Recently we had are first camp of 2025, this weekend camp saw the Scouts head to a campsite is Suffolk for a weekend working towards their outdoor challenge award.
This award involves Scouts learning and passing on the skills often associated with traditional scouting such as backwoods skills (fire lighting, safe use of knifes, saws and Axes etc) also skills associated with camping itself such as tent pitching and safety around the campsite.
The Scouts arrived on site Friday evening, and spect the night setting up tents and exploring the site. After some wide games hot drinks members settled down for the night.
After a particular chilly night, the Scouts awoke to a foggy morning ready for a day of Scouting skills and games.
After a cooked breakfast Scouts split into groups for skills sessions, with one group practicing/learning the vital skill of lighting fires safely. This skill is a backbone of Scouting and will be used often on camps and events, weather to keep warm or cooking meals, it is a great life skill. The other group practiced and learned the safe use of tools often used around the campsite, such as knifes, hand saws and axes. These tools are vital for the safe production of fire wood and the safe use of knifes and learning to respect the dangers of these tools is a core scout skills and we often practice these on camps to enable members to build in confidence.
After the lunch break, we had some time playing team games before heading off on a short hike to explore the local Suffolk countryside. Once we got back, we had some recovery time before dinner, which was the often requested carbonara which has always proved popular on camp.
Evenings on camp are often filled with wide games, campfire and the very necessary marshmallows and smores creation. Despite a fairly cold night, all members settled down for the night, a few members rising early due to the cold and heading to the mess building to warm up. After our breakfast, the main task on Sundays is to pack camp and tidy things away ready for heading home, mixed in with so games and and
Spring camps have become a regular part of our year and despite offering mix in weather and conditions we are pleased to say we had great weather during the day this year and all members did really well despite the particularly cold nights, this year.
We would like to pass on a massive thanks to everyone that make these events happen, specially the adult volunteers that make these events happen and volunteer their weekend to provide camping experiences to the young people, and we look forward to our future events.
Our next spring event will be the Cubs turn, with them heading for our Tri-pack residential at our local site. Which will see us and two other packs, join together for a weekend of fun. This has become an annual event and always proves popular.