave situated high above the lake referred to by Cooper in his writings about this area.
SUSQUEHANNA TRIP -- This consists of a 9—mile auto ride to a point on the Susquehanna River where we launch the canoes. From there, the campers paddle about seventeen miles down the river to an overnight camping spot. After breakfast the next morning, the boys are picked up by car and returned to camp.
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