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 30th 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 1st 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/
