If you hadn’t realised, 1st North Leigh Scout Group is 100 years old this year! (Only a few leaders have been around since then, I’ll leave it to you to guess which ones!) To celebrate, we took the Beavers, Cubs, Scouts and Explorers to Brownsea Island, where the very first experimental Scout camp was held in 1907 by Lord Baden Powell himself!
Friday
We loaded up the coaches and set off on the Friday morning, full of excitement!
Food for 67 people – 22 boxes and 11 cool boxes (there are more behind the front row of boxes!)
When we got to Poole, all of the food went on a boat along with a small group of leaders, and then the rest of us all got on another ferry with our bags. We took up the whole of the lower deck!
On Brownsea, a van and trailer very kindly carried our bags to the campsite whilst we walked there. When we arrived, we put up our tents and took in the sights (it wasn’t just the leaders putting up the tents!).
We all split up and went for a walk around the island – the Cubs, Scouts and Explorers ended up in the sea, and the Beavers completed the ‘island home’, run by the National Trust.
We then all met up for a dinner of pasta and meatballs, followed by fruit crumble and custard! We were also introduced to our neighbours for the weekend, several small families of peacocks! They loved nothing more than pecking around looking for any scraps of food that the chefs drop when cooking or we drop when eating!
After tea we again split up – the Scouts and Explorers chilled out, the Cubs played wide games, and the Beavers played games in the lodge where they were staying.
Saturday
After a good nights sleep we woke up to the lovely sounds of the peacocks and cockerels – not ideal but it saved us leaders from being the alarm clocks! We had a great full English for breakfast, and then split up to do our activities for the day.
The Beavers and Cubs did activities organised by the National Trust. The Beavers completed the low ropes and ‘discover the coast’, whilst the Cubs did ‘outdoor adventure’, ‘survival challenge’, and ‘outdoor detectives’. The Scouts took the ferry to Poole, and went kayaking, paddle boarding, and windsurfing!
We had time to spare before dinner, so the Scouts and Explorers chilled and explored the area, whilst the Cubs went to the beach again, and the Beavers went for a walk in the woods. The Beavers also handed out some Bronze Awards (the highest award in Beaver Scouts) at the commemorative stone (a stone placed in 1967 to commemorate the very first Scout camp in 1907)!
We re-grouped for dinner – tonight it was jacket potatoes, chicken, corn on the cob, and veg, followed by a mini apple pie and custard. Afterwards we all went to the commemorative stone, where two Explorer Scouts and a new Assistant Cub Scout Leader were invested. We also said thank you to Raksha, a Cub Leader with Windmill pack, who is sadly leaving us.
This evening we had planned to have a campfire, but we weren’t allowed due to the risk of is spreading because of the dry weather, so we improvised with a fake glow stick fire! We still all had fun singing singing songs!
Sunday
After another lovely full English breakfast, it was time to pack up camp! We put down the tents and packed our things into the trailer (which needed some manoeuvring to get it in the right place!).
At the ferry the Scouts and Explorers helped move all of the equipment onto the ferry by passing it to one another, which meant we didn’t make the other passengers on the ferry wait too much!
The coach was a bit late, which meant we had time to treat everyone to an ice cream!
All that’s left to do is thank everyone for such a lovely weekend, and for representing both our Scout group and the Scout movement so well. Also thank you to the leaders for organising the weekend, and of course thank you to our chefs who made sure that no one went hungry over the weekend!
