Dragnet Camp 2014

From the 21st to the 23rd March 2014, the Scouts had their annual Dragnet camp. This is where they spend a weekend camping with the focus being on a all day hike on the Saturday during which the Scouts are tasked with 'Operation Dragnet' and are hunted by the hunter patrol, which this year comprised of the Young Leaders, Leaders and Patrol Leaders.
This year, we chose to move the Dragnet camp to the area around Wooton-under-Edge in Gloucestershire.

On the Friday evening, after the scouts arrived at the site they set up their tents and sorted out equipment for the next day before playing a wide game, and then going to bed.

The next morning the scouts were up and ready to go by around 9am. The route the scouts took saw them walking in the area north-east of Wooton using parts of the Cotswold Way. This gave the hunter patrol ample opportunities to ambush the scouts, with several areas of dense woodland acting as perfect cover. Throughout the day we managed to ambush each patrol at least once, and some three or four times. Between 1pm and 2pm, the scouts had a one hour 'truce' in which they heated up and ate boil in the bag ration pack meals for their lunch. In general, despite a few slight mishaps, the scout's navigation had improved, and as a result they didn't miss as many of our ambushes as they had the year before - although their navigation did still have plenty of room for improvement!

The final patrol finished the hike just passed 5.30pm, and shortly after this we went into Wooton to pick up fish and chips for the evening. The scouts then enjoyed eating fish and chips before I had to leave due to having work the next morning.

Bathampton Scouts Sleepover at Grove Street and Chip Shop Challenge Jan 2014

On Friday 18th January the scouts had a 'chip shop challenge'. This was where the scouts went around the chip shops of Bath, judging the chips on taste, crispiness and price. I wen't with Katie's patrol (Eagles) and we decided that the best chips were from Schwartz Bros. on Walcot street, however this was partially because they gave us chips for free.
After the challenge, the scouts went the Bath District Scouts HQ at Grove Street in the centre of town.where they ate cake, watched Toy Tory 3, and slept over.

Bathampton Scouts Night Hike 2013

On the night of Friday 8th November, we ran our annual sponsored night hike for the scouts, with all profits going towards new equipment and other things than benefit the running of the group.

As usual we started from the HQ, however this year, instead of following the Bath Skyline walk, they hiked through Marshfield, towards the M4, and back again.

The young leader (Tom, Ashley and I), along with Rosie, followed the scouts along the route until we reached Marshfield and about midnight when I had to leave due to having work the next morning.

Avon Scout County AGM 2013

On Tuesday 9th July I went to the Avon County Scout AGM at the Bath Racecourse. Amongst other things, I did some archery, blindfold cake decorating and met Amy Williams for the second time! Details of the event from the press release are shown below.

Winter Olympics gold medalist Amy Williams has become an official Scouting ambassador and her first engagement was at Avon Scouts County AGM held recently at Bath Racecourse.
Amy was hosted by Simon and Tracey from Avon Scout Network and invited to a race up a climbing wall against Alex from Bathampton Young Leaders and she also tried her hand at archery with the County team.
Williams hopes to inspire Olympians of the future  with young people often getting their first taste of sporting pursuits and adventure as Scouts. Polar adventurer Dr Ed Coats has also been appointed as a county ambassador and met young members in Bath.
County commissioner Dan Wood said: “Amy Williams and Ed Coats are incredible role models for young people, like so many of our adult volunteers. We hope many more volunteers will follow their lead and join us in the adventure.”

Dragnet Camp 2013

Over the weekend, 19th - 21st April 2013, the Scouts had their annual Dragnet camp. This is where they spend a weekend camping, with the focus being on a all day hike on the Saturday, during which the Scouts are tasked with 'Operation Dragnet' and are hunted by the hunter patrol which varies from year to year, sometimes including PL's or occasionally APL's, but always, and this year exclusively Young Leaders and Leaders.

For the first year since Dragnet started, I was unable to attend the entire camp, due to the fact that I now work all weekend, however I was able to get someone to cover my shift on the Saturday, meaning I could attend the main activity.

I arrived at about 9am, just as the patrols were preparing to leave and after the patrols had headed off, we quickly followed, ambushing the last patrol almost immediately as we left the campsite.
We then drove into Marshfield and had some drinks (and the leaders had breakfast) at the tea shop where James' fiances (now wife), Hannah, worked as she was helping on camp.

Throughout the course of the day, the Scout attempted to hike from our campsite at Rock East Woodlands, to the other side of the M4, and back again without being intercepted. For the most part, they managed this despite some navigation errors and our success as a hunter patrol to intercept them.
We managed to intercept all of the patrol numerous times, with one particularly good site, at the top of a hill just below Cold Ashton.

After the Scouts had completed the hike, we returned to Rock East Woodlands for fish and chips before I had to leave for work the next morning.

Bathampton Scouts Night Hike 2012

On the night of 12th October, the Scouts took part in the, now annual, sponsored night hike, which once again would be 3 laps of the Bath skyline walk. For the first time, Simon invited another group to take part in the event: 23rd Bath (Avonvale), from across the valley.

For the first time, the Osprey patrol (new scouts that have just joined in September) were allowed to walk by themselves which meant that the Young Leader patrol (Alex, Tom and I) where allowed to go off by ourselves and act as moving marshals.

We started by heading up, passed the back of the HQ and to the left, through Bathampton wood and alongside the university, right round until we reached the playing fields for Prior Park. We stayed there for sometime and then went back, staying at some checkpoints for a while. We were then asked to meet the leaders on the Bathampton Downs and headed there. Tom and I were asked to escort one member of one of 23rd patrols back down to the scout HQ, while Alex joined their patrol to try and get them to hurry up. After we had dropped of the patrol member, we stayed at the HQ for a few minutes until the leaders came back and drove us to the university where we got out and walked across to the bottom of the Downs where we met Alex's patrol (the last patrol left) and helped them get back to the HQ.

The event finished at about 3am and we all left the next morning at about 9am.

Bathampton Scouts Overnight Poncho Camp

On Friday 28th September, the Scouts met at Rock East Woodlands, for an overnight poncho camp. The arrived early afternoon and began by putting up one of our patrol tents as a backup in case the weather meant the Scouts couldn't stay in the ponchos.
The Scouts then went off and set up their poncho shelters, with two shelters per patrol, while the other leaders and myself set up our tents.
When everyone was done, we had a campfire for a while before in started raining, very heavily on and off. This basically put an end to the campfire, and everyone went to bed soon after.
The next morning I missed because I had to get up and leave early as I had been offered an interview at Waitrose.

28th Bath (Bathampton) Troop Camp 2012 - 'Norden Camp'

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/

Dragnet Camp 2012

On the 16th - 18th March, we had our annual "operation dragnet", which is when we camp over a weekend with the focus being the Saturday, On the Saturday, the Young Leaders become a hunter patrol. The Patrols - normally led by their PL's, spend the day hiking using army ration packs whereas the "hunter patrol" go around in full combats and hunt the patrols by either taking their lives (cotton wrapped around their wrists) or preferably taking the nicer items from their ration packs.

We arrived on the Friday, and put up our tents. Young leaders have their own tents so we didn't have to put up the 'traditional' patrol tents. The scouts took ages to do this. The young leaders (yl's) set up the food packs and radios etc... while we waited. 

The scouts then collected their ration packs and practiced using a trangia by making hot chocolate on them. After that, the scouts planned their routes for the next day before playing a wide game where they had to 'steal' a torch off us (the yl's), and then going to bed. The leaders and yl's then chatted for about 30mins before also going to bed.

We woke up the next morning and packed up all our stuff, as well as dressing partially in combats. We left ahead of the first patrol and set up our ambush in a quad bike track that they'd have to cross. The first patrol (Kestrel's) came through first, and we successfully got all of their lives. The patrol then responded by running off with one of our day sacs.
After we'd got our day sacs back, and the Hawks had moved on, we waited for the next patrol (Eagles). They went for the run as fast as you can and re-group later technique, however we still caught them all. Most of the patrol then went off, and accidentally left two members of the patrol in the wood, who we had to return to the patrol before they got too far away. We then waited in the same place for about half and hour until after talking to the other two patrols over the radio we realised that they had gone wrong and wouldn't go past our ambush point.
We then went to the cars which drove us ahead of all the patrols to another ambush point. We ambushed the Merlins, who had somehow massively overtaken all the other patrols, first and quickly sent them on there  way. PJ and Lewis - two of the leaders, than met us and helped us ambush the Eagles and then the Hawks as they came through. The Kestrels then came through the wrong gate which meant that they saw us before we could ambush them. We made a quick emergency get-a-way in the cars so that we leapfrogged in front of them until we found a spot where we stopped for lunch with the Hawks, who were now in the lead by a long way. After the hour of truce was over, the Hawks left and we waited for the other patrols. We were 'camped' at a crossroads which each patrol would have to come through twice (except the Hawks who had already been through twice and the Merlins who had already been through once).
We cooked our lunch while we waited for the other patrols. The Eagles came through first, then the Kestrels, then the Merlins, then the Eagles again and finally the Kestrels did there second crossing.
After they past, we met up with Simon just as it was beginning to rain. Half of us then went back to the campsite while me and Alex went with James and Lewis to keep tabs of the Eagles and Kestrels who were both going quite slowly because of the rain and where quite a long way behind where they should have been.
We played 'sweat box' and listened to Disney songs in the car while we waited for the patrols to reach us.
When they did reach us, Lewis and I got out, while Alex and the most tired scouts, were driven nearer to the campsite. Lewis and I then attempted to motivate the scouts as we walked them further along the route while James dropped off the scouts he'd taken and then came back. The next 'batch' of the scouts then went back in the car and Lewis and I took the last 3 or 4 on to a petrol station where we waited for James. When James had come back, and taken the final 3 or 4 scouts, he finally came back and took us straight to the campsite where Tom was just about to leave (he wasn't staying for the second night). While the final few scouts came in, I went with James and one particularly cold looking scouts to the fish&chip shop where we picked up the nights dinner from a incredibly scary Chinese lady.
When we got back, we ate and chatted around the campfire for the rest of the night. Kathryn from WSJ also turned up because her parents had been invited by Simon as they are district commissioners for the area.
After the campfire we all went to bed.

The next morning, Alex and I sorted breakfast out for the scouts and drinks for the leaders before helping Lewis to set up a blind ropes trail.
Before lunch, the troop was split in two, I went with the Kestrels and the Hawks, and did archery first with Simon and PJ, followed by the blind ropes trail. We then had lunch, followed by striking camp and cleaning the hut. At about 4, we went home and the camp was over.

Bath Half 2012

On Sunday, I helped with the Bath Half marathon. I arrived at 7.30am to help set up the Leukemia stand, and then helped on the lost children stand with scouts. On the day, we had our lunch stolen twice, and received to high quality running base layers and a running top which looked and felt like it was made out of a bin bag. We also 'acquired' a large amount of lucazade for the scouts to use on future camps.

Bathampton Scouts visit to PGL Liddington 2012

This weekend, I went to PGL Liddington (near Swindon) for the second time, with Bathampton Scouts.

We arrived 20 minutes late due to bad traffic coming out of Bath, and were shown to our rooms and introduced to our host - Nicky (who had taken us for crates last year). We then had dinner, which was fish & chips. After than, we played a wide game in one of the huge fields on site.
At 10pm the scouts went to bed while the leaders and I went to the 'Library' before going to bed just before midnight.

The next morning I got up just before 7:30am for breakfast at 8:05am. After breakfast we were split up into our groups and Nicky took us to meet our instructors for the morning. My group (2) did aeroball while the other group (1) did abseiling.

Aeroball

When we got to the aeroball (basketball on trampolines if you didn't already know), we found it was layered in sheets of ice, with snow of the netting of the roof.
Each time we went on it, the layers of ice on the trampolines would break up into freezing cold shards which had to be swept out and made all our feet go numb. I scored to highest score - 8 'goals' in a row.

Abseiling

We then switched over and went to abseiling. Everyone had a go and we were quite quick so we each got three goes abseiling down the 40ft tower.

We then all went inside and had lunch and got prepared for the afternoon activities which were archery and crates.

Archery

We then went to archery where we played several games etc... where you had to hit specific colours and parts of the targets.

Crate Challenge

We then swapped with the other group and went to crate challenge. This is where you have to build a tower out of milk crates and climb it as you do so, and try to make it as high as possible. This had previously had been the scouts favourite activity but we felt that it had been made over the top with health and safety as we now had to clip the crates together with little carabiners and had a base to start from. Despite this, it was still enjoyable and we reached about 11 crates high (18 the year before, but there was a time limit this time instead of going until it fell over like last year.)

After crates, we all went inside and had dinner. At 10, the scouts went to bed while the leaders went to the 'library' where we wasted all Simon's money playing an eggheads quiz machine. Afterwards we found that we had been locked out, so had a snowball fight at about midnight whilst trying to get in the building, until eventually we were let in by one of the PGL staff, and went to bed.

The next morning we got up at about 7:30am and went to another soggy and bland breakfast. My group then went to fencing (in which I beat everyone) and then went to climbing (in which everyone beat me) - I'm very bad at climbing!
We then went in for lunch and got ready for the afternoons activities.




We then went to the first of our afternoon activities - Quad-biking, which was quite good but we only had one quad bike so there was quite a lot of time when we couldn't do it while others were. We then went on to our final activity, zip-wire. This, again was quite good, but not nearly as good as last year where we got 9 goes and set the record for the number of goes on an activity.

After this we went inside and ate dinner before packing up and changing into our uniforms and leaving.