6th Bracknell Scout Group
Summer Camp
Longridge 30 July - 6 August 2011
Saturday
6th AugustToday was spent taking down tents and packing up the camp ready to go home. We got the patrol tents down just in time before a little shower, and after the parents had arrived, we had the closing awards ceremony.
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Friday
5th AugustThis morning the Scouts and the Scubs (Cubs who will be Scouts in September) performed a campsite service. The Scubs and younger Scouts went all round the site picking up litter, while the Explorers and older Scouts used a pressure washer to clean the caked mud off of the stairs to the toilet block.
Akela and Bagheera took the remaining Cubs to the park in Marlow. It was interesting to walk over the bridge and see the weir we had rowed up to yesterday. The Cubs played in the park very nicely then we all had an ice cream which we ate while walking back to the camp site, singing as we went.
Kayaking
Kayaking was fun. We were told which size of boat we were put in and then we had to take our boats to the shore and shuffle into the water - I had to be helped. First of all we had a practice at paddling the kayaks then we played the zombie game where the two “zombies” had to tap the back of the “citizens” kayak with their paddle to turn them into zombies too. Then we went under the bridge and played the Simpsons game. We all started off as Maggie and had to win a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors to progress through the Simpsons family ending at Grandpa.
We carried on a bit further up the river and then played the sponge game where we had to throw wet sponges at each other – 1 point for hitting the boat, 2 points for hitting the body and 5 points for hitting the back of the head. If you hit someone in the face, you lost all your points! During this game, several people capsized, including Techno! Finally we went back to the jetty where we had to get out. We were then allowed to slide into the river on our belly over the bottom of a big kayak.
Francesca Waters (Cub)
Bell-Boating
Bell boating is like dragon boating but two dragon boats with a bit in the middle to hold them together. We did a quiz and if we got a question wrong we had to do a forfeit like dip your head in the water. At the end we got told about Crocodillo – it is a cross between an armadillo and a crocodile – the we jumped into the river.
Adam Hawkes (Cub)
In the afternoon, we started packing up the site and getting ready for the last-night BBQ, when King Louie cooked 154 sausages, chicken pieces, burgers and steaks. After we had tidied up, we had sparklers round the camp fire before bed.
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Thursday
4th AugustIt rained pretty much all day today! The Cubs were occupied with map reading in the main tent, while the Scouts planned their meals for the cooking competition in their patrol areas. The Scouts were then ferried to Sainsbury's by Skip, Techno and King Louie to buy the ingredients. The had a budget of £2.50 per head and came up with some interesting results.
Kayaking
Today we went kayaking, it was a little drenching but fantastically fun. I picked the smallest size boat (blue) and so did Akela which was a bit funny. To get in the water you either take the easy way (carry it carefully down the stairs) or the more extreme way which I did – sit at the top of a steep slope and get pushed down! We had to lean forwards half way down, then lean back – it made a big splash and we got drenched!
We played a game where Ruby and I had to catch the other – Aaron was hardest to catch so now I call him Speedo. Then the instructors threw plastic fish and sharks in the river and we got points for catching them. Our last game was throwing sponges and keeping score – Cameron won that one so he had to stand up in his boat and do ‘heads, shoulders, knees and toes’. It was fun!
Emily Jones (Cub)
Bell-Boating
On Thursday afternoon groups F and G went bell-boating in two boats. First we got to a bad start then near the end we finally got past the other boat. We got to fish for mussels – we found 33 and the other boat found 42 mussels. We were the first boat to get back.
Toby Jones (Cub)
After the activities, the Scouts started cooking for the competition.
The Herons spent all but 13p of their budget and cooked tomato soup with bread, pork chops in apple sauce with potatoes and sweet-corn, finished off with biscuit and orange layered pudding.
The Coots and Egrets saved £1.81 and cooked chicken curry and rice with naan bread and poppadums, followed by chocolate covered flap-jacks.
The Grebes cooked chili and nachos to start with, then chicken drumsticks with stuffing, mash and parsnips, followed by home-made trifle (swiss roll slices covered with custard and whipped fresh cream).
The Moorhens made some crudités with humus to start, then pasta with pesto sauce, followed by a chocolate pudding.
It was a close competition, but the eventual winners were the Grebes with an adventurous yet easy to prepare menu so well done to them.
Many apologies, but we were unable to get any photos of the cooking competition.
Not to be left out, the Cubs decorated their own puddings with spray cream, hundreds and thousands and chocolate sprinkles. Despite the appearances in the photos, and whatever the Cubs may say, we did NOT go mad with the spray cream, nor did we decorate the Cubs with it! :)
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Wednesday
3rd AugustIt was a bit wet last night so we were greeted with a cooler morning today, but the sun soon broke through for another hot day.
Water Orbing
When you do water orbing you climb into a big ball and you put a tube of air into the ball and it blows up like a balloon. Then you zip the zip up and roll onto the water. It’s like Jesus walking on water! It’s really hard standing up – our instructor said “The taller you are, the harder it is to stand up.” I had lots of fun doing orbing.
Francesca Waters (Cub)
Giant Swing
Today we did the giant swing. We had to pull the swing up with the people on it (it was hard!) plus we had to wear very tight safety belts. I went with Bagheera and we went right to the top. Bagheera pulled the cord the first time and I screamed! We went over the river Thames. The second time, I was going to pull the cord but when we got to the top I couldn’t so Bagheera did it again. It was amazing!
Becky Hayes (Scout)
Climbing
When you do climbing you are harnessed up to a thin D-shape. Another person is connected up to the rope – he pulls it down but the last person pulls another rope if the other rope gets slack. I felt scared when I went up the wall. The wall was split up in three groups – easy red, medium blue and hard green.
Charlie Maskell (Cub)
This afternoon, Akela and some of the Cubs played games with a parachute.
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Tuesday
2nd AugustThis morning was hot again, so Skip and Techno got some water pistols out for a water fight. All the Cubs, and some of the Scouts, got really wet and it was really nice and cool.
Water Orbing
Group C went water orbing. At the edge of the river we had it there. We had one go each and I went first. You got in a bubble full of air and ran in the river water for 10 minutes. When you fell it made a great big noise. In the bubble you talked and it echoed like a cave. There we only two bubbles in the pool - I would do it again!
Frank Owen (Cub)
Giant Swing
I went to the big swing. It was so fun b- you just drop and it was so high you could hardly hear the people speak. Sophie pulled the string and we fell and went in the air again. We stopped and went back to the top - you just did the same, but better.
Ruby Lowe (Cub)
Climbing
Climbing was fun - I got up to the top on every one. We used a karabiner and the same as I do at climbing. When you were at the top you could see for miles and miles - I could even see the camp site from there!
Joe Hope (Cub)
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Click here for a video of Techno and Akela on the giant swing.
Monday
1st AugustThis morning, the Scouts got some of their pocket money and walked into Marlow. We looked in some shops, bought some ice-creams and drinks for an hour or so, then walked back to camp.
While the Scouts were off-site, the cubs learnt to tie-dye. Everybody got a white t-shirt and as much string as they wanted. It was a bit of an experiment but has turned out really well so expect to find a new red or green t-shirt in your cub’s luggage at the weekend!
Water Orbing
Water orbing was fantastic! Every time we jumped it made a funny noise and then water came up and went everywhere. Every time you fell you could see everyone laughing. If you looked down, you could also see beautiful water and bits of wood. We even got to bang into each other – it was great!
Moly Buist (Cub)
Giant Swing
On the giant swing, it went really high - as the others pulled the ropes the higher it went. Once we got our first go I was petrified. Then we flew down and it looked like we were going to fall in the water. I went with a Scout (Aaron). Also, I went with Francesca – she was brilliant at it. Francesca loved the giant swing. The second time, I was good at it.
Katie Westwood (Cub)
Climbing
On Monday, group C went climbing. Our leaders were Bagheera and Ikki. Me, Frank, Emily and Becky started on the blue stones. Emily Jones got to the top. (It was the hardest one!) I got to the top on the green stones! All the colours were red, green and blue.
We had to work together when people were climbing. When someone was going up the rope had to be pulled down. When the person was at the top of the wall, they abseiled down.
Tom Reynolds (Cub)
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Sunday
31st JulyToday, we have had glorious sunshine all day, so we have made sure that everyone has sun cream applied, and that those who had a hat were wearing them.
Here are some thoughts from two of our campers - Scout Ben Hawkes and Cub Briony Jones - about the activities today:
Ben: Today we woke up at 7am, then we got our breakfast ingredients. Aaron M made breakfast for the first time on camp - his eggs were ... different! After breakfast we had inspection at which we were amazing (bar a few kitchen errors).
At 10:30am the Scouts went rafting which was really enjoyable. We had to build some rafts then do some challenges accross the river. It was hilarious when Cayleigh fell in, then she decided to take the rest of her group with her.
Briony: After lunch at 2:30 we went Dragon Boating. I was really scared before we started because it was my first time on the river. But after I got in the boat, it was really fun. We raced the other boat and we played rock/paper/scissors and the one who lost had water poured over them. By the end, I was really wet!
During the time when they weren't doing activities, the Scouts and Cubs were building camp gadgets. Check out the photos to see how they got on...
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Saturday
30th JulyToday was set-up day. The leaders were on site mid-morning and started setting up.
The Cubs and Scouts started arriving at around 2.30pm and were immediately tasked with putting up the Scouts' tents and dining shelters.
Eventually, we got them all up and then had dinner - mince and potatoes (see menu) - and by the time we'd finished clearing up, it was time for bed.
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Sixth Bracknell Summer Camp
30th July-6th August 2011Longridge
Welcome to the Summer Camp mini-site. Use the navigation bar to view information about the camp.
During the camp week, we will endeavour to update the mini-site on a daily basis with information and pictures of the Cubs' and Scouts' activities.
Click here for the camp web site.
