Saturday
We drove down to one of the fields owned by Norden Farm, near Corfe Castle in Dorset, which we had booked for our Summer Camp. The Leaders, Young Leaders, PL's and APL's often come down to the campsite a little bit before the rest of the troop to get many things ready and this was what we were doing. We spent several hours setting up the various tents that we would be using over the course of the week and then headed out to nearby Swanage in the early evening for dinner. We had planned of getting fish and chips but due to the incredibly high prices and our small budget, settled for Wimpy's instead.
Sunday
The next morning we got up early as Tom was due to arrive by train, and we had decided to all go to the station and embarrass him as much as we could. Unfortunately he then called to say he had decided to get a later train so we settled into breakfast. Just before noon the scouts started to arrive and began to work on their patrol areas and Tom was picked up from the station slightly later on. The scouts continued to work on their patrol areas until lunch whilst I helped Hannah organize the food stored and Tom and Alex organised the hardware stores. After lunch, we all headed to the village of Corfe which is right next to Corfe Castle, and the scout took part in a quiz. After this was over we headed back to the campsite and the scouts prepared dinner. After we had eaten and washed up, the scouts went on a night walk whilst the leaders found spots in the surrounding areas which the scouts could use as 'satellite campsites' during their expeditions the following day and night.
Monday
On Monday morning, the scouts cooked breakfast whilst I helped James plan the routes for the expeditions that would be happening later in the day. After the patrols finished breakfast and prepared their kit and patrol sites, they headed out on their routes and Tom, Alex and I headed off on our own young leader route which went via Corfe Castle and Kimmerage to our campsite near Harman's Cross railway station on the Swanage steam line.
Tuesday
We started Tuesday at the campsite where we stayed after our expedition and promptly checked out of the campsite. We then definitely didn't get the steam train to Corfe Village where we didn't buy breakfast from the local bakery before not getting the train the rest of the way to Norden station which is just around the corner from our campsite. Instead we walked the whole way back and then got breakfast when we arrived at the campsite. Much of the rest of the day was spent relaxing after yesterdays hike and the scouts continued to work on their patrol sites and cooked their meals.
Wednesday
Wednesday mainly consisted of a visit to the splashdown water park at tower park in Poole.
Thursday
On Thursday we had our annual Top Gear challenge, which this year featured a picture of a clock tower which we had to locate and get to at exactly 1pm with a strict budget. The young leader team, with the assistance of a smartphone, quickly located the clock tower to be next to the beach in Weymouth. After a short bus and train journey we arrived at the location first and hid around the corner to make sure we arrived at the destination exactly on time. After we had all met up, we spent a large part of the day watching the Olympics (BMX and Serpentine) on the big screens on the beach. Later that day we traveled back the same way we went there and shared a train carriage with several Olympic medal winning sailors. When we got back to the campsite we had our camp party, which this year had a pirate theme, and consisted of mock-tails (with lots shredded coconut in), BBQ and various activities including a water balloon fight.
Friday
We had be up promptly and have a quick breakfast on Friday as we were going sea fishing in Swanage. Once we arrived we split into two groups, the first went off while the scouts in our group did a quiz around the area and we went to a local coffee shop. When the first group got back we were disappointing to hear that between them they had only caught two fish. We then went out a successfully caught approximately 3 fish each meaning we had plenty for our dinner that evening. When we got back to the campsite the scouts went off into their patrols and sent up mini campsites in the forest behind the site, consisting of a shelter per patrol made of completely natural materials and a fire pit. When the scouts had built this, they took part in various activities which we ran - I did signalling. That evening the scouts cooked their fish in the fire pits before sleeping overnight in their shelters.
Saturday
On Saturday we visited Poole where the Patrol Leaders and Alex and I, bought ingredients to cook dinner that night for Patrol Leaders pleasure which is an activity which takes place every year where the Patrols have to prepare a meal for the leaders. The scouts then went to the harbor in Poole for a while before they headed back to camp to prepare their meals which were all very good.
Sunday
Sunday was spent packing up everything from camp and the winner of the camp competition was announced to be The Kestrels, lead by PL Melissa (my sister). We then drove back to Bath before unloading all the equipment at the HQ.
The post about this camp on the 28th Bath (Bathampton) Scout Group website is available here: http://www.bathamptonscouts.org/2012/09/scouts-in-summer-camp-success/
No comments:
Post a Comment