The Two Left Wellies

Okay, it’s a little retrospective, but this blog will detail the camp report, with the days that it happened.  The content of the blog will be from the diary that the Scouts took; I have added a couple of extra comments to help bulk the day out!  I have decided not to blog a day per log entry as it will take way too long.

Saturday 26^th July

Today we all had to be at St. Peters church by 10am. All the bags had been packed the previous day so we just had to get there and get going. At the beginning we were all talking and excited, but as the journey wore on som e of us got bored and stopped talking.  We got there thanks to Yoda.  We emptied the trailer and set up our tents and dining shelters.  It was so hot! We cooked our dinner and went to bed

Additional notes: we had borrowed the District trailer to get the kit to camp.  It was a hot day, and the traffic jam that ran from the M25 all the way to Dorset didn’t help!  For the first time, we were going to make use of Gazebos rather than traditional dining shelters to see how they would cope.  It was also David’s and Anand’s birthdays…

Sunday 27^th July

Today we had flag break at 8 o’clock. After we made gadgets such as a water container holder, shoe rack, a washing line and a flag pole.  In the after noon, we went on a 6 mile hike in the middle of nowhere.  We were supposed to take 2-3 hours but it took 5½ . The Young Leader James was not helping even when we got lost; as for Nandesh, he was helping a little bit.

Finally we got back to the Campsite.  Our feet were numb, but Matthew’s feet were fine. We had flag down at 8.00pm and then had a game of Manhunt. 

“Lights Out” was at 10.00 but we stayed up.  The leaders were not impressed.  It was a great day.

Additional Notes:  Gadget building was the order of the morning; the afternoon hike was the “blindfold GPS” hike.  We dropped the boys at two locations on the outskirts of Wareham Forest – armed with a map, compass, GPS and mobile phone.  Using all this information (the GPS programmed to point to campsite and we pointed on the map where they had to get to) the boys were left to walk back.  Because of the time they got back and finished cooking and washing up, we skipped the evening programme and gave them free time to explore the site.

Monday 28^th July

We had flag break at 7:30.  We went to the Island early because we didn’t want to go in a queue.  We went to Swange Beach and got a boat that went to the other side so we could get the boat to the island. 

When we got to the Island we went for a walk and saw lots of peacocks and we saw a red squirrel which a lady told us. So we carried on when we bumped into a peacock doing a lovely dance.  Then straight after there was a tree.  We all climbed it and I was scared to jump so Nandesh and james pulled me down,  As we got further there was a shop with Scout badges and scarves.  We got to a long steep hill where we ran up the big hill and we got to the top exhausted.  Then we got to the bottom where George was expected. He was happy, we were all happy.  We got to the end exhausted and tired went to beach for a little while and then we went to the minibus and fell asleep.  We got back – and what a day that was.

Additional Notes:  “The Island” is Brownsea Island, location of the first experimental camp and the foundation camp that created Scouting.  Given the scarceness of Red Squirrel in the UK, it was a surprise to see one! We had parked the bus near Shell Beach, on the north side of the entrance to Poole Harbour.  We took the chain ferry across (as foot passengers), then a small ferry across to the island.

George was invested at Pottery Pier.

After leaving the island, we walked along the shoreline to Sandbanks beach, which was a fair stroll as we were looking for a Lifeguarded stretch.

Tuesday 29^th July

Today we were supposed to do fishing but it was cancelled because of the bad weather. Instead we got to roam around Swanage. When we came back we had dinner then we had a game of Manhunt.

Additional Notes: We spent much of the morning lashing down tents – and strengthening the gazebos using gaffa tape and bamboo!  We were late leaving the site first thing, but we headed to Kimmeridge bay where the Scouts tried to find fossils, or learnt to skim stones. After lunch, the boys (and the leaders) were dropped at Norden Station and took a steam train into Swanage.  When we got to Swanage, the winds were too high, so we couldn’t go fishing.

Wednesday 30^th July

To start the day we had flagbreak and then had some breakfast. For the morning activities we went to Tyneham which is a village that was evacuated by the M.O.D.

After that we went to Lulworth Cove where we had lunch.  For the afternoon activity we went fishing.  We caught 12 fish –Lewis caught 6 of them.  After that, we had a go in the Arcade.

Additional Notes: We didn’t spend long at all at Lulworth Cove.  The fishing was a shared activity with the 27^th Harrow (who went first and caught 5 fish)- our haul was much better.  Back on camp, Ivor worked with some of the Scouts to prepare the fish, before they were fried with some mash.  In the evening, we went across to the 27^th for a Camp fire that was run by Ivor and David.

Thursday 31^st July

We stayed at the campsite all day today.  In the morning we did pen knife and axe safety. We had to handle a penknife in a safe way.  In the afternoon we did the cooking contest.  This year we joined up with the 27^th Harrow.  We competed in four teams.  In the end the Kestrels won it.  After the contest we were supposed to have a wide game but it was too wet, so we all had a hot chocolate and went to bed.

Additional Notes: The Knife safety session was to enable the Scouts to use the knives that they had brought to camp.  The competition meal was undertaken by patrol – the two 27^th patrols cooking on open fires, our two using gas.  Our patrols came joint 2^nd and 3^rd – and given their cooking knowledge this wasn’t a bad result.

Friday 1^st August

Today in the morning we had our breakfast and went on a six and ¾ mile hike.  It was based on a person called Lawrence of Arabia.  In the afternoon we went to Splash Down (a water park).  We had lots of fun.  Some of it was scary and some of it was fun.  Raymond and Tom from the 27^th came as well. 

After, because it was our last night, the leaders took us out to Burger King.  We all had lots to eat.

We came back to camp and went straight to bed.

Additional Notes: The hike went from the Tank Museum, and stopped at T.E. Lawrence’s grave (Lawrence of Arabia), Clouds Hill (Lawrence’s occaisonal home) and the point where he was fatally injured on his motorbike.   Because of a transport problem, we had agreed to look after Tom and Raymond  - and bring them back to Harrow with us.

Saturday 2^nd August

It was raining today when we got up and when we were doing the flag.

After we took down the Gazebos and the tents.  We had lunch, and then did a litter sweep.  We changed into our uniform and did flag down and announced the winners for the competition.  The winner for the patrol points were “bad Girls”.  Improved Scout was Bradley and the most hard working Scout went to Thomas.  After that we set off for Harrow.

Additional Notes: The gazebos were thrown away as they were fully destroyed! The full list of competition winners is as follows:

-          Patrol of the Week: Battle Axes (Bad Girls)

-          Scout of the Week (nominated by the Scouts): Thomas

-          Scout of the Week (nominated by Leaders and Young Leaders): Oliver

-          Most improved Scout over the week: Bradley.

Buddens Campsite,  Wareham, Dorset

 Leaders:                               Ivor, Malcolm, Ash, David

Young Leaders:                 James, Nandesh

Gladiators (Glad Rags)   Robin (PL), Lewis (APL), Anand, Bradley, Matthew

Battleaxes (Bad Girls)     Oliver (PL), Jamie (APL), Thomas, George