Scrapheap Challenge 2011 winners - July 16th, 2011

Every year the Rotary Club of Bridport judges what is now known as the Scrapheap Challenge. This is a competition between West Dorset District Cubs as to which group can build the best model from a load of scrap. This year the competition took place at the Village Hall Mosterton. Three Rotarians were there to be the judges, namely President Elect Malcolm French, Bob Smith and Andrew Lobb Chair of the Community Service Committee, being the committee involved in liaising with the cubs.                                                                                                             
The challenge took place on a Saturday. On arriving at the hall we were greeted by some eight or so different cub groups all prepared “to do battle”. The hall was extremely noisy with excited cubs wondering the challenge that they would be set but it soon quietened down once the task was known, to build an aircraft carrier with a helicopter on the flight deck. Could they do it with the mass of rubbish on the floor in front of them? Of course they could. The rubbish consisted of cardboard boxes, plastic bottles, cans, old papers, cereal packets (empty!) and lots of other bits and pieces. The cubs had tape, string, crayons and scissors as their basic tools. They all set to work with a will. They had two hours to complete the task and it was most interesting to see each group discussing what they would do and how they executed it. The standard was impressively high. At the end of the allotted time us three Rotarians went all round the room studying each model and then went into a huddle to consider our verdict. A difficult choice but a decision had to be made and  in the end we all agreed that First Mosterton were worthy winners. Everyone was congratulated on their excellent efforts.