Cubs - HMS Cavalier Autumn Camp (NOVEMBER 2013)

By: Bethan, Earl and Aidan & Tom .

(from Brown, Orange and Mauve Watches) .

Its Autumn again, so another Unusual Sleepover location for our Cubs, This year we took 30 Cubs, 3 young leaders and 4 Leaders to Chatham in Kent, to spend the night on Board HMS Cavalier, a world war two destroyer and to take part in some other great outdoor adventures, read what 4 of the Cubs had to say about their weekend camp...

Saturday 30^th November.

We came to cubs and messed around for a bit, while the leaders sorted out grown up stuff with our parents, before we got on the coach.

...Hoogalie boogalie!...

We spent 2 hours on the coach. Some of us who were sitting at the back, told ghost stories on the way down. The best ones were “Pins and Needles” and “Lord Lucan”, and the “Garden Gnome”.

We eventually got to Chatham ski centre, and we went tobogganing straight away. It was amazing, we went on these little carts, and we had to push a big leaver which controlled your speed, it first took you up the huge mountain (hill), then we wizzed down, and around the corners. Ignoring the speed limits. We nearly came off the sides as we were going so fast.

We next went on the Viper slide, we had to sit in inflatable doughnut rubber ring type thingy-me-bob-mer-gigies! We had to slide down this snake like passage with water fountain super soaker spraying us as we slid down. It was awesome!

We then went got changed and had our pack lunch, some of us had slimy sandwiches. After lunch we went to get out ski boots on, and have our boots measured for the ski’s. It was difficult to get the boots on, and It felt really wired when we tried to walk, as we had to put our heals down first as they were so heavy.

Some of us tried to have a running races in them. We had a one hour skiing lesson, we learnt to walk up the slope, by side stepping, and edging the skis so we don't fall back down. We skied down the slope, learning how to balance. When we got really good we got to go to the top of the beginners hill, and skiing down faster than a swift riding a rocket. Lots of us fell over on our bums, At the end of the lesson, we had complete the level one ski course! It was lots of fun, We have a video of us skiing that Akela film of us.

After we had finished skiing, and had changed our of our ski boots, back into our comfy trainers, we played 40-40 while we waited for dinner, just before dinner we got to choose our groups, who we were going to share a mess deck with. We named our 3 groups. “Sticky Cheerio’s” who was with “Mowgli” & Lewis. “House Mouse” who was with “Subs” and “Wings”. “Super Hotdog Surfer Dude” who was with “Akela”, “Hathi” and Ben. As soon as dinner was ready we went upstairs to eat. We had chips, chicken nuggets or a burger/cheese burger and juice in the ski cafe. Then we boarded the coach and headed to the dockyard.

When we got there we had to carry our bags to the boat. The dock yard was dark and everything was closed, we were the only ones there, and it was eerie. We went across the plank, and onto HMS Cavalier, a World War Two destroyer (1944), and one of the only ones left from that time. It was very exciting! We were shown our messdecks were we laid our sleeping bags on to our bunks. The Boat was freezing cold, but was fun. A very interesting man who was a Lt.Cmd in the navy showed us round and told us storied about the boat. We had to do some drill on the deck of the boat, and learnt how important the ships bell was. We found out about how they lived on board, and we got to try out the sailors hammocks, Mowgli said when we are in scouts we get to sleep in hammocks at camp... I can wait!

Before we went to sleep we had hot chocolate. Then settled into our bunks for a night’s sleep. It was very cold on board, and not all the ships lights would go off, so we found it difficult to sleep.

Sunday 1^st December

On Sunday morning, we packed our bags and then we made out own sandwiches for our Lunches. We the. Went off to breakfast. We had cereals, and a full cooked breakfast which was very yummy.

Our first stop on the dock yard tour was the Victorian Ropery, where they have been making rope since for a long time. When we got inside we were told that they year was not 1875 and we were here to work! It was awesome. The Victorian lady who was showed us around was scary, but only pretending to be a Victorian. We even had a go at making rope, by having to turn these big spinning wheels, inorder to twist the rope tight, and then twist the strands together to make it strong. The rope house is a 1/4 of a mile long. They are still making rope today!

We next went on a Submarine – “HM Submarine Ocelot” we swang through the small, tight holes which separated the cabins inside, there was a lots of pipes, and consoles, all crammed together. The guild described how they would of had to escape in case of an emergency, up the hatch! We were allowed to look through the periscopes of the submarine and could see people walking around on HMS Gannet which was built in 1878, and made from wood, which we later got to go on board and explorer as well.

We went and explored the RNLI’s (Royal National Lifeboat Institution) Historic Lifeboat Collection. Mowgli told us about the different boats, and how they are used to save peoples life at sea, and on the River Thames! We got to on board them, they were brilliant.

Lastly we went to the Mast House, where they use to plan and begin construction on the Royal Navy’s Ships. When we went it the year became 1805, and Nelson had just cut the lines of the French ships in the battle of Trafalgar. As we went around the story of the now retired Master Shipwright, John North, as he relives his role as the Valiant’s Carpenter and encourages his Grandson to follow in his footsteps, were projected on the walls. It was really amazing; it felt like we had been really taken there by Doctors Who TARDIS, that we had seen earlier that day.

We went to the shop, but everything was expensive, we brought some sweets, well... They were meant to be sweets, but they were made from Cloves, and they were DISCUSTING! Only person who liked them was “Subs” he had 3 or 4 of them! YURK!

It was now time to go home, we went back to HMS Cavalier to pick up our bags, and walked back to the car-park were our coach was picking us up. On the way back we told more ghost stories to each other.

Over all this camp was epic! We would all definitely go again!

Song "Hart of Oak", as seen in the Mast House...

     "Come cheer up, my lads, 'tis to glory we steer.

           To add something more to this wonderful year,

           To honour we call you, not press you like slaves,

           For who are so free as the sons of the waves?

          Heart of oak are our ships,

          Jolly tars are our men,

         We always are ready,

         Steady, boys, steady!"

Links to were we went:

Chatham Ski and Snowboard Centre www.jnlchatham.co.uk/

Chatham Dock Yard: www.thedockyard.co.uk/

Scouts HMS Bristol Camp (MAY 2013)

By Eleanor Pettem
P.L. Eagles

On 24th May, Stefan, Jaz, Jack, Billy, Remel, Matthew and I went to HMS Bristol, an navy ship, where we would be staying for the next week. 

We arrived that day and were shown to our messes where we would sleep. Everyone from the 4th Streatham were split up into different divisions (the groups you were put into for the week), which allowed you to socialise with way more people. However we could still see each other in the games room after dinner, where most people would hang out before lights out.


The week’s activities started off very well. We marched down to the marching square where we would practice drills. The weather was fantastic! The man in charge of drills was very loud and keen to get us doing the drill perfectly, which most of us managed before the afternoon was over. When the drills were done, we could go back to our mess to have a quick break before dinner. Food really wasn’t as bad as everyone was expecting – the dining hall was about a 10 minute walk from the ship, and the meals were quite good!


The rest of the week went fantastically, with great weather. The sun was out every day, and the water was very warm, as I found after my sailboat capsized 4 times! The rest of the activities were also incredibly fun.


We had a day trip to a place called ‘Action Stations’ where we took part in several different team activities, including a moving climbing wall (scary!), rock climbing, a reaction test and a rocket building competition.


More of the activities which went on in the week included yacht sailing, dingy sailing (which ended up getting VERY wet) and power boating when we went to the Isle of Wight at up to 30 knots - my favourite activity by far. I think everyone’s least favourite activity was probably the hike. It was a 9-10 mile hike if you didn’t get lost. Ration packs were our meals for our hiking day in the South Downs. However nearing the end people’s spirits were lifted when we bumped into Hugh Dennis which was quite funny.


All in all, it was a fantastic and challenging week which I would strongly recommend to anyone. I would love to go back to HMS Bristol in the future. 

Operation "X" - Cubs Trip - (MARCH 2013)

By Hal Haywood.
Orange Watch.

"Operation X"

We arrived at the South London Scout Centre with a few Cubs already there, waiting for the cub leaders. Eventually they came and we were ready to start ‘Operation X’!

Firstly, we were led to a little hut where we put our bags and lunches. We were then escorted deep into the mysterious woods filled with logs, sticks and many more wooden resources to help us with our first activity of the day. Our first task was to create a trail with signs, made out of twigs and leaves. We made a variety of different signs such as; ‘Obstacle Ahead’, ‘Keep Going’, ‘Forwards Arrow’, ‘Backwards Arrow’, ‘Go Left’, ‘Go Right’ and ‘___ People went this way’ (Blank space means the number of people.)


Then, we went on trails created by other groups. Each trail had the basic signs and some had more complex signs.

After we did the trail-making, we had our lunch. I had some sweets, a sandwich and some crisps. We were then put back into our groups that we had for the trail-making. Our first challenge was to do an obstacle course…blindfolded. We had to follow a rope with our hand. We had to go around trees, over trees, under and round. Fortunately, we completed that challenge in a short matter of time.

Next, we set up a tent with loads of different parts that I can’t remember. It was a complex process but we eventually got the hang of it. Then it was announced that we were going to make bacon sandwiches!

We made the bacon sandwiches with white bread, streaky bacon and a good sense of cooking!

Unfortunately, I had to go after that. I had a great time at ‘Operation X’ and I hope to do more things like it in the future.

Scouts - Snow Flake Camp (JANUARY 2013)

By Jaz Lee

APL of Falcons

As we arrived at Frylands Wood there was a big surprise because we had been welcomed to an astonishing amount of snow and ice. The time we had arrived there was about midday and we had to unpack our personal luggage and the storm heavens [tents]. We all new that it might be a bit hard to carry our equipment up a small hill, what would of made even trickier was that the track was smothered in ice and we slipped up and down the path from just walking on it, let alone carry the storm heavens up. A couple of other scouts went to fetch a trailer while we were having a small snowball fight. The trailer had now been pulled to the campsite the final time we all got into our patrols and had to set up our tents. The names of our patrols are named after a species of birds, of prey, for example my patrol is called Falcons there are also Eagles, Hawk and Ravens.

Our tents were set out are personal kit were in the tent there was a fire, so the scouts aiming for their silver dragon badge went to make a fire and a bivouac I am one of those scouts aiming for that silver dragon badge. Unluckily for me I had to stay behind and make a fire with the scouts which had never gone on a camp before, so we showed them in about enough detail how to get a fire going. Another scout and I took two groups of them and showed them how to make a fire not needing to use fire lighter so the other scout  told the new scouts what bark they should collect off a tree in case your not certain yourselves it is silver birch, look it up on the internet if you haven’t heard of it before! The idea of teaching the scouts how to start a fire worked but I didn’t really work when they attempted to do it by themselves. We ended up abandoning the fire. I walked up to where the scouts aiming for their silver dragon badges were, they were in a little pyramid shaped room it’s hard to say what it actually was, but we all wanted to sleep in it so that we could complete 2 challenges in one camp. But we were told that you can only complete one challenge per camp.

Challenge: Challenges start when you are aiming for your silver badge you need to complete 12 challenges, over 12 more months of camping to get your silver dragon badge, and then you have to complete another 12 challenges over another 12 months to get your gold dragon badge.

Dragon badge: The dragon badge is one of the most rewarding scout badges, it is when you go on a camp every month of the year when you get your bronze badge to get to move onto your silver and gold you need to do a series of challenges but you have to complete them or you don’t get the next dragon badges.

We all walked back to camp to receive our food before we had to head out to the massive field to play our night activity games. Dinner was pasta and meat balls, which was prepared by the new scouts. As we finished our delicious meal, we were told to prepare for tonight night activities. The night activity could be anything from a 5 mile hike or a game that would involve physical contact for anyone who would like to join in the game. 

Tonight’s game was different to any activity I had ever done in my time of being in 4th Streatham Sea Scouts. The aim was to get to the top a huge hill which was about ½ a mile away and get back without being caught by the leaders (Sparks, Mowgli and Sub). We were put into groups of 4, and you were to stick to that group. I didn't listen to that rule and became the first scout to get to the goal on my way to the finish, I came upon two leaders. All the other scouts seemed to be, either evading or had already been caught by the leaders. As we got back to our camp it had started to rain so a lot of scouts’ first instinct to do when it rained was gets to their tent before they got drenched in the rain water. We all settled into our tent and every scout got a good night’s sleep except me because if anyone in my patrol had to get out the tent for some reason - let’s say they needed to go toilet they would have to wake me up before they got out the tent so each time someone had to go somewhere they woke me up and then when they open the door of the tent my sleeping bag would get drenched in water.

We got up in the morning about 07:45hrs we got up to see there was not a single flake of snow and ice left the Iceland had turned into a plain and very muddy land. We finished off taking the tents down and loaded them into the trailer so we could load the equipment into the mini bus. We left like we had conquered Britain. – One of the best camps yet!

Cubs Harry Potter - Xmas Trip (DECEMBER 2012)

By Isabelle Marin-Curtoud

Sixer Green Watch

On Sunday the 9^th of December, a windy day, the 4^th Streatham Cubs met at Streatham common station at 2:00 pm. We were all ready to go and we were all excited. First we all got on a train and went two stops to Clapham Junction. Then we all got on another train to Watford Junction .  When we got off we all went outside to get on the Harry Potter bus which took us there. Then we got off the bus and went into the glorious Harry Potter experience. 

We picked up our tickets and queued up in line to enter and on the way to the entrance we saw Harry’s famous cupboard under the stairs.  When you entered first you went into a massive room and it had eight different screens showing the posters for the movies in different languages . The we went into the cinema, and they showed us a Video of Harry, Ron and Hermione welcoming us, before the Cinema wall went up to reveal the door way to Hogwart's. Finn got to push the door open as it was also his birthday and then we entered the extremely famous Great hall. Then the adventure began. We entered a room with lots of different props in it like

• The floating candles,
• The door to the chamber of the secrets,
• The magical stirring spoons in the classroom of professor Snape,
• The gates of Hogwarts,
• The wigs of the famous evil Lucius Malfoy
• and the … GRIFFINDOR DORMANTRY.

 Then you went into an outside bit were you could eat and get refreshments. We had a bit of our pack lunches. There was the night bus and the flying car and the annoying Dursleys house. Then we entered the creature apartment and saw the creepy Aragog then we entered the amazing  DIOGONALLY and we saw Olivander’s wand shop and Madam Malcums robe shop . 

Then we entered the drawing bit and we saw wooden models of some of the buildings. THEN… we entered a big black room then in front of our eyes is a model of… HOGWARTS. Then we entered a room with all of the people who made the Harry Potter. Then we entered the shop and had a few minutes to look to see if we wanted to buy anything. 

Then we left the experience and got back on the Harry Potter bus. We had to wait about 45 mins for a train from Watford Junction to Clapham Junction and then we had to wait another 25 mins to get another train from Clapham Junction to Streatham Common . We all arrived home safely at 11:24pm. It was a magical day that we will not forget. 

Tramp Camp & Mess Dinner (DECEMBER 2012)

By Matthew Howard

Eagles Patrol.

We arrived at the scout hut at 8.15pm on Friday 7 December 2012 we waited for everyone to arrive than we played games including table tennis. Before we went to bed we made our camps out of cardboard, tables and rope we then laid out sleeping bags out in our camps and then we tried to get to sleep but everyone was chattering and in the middle of the night one of the camps collapsed and they had to make it again.

The next day we took our camps down and had breakfast then a couple of us went to Iceland the shop and got the food for the mess dinner. Then we took the minibus and headed to the boat house. At the boat house we got dressed in our gear and life jackets and then took the boats out of the boat house and pulled them to the river bank. We then rowed the boats to a different part of the river bank. There were lots of different boats and I rowed in 2 of them. After lunch we then towed the boats and put them in the boat house.

Later we got changed in to our full uniform and had the mess dinner which consisted of Turkey and all the trimmings and it was delicious! Later there were speeches and toasts from all of older scouts and Leaders.  Later we changed into our ‘disco clothes’ and danced the night away until our parents came and picked us up. It was epic!

Cubs Secret Nuclear Bunker Camp (NOVEMBER 2012)

By Dom Walker (aged 10)
Grey Watch

When we arrived on Saturday afternoon we went into the bunker through a tunnel made from corrugated metal like a bomb shelter. We went on a tour of the bunker, outside it was like a farm or a common and it was in the dark so I kept tripping over and got covered in mud. We walked over a bridge into the night. It was weird because I had never been anywhere like this.

When we had our meal I helped to clear up. I really liked trying on uniforms including the hats of an ARP warden and a firefighter. We learnt that if a nuclear bomb is dropped the radiation would not travel more than 10 miles, and the toilets in the bunker are called heads like on a ship.

Our dormitory had dummies (mannequins) and the next room had a dummy with a bleeding knee which freaked most people out. It was like an episode of Dr Who where the dummies come alive. Some younger kids cried so we tried to make them laugh. When we were told that we could sleep in the Mess instead we all shouted ‘yes’ I was happy not to sleep with the dummies but some of the Scout leaders and older Scouts stayed in the dorm. 

After the tour of the bunker, we split into 3 groups, and went to different sections of the bunker to play some indoor wide games. The first one was having to get across the room just using bits of paper as stepping stones. The next was a radio challenge were we had to send and receive information over the radios to reproduce an shape that one half of our team could see. This was really fun. The last one was a rover game, where we had to be blind folded and lay on a skate board and go up the long secret passage way to collect items at the other end, while be directed by other members of our team. 

We went to bed at about 11pm sleeping on the floor with blankets and sleeping bags and some people were livelier than others.

Breakfast was cereal and beans or spaghetti hoops on toast – nice toast. Then we went outside to an assault course climbing on a high wooden beam, it was fun. Some people didn’t like the height but I really wanted to climb right up to the spider web. Then we went pioneering, crawling through pipes which was gross, it was wet and dark and there might have been rats.

I will always remember this trip, with relief and fondness. It is a good trip for Cubs but probably not for younger children and it would be even better without the dummies!