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In common with our (now usual) practice, we spent the first night in the Scout Hut. This allows us to carry out a Kit Inspection to make sure all Scouts have enough and suitable kit for the week to come. With no Mums waiting in the wings to bale them out, the boys need to be fully equipped! This year we have acquired a small dwarfish mannikin with a beard, a large nose and a pot-belly. Suitably decorated with a bandanna and a black eye-patch, he was universally acclaimed as "Pirate Pete" and, with this piratical theme established, the Scouts were invited to think up some names for their patrols on Camp. At the end of some deliberation, the Scouts announced their choices - "The Hooks", "The Scurvies", "The Cut-throats", "The Grogs" and for the Senior Patrol Leader Team (Roger got carried away on a nasty rush of J M Barry to the head) the "Tinkerbells"!
Bedded down by midnight, peace reigned a little while later. Sort of.
We left the Hut around nine o'clock (ish) - and arrived on-site about 2 hours later- (the Scout Leader in the Advance Party got lost due to misprint in Camp Booklet - a short detour via Gants Hill was, no doubt, educational) - The rest of the day was spent setting up camp, erecting tents (varying degrees of "excellence") marking out cooking areas and collecting wood to cook the first (for some) meal over a wood fire - the boys had by now noticed that there were a lot of Guides and Brownies on site and a lot fewer Scouts - we were outnumbered two to one.
The evening meal was "Spaghetti Thriftwoodaise" (no self-respecting Italian makes Spaghetti Bolognaise with LAMB!!)
The Hooks started the Camp Competition the way they meant to go on by running a short but effective Scouts Own. Thereafter we started making some Camp gadgets - Dining area were set up - followed by a splendid Volleyball Tournament - won by the fittest, most active Leader Team the 42nd has fielded for many a long year!
We were given the opportunity of either using the Climbing Wall or using the Lake on site for Rafting - because the weather was dry and hot we were not surprised when the Scouts cast no votes for Climbing. The eight youngest Scouts were whisked off to the lake for an hour's canoeing - the first time out for most of them. The rest of the Scouts went to rafting - the sun was hot - the water inviting - the piratical theme was bolstered by boarding and wrecking parties - the average raft lasted about 20 minutes before disintegrating.
The first session of the day was a shooting with the camp Air Rifles - we had only a one hour slot but all boys put five rounds down - the most eminently qualified shot (and the acting Rangemaster) experienced some difficulty hitting the target - shots by Troop at tin-cans had mixed results - I.E. we usually hit a can other than the one we aimed at.... In the afternoon we went Rafting again - this time a much more controlled session with Scouts on different Award levels working together to pass Scout work items - Pathfinders making one raft, Scout award boys another, the remainder experimenting with smaller two-barrel raft constructions. As a result, the rafts lasted up to an hour this time and one actually carried a dozen Scouts on it at once.
Kit Inspection - disappointing but at least we knew who had what left at the half-way mark.... Another canoeing session, this time for fifteen of the older boys with Adam the first to capsize - closely followed by Phil Bartley. There was then a chorus of requests for capsize practice - Andrew Catling the first to capsize on purpose- Alex Dale made a notable attempt at a first-time "Eskimo Roll" but, regrettably, failed - and Pat had to carry out an "Eskimo Rescue" to put him on an even keel again - all that training does pay off!!
In the afternoon we tried archery - ably instructed by Piratical Peter Brookshaw and the Robin Hood of the Sub-Bus-Pass fraternity, Tony Thornton. Slightly bendy arrows detracted from a truly world beating performance but there were several contenders for "actually hitting the target"! Certainly better than the air-rifles! At this time the heavens opened and the SL's "one blue, two blacks and a white" score passed completely unnoticed in the scramble for cover. Rain had a marked effect on the rest of the day.
The evening meal was Salad in the Rain - in view of a "severe weather warning" we did not eat with the patrols.
The "Day Out" in Southend. The passing years have not dealt kindly with this sea-side gem of the east coast... it was universally declared by the Scouts to be a Day-Out Black Spot (pirates again!) but it provided an opportunity for the Scouts to consider Brighton as having some merit after all.... (Where did the whelk stalls all go? I remember, back in the old days........)
Back at Camp with "Patrol Choice Dinners" firmly under our belts (Leaders had Steak and Onions with French mustard, New Potatoes etc. etc.) we moved on to the Thriftwood Camp Fire. About 250 squealing Guides and Brownies (who appeared to be allowed to move around, leave etc. as and when they chose - very rude!) and about 60 (ish) Scouts and Cubs. Question - why are all Guide songs about Red Indians??? And why do they wear their (blue) uniforms all day and every day in Camp - dubbed the "blue jobs" by the 42nd, one was even seen to be wearing an Arsenal Tee Shirt - in BLUE!
Camp Sports in the morning - Alex Dale and Jon Waters led their patrol to a well deserved victory - their ability to hurl an empty plastic milk bottle had to be seen to be believed, their caber tossing was immaculate, their Blanket-Racing beyond compare .... and when it came to Dizzy-Sticks and Apple-Bobbing - what can we say? In the afternoon the Thriftwood Venture Service Crew run (weather permitting) an event at the lake called the "Water Splash" - a big slide into the lake, an aerial runway that came to an abrupt halt in the middle of the lake, a pontoon bridge with a fire-hose playing on it, a tractor-powered surfboard and numberless inflated inner-tubes, both large and small, turned the Sapper lake into an absolutely incredibly noisy and very wet paradise for the young! During the afternoon, Dick Ruck was seen flying the 42nd Kite over the throng, to much appreciative comment!
Evening meal was "Irish Stew" (with some minor variations like "cook-in-sauces" added) prepared and served for the boys by the Leaders - Dick and Peter prepared and cooked, Pat pronounced it ready and Tony served! A lot more queued for seconds than we were led to expect by the gloomy predictions of the Assistant Quartermaster - one David Oxley!
Rain at 5.19 a.m. resulted in wet canvas (not sopping wet but wet enough!) and a rather damp striking of the camp. Peter (Pack-em-in) Brookshaw ensured that the Loadlugger was fully laden and Dick (More-Room-on-Top) Ruck got the School minibus well and truly packed! Tony set off as the advance party to make sure the Hut was still there and the two buses lumbered steadily off the site and out into Motorway World.. We got back to the Hut around 4 o'clock as per the Camp Booklet (a miracle) and, with the help of some willing parents, off-loaded the gear and packed it in the back room, ready for the Group Quartermaster to inspect and duly reject (as is his wont).
As usual, the Scouts had to prepare, cook, clear away and wash up their own meals. After a slow start, with the Scouts still under the impression that "collecting wood" is really "free-time" and that the wood will quite efficiently collect itself, the meals began to arrive on time, the washing up yielded less and less coal black tea towels and we found fewer and fewer jars of washing up liquid rolling around the patrol area. Gradually, the camp tables began to stay up and Camp gadgets began to work.
As the camp took shape and the Leaders sighs of relief became more audible, the site began to look more like a Scout Camp and less like the Steptoe's back yard!
The Camp Competition was won, by the skin of their teeth, by the Hooks, despite a final rally by the Scurvies who, fresh from their success on the playing fields, decided to "go for it!"
The Hooks were:
The Winners of the Camp Sports were the Scurvies, who were:
Both of these patrols were a credit to the 42nd, from the point of view of teamwork and commitment.
As an experiment, due to the high number of Scouts (25) and the low numbers of Leaders (4), this year we put the normal Friday-night PLs into a Senior Patrol Leader Team for the duration of the camp only - to act as assistants to the Leaders and to help the Patrols. This had rather mixed results as, although they knew what to do and when to do it, because they were not in the Camp Competition, they frequently didn't. Pity...
It should be noted that one of their number (David Oxley) was qualifying for his camp Quartermaster badge for a lot of the time and that one Senior PL (Roger Pratley) stepped in and took over a rather troublesome patrol who needed a shake-up and a touch of firmer leadership for a time.
The award for Personal Progress was made to Adam Blowers for his stirling work in controlling a patrol beset by the delusions that they were at a holiday camp and that fires lit themselves, food cooked itself and that "washing-up" was for someone else to do...
By and large, the Scouts came out of the camp knowing a lot more than when they went in! Even if it was only the words of Paul Bevan's parody of "Summer Holiday"
We're all going on a Summer Scout Camp.
No more homework for a week ot two.
We're all going on a Summer Scout Camp.
So the Leaders can whinge at you... For a week or two.
(Sorry Cliff)
which brings us to:
Peter (Blackbeard) Brookshaw was presented by the Scouts with a well-deserved, large, fluffy banana - for soaking up the insults, taking them in good part and coming back for more! As First Aider, he cleaned and dressed a lot of minor (and one or two major) cuts and abrasions and treated innumerable mosquito bites.
There is a rumour that Dick Ruck has lost some weight as a result of the exercise, loss of sleep and severe diet. It is, of course, only a rumour. He has, however, given a lot of sweat and toil to ensure that the Scouts learned from the camping experience - and drunk an embarrassing amount of camp tea. (The embarrassing bit was the others couldn't keep up... Dick)
Pat (wife of Tony) Thornton again supplied vast quantities of food, on time, every time and mopped up the occasional tears and hugged the home-sick when necessary.
Tony Thornton lost his battery shaver half-way through the week and only found it minutes before leaving the site for home. The other Leaders have suggested that it was stolen by the on-site squirrel population as a gesture to noise abatement at 6.30 a.m. each morning!!
and finally
My thanks to all the Leaders for their heroic efforts - just think, they might even do it again next year!
Tony Thornton, Scout Leader.
on behalf of the Leader Team:
ASL Peter Brookshaw - First Aid and Off-site Activities
ASL Dick Ruck - On-site Activities and Morning Tea
AVSL Pat Thornton - Quartermaster (Food and Consumables)
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