March 25th to 26th

Easter Camp

Our first Camp of the year, eleven Cubs came along, with one extra sibling and a pair of parents; Jess, Emma, Shannon, Charlie, Breiz, Deanna, Conner, Lawrence Elliott, Joe, Tom and Dan, with Amy. It was the first Cub camp for Jess, Emma, Lawrence Elliott and Joe so well done to them, more badges to buy!

The day started with a final trolley rage around Tesco by Akela as last minute things had to be bought. In the afternoon Akela, Hathi, Tom, Amy and their mum and dad put up two tents for the Cubs to sleep in. The Cubs are all rather young and helpless at the moment, next time they will be putting up their own tents.

After tea and at the usual time for a Pack meeting the evenings entertainment started. We had four/five bases. Some working for their Chef and some for their Art Activity Badges. The hot and dangerous bases were pancake making and tossing, the other base was making chocolate "nests" to put small chocolate eggs into and to decorate some biscuits. Baggy's base was also to do with cooking, small cooking over a very small heat source, to whit a night light (Candle). Akela and Hathi ran the Easter Card production line. This involved nothing more than drawing the outside of an Easter Card by hand and then using a computer to make the insert, with a picture and some writing.

The bases were popular, well the cooking bases were popular. The candle cooking involved small bits of bacon and sausage on an upturned 'tin' can with a night light inside it. Fun for the Cubs and economic as twelve Cubs cooked two rashers of bacon and the contents of two sausages.

The nest building consisted of gently heating chocolate in a bowl over some warm water, mixing in some lightly crunched Shredded Wheat then putting the whole ghastly mess into some paper cake papers and pushing a couple of Mini Eggs into the soft nest before it set.

The Pancake making was popular and spectacular as the Cubs tried their hand at tossing the semi cooked flour, milk, water and egg mixture so that the second side could be cooked. The female Cubs were very good with only limited 'flight-time' for the pancakes. The Boys however were made of sterner stuff and with the base being at the point where the roof is at it highest really went for it. Lots of altitude but sadly inevitably a crash landing. Messy but most amusing.

At a time where the Leaders would normally be getting home having survived another weeks Cubbing we were still hard at it. Akela produced his special drinking chocolate ( a theme appears to be developing) to his own secret recipe, lots of milk, lots of sugar and plenty of heat seems to cover it.

Before the little darlings could be allowed to go to their beds, another little treat was in store as Akela showed them a short educational film. At 23:30 some of the Cubs were starting to sag. "Please can we go to bed Akela ?" was asked and in no time the Scutt was empty and the tents were almost full. The sky was clear and despite the thermometer in Hathi's car showing 11 degrees Centigrade, it was quite chilly.

The Leaders retreated to the warmth of the Scutt leaving the doors open so that they could hear any noise that may disturb the Cubs. at 01:30ish it finally went quiet, the Leaders were able to get to their own beds. Deep, deep sleep spoiled by the massive snores of one of the Leaders and the backing vocalisation of the other Male Leader. Baggy did not get much sleep. At 05:30 Akela got up to read the riot act to the Cubs in both tents who were making a lot of noise, so he didn't get much sleep either. Hathi slept on oblivious to all this. Lucky him!

Breakfast was a little earlier than planned, cooked by Akela who was locked in the kitchen until we felt that he could be allowed around the Cubs with anything sharp in his hands (enormous exaggeration) He enjoys the relative peace and quiet while Baggy and Hathi get on with getting the Cubs up, dressed, washed, packed and ready to sit and eat the wonderful breakfast being prepared.

The Cubs who had not sampled Akela's 'eggy-bread' were introduced to this traditional camp food. The first taste is with the eyes so it is said and the Cubs could see that it tasted horrible before they even put a bit into their mouths, although one rather grudgingly agreed that if there was nothing else and they had not eaten in a week they might eat another mouthful.

After Breakfast while Joe and Emma helped wash and dry the plates, bowls etc the other Cubs got messy. Potato printing was the activity and after Hathi had sliced up a few potatoes and the Cubs had made them into the desired shape they were pushed into some paint and then pressed onto some paper to make a pretty pattern. Lawrence Elliott had to leave at this point as he had to go to the England v Northern Ireland football.

What could we do next? Get the Cubs clean, put the towels they had used to wipe the paint of the hands and faces into soak, cleared the tables of all the paint and bits of spud left behind. After that Fire lighting always a popular activity. The Cubs do not normally get encouraged to set fire to things but today was different. All the Cubs had a go with the steel and flint getting huge sparks to land on cotton wool and watching it blacken and burn. Two fires were started and one was used to cook a few burgers that had been left in the Freezer from the Cross Country meeting last weekend. Just as the Cubs parents started to arrive the tents were taken down and put over some tables to dry off the remaining dampness from the heavy dew that had covered them.

Certificates were given out for the Cross Country, the Palm Sunday Church Parade and the Easter Camp, and it was time to go home. But what was this a 'secret' stash of Easter Eggs was found and distributed to the Cubs that had camped, with a few left over for the few that had been doing other things.

Thanks to Akela for the organising and to Baggy for putting up with us. Special thanks to Neil and Juliet who stopped for the evening and ran the more popular bases. Another bright sunny camp. . . thanks Akela.

Now home for a rest.