Winter Term 2008

After Half Term, things went back to "normal". The Friday of Half Term was spent drying out tents and putting stuff away from the camping trip. The next few weeks we were involved in getting our First Aid badge and several other activities besides, such as a birdsong quiz...

We were played recordings of twenty eight different birdsongs and asked to name the bird which made the noise. Each name was given a description of the noise and, as with the crisp tasting, they weren't all real birds, the two made up ones were the Oomigoolie bird and the Red Herring Gull!

Each week we play at least two games, one at the start and one at the end. I will take this opportunity to tell you some more of our games; Rupture Cone, so called because the aim of the game is to avoid touching the cone and sometimes the only way is by jumping over; if misjudged this can end in a rupture!

Then there's jump rope; this is self explanatory, but not as you'd expect: Skip swings a piece of rope around at ankle level and we all have to jump over it, the person who falls over each time is out; the winner is the person who stays in the longest.

Another game, one which we've only played once, remains nameless but it's like tug of war mixed with chalk rugby. The aim of the game is to get your end of the rope to touch the wall of the Scout hut. Unfortunately, the other team are trying to do the same with the other end and the rope is shorter than the Scout hut is long!

Chalk Rugby, my absolute favourite, is very similar; get the piece of chalk and put a cross in your goal. And try to stop the other team doing it first by any means, including: sitting on them, grabbing their arms, wrestling the chalk off them, stamping on the chalk, swallowing it and (of course) rugby tackling!

As you can see, it's not exactly chess and backgammon!

Danemead Camp- October

We arrived at Danemead on the Saturday and the first thing we saw were a group of people dragging a van up the track. We were about to offer them some help when we realised they were Police Cadets and that it was actually a training exercise!!! They weren't the only cadets on site either; we were also sharing the campsite with Army cadets (who spent most of that Saturday jogging and marching through our campsite!) and a group of sea cadets.

It took us about an hour to pitch camp, three times as long as it should have taken us, according to Skip (but it was our first time so he "let us off"), which made lunch a bit late! The afternoon was spent sorting patrols, setting up tents, getting to know the campsite and playing games. We made dinner and then we sat around the campfire, talking, joking and singing and afterwards we played several wide games; one of which was a version of manhunt. We were in bed by ten thirty and "quiet" by eleven.

Our next day (Sunday, Skip's Birthday) was spent hiking; we woke around seven thirty and were ready to leave (breakfast eaten, faces washed(!), lunches packed, and clean socks donned, well, everyone except one boy... not naming names!!!) at eleven, roughly an hour behind schedule. We walked about halfway, roughly three and a half miles, to Brickendon where we ate lunch in a play park. (here I changed my socks again!) As we were preparing to leave we had a surprise; the year six teacher from the local Primary school lived close by and invited us in for a drink! We spent half an hour or so with her and her family before we "marched on". Most of the second part of the hike was done in "Scout pace" which is done by walking for a set distance and then running for a set distance and repeating the process a number of times. This pace is used to get somewhere quicker than walking, but it also reduces the likelihood of an injury, so it can be used in emergency. We arrived back at camp and had our own surprise for Skip; birthday cards, presents and party poppers! The evening was filled with another campfire, more jokes and stories followed by yet more wide games and then a de-briefing and bed, silence by eleven thirty, we were so tired.

Monday morning, we woke up late; and spent the morning on a conker championship (at which I was terrible!). I'm not sure who won in the end... Afterwards we had to gather wood and start a fire on which we had to cook lunch for the patrol. This took a lot longer than expected and we didn't eat lunch until after half past three! We spent the afternoon playing games such as forty- forty home and generally getting ready for the campfire that evening. We also carved pumpkins and then one boy (not naming anyone in particular!) walked around with his on his head saying "Hello, my name is Lindsay Lohan!" At the campfire that evening, we all totally embarrassed ourselves at the campfire with "The Enlarging Machine" and the "Ugliest Face in the World" stunts, especially Prof. Bingbong! This was followed up by chants, songs and hot chocolate, with most lof the boys falling asleep before dinner was ready. We were all in bed and asleep by eleven that night.

Tuesday was spent striking camp and drying out canvases back at the Scout Hut, when we got home, we spent a LOT of time sleeping!

Starting Up Scouts

In June 2008 Skip, with support from my parents, restarted the Scout troop in Cuffley. To start with we were getting to know each other, playing team games and puzzle- solving to build up the necessary trust needed in a group like this.

During the summer holidays Skip arranged many activities for the Scouts, including Go Ape, Quasar followed by a film, raft building and a Banger Racing day. After the Summer though, things certainly livened up!

I joined the Scouts just after the Summer Holidays and on my first evening we played a couple of boisterous games; lamb (soon to curry favour with the whole troop and become a hot favourite) and Chalk Rugby (my personal favourite.) Both of these games include a considerable amount of running around and grabbing people from all angles!

My second week (my first official meeting) was more subdued, but definitely weirder. We spent the evening crisp tasting and trying to guess what they all were, however our mark sheets contained three made- up flavours; these were Shepherd's Pie, Egg Fried Rice and Red Herring. Some of the REAL flavours were even more obscure; mustard flavour crisps anyone?

Our activities in the weeks up until Half Term included: A Harvest Parade at the local Anglican Church, a wide game (amazing fun), a Jumble Sale, some work on orienteering and a visit from the Parish Priest, Father O' Carroll. And Half Term saw our first Scout Camp...