SCOUT CAMP LOG – WALESBY FOREST  SCOUT CAMP

 

19TH JULY – 26TH JULY 2008

 

INRODUCTION

 

This year we were camping at Walesby Forest Scout camp.   We went with 15 scouts and there were 5 leaders with Philip Baines as a young leader.

 

Anne Sharpe

Mark Collier

Mark White

Nick Taylor

Frank Richardson

Tony Jordan (Saturday & Sunday, Thursday for ‘Go Ape’)

John Cuckson (Couple of days plus Thursday for ‘Go Ape’)

 

The scouts that went on scout camp this year and patrols were:

 

Walesby Wom Toms

 

Philip Cooper

Ben Seamer

Harvey Nimmo

Elizabeth Taylor

Loren Parker

Daniel White

 

Rambo’s

 

Matt Cowley

Sam Denniff

Chris Peck

Georgina Lacey

Sadie Ward

 

Fire is Hot

 

Adam Diskin

Matt Stevenson

Mitchell Read

Dominic Slater

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 1 Saturday 19/07/08

 

Today we set out for Walesby in two groups.  There was an advance party of 6 scouts and 3 leaders, plus Chalkie who was on the return journey to pick up the rest of the scouts and kit.

 

The 6 scouts that went out were: Matt Cowley, Sam Denniff, Chris Peck, Georgina Lacey, Sadie Ward, and Adam Diskin.   The leaders that went out were Anne Sharpe, Mark Collier & John Cuckson (all who were driving their own cars).   Chalkie drove out the mini bus in the morning with most of the equipment and the early morning scouts.   The early party arrived at the scout hut at 8.30am and then left at around 8.50am after everyone arrived.   We arrived at Walesby Forest Scout Camp site at around 9.40am and checked in.    We Proceeded up to the site and unloaded the trailer and mini bus.   The scouts and leaders that had got out to Walesby early, got the mess tent up along with the new dining shelters which are a lot better then the old shelters.   Once the mess tents and the three dining shelters had been erected we took a break and had lunch.

 

Tony and Fly (Tony’s Dog) arrived at around 11.35am just as we were getting things sorted out in the mess tent before lunch.

 

The other scouts arrived at the site at 1pm.   And then the scouts started to put up the tents for sleeping in and setting camp gadgets.   Once the tents were pitched and the camp kitchens built, they started collecting wood to make sure they had a wood pile to keep their fires going long enough to cook their tea later that evening.   

 

We had flag break at 4pm when we had managed to get the camp set up to a certain point and then Nick took the scouts around the camp site on the bikes and everybody then returned to our campsite by 5.15pm to get started on tea.   They had to get their fires on and come and collect their patrol boxes with cooking implements.   Tea was Spag. Bol. with fruit cocktail for afters.

 

We had a bit of a down pour at 7pm for ½ hour while the scouts were cooking but never the less they carried on and managed to keep the fires going and get their tea cooked.  

 

After tea was had we got the Frisbees out and had a good throw of the Frisbees.   During the throw around john Cuckson went for one of the Frisbees and lost his footing and landed on his back.   Then one was thrown to Chalkie and he landed on his side.  After this, the whistle was at 9.45 for flag down.   Frank had trouble getting the flag down as it got caught up, so the flag ended going up, down, up and finally down to try and get it free from being caught.  

 

All had had a good first day and had settled in.   Supper was served which was hot chocolate and a doughnut.   (Good job Homer Simpson wasn’t around).

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday 20/07/08

 

Well we are now in to day 2 and we have woken up to a nice sunny day and not any noise of the scouts waking up the leaders (6.05am) which after the first night was unusual.  

 

The Scouts started getting up at 7am and they start getting wood for the fires and get them going.   Breakfast was started to be cooked at 7.45am.   The breakfast for this morning was porridge (with the usual response from Frank when porridge was mentioned which was “wash your mouth out”).   This was followed by eggy bread and bacon.

 

With breakfast over the scouts had a bit of time before flag break & scouts own at 10am.   Chalkie gave a talk to the scouts (more of a point to the older scouts who were going to be doing their over night hike Monday/Tuesday).   The talk that Chalkie gave was the “footprints in the sand” poem.

 

After flag down the scouts had until lunch time to carry on working on their camp gadgets.   During this time lunch was made by MCo/PB/AS.   This at least was lunch sorted ready to dish out at lunch time.   Lunch time came and we dished out the lunch to the scouts.

 

After lunch Nick Taylor and Philip Baines briefed the older scouts who were going on the over night hike which was taking place Monday/Tuesday.   The scouts that were going on the over night hike were: Sadie Ward/Georgina Lacey/Adam Diskin/Matt Cowley/Sam Denniff/Matt Stevenson/Chris Peck.   They had about a 32km walk over the two days.   During the briefing they practised putting up the 2 Vango Banshee 200’s & a Vango Spectre 300.

 

During the day we had a strong wind and it snapped one of the poles in the leaders Vango 500 tent which we repaired with a bit of duct tape.

 

So whilst the older scouts were getting ready we split the rest of the scouts in to groups and sent them off on their bikes to do the on-site orienteering course.

 

Tony left with fly early evening as he was worried about fly who was not his usual self as fly had spent the best part of the day in the mess tent lying down in the shade.

 

For tea tonight the scouts were given: Chicken/onions/celery/new pots/mushrooms/sauce and they had to cook themselves a casserole.   For afters it was the small apples pies and custard.   Pots were washed up and then the scouts had the rest of the evening for R&R.

 

We teamed up with 14th Lowesoft who were in the next field to us and we had a massive wide game of jungle postman.   The game lasted a while and then we counted the pieces of paper to find the winners.   The results were as followed:  Pink-9 pieces/black-8 pieces/dark blue/light blue/ and red came in last with no pieces.

 

Flag down was had and supper followed and then bed time

 

Monday 21/07/08

 

Day 3 is here and we again wake up to another nice day.   Last night the scouts were asleep fairly quickly, which for them on a week long scout camp is very unusual for them but we as leaders are not grumbling at this.

 

Breakfast today consisted of sausages/bacon/beans (& for the leaders they had a bit of last night tea which made up bubble and squeak and a few fried potatoes).

 

The older scouts finished packing for their overnight hike.   Philip Baines was the person who was tailing the older scouts on the over night hike.   Nick Taylor met them along the route to make sure that they were alright.   They managed to get away at 10am.   The rest of the scouts were then given a few projects to do.   One of them was to make a weather vein to go on top of the flag pole.   Another was to come up with a sun dial.

 

The scouts that were left got to make a camp pizza with some of the following:

Peppers/tuna/sweetcorn/pineapple/onion & cheese.

 

It was a bit of a lazy afternoon with remembering to work on the weather vein and sundial every hour as well as making sure that the camp site was nice and tidy.

 

John Cuckson left mid morning to get back home and catch up on work.  

 

The remaining scouts along with Mark Collier & Nick Taylor went off site and went to the swimming baths.   We stayed at the baths until 5.15pm and then went to find the walkers.   We eventually found the walkers and they were having trouble finding the campsite so we helped them to find it and we found it.   While we were waiting for the scouts to settle in and the scouts were putting up the tents to sleep in we got a dance off Baines.   He needs to improve.

 

We left the scouts to settle into their new home for the night and went back to camp for tea.   Tea tonight for the rest of us was Tesco fish, mash, peas, sweetcorn, broccoli.   For afters the scouts had either strawberry or chocolate delight and tinned fruit.   For the leaders it was fruit salad and apple pies.   So Chalkie and Mark Collier tucked into the apple pies and managed to eat 3 each.  

 

Just after tea and with most of the scouts off on their bikes they missed the RAF plane fly right down over our camp site.

 

Flag down at 9.15pm and then hot chocolate and cake was had for supper.   The scouts turned in shortly after this and the leaders had a nice quiet evening before going to be them selves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tuesday 22/07/08

 

Today started nice and sunny but then clouded over.   The weather for today is to be cloudy but no rain.

 

Breakfast today was bacon and egg sandwiches.   We had flag down not long after breakfast and then lunch was made for those who were on a walk.

 

During the morning we got the scouts that hadn’t gone on the walk to tidy up our camp site and make sure that they had enough wood for their fires.

 

The scouts were briefed on the walk and they had to use a map in order to find their way to Sherwood Forest.

 

Frank arrived with Will Lacey at 10.15.   Swimming gear was left with Mark Collier who was driving the mini bus to the meeting point at Sherwood Forest.   The walk that the younger scouts were briefed by Nick Taylor and should take about 3-4 hours.   The scouts managed to get away from the site at 11am.

 

Well now after a nice long spell of piece and quiet its time to head to Sherwood Forest now its 1.30pm and meet the older scouts who we were going to take to the swimming baths for a bit of fun and a shower down.   The scouts arrived at around at around 2.15 and we then proceeded to the swimming baths so they could get at least an hour’s swim.   With the scouts dropped off at the swimming baths it was time to head back to Sherwood Forest to pick up the rest of the scouts.   Unfortunately the scouts at Sherwood weren’t ready by 4pm so it was back to the swimming baths to pick up the older scouts and take them back to site before going to pick up the younger scouts and the leaders.   We had to wait at least 10 minutes for Georgina & Sadie to appear from the baths after the lads had come out.

 

For tea tonight we had chilli con carne.   Whilst tea was being made some of the scouts went to the lake with Will Lacey.

 

Tea was enjoyed by all and then sponge pudding was had.   After tea Nick Taylor had a debrief with the older scouts.

 

After tea Georgina & Sadie came over to see Anne Sharp and Anne sorted out their blisters on their feet from their overnight hike.

 

In the bit of free time we had a game of cricket and then it changed to a game of rounders.

 

We had flag down as it was getting dark and then had a supper and off to bed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wednesday 23rd July

 

Again we wake up to a nice and sunny morning.   This morning breakfast was cooked by the scouts once they had got themselves up and out of bed.

 

After breakfast the scouts were told to get out their kit out of their tents so we could do a full kit inspection.   Overall not a bad attempt at a full kit inspection but there is room for improvement.

 

Once inspection was over they had to finish tidying up their camp site from yesterday and also getting ready for a bike ride to Clumber Park.   For the bike ride to Clumber Park the scouts were split into two groups.   The groups that they were split into were an advanced group that went with Will Lacey and then the rest of the scouts who went with Nick Taylor. 

 

Lunch was packed up and ready to go to Clumber Park in the mini bus with Mark Collier/Frank Richardson/Mark White/Philip Baines and the two girls with injuries.

 

The scouts got away and the minibus was attached to the trailer and then everybody who was travelling by bus loaded up and set off for Clumber Park just after 12.30pm and arrived at 1pm.   The scouts had arrived by the time that we arrived and the BBQ’s were lit and waited to heat up in order to cook the food for lunch.

 

After the long bike ride and waiting for the food to cook we had a game of cricket and softball.   We managed to have a fair few bats with the softball bat before we changed over and then the bat split which put paid to that game.   With food ready we had food and then the scouts got back on the bikes and we met them at the visitor centre for an ice cream.   The older lot a long with Will Lacey went back to the camp site to take the bikes back and everyone else loaded up the trailer with the bikes and got into the bus.   We took the scouts to the swimming baths and the bus with trailer went back to site after dropping of the scouts with some of the leaders to drop off the bikes and pick up the older scouts.   We then ran the younger scouts back to camp at 5.15pm to get the fires started for tea.   The older scouts then returned to get their tea on the go.

 

Tea today was pork casserole.   The older scouts had trouble keeping their fire going but managed to keep it going and eventually got their tea cooked.

 

We had flag down and then 14th Lowestoft came over for another wide game.   They decided to have a giant game of man hunt.   The game eventually ended and supper was had and everybody went to bed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thursday 24th July

 

Today we had to be up and have had breakfast and off site at 9am to be at Sherwood Pines for 9.30am to check in for the first group to go round ‘Go Ape’.   We split the scouts into two groups in order to fit the number of leaders that were going round ‘Go Ape’.  

 

Tony Jordan came out Thursday morning to take two scouts round ‘Go Ape’.   Soc whilst the first group were going round the course of ‘Go Ape’ the rest of the scouts went cycling.  

 

Then once the first group had finished going round the course we had lunch and then Andrew Taylor, John Cuckson and Matthew Sharp arrive to go round ‘Go Ape’ with the group of scouts that went cycling in the morning and the group that went ‘Go Ape’ in the morning went cycling.

 

So we managed to get all the safety forms sorted for both sets of groups.   The only person that went round ‘Go Ape’ was Frank.   The other leaders that went round ‘Go Ape’ were Mark White, Nick Taylor, Andrew Taylor, Matthew Sharp, John Cuckson, Tony Jordan, and Frank Richardson.  

 

We managed to get Andrew Taylor out here in time for the start of the afternoon round of ‘Go Ape’ as Phil Baines wanted to round ‘Go Ape’ as he didn’t manage to go round it last year when we went to the Lake District.

 

Nicola Taylor turned up mid morning for a ride round and to have a nice day out.

 

The group that was cycling in the morning split into two groups and one group went with Will Lacey and did a bit of an intense course round Sherwood and the other group went with Nick Taylor on a more subdued ride.

 

As the day started coming to an end at Sherwood Pines Mark Collier & Mark White started loading the bikes into the trailer ready to go back to camp when everybody was back at the bus after finishing the ‘Go Ape’ course.

 

Everybody seemed to enjoy themselves at Clumber Park.   We left Sherwood Pines just before 5.30pm to head back for tea which tonight was pasta carbonara.   Dessert that followed tea was a nice fruit flan that was made by Anne

 

Anne Sharp departed us just before tea with Matt.   A big THANK YOU to Anne Sharp for all her help.  

 

The weather for the day started of cloudy but warm and ended up a nice sunny day.   R&R was enjoyed by all.   Flag down at 9.45 and then supper and bed for the scouts whilst the leaders had a bit of leader time before turning in their selves.

 

 

 

 

 

Friday 25th July

 

This morning we again wake up to another nice day although there is a slight breeze.   For breakfast today we had beans/egg/sausages.

 

After breakfast we got ready for the incident hike.   We got four bases for the scouts.   Once we were ready for the scouts we called the three patrol leaders into the mess tent to draw lots for who would chose first the route they would be taking in the incident hike round Walesby Scout Camp Site.

 

Flag break was at 10.15am and then we had the patrol leaders in the mess tents to choose the routes that their patrol would be taking in the incident hike.   Once flag break was held and the patrol leaders had chosen the routes they had a few minutes to get their patrols ready with drinks and things.

 

As Dominic wasn’t to well during the course of the night we kept him at base and just reorganised the troops to deal with one down and out of the group for today.

 

The bases were manned by Chalkie/Frank/ Nick Taylor and then Phil Baines and Will Lacey manned the fourth base.

 

The bases that they had to tackle in their patrols were to last 20 minutes where they had to do a certain task to earn points for their patrol points at the end of the week.   Once the scouts were ready and the leaders had gone to the site of their base the scouts left camp at 11am.   The scouts had four bases that lasted 20 minutes with  1 minute walk in between so it should take them 80 minutes to do the 4 bases with at least 60 minutes to walk from base to the first base and then 10 minutes to each base and the back to base.   So it should take them just under 2 ¾ hours to do the incident hike.

 

John Cuckson arrived just after 12pm with the new part for the trailer as we had lost a bit.   As camp was nice and quiet Dominic managed to get some sleep as he wasn’t well and he had time to rest and get better.  

 

The leaders fire was kept going to keep the heat there ready for cooking of the hot dogs for lunch.   The hot dogs were put on the grill above the fire at 2pm ready for 2.45pm.  

 

For the rest of the after noon the scouts were taking down the patrol tents as the weather for Saturday morning was not good and as we had got to now the leaders from 14th Lowestoft we had heard that they normally slept under the stars on the last night of the camp so we thought that it would be easier to take the tents down Friday ready to drop the patrol dinning shelters on the Saturday along with the mess tents and the leaders tents.   So the stuff that we needed to get rid of Friday like patrol tents we loaded in to the trailer and John Cuckson brought it back on the Friday along with the bikes.   Dominic also came back with John Cuckson as he wasn’t well to stay the final night.

 

Before John went back to Bradway he stayed for tea which we got from the local chip shops in Ollerton.   After tea we held the annual camp sports after tea with 14th Lowestoft.  

 

The points for camp sports are as follows:

 

3rd:   27 points, Fire is Hot

2nd:  28 points, Walesby Wom Toms

1st:   29 Points, Rambo’s

 

14th Lowestoft came in a close forth place.

 

Before the scores came in at flag down from the incident hike the scores stands as thus:

 

3rd: Walesby Wom Tom’s, 177 points

2nd: Fire is Hot, 179 points

1st:  Rambo’s, 218 points

 

Well we shall see what happens tomorrow when the points are added from the incident hike to the points accumulated so far.

 

Well Supper was served and the scouts then went to bed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday 26th July

 

Well we finally get to the final day.   The weather again is glorious and we couldn’t have asked for a better week for weather.

 

Today we started to take down the mess tent early so we could get it dry by placing it in the sun.   We took off the canvas and then took down the poles and packed them away.   The new dining shelters were taken down and packed back in the bags.

 

Breakfast today was: bread rolls/jam/marmalade/cereal/tin fruit salad/melon.

 

John Cuckson arrived with the bus and trailer just after 10am so we can load up the remaining kit and personal kit.

 

With the bus packed and cars loaded up we had flag down and the points were announced and badges awarded.

 

The final points stand as thus:

 

3rd: Walesby Wom Tom’s, 436 points

2nd: Fir is Hot, 444 points

1st: Rambo’s, 607 points

 

All scouts were dismissed from camp and then loaded into the mini bus apart from those who were travelling in cars and we headed back to the scout hut and the loving arms of our families.

 

A good time was held by all and thanks to all the leaders who gave up so much time to take the scouts and then a thanks to all the scouts that came.

 

Hope we can have the same numbers next year, may be a few more would be nice.