A wonderful weekend at Holwell Pastures Scout Campsite
We all arrived at camp very excited for the weekend ahead!
In our tent groups, we started putting our tents up and making our beds. This took some time as the Beavers and Cubs wanted to make sure their tents were just right.
We then had a tour of the campsite and played some games run by the Young Leaders before heading back to our seating area to have a light supper before bed of biscuits and hot chocolate.
All the Beavers and Cubs got into their PJs and brushed teeth before getting tucked up in bed. They had chance to read a little bit and there were lots of toilet trips before lights out.
Saturday
We woke the next morning to very bright Beavers and Cubs! Everyone went to the toilet block to freshen up, and back to their tents to get dressed.
Then it was breakfast time, cereal followed by delicious bacon sarnies. We all washed up our own breakfast dishes and got ready for the day ahead, with our boots and hats on.
We split into two groups and took part in some activities, including fire lighting using flint and steel and seeing if we can each get a piece of cotton wool to burn. The Young Leaders made a campfire and we each toasted marshmallows to make yummy s'mores. We also practiced some campfire songs.
The other group played some games including french cricket, connect 4 and skittles.
Then snack time! Biscuits and drinks all round to give us a boost of energy for the next set of activities.
We spent the next hour swapping activities, everyone had a great try of creating sparks and were very brave!
After a lunch (where we made our own sandwiches and washed up after ourselves), we split up into Beavers and Cubs. The Beavers spent a couple of hours doing experiments, including making rafts float, watching Tic Tac make the volcano explode and seeing if we can make boats move using bicarb and vinegar. We also saw how many rocks we could put into our boats before they sank. There were some really amazing mini rafts built!
The cubs had a more taxing afternoon - they'd learnt that there was a survival challenge in progress! If they didn't learn enough skills then Chil was going to eat their evening meal!
To survive they needed to stay warm in the outdoors, so built a shelter together to keep off the wind and the rain. Then they needed to think about hunting food, so practiced with soft archery and soft axes on a round target, to see who could get the most points. To do that safely, we also learnt the countryside code. They then needed to signal for help so built flagpoles out of staves and rope, and also tried to whittle a stick into a point using the Scout sheath knives. Everyone was successful (and kept their fingers!) and so Chil was disappointed to only have one evening meal (plus the inevitable second helpings that arrived from the catering team at every meal because they knew how hungry we would all be)!
We all got together for a snack of biscuits and a drink and then the Beavers went to archery and soft axe throwing and the Cubs carried on with their activities.
We had time for some games before a delicious tea of jacket potatoes, sausages and pasta. Dessert was a highlight of meringues and berries, yum!
We made our way over to the campfire area with a lovely warm fire, where we all sang songs before Chatter read a story to everyone about Goldie the Goldfish. Supper was camp doughnuts and then it was time to get ready for bed and all tucked up. Everyone had a really wonderful day so we were hoping for a great night's sleep, which most of us had.
Sunday
We were a bit slower to wake this morning, with some Beavers taking a while to get going. After going to the toilet blocks to freshen up, we had a delicious breakfast of cereal followed by Tic Tac's amazing pancakes with the record amount eaten today of 13!
We headed to our tents to pack up all of our stuff in our bags and to make sure that we hadn’t forgotten anything.
After this, we had three activities to switch between; woggle and bracelet making with beads, bug hunting and more soft axe throwing and archery. Then it was snack time again, we did not go hungry this weekend thanks to Tic Tac and our awesome catering team.
After snack time, we swept out our tents and then the Beavers went to play games and finish off the woggle making whilst the Cubs helped to take down their tents and pack away. There was a competition to see who could do it faster and the girls were the victors!
Then it was time for lunch! We made our own wraps today and had fruit and crisps with a yoghurt and biscuit for pudding.
After lunch time, we washed up our own plates and then had time for a quick game before the parents arrived and we had a closing ceremony. Everyone who attended got a certificate for their achievements and a special camping badge from Tic Tac's magic badge box.
Austin and Beth also got given their Chief Scout’s Silver Award which is an amazing achievement! Well done to both of them!
Home time came and everyone left tired and happy! What a weekend!! Everyone was so well behaved and we were so lucky to have such a wonderful group to spend it with.
Thanks to our wonderful team of volunteer leaders and parents, who gave up their weekend to plan and make this weekend happen.
At 1st Caythorpe and Duke's Covert, we are now desperately short of volunteers, across all three sections and also on the Trustee Board. Please, if you'd like to see our Group and sections continue to run, do consider joining our team and supporting this valuable community group.
