Cardboard Box & Mess Dinner Camp (DECEMBER 2011)

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Lewes Fireworks Camp (NOVEMBER 2011)

By Jack Taylor

I had only recently moved up to the Scouts.  Already, even though I had only attended a Scout meeting once, I was thoroughly enjoying it.  In the same week that I started I went on my first camp to Lewes.

I was very excited but also very nervous on Saturday morning when we left for the camp site.  We had to help set up the tents, something that we hadn’t done in Cubs.  I found this really easy.  After that my best friend Jaz and I went pheasant hunting.  Although we saw a lot of pheasants we weren’t able to catch any as we were hunting with sticks.

           

Later that evening we got the train to Lewes, it was the firework weekend and a huge celebration was occurring.  There were loads of people there and it was very crowded but everyone appeared happy.  There was a large paradeeveryone in it was carrying a flaming torch.  Some of them were carrying extremely loud firework bombs and the people watching the parade too kept throwing these bombs to the floor and they exploded.  We followed the parade up the hill to the field where a massive bonfire, 50ft tall was lit.  A huge firework display was then started. It was amazing. For me, the best type of firework was the one where a single rocket was fired and lots of little ones burst out of it. 

On the way back to our campsite, we all had to do a staggering 7 mile hike! Jaz and I were offered a lift half way through, as we were the youngest there, but we both declined. We got back to our tents at 2.00am and were exhausted.

The next day, we went pheasant hunting – again. Unfortunately, I fell into a large stream when I tried to jump across to the other side. After breakfast, we went to a castle. We dressed up in medieval clothes, wandered around and played games.

Finally we headed for home.

Chilly Camp (OCTOBER 2011)

By Joe Collar

On Friday 14^th October 2011, I rushed to the Scout hall, where we were spending the night to ensure we got an early start the next morning.

Early the next morning we loaded up the minibus and set off for Fishbourne, stopping off for breakfast at TESCO.

After roughly two hours, we arrived at the farm where we were going to spend the next night. We set up the tents, then went into the marquee where the 1^st Southbourne Sea Scouts were and ate some biscuits. We then went to the tree where some of the other troop was playing. We built swings and ladders and a pulley out of wood and rope and things we brought. At about 8pm we went to take part in some outdoor games and got lots of scratches from nettles and twigs. We ate some pasta, pancakes and drinking STEAMING HOT CHOCOLATE!!!! I now always check if my coffee is alright before I drink it.

We then sat around the fire and sung some Scouty songs. The funniest part was when one of the Southbourne scouts made his own odd version of one of the songs. EVERYONE laughed, including the leaders. Then we went to sleep.

The next day we got up, had some breakfast and then assembled an obstacle course. We then took it on in teams. I think it was comprised of a slackline with ropes to grab onto, climbing over an upside-down chair-like frame and a web-like arrangement of ropes which you had to step or crawl through before assembling a bicycle.

Shortly after we took everything down and packed up the tents and what was left into the minibus and headed back, exhausted but happy.

Summer Camp HOLLAND (August 2011)

In a twist to the useall write up of the camp, while alway the scouts and explorers all kept log-books of the camp. You can view these by clicking on the scouts photos!

We hope you will enjoy!

 Ben's Log book!

Harry's Log Book!

National Sea Scout Regatta (July 2011)

By Ewan Bell

The National Sea Scout Pulling at Kayaking Regatta at Kingston was on the 2nd-3rd July. We used the scout bus to get there and once we arrived we put up a Dining shelter, where we were sitting. On the first day we had lot of races, these were:

In the Under 12's gig crew was Antonia, Harry, Jake and Johnny
In the Under14's gig crew was Ewan, Josh, Hugo, Jake.
In the Under 16's gig crew was Frankie, Freddie, Nathan and Malachi.
The under 18 gig was pulled by Jaunty, Sub, Fabian and Marchello

The under 12's double coypu was Harry and Antonia with Joe coxing. 
The under 14's double coypu was Jake and Hugo with Pietro coxing.
The under 16 single coypu was pulled by Liam
The under 18 single coypu was pulled by Josh.

The under 12's kayak was paddled by Ben.
The under 16's kayak was paddled by Frankie.

Unfortunately, we did not win most of our races. In fact we only won two, Under 14’s double coypu (Hugo and Jake) and Under 12’s kayak (Ben).

After we packed up our shelter we left to go to the campsite. When we got there we put up our T3s and put our bags in them. After that we got to go on the mini train ride there!!! We all went on the train twice; it went all the way around the campsite. When we got off the train we played for a bit. Some played basketball others played football, there was a rope swing which some people went on.

A few people started a fire which that night we sang songs around. Later on we all chose what we wanted with our chips for dinner. After we ate and sang songs we went to bed. Instead of sleeping in our T3s, we slept outside on a tarpaulin which was very fun. When Malachi came out of his T3 in his pyjamas in turned out that he was wearing a leopard printed pyjama suit, which was hilarious.

That morning we all woke up at like 5A.M because that’s when the sun went up! So after we fell back asleep we got up just a few hours later! In the morning we ate breakfast and broke camp.

When we arrived at the river we noticed that we only had two races that day (under 12 kayak: Ben and under 14 coypu: Jake and Hugo with Pietro coxing).

However, we did not win either of those semi-finals, which was a disappointment. When we weren’t watching the two races we were playing tennis in the tennis courts there. However some people played football in the goals there. At the very end there was a leader’s race with Mowgli, 2x Leander's leaders (boo) and 2x SeaLion's leaders. They came 3rd out of 3!!!

After the final presentation we packed our Dining shelter and put in the bus. Then we set off back to the scout hall. Overall, it was a fun, but disappointing, week-end! 

HMS BRISTOL Scout Activity Week (JUNE 2011)

Coming soon!

Cub Boating Weekend (May 2011)

By Dylan Ruibal.

Hello my name is Dylan and I am going to tell you about my boating trip.

On the first day I went on a coypu boat. After that I went on the green coypu boat.

Then I went on the power boat that was one of the best, but they were all the really exciting.

I did not go on the kayak because I was going the next day. After all that I help recover the boat and Kane pushed me in but I took Ewan with me and I got soaked.

The next day I went on the green coypu boat first. Then I went on the blue boat.

After lunch I went on the kayaks we played a game. After that we had to jump on each others kayaks then Mowgli forced me to jump off my kayak, and I did, it was freezing so I did not go on the power boat, because I was so cold.

Activity and Boating Camp (April/May 2011)

By Ben Num.

BANG. We had arrived at Walton Firs and were bouncing the trolleys over bumps transporting are bags, then having to pull the trolleys back up (slowly!!!) When all the stuff we needed was at where we were camping we pitched our tents (T3s). Once we finished we were ready for our lunch of hot dogs. (Yum Yum).

We had done all our own shopping just before arriving at camp, Mowgli taking us around Sainsbury’s having let us decided our own weekend menu, and then advising us on how to shop on a budget – and reminding us not to run over everyone with the trolley every 10 minutes.

Next we began to find some kindling and began to start our fire (A lot of matches and fanning was need) we built it up slowly. Soon we all fired off to the shop to buy marsh mellows for toasting later. When we got back from the shop the time and the fire was good for cooking dinner (As we did lots of sawing into big logs for the fire) So we washing up liquided the billys and put loads of pasta in with some sauce (9p pasta from our cheap shop around Sainsburys) Finally when it was ready we emptied it in to our plates and then we stuffed our faces. When we finished we were served our pudding of cake and custard. And obviously it ending with washing up.

After washing up we had a couple of marsh mellows and went on an adventure which ended up thinking should we gatecrash the disco and that thought ended with yes. We rushed into the rave bouncing, occasionally popping out side for some more air then running back in for more fun. Soon there was a circle for people to show of their skills so I (Ben) rushed in and showed of my moves. But soon the warden was in and pushed down all the levers and said “I have told eight times to turn the music down we have had complaints so this disco is ended,”

Then the words that will stay with everyone who was on this camp forever. “THIS IS SCOUTING NOT A RAVE!” and then we decided to sneak out and go back to the camp site to sing a couple of songs. Then play German Spotlights (The game everyone likes. Well most people) Then we travelled to our tents to get snugly in our sleeping bags.

In the morning we raided the box of Krave. Then we made our slightly English breakfast with Egg Bread, Bacon and Beans. The bacon being made by Harry (Who employed Jonny to help) and the Egg Bread burnt by Joe (So Ben took over and saved the egg bread) When we finished we washed up and Travelled to the climbing wall to find out our session was at 10:00hrs. So we went back to the camp site for a sometime before our session.

At the session we tried out all the walls. After we took a trolley to take some pioneering equipment to our camp site. After taking all the ropes out the bucket we found a little friend who travelled to the camp site with us, a mouse!!! After letting 'Bob' go we built a monkey bridge but failed some of the lashing so Mowgli told us to get a change of clothes and where going to have a shower meaning obviously we were going to the obstacle course.

We travelled through the course a couple of times having a swim in the mud and after freezing cold hobbled to the showers. Back at the camp site we finished building the monkey bridge having a couple of goes then went to the shop and bought some stuff (Slush puppies). Somehow Joe dropped his Dr Pepper and it exploded then we packed up the tents and raced up the hill with trolleys pulling our stuff. (We decided to take our mug-shot home)

After some time of noisy pigeon problems on top of the van, (Mowgli and Jonny tying tables to the roof) we set off for the journey back to the church. With Ben and Jonny trying to divide our purchase of Fanta into his cup!!!

On Monday (after we'd all gone home) more people arrived than for the camp (well only 5 people went on the camp). At the boathouse we quickly got changed and ready for boating, with life jackets on. But then instead of boating first. We turned over our gig (Thames Scout) and balanced it on its trailer with some tight manoeuvring. During most of this Jake, Antonia, Harry and me (Ben) played rolling tyres!!!

After this we launched some coypus and the gig and did some rowing with two ores. (Sparks seeing how we'd cope for the Regatta – Not very well) After a long go of swapping over of for rowing we stopped for lunch. (Lets skip lunch and go to the fun bit)

After lunch a group of us came out for some kayaking (meaning lets capsize). We revised the basics paddling up and down. Then played 'it' and after the legendary 'Raft Running'. After doing a couple of “If you capsize me I will kill you!”  We decided to capsize any way (the water was reasonably warm) Frankie had to capsize twice because his mum missed it...

… When we were warm in our uniform we all got ice creams as there were no fizzy drinks. Then set off (NO) Chief lost the keys. After some time of looking we set off (Coming back – LATE!)

Cub Easter Camp (Apri 2011)

Written by: William Chipperfield
Illustrated by: Lily Chipperfield.

Day 1
One hot evening in April, the 4th Streatham cubs were seen loading 2 large buses. Six tents, several bags and a few colourful sleeping bags later, the engines started.

When we got there we unpacked  and put up the tents. BUT it wasn’t that simple, they weren’t pop up ones or small  peg ones.   They were literally poles, pegs and sheets. Half an hour of poles and pegs later, we were finished!! Then we chose our tents, got tucked in and drifted off.

Day 2.
We woke up and waited for Mowgli to tell us it was get changed and get out of bed, sorry I mean sleeping bags.

After half an hour of stretching we went to a maze, it was very, very, very hard. In the maze there was a yellow submarine, stepping stones and a rope wall. Before we went back to our camp we went to a tuck shop, my favorite sweet was Highland Toffee.

Then we went back to our camp and had lunch. Here is the boring bit: we had to wash up all the cutlery and the cups and the bowls. Then we put up the kitchen, it was basically a big version of a tent. Then it was starting to get dark so we got out some benches and the leaders gave us some biscuits. Finally, we got into our tents and you could hear the fire crackling as every one got into there sleeping bags and nodded off.

Day 3
In my dreams I could here a voice saying ‘’wake up!’’ Then I woke up and realised it was Mowgli. I joined the exercise group. After some stretching we went to the assault course. There was a tunnel, a ledge to jump from, a wall to climb over, rope to climb under and loads more! We got very muddy, then we had a shower to get all the mud off.

 When we got back we had lunch, washed up and got split up into groups. One of the groups went to the climbing wall while one made flap-jacks-  they were so nice! Then my group went to the climbing wall where there was a wobbly hand hold that many people fell from. Sadly, I didn’t get to the top. “Mysa” got to the top of the hard wall and the easy wall.

We went back to the camp and had lunch and waited till it went dark, then we played germen spotlights. This is how you play germen spotlights:

1. You wait till dark;
2. You get a lantern and put it on the floor when its on;
3. The Leaders become the Germans;
4. You give the germen some torches;
5. The Cubs then become the English spies.

The aim of the game is the Germans have to shine their torches on the English spies before they turn the lantern off.

After four games of German spotlights we went back to the camp to find a little treat waiting for us.

The treat was BANANAS FILLED WITH CHOCLATE SPREAD!!!! We got very messy as we ate the around the flames of the fire. Then we went to our sleeping bags and drifted off into our dreams.

Day 4
We woke up and did some stretches again while the leaders made some eggy-bread. When we finished, we had some eggybread for breakfast- it was quite nice.

Then the leaders and the scouts went to the fire and tried to lower the flames down. While the scouts lowered down the flames, the cubs went to look for long thin sticks. Do you Know what were doing yet? Then we brought the sticks back to the camp and the leaders got out the benches and their pocket Knives. Do you know what were doing now?

We started to sharpen one end of the stick, then we put dough on the end of the stick. Then we put the dough on the stick over the fire to cook into bread. Then after we ate all our yum bread we tidied up all our stuff in our tent and we had lunch.

After our fantastic meal and our not so fantastic washing up we TRIED to make ice cream. This is how you try to make ice cream:

1. Put some milk shake powder into a small freezer bag
2. Add milk to the milk shake powder
3. Put some ice into a larger freezer bag
4. Add some salt to the ice
5. Put the small freezer bag into the large one and then into a plastic bag and swing it around your head for an hour. (Well it was meant to only be 5mins but the science bit didn’t work!)
6. Enjoy!!!!!!!!!!

Then we packed our 2 buses and went back to our mums and dads and went back to our homes to have dinner.

Dash Camp to Frylands Woods (March 2011)

By Joshua Joseph.

We all met at the hall at 0830hrs waiting for everyone to arrive.  The people who came where; Frankie, Jack, Harry, Hugh, Alex and myself as well as two Leaders.  We all walked up to the bus stop, carrying our bags.  We took the bus to Clapham Junction and took the fast train to East Croydon, then we got the tram to Gravel Hill.  We popped over to the Supermarket to stock up with food and drinks, then Mowgli saw a Leader from another Scout Group who happened to be going to Frylands too. He offered to take our bags to the site, which was a big relief. We then walked to the camp site which took about half an hour.

First thing we did when we arrived was pitch the tents.  After that we had lunch. Then Mowgli set us the task of building Bivouac. When we finally finished it was getting dark, so we started a fire.
Later on Hugh heard a rustling by the path, everybody looked over and sneaking about was Sparks, who just happened to be passing by the Wood.  He didn’t stay for long as he had to get back home, but it was great to see him. For dinner we had Fajitas which were nice and spicy, all cooked on the camp fire aaaaahhhhhhh, lovely!!!!  After dinner we met up with the other Leader and his group and played a wide game, which was German Spotlights and stuck in the mud by torch light.  After that we went back to their site for some hot chocolate and chatted around their fire for a while, before we got tied and went back to our site so we could go to bed.

The next day Mowgli’s alarm didn’t go off, so we got an extra lie in!  When he finally did wake up, we packed up everything and had some time to spare so we went to practice our ninja skills by sneaking up on different groups without being seen (quite poorly). Soon it was home time and  Luckily my Dad was there and was able to take all the Scouts back to the hall.  All in all a good camp!!

Canoeing Trip (March 2011)

By Hugh Skepper.

It was a crisp Sunday, a cool wind blowing, chilling the hearts of the roosting birds nearby. The whining of a train passing by broke the almost perfect nature of the place. The river Thames slinked by, blindly falling down, reaching the east coast far away. The pigeon yells, flying away in a flurry of silky white feathers. A lively collection of blue-clad boys walks down the street, towards the river Thames.

Enough of that poetic stuff. The Scouts were walking towards the River Thames, to try their hands at Canoeing. First of all, we (the scouts) changed out of our uniforms in the nearby boathouse. We had a spare change of clothes in case we got in a tight spot and soiled ourselves.

Before we went canoeing, we had a small warm up. I think it was something between rugby and wrestling, Where two teams had to run to opposite sides of the pitch, whilst trying to prevent the other team reaching your side. It was more fun than doing a jog, and we soon warmed up.

We all heaved the canoes into the water and set off. At first, it was simply getting to grips with them, the correct hand positions and all that… But we soon got involved with a few races. We all lined up on the invisible start line across the water. Mowgli screamed, and we set off. My canoe, compromised of Frankie, Johnny and I, was slowest to start. The other two canoes soon got occupied by a navy battle, of water-craft slamming into water-craft. Our Canoe stole a lead, and we won with ease.

Next we tried endurance. We would move to the blue bouy, somewhere between 100 and 300 metres upriver. We arrived there first, but we constantly had to stop because of Mowgli’s handicap of a one man canoe. We then had to turn around and go back. That ended poorly for most of us, and Mowgli decided we should practise turning around. We did it, and went for lunch.

It was time for games. First of all, we had to try a two man balancing act. One person on one side of the canoe, the other person on the other. They had to stand up straight and walk to the other side. Logically, I was the one who had to accept, but for some reason, others remained reluctant. Hugo bravely put up his hand to volunteer. We clambered on Mowgli’s canoe, and managed to stand up on either side. It was qiute difficult to start, because Hugo weighs more than me, but we soon balanced out and walked to the other side. Unfortunately, we didn’t fall in.

We then were ready for a game called “Ball.” Original. Anyway, we soon renamed it and then started playing - It soon became the best game ever.  All you had to do was collect a ball and throw it into Mowgli’s Canoe. Simple. Well, Our canoe remained victor for the day, or, that’s how I remember it.

If you’re expecting some tasteless conclusion that would fit in a children’s magazine, stop reading now.

It was good.

Boating and Camping weekend (February 2011)

By Harry Joseph

We went to Putney for a boating weekend and we were working on our nautical badges. We did rowing, kayaking and power boating. We also did some work on tides, rope sealing and rope types. Lots of the scouts improved their boating skills and are now much stronger than before. 

We did a midnight run or chase to a park close by and played a wide game across the whole field. We had to run away from the catchers and if you got caught you became a catcher. And we went to bed at around 1am!!!!!!!!!

The next day we did a bit more boating and packed up to leave. It was one of the best camps I’ve been on in scouts.

New Year Camp at -5°c (January 2011)

By Jake Greig

I think the January camp at Downe camp site was one of the best camps I have ever been on because it took no time at all to pitch up the storm havens. Our patrol pitched ours up first! It was really fun lighting a fire and we cooked some delicious stew and hot dogs. 

When it got dark we played games like manhunt and German spotlight and then settled down around the camp fire to sing songs. It was a really cold night (-5°c) and at bedtime I felt so exhausted and exhilarated from the day’s activities I snuggled down in my sleeping bag and slept. The following morning we cooked breakfast then extinguished the fires and headed back to Streatham.

The Mess Dinner & Xmas Camp (December 2010)

By Frankie Postles (P.L. Eagles).

They all said that there had not been a scout mess dinner in a very long time due to so and so circumstances, but at last the whispers turned into fact and us scouts all found ourselves over at the hall on Friday evening. Sparks had said that the scenario was that we had found ourselves in the wild with no tents and had found a derelict building to camp out in. We could use anything we could find. With ten individual imaginations all buzzing away, the creations that were to be our shelters all took different shapes from the bizarre to the practical. That evening died away in a hum of chatter.

The next morning it was cereal, a trip to the shops for me and Sparks and a bus ride to the boat house that get us going. The plan was that everyone would have a go at doing different things, one group rowing, another cooking, another doing maintenance and a final kayaking. In practice it all went along those lines. A great day of activities was the result, but the main event was still to come.

The mess dinner itself was to be in the galley with drinks, food, crackers and all the spirit we could muster. The immaculate presentation was down to Nathan and Jack while the more so immaculate food was down to Chief, Skip myself and Boson. After Skips most enjoyable speech we all had a toast (which was sitting down due to the restricting height on a ship.)

Finishing off the meal were a series of speeches, Alistair bringing a whole new dimension to the word “speech.” Sparks gave a wonderful tale of his youth in the olden days and Akela’s televised speech brought a tear to everyone’s eye.

It would be unjust not to mention the disco that went on for a couple of hours after the meal. Such a day’s events even saw Ben sitting down looking tired! A wonderful evening.

View all the photos here!

Firework Camp - Lewes (November 2010)

By Jake Ruibal 

We drove to the train station when we got there; the train was packed with people. When we got to Lewes , there were loads of drunken people. We saw a parade and a set off bangers everywhere. We went to a chip shop then we walked up the road. We saw a huge bonfire then we climbed up the hill and watched fireworks. Then we walked to the mini bus, it took about half an hours to got there! We stopped to got some food. When we got to the camp site we had to put or tents up it was raining and very dark. The next day we started to make a fire then we cooked breakfast we had porridge and bread and cereal. After we packed up and went to Lewes castle, where we look around the castle and played with some swords. Then we went home I really enjoyed it.

View all the photo's from this camp.