Scouts met at Tatton Scout campsite on Friday 10th May for a weekend camp. The tents were already up (Thank you parents and Leaders) so all we had to do was put our gear into our tents and enjoy a delicious meal of chilli con carne. Next we enrolled Austen as a Leader (Yay!!)
All the 900 Scouts who were camping gathered together on the main field for flag break and camp opening. We then had some free time to explore the camp before it was time for hot chocolate and bed!
We woke up to a chilly Saturday morning; luckily we had a cooked breakfast to warm us up. We were really impressed with Austen’s cooking skills; I wonder if Helen knows how handy he is in the kitchen.
Our troop went round two different activity zones – we went on the zip wire, tried out paintballing, decorated biscuits, built a bridge, knot tying, sent messages via Morse code, made bivvies’ and had a go at tin can cooking.
Next it was time for lunch, we returned to our site to find the Cubs were already there and had started eating!!! (Austen was there again brandishing his spatula).
In the afternoon we went around two more zones (Fairground and Tatton Activity) with the Cubs. Some of the Scouts went to try out the bell boats and the water activities; some of us enjoyed popcorn and candy floss, or tried to win a coconut on the coconut shy.
There was just time to put on our clean (ish) uniforms and gather in the main arena to wait for Bear Grylls, Chief Scout, to arrive. The sun came out just before his helicopter arrived. There were about 4000 Scouts, Cubs and Leaders all waiting to see Bear. Bear gave all our Cubs a Hi-Five, but missed out some of the Scouts, but he gave Martin a Hi-Five. Mike was on the opposite side of the pathway trying to get some good photos of us all. All too quickly Bear had moved on down the path, and it wasn’t long before he was going back to his helicopter. We consoled ourselves with the fact that it was time to eat again.
After the Cubs left, we put on our diva outfits and went to the disco in the main arena. This music was amazing and really loud. It was pitch black when we got back to our camp at 10.30pm. We had more hot chocolate and biscuits, before going to clean our teeth. We only just managed to get into bed before midnight.
On Sunday morning, it had finally stopped raining and we managed to strike camp whilst the tents were dry. Our troop joined up with Oughtrington Scouts and played “roundball” – a cross between rounders and baseball. There was just time to finish eating our elevenses before carrying our gear down to meet our parents.
Thanks you to all the Leaders, parent helpers (especially Gail, our cook) and to the Cheshire Leaders who organised the whole event.