We arrived at Broadwater campsite slightly nervous as to what this weekend was going to be like. Apart from six other people going from 2nd Warwick, I had only met the twenty nine others briefly at our first training day in Nuneaton.

First of all we had to set up the camp. Pitching lots of tents including several dining shelters from another group which did not seem to have the correct poles with them. Then we were told our patrols for the weekend and the first patrol set about cooking hotdogs which we then ate to discover there weren?t enough for two each. Unlucky for those at the end of the queue! A few relay games, a lot of cheating and eventually we all went to bed.

In the morning my patrol awoke to start cooking breakfast to discover that someone or something had taken one of the dining shelters! Shock horror! It was decided that it must have been the local deer that seemed to be everywhere. After breakfast we were told what would be happening for the day. The first exercise was to build catapults from canes and elastic bands capable of firing water balloons at the other groups. Soon four catapults were built but with varying success and throwing the water balloons seemed a far more effective method.

The afternoon was spent orienteering which didn?t last long as we all got bored and preferred to stand around talking instead which was fine with the leaders as that was the point of the weekend anyway. Throughout the day we also had a game of charades, built a campfire and cooked the evening meal which took ages. All the groups had been given the task of creating a presentation arguing the case of something like that school uniform was great. We watched the presentations after about an hour of preparation and most of them were very funny. In the evening the fire was lit and we all gathered around with a load of other cubs that were camping in a different bit of the site. It was a really good campfire and we all sang lots of songs (except Polly). Then we all went to bed.

The next morning we had a go on the assault course but again most of the time was spent talking to everyone else. There was the zip wire tower that seemed more fun to climb up as well. After that as the final meal and then all that was left to do was to strike the tents and go home. It was a great weekend and I am certainly looking forward to our next training event in December.

For anyone that doesn?t know, the 2007 Jamboree is a big camp in Hylands Park in Essex for 40,000 scouts aged 14 -18 from around 200 different countries. Seven of us are going from 2nd Warwick and we are part of the Warwickshire Bears Contingent. Because so many applied from Warwickshire, two contingents are going. A contingent is the group we will be training with and camping with during the Jamboree. A contingent consists of four leaders and thirty six scouts. We have each got to raise about one thousand pounds but most of this is to subsidise the costs for scouts from poorer countries who otherwise would not be able to attend. Hopefully it?s going to be a really good experience and I am really looking forward to it, especially as it is the centenary of scouting.

Disney Weekend

Soon after everyone had arrived at the hut we were split up into 2 teams. The teams each had to find clues that spelt out a word of where we had to go next, it turned out we had to go to 4th Warwick and save the penguin, thus saving the Disney weekend! Tired, after an hour or so walking, both groups sat down to watch a couple of films, sweet wrappers spread everywhere we cleared up to make play-dough films! Amused for hours we moulded the dough into figures to make our own films. Next we cooked a dinner of sweet and sour and rice. Whilst some cooked, others lay the tables and watched more films! After the formal dinner at the hut each one of us took a share in cleaning up our mess.

After our late night of watching films we woke up to a cold scout hut, but the films cheered us up. We ate breakfast whilst watching Disney films and gradually packed away our sleeping bags. By around midday we to got into our fancy dress outfits and later decided to trek down to the park to play on the swings. Before we went home we watched the films and pictures of the weekend. Overall this was a thoroughly enjoyable weekend and we would all like to take this opportunity to thank Steve for organising it for us.