June 28th - June29th
After months of planning, our annual Survival Camp came around. Two night before the camp Baloo and Akela went round Tesco doing some trolley rage. A bus was picked up from another Scout group which was to be used to take all the kit to camp, so that we could all walk down to Chelwood.
Saturday morning at 9 o'clock all the Cubs turned up with their kit and with parental help the bus was loaded. How long are you going for was a good question, as the kit piled up and filled the back of the bus. As we walked out of the Scutt we noticed our food in the kitchen, this was grabbed and dumped onto the bus. The Cubs were sent home to prepare for their walk and be back at eleven thirty. Akela, Baloo and Shaun went in the bus to Chelwood, Hathi followed to give them a lift back. Two miles up the road and the exhaust pipe on the bus falls apart, the noise was intense in Hathi's car, in the bus it was very LOUD indeed. We pulled into the camp site giving an elderly Leader already there a flash back to the blitz and the 'doodle-bugs'.
There some Scouts preparing to leave and they offered to leave their alter
fire in place with the spare wood they had gathered. The bus was left and the
Leaders returned to Stockwood, as Hathi had all his kit with him and we
remembered that we had not taken anything for the Leaders to sleep on he popped
back to the Scutt to be met by an extremely unhappy Beaver Leader
"Where is all my food?" Sheena asked. "It was on the worktop in
ASDA bags well away from your Tesco bags!"
"Oops, it must be at Chelwood probably, why?" asked Hathi.
"I need it to feed my Beavers who will be here soon on a sleepover and will
need feeding!"
"I'll go and get it" Hathi said in an attempt to stay on Sheena's good
side. Hathi then rushed down to the camp and picked up the food, rushed back to
drop it off so that the Beavers could be fed.
The Cubs arrived with their day packs and we were transported to our starting point by some of the parents, before they went home for a quiet Saturday. The walkers included Dave, a parent who is in the T.A. and will be doing his duty in foreign climes in the near future. The walk started at Pensford but instead of walking back towards Bristol we set off into the countryside. At the point where we left the road Akela offered the job of navigator to two volunteers, there was a rush and two were picked. We are here on the map - we need to get there - which direction should we go? Hathi gave them a hint and away we went. We, the Leaders had done this walk in the previous week and were able to keep the Cubs in more or less the right direction. Ninety minutes later we stopped for lunch. The Cubs were dismayed to see that we had only come about a third of the way.
The volunteer navigators were changed and they led us off into the woods, practical map reading was done as the Cubs realised what contours were all about. The path was clear and the sun shone, (this was not mentioned earlier because it was assumed that anyone reading this will have expected nothing else from our sun god) time and distance passed. Each junction meant a consultation with Akela as the Cubs working out where we should go. Finally Akela said that we needed to find a tree with the number 4 on it, why who lives there was the reply. At this landmark we turned right, down a slope over a bridge and up a set of steps, through a bit more woodland and there it was, the bus we had arrived. Fantastic.
After a short rest the bus was unloaded. Two patrol tents were put up. The girls aided by Baloo and Hathi verses the boys helped by Dave and Akela. The girls had an early lead as the boys all stood around trying to get hold of a mallet. The eventual result was a tie as the girls were a bit hesitant putting the brayling pegs in. The Leader's tent was put up and all the tents were flown to keep the grass fresh and to air the tents.
Water and firewood were the next items on the agenda. The number of Cubs that were very willing to carry big buckets of water from the standpipe back up the slope to our al-fresco kitchen was impressive. As the weather was so nice we decided to leave the mess tent in the bus. Adrian an ex-Cub parent and his ex-Cub son Ryan now a Scout arrived just in time to help, while the Cubs went off with Baloo, Akela and Dave to find sticks to cook twists on Adrian and Hathi got on with cutting the branches to a length that would fit in the fire bins.
Then, as this was a 'survival' camp some bivouacs were put together, Dave and his team, Adrian and his team went for sturdy, pegged down tent like structures while Hathi and his girls tried a more free standing structure, which stayed put over night to everybody's amazement. Jess T was keen to sleep out in her bivvy but as she would have been alone she was not allowed to, shame. Four of the boys did sleep out in the bivvies, well done to Ryan, Ben, Robert and Bradley were to be the brave Cubs.
The Cubs were given some free time as tea was being cooked by Baloo and Akela, with help from Adrian, instant noodles and sausages with bread and spread, which was greeted with almost universal delight. Drink was provided by squash for those who wanted it.
Sadly our helpers had to go reluctantly back to their homes. The evening was lovely and we went for a little wander, to Hunstreet Lake where we tried to keep the Cubs quiet so that we could see if any ducks or swans might come closer but it was hopeless, they could not keep quiet so we gave up and went back to the camp.
The Cubs were now given the opportunity to get really messy, making twists out of flour and water and then getting them to cook it over the heat and not in the flames. How many times do you have to tell them? Well more than many times for our Cubs. Caramelised banana and egg or cake cooked in a empty orange. Lovely!
At 23:00 o'clock the Cubs were happy to go to their tent or bivvy, by midnight it was eerily quiet, the Leaders could not believe their luck, and went to bed. Baloo and Akela had to get up as Hathi's snoring was too much, they did a bit of stargazing until the noise died away.
Soon, very soon it was morning and boy did we miss having an electric kettle, we had to wait ages for the water to boil so that an early morning caffeine hit could be arranged. The girls were late getting up, the boys had got up, washed (ha!) and were stood around what was left of the fire. Baloo and Akela cooked up some breakfast, the girls got up and everybody was fed.
More wood was collected and put on the fire. The Cubs were given some more free time and had a god time exploring the camp site. The morning dew finally dried out on the tents so they were taken down and packed away. Dave appeared on his bike as he had been 'passing' and came in to see how we all were. The string used in the bivvy building was carefully untied by the Cubs and tidied up into a neat ball and then thrown onto the fire.
Everything came out of the bus and it was repacked. Parents started turning up at eleven o'clock, and we were all back at the Scutt by eleven thirty. Many willing hands made light work of unloading the kit and everybody were given their certificates and then went home, babbling about how good it had been except for one Cub who managed to find the camp 'boring', we will not be taking that Cub to anymore camps if that's his attitude. He was one of the Cubs that did not stop running around all the time he was awake, so we were not sure when he had time to be bored.
The Leaders retired to the Harvesters for a debrief, the boring charge was examined and mulled over. This had spoilt the camp for the Leaders because an enormous amount of effort into it. On the positive side the ADC (Cubs) from Wansdyke who inspected us gave us a glowing report. which was nice.
Thanks are due to Dave for his company and help on the walk and bivvy building, To Adrian and Ryan for helping gather firewood and build the bivvies, to Baloo and Hathi for doing whatever it is that ACSL do on camp, and finally to the sun god, Akela, who organised it, ran it and made it the success we decided it was despite one dissenter.
Some other ramblings.
With no running water all water had to be carried up a hill from the standpipe, the Cubs were almost fighting over who would be allowed to do it.
The al-fresco kitchen worked really well.
The weather was as expected marvellous.
Real fires have an amazing ability to attract Cubs, perhaps because it was the first one some of them had ever seen. It was too attractive, it seemed that the most common utterance from the Leaders was "Will you please* keep away from the fire -'insert name of Cub here'!"
*this was optional and after the first time omitted.
Only a few weeks before our main summer camp, some thing to look forward to.