Reports from Old Website

Reports from the Old Website

In around 2001 we had an excellent and hand-crafted website written by one of the assistant scout leaders as part of her final year degree project. Members were encouraged to create reports from activities they had taken part in. over the years we have eventually replaced it with an off-the-shelf system that was easier to maintain. Below are the reports we managed to save from the previous site.

Stoneleigh to Warwick Kayak Trip 2004

On Sunday 21st of March 9 Scouts, 1 Explorer and 2 Leaders travelled down the river Avon from Stoneleigh to Warwick. We met at the hut for 9:00 and were given a quick brief synopsis of what we were going to do for the day. The group ranged in experience and the BCU stages present were between stage 1 and stage 3. After the briefing, everybody went and got changed and ready for the day's event, we laid our boats on the grass outside with our blades (paddles), helmets and most important of all lunch.

When the trailer arrived we loaded the boats on nice and secure before being transported to Stoneleigh. We started the Expedition at 10:00, everybody was seal launched into the water and we then rafted up until the whole group was present, we then left in a bright cheery mood back towards Warwick...

After kayaking for a short time (or so it seemed) we arrived at our first obstacle, the first of three weirs, it was great fun to go down, once you were at the bottom you would raft up and wait for the others to come down. Once everybody was down we had a quick break....

We kayaked again for another hour or so before we grounded ourselves and ate lunch, AMAZINGLY NOT SOGGY! We stayed there for a short time and then set off again the weather had turned bad for a short spell but was now golden sunshine and after kayaking for a short period we had a race, it was a good laugh (despite the finish line continually moving!) 

We then had a short rest before a competition on straight lines that was good too and it kept us in good spirits. Suddenly the weather again changed and it was very hard! We had to battle against the wind and it got so strong that we had to stop!

After it had passed we carried on going in the bright sunshine until we reached the second weir, The Saxon Mill. One of the leaders checked it was safe for the scouts to go down and it passed the test. The Saxon Mill was a really good weir and probably the best one of the journey, we then had another break at the bottom of the weir. Feeling slightly fresher we continued downriver having another competition, the scenery was remarkable on this stretch of river and with the weather good we all enjoyed it.

We came up to the final weir happy because we frequently travel up to this one on a Sunday, Rock Mill, again it was good fun and again we took a break before setting off knowing we weren't far away from the hut. We got to a bridge had a rest and prepared for 'the Final Push', and a few corners later we were at 'the Home Straight' we were tired and aching but were glad to be near home. We kayaked back to the hut tired but pleased with what we had accomplished, it was very tough but fun all the same. We put the kayaks back and we were sent to get changed.

After getting changed we were de-briefed in the wardroom where we played games until our parents arrived.

 Many thanks to Shep and Brew for the exercise.

By Steve C (April 2004)

Sounds of Skiddaw 2004

Most people I know think I'm mad! And the question they ask is "So just what is the attraction of driving nearly 200 miles to spend two cold nights in a tent in March and take a lung-busting, leg-aching trek up a mountain into the cloud so there is no view when you get there?" And the question I ask myself is "Just why was such a trip such brilliant fun, so much so that we're already discussing the next one?"

It hadn't been a great week and by Friday evening I was tired, down in the dumps and not at all sure I had either the energy or desire to take the planned trip to Skiddaw. However it had been planned for some months and not wanting to let down my friends I loaded my kit into Titch's car, mustering up some enthusiasm. We picked up Shep and the three of us were on our way by 7:30 Friday evening.

In the dark on the M6 it wasn't long before long we resorted to singing (badly) to various CDs to pass the time. Fortunately, we all share similar tastes in music. 

I have another question... "What is it that is so exciting about the first night away in a tent, every time you do it?" Having pitched the tent in the dark and dived into our sleeping bags, we all agreed we felt more awake than we'd been all week! We talked for some time then laid quietly listening to the owls. Soon the guys were snoring gently and I decided I really did need something more comfortable to lay on for our next trip. I'm sure the owls were hooting until the cockerel started cock-a-doodle-dooing but maybe I did drop off to sleep at some point, I'm really not sure. The dawn chorus built to a crescendo then subsided again to the persistent cawing of a crow. I was glad to get up in the morning; it had been a long night!

And here's another question... "Why do sausages and bacon smell so nice when cooked in a tent?" I normally hate the smell of fried food in the morning.

Because there were only three of us we were pretty quick at getting ourselves ready for the day ahead and set off to find a suitable place to park in Dodd Wood for the start of the walk. The first bit through the wood was easy walking but the traffic on the A591 was noisy. We started our ascent from the Ravenstone Hotel where a steep track lead directly up onto the open fell. Titch was pretty fit from the Southern 50/50 but Shep and I quickly felt the impact of our winter spent in front of computer screens. With my heart pounding and the sound of my breathing filling my head I wondered why I'd ever thought this would be fun. We stopped frequently 'to admire the view'. 

Because of the steepness of the track we were soon high above Bassenthwaite Lake and had left the sound of traffic and other walkers behind. The scenery that now opened up to us as we continued the ascent to Ullock Pike and onto Longside was breathtaking and the walking became easier (not just less steep but I actually felt fitter as I walked). This is a lovely ridge walk with views on both sides. Skiddaw itself to our left was shrouded in a thick cloud.

We took it in turns leading the way and shared water from our drink containers. Several false summits later we paused at Carl Side and became aware of complete silence. It was as though we were completely alone in the world. I can't remember the last time I heard such silence; I wanted to go on listening to the nothingness but the summit of Skiddaw beckoned. A little further on we joined the more popular tourist path to the summit and suddenly there were other people on our mountain! 

The final ascent of Skiddaw was unpleasant and has little to recommend it; at least when there is a thick cloud and no view except for the person in front. Loose, dark grey shale moved beneath our feet sapping our energy and for the first time it was my legs that hurt rather than my lungs or heart which were working well by now. I was grateful when Shep and Titch decided to stop and build a snowman; the pause was welcome. Ok so the snow wasn't very sticky and it wasn't a very big snowman but it's the thought that counts.

Our route had been uphill all the way and the last bit was the steepest but we soon reached the top of the snow-covered plateau that is Skiddaw. The cloud lifted briefly to reward our efforts with a view to the west and north. We walked onwards to the Skiddaw trig point. At 931 meters (3054 feet) Skiddaw is the 4th highest mountain in the Lakes. We sat behind the snow-filled wind shelter to have some lunch... well you have to stop at the top, don't you? The fog was thick but it didn't matter... we had a snowball fight instead and laughed like children!

We decided to return via a different path to take in the view over Derwent Water, a favourite place of Titch's. I'm so glad we did. We were rewarded with more magnificent views. The walk down was tough on the knees and we gratefully stopped at some rocks to watch the world go by. It was fantastic to just sit in companionable silence and watch absolutely nothing happening except the changing patterns of the shadows cast by the clouds on the valley and water far below. This was a magic moment. There is something very liberating about sitting on top of the world like this. I loved this place. I wanted to wrap it up and take it home with me, along with the silent soundtrack. Since returning home I have sat there, looking at this view over and over again in my mind. 

We were all quite tired and achy by now and the walk from here back to the forest tracks seemed to go on steeply downward forever. The last bit of the walk in Dodd Wood to where we'd left the car was easy going and actually rather pleasant in some spring sunshine only spoiled by the sound of traffic and the return to civilisation. 

Following welcome hot showers back at the campsite we headed into Keswick for an evening meal. Warm, full up and well exercised we could happily have gone to bed but refused to give in as it was only 8:20pm. By 9:20pm, however, we'd agreed to put our watches forward an hour and head off to bed. I didn't hear anything that night!

The following day we did not stir particularly early and as we needed to leave by 1pm the planned walk up Cat Bells was replaced by a lovely stroll along the edge of Derwent Lake, followed by a ferry ride back in the sunshine. A perfect end to a smashing weekend. I returned to Warwick totally refreshed and ready to face the world once again.

And so back to the question, why did we do it and why will we (hopefully) do it again? The answer... personal achievement (making the top), liberation (standing on top of the world and briefly escaping from civilisation) and friendship (need I say more!). Isn't this what scouting is really all about? What more could we ask for? Thanks guys.

Sally (March 2004)

Skiddaw March 2004

Just like most of our hare-brained schemes, this one was formulated in the pub. Personally, I don't remember how I got roped in to it, but I found out the next day that I had said I would go, so I guess there was no getting out of it now! Anyway, the plan had been decided, it was to scale the heights of Skiddaw in the Lake District.

So we did...

...and we survived; which was contrary to the beliefs we had not long after we started our ascent, at which point we and were already out of breath and struggling with the climb, Sally and myself were, at this point, thinking that if it continues like this for much further then we really won't make it to the top.

As we continued, the same question kept going through our heads, "Why does it always sound such a good idea when you're sitting in the pub?" and "I'm never going to do anything like this again!?

Since we could not come all the way to do Skiddaw and then give up after a few hundred yards we persisted with the very energetic climb. This, I think, was the best decision of our lives. Ok, so it was quite a difficult walk for us, a completely unfit, group of people, but as we got a bit further up it started to get easier and easier, the sight of snow further up the hill also helped this. So, motivated to keep going, we continued up.

As we got further up Skiddaw we had to stop more and more often to take in the amazing views that surrounded us. One thing that we found quite amazing was how absolutely quiet it was when the wind stopped blowing. There must be very few places in Britain where you can get away from the constant noise that surrounds us, usually busy roads, but halfway up the hill it was absolutely quiet, we could have stayed there all day listening to ? nothing!

But alas, we had to continue, the snow was beckoning, and we had to get down in plenty of time to visit the pub, sorry, I mean to get an early night! As we got further up Skiddaw the cloud came in to make it hard to see more than 50 yards in any direction, plus it was getting rather steep again.

Well, the time had come, we had finally found a reasonably decent amount of snow, and so what did we do? Well, of course, we made a snowman! Once we were satisfied with our creation we continued up to find the peak.

As we met more and more people who were also on their way up and down, we came to what looked like the top of Skiddaw, but as we knew, it wasn't the top, we still had a few hundred yards to go. 

Fortunately, it wasn't much higher, but we stopped anyway, just for a few minutes to take advantage of the gap in the clouds and get a good look around at the view that was available. Of course, the fact that I was standing in a foot of snow at the time had nothing to do with our little stop. I'm sure some of the other walkers, wearing all the clothes they could find, were giving me funny looks, I'm not sure, but I think it might have been something to do with the fact that I was wearing shorts at the time!

Anyway, once the cloud drew back in again, we did the final stage of the walk to find the very top of Skiddaw, and of course, we walked most of the rest of the way in the snow, I wouldn't expect anything less.

A short while later we got there, and after the obligatory look at the very top, we settled down to have a spot of lunch. At this point we were thinking that most people would head 20 minutes down the road to Burton Dassett or wherever to have a nice picnic, so to drive all the way to the Lake District and climb Skiddaw, just to have a bit of a picnic was a little excessive I feel! Soon after sitting down for lunch, we saw a couple of penguins making their way through the snow!

Anyway, I can't remember who started it (probably me!), but we somehow ended up having a snowball fight, which really disturbed the locals, I think some of them decided that it wasn't worth the risk to get all the way to the top and decided to walk the other way.

After a little, while it was decided that we should really start to make a move back down to the bottom, even if it's for no other reason than to get out the cloud and back to some of the amazing views that are available. So we started to head back down the way we came up. Once we got to the split of the path we decided it would be more interesting to go the way we didn't come up.

So we got walking down until we got to a good pile of boulders that just happened to look like a really comfy place to sit down and admire the view. The only problem being, once we sat down we didn't want to get back up! Anyway, after a little while of thinking "We really should get going now, yes, any minute now, maybe, well, five more minutes wouldn't hurt!" we finally got up and continued down the track.

We kept going down the hill and headed back to the car and made our way to the campsite where the nice warm showers awaited us.

We headed out into Keswick for something to eat and a couple of glasses of lemonade before heading back to the site to visit the local public house for some more lemonade and a few games of cards that we all seemed to be really bad at! A little later, the fun of the day finally caught up with us and forced us to go to bed.

It was a really good day, and also a really tiring day, but definitely worth it just to play in the snow! You must bear in mind that I am writing this after almost a week of recovering from the experience, so what's the next brilliant idea, Ben Nevis?

Shep, April '04

County Bear Trek 2003

After our success in the Incident hike, with two teams going through, we turned up fully prepared and excited to the Shipston-on-Stour scout hut for the County Bear trek. This was a hike through the countryside around Shipston-on-Stour with six checkpoints, four of which had activities which you earned points from.

We were driven to our first checkpoint, where we were to show how to resuscitate an unconscious person we had found by the side of the road. This was ok as two of us already had the emergency aider badge and the others had practised the method too.

We then set off back to the scout hut where we found the other team from 2nd Warwick. The task here was to move a barrel into a dustbin using three ropes but without touching the ground within about a 2m radius with anything. We succeeded with only a minute to spare!

On the next stretch we got a little lost but with some help from the other team, found the farm. It turned out that putting a sling on to the leader here was no mean feat, with lots of speculation and re-tying. In the end we managed it, just, but couldn't remember how to make the triangular bandage into a wide bandage.

 The next checkpoint was only a safety checkpoint, with no activity, so we carried on to Todenham. On the way, we spotted the other team someway behind us! After a brief stop for the whole team to climb into the phone box, we found the checkpoint where we had to disarm a rocket.

From here we walked to Mitford Bridge (getting the rugby score on the way and overtaking a Stratford team) where the task was to light a fire and boil a cup of water on it using a flint. Difficult as none of us had ever used a flint before!

However, we managed it and set off to our last but one checkpoint, on a road past Burmington. On arrival, the leader here radioed in to make sure we could carry on, and with only twenty minutes left we walked away to our last checkpoint over a lot of fields.

We finished the route at 3:10pm, now exhausted having walked just over ten miles. We shared Jaffa cakes and waited for the last team to finish. We were driven back to the scout hut where we ate and drank and again, waited for a lost team to come in.

The room was filled with tension as the results were announced, particularly as the top three teams were separated by only three points. But we cheered and clapped when we heard we had won and went to collect the trophy and certificates.

We left tired, full and very, very happy!

By Hermione 2003

Tiger & Panther Centenary Narrow Boating June 2009

Martin's report ...

Between the 12-14 June 2009 we organised a narrow boating weekend for Tiger and Panther patrols as part of our Chief Scout Gold award.

The boat we used was called Centenary and it sleeps 12 people. It is available for Scouts and Guides to hire and has been used several times before by 2nd Warwick.

We picked up the boat at Lichfield on Friday evening. Just as we got going we remembered to pick up Jack who had arrived late!

That evening we cruised to about 2 ½ miles along the Coventry Canal and moored up just south of Fradley Junction. We then took a walk along the towpath to the locks and went through safety and how a lock works.

Next morning we woke early and cooked a full English breakfast. We were going to need it with all the work we were going to do that day.

Martin took the helm for the 1st lock as we entered into the Trent and Mersey canal.

As we went on other people had ago at the helm taking us thru locks, past moving and moored boats and thru bridges as part of the Inland Helm badge. When we were between locks we learnt about the canals, safety and rules whilst we sat with Neil or Ben at the front of the boat.

Our first stop was at a village called Alrewas. We moored and locked up the boat before we walked about a mile to the National Memorial Arboretum.

The arboretum was set up to commemorate all those in the Navy, Army and RAF killed since World War 2.

Went thru 10 locks on the 1st day. Staying in such a small space was a test of how we could all use our teamwork and how long it took for us to do the task’s set.

We all took turns at the helm to complete the requirements of the power coxswains badge which involved taking the boat through locks, past other craft and turning in a winding hole, in addition to knowing about how canals work.

Every one enjoyed themselves.

We thank all the leaders that helped out. They were Ben and Neil. Without you we could not have run this trip.

By Martin (PL of Panther) 

PLs Exped 2006 – Ullswater

Well done to everyone who took part... there were a number of challenges along the way, lots and lots of weather, wild camping on a frozen swamp and a long walk which was very hard on the feet!

There was also some stunning scenery and lots of laughter all around.

Very many thanks to all the SPLs and PLs and Sue, Nick and Dave for making this a very special weekend.

Sally

(SL Vanguard 2006)

PL'S EXPED 2006

Pantomime - A Very Creative Challenge 2004

Vanguard troop decided to do their creative challenge with style by producing a pantomime, 'Cindy and her Strikingly Gorgeous Sisters', to be performed to the local residents. For several weeks they were to be found huddled together rehearsing scenes, making scenery and props, deciding on costumes or making invitations.

 Rehearsals proved difficult with there being no rehearsal at any time with a full cast present due to the other commitments of these busy girls. Never mind, they soldiered (or rather sea scouted) on...

Titch and James put up stage lights and a funky disco light too. Marquee walls and bashers were used to make the stage and the scenery was suspended from the ceiling with rope. Everything was ready...

The girls performed to a full house and did brilliantly. Everyone had a great time.

 Well done to Vanguard and thanks to everyone who helped.

Sally (SL Vanguard) Dec 2004

PANTOMIME A VERY CREATIVE CHALLENGE

County Bear Trek 2004

We arrived at Hatton campsite scout hut at some unearthly time on a Sunday morning (9:00am). After our recent success in the district incident hike we were confident but unsure as to what we were to encounter in the pleasant but cold Warwickshire countryside. At least we were on home ground.

We were driven to our first checkpoint where we were to start at half past nine. Our team started walking and we soon got to the first incident, which was first aid. Thankfully, most of us had our emergency aid badges and we sorted out the unconscious child with no problem. After ignoring the shouting man with the broken arm for way too long, we eventually tied his arm in a sling. The leaders gave us some advice and then we were off again.

I will add at this point that we were given a quiz that had questions to answer as we were walking between checkpoints. We missed out a question and had to run all the way back to the previous checkpoint to answer it. Great.

The next checkpoint was to memorize all the counties in England and then write them on a map with a pen that didn't work in the rain. It was raining by the way. We eventually did it and then walked to the next checkpoint, which was to build a fire to boil enough water for a cup of tea. Considering it had just been raining we did pretty well. Dry brambles and silver birch lit well with the help of a smarties packet.

The next incident was pitching a hike tent on the groundsheet without any of the equipment touching the surrounding ground. We did it in two minutes and something. Striking it and packing it wasn't so easy, but we still managed it. And so on we walked until we came to the next incident. Yippee, knot tying. I still don't know how to tie a fisherman's bend or a one-handed bowline but some people in our group did. We completed the challenge with flying colours.

The last incident was the one we failed miserably at even though we'd done the same one on the incident hike. You had to make a sort of crane to retrieve a billycan of sweets on the other side of a couple of ropes. Last time we used a rock but we weren't allowed to this time. We spent about five minutes trying to hook the billycan but we couldn't and we had to stop. Oh well.

We were driven back to Hatton scout hut where we had a cup of soup or hot dogs and warmed up. The points were added up and the top three teams were read out. Yes, we'd come first for the third year in a row! It had been a great hike and we had even managed to squash into two red phone boxes during it. Even better, the trophy would stay in our cabinet for another year. 

Heather (SPL Nov 2004)

SPL's Weekend 2005

The idea to go on this weekend started back sometime pre Christmas, it took us ages to sort out what to do and how to organise it but after much preparation, we were all set and ready to go.

Friday

We arrived at the hut at 6:30pm on Friday to start packing our tents, maps & compasses etc. Then we had colours before we shot off up the M1. As the snow gradually rose higher and higher, as we went further and further up North, we got more and more excited. When we reached the campsite in Edale, we got out and had a quick snowball fight in the car park. But the height of the snow was nothing compared to in the actual campsite. Well putting up the tents in the dark was a fun experience, but putting it up in half a foot of snow is a whole new thing. We had three tents; one for Me & Rob; one for Polly & Heather and one for Sally & Shep. Me & Rob finally realised it would be easier putting it up in the flood light that there was. Well after putting up the tent and a few snowballs later we got into bed (it was cold).

Saturday

We woke up to even more snow !!!!! In some places, it was 1 foot. After a round of breakfast, Polly's gracious way of eating Spaghetti Hoops (see pics) and another snowball fight, we began to pack our bags for the day ahead. Because of the ice & snow, we were not allowed to go up Kinder Scout (the big hill) because of the rules & regs on Sally & Shep's Form M. After a quick check, we set off, along a path, towards the less well-known "Hollin's Cross" a viewpoint to the south. It rapidly changed from 1-foot snow to 4-foot snow and back again. After another fight, we began to ascend. When we reached the top, we headed East along the ridge towards Back Tor (also along the ridge we had numerous snowball fights!!!). There was a moment when Polly fell over and we all pelted her so she couldn't get up!!! We reached Back Tor and now headed South East up to Lose Hill. On our way down from Lose Hill we stopped for lunch, and the moment we stopped it chucked it down. Afterwards, we decided to get out the group shelter and eat in there. When we got out it cleared. We kept heading towards Win Hill (no connection to Lose Hill (probably)). This is what really tested us. When we got to the top, it became boggy and marshy as well as three feet of snow. We walked along the so-called Roman Road until we got to a suitable path down. The snow was at its highest here (it was at least 5 foot!!). We walked down towards the road. We then followed it along to the campsite. After freshening up in DRY clothes, we set off for the NICE WARM Pub for a HOT meal, (notice keywords). Lasagne always tastes better in the snow!!! We played cards until about 10.30pm.

Sunday

Woke up to annoying bird noises. When breakfast was cooked we decided to go on a walk near Ladybower Reservoir. We parked our car in the car park and went across a field, where there was a massive dam in front of us. We followed a path along the valley until we saw a suitable route up. When we got to the top we had a quick break, also watching Heather trying to dig a snow hole with her plate was quite funny. We followed the ridge; we briefly stopped to take some bearings. Then we went halfway across the plain only to find out that we were supposed to go up even more. So we reluctantly went up to the numerous peaks. After continually walking on the rocks for ages, we found a path down. The snow began to become annoying at this stage!! We reached the level of the reservoir. We followed a road back towards the car park. It was about 5pm now. We passed the dam once again. After a long and tiring weekend, we set off home.

We all had a great weekend; the snow made it even nicer. I would do it again, and I recommend it to any other scouts. It was very enjoyable.

By Dan (SPL Vigilant 2005)

Scout Camp 2004

The Friday (16th) before camp was spent trying to fit the contents of the Scout hut into the lorries which seemed a little on the small side. However using much skill, calculation and mostly brute force we managed to get everything in (including the kitchen sink).


The following Saturday morning (17th) was spent pretty much the same as Friday, just with nearly 80 Scouts, their large amount of kit and a coach instead.

By the time they all arrived on the site, the leader team had already managed to bury one truck and get another stuck in the muddy field. However, with some organisation, the Scouts were soon starting to set up their sites.

 Over 55 tents were erected in the space of a few hours which would all become our home for the following two weeks...

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Sunday (18th) consisted of mostly chaos as we finished setting up camp and then prepared all the boats for general boating, with this being the first opportunity for the Scouts to do what they came to camp to do and get on the water.

 Traditionally, the first proper night's activity at camp is a local walk organised by the SPLs, and as tradition dictates a couple of the groups were late getting back, whether this was due to an error in navigation or just slow walking, we are still not sure.

Monday (19th) is the first proper day of activities, which consisted of Scouts doing one of a number of activities, including sailing, canoeing, kayaking, power boating or backwoods cooking. During camp, all patrols also undertake a two-day expedition either hiking, sailing or canoeing and this time it was the turn of Seagull and Hawk (hiking), Wolf (canoeing) and Cobra (sailing).

Tuesday (20th) was similar as Monday with patrols moving on to do some of the other activities. The four patrols on the expedition all successfully completed what they had set out to do. Some pictures of the hiking expeditions are in the gallery.

The evening's activity was The Loopy Ladle Lift, where the aim of the game was to collect objects that began with all the letters of "The Loopy Ladle Lift". They received points for the originality of the objects they found. Once they had done that, the scouts had to make a device that would lift a ladle as high as possible.

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The grand troop hike was on Wednesday (21st) that saw most of the scouts attempting to navigate around the countryside between a number of checkpoints in their patrols. This tested leadership, teamwork and navigation skills. Well done to Lion, Otter, Cobra, Merlin and Eagle who all successfully managed to complete the whole course. The evening activity was an informal campfire.

Thursday (22nd) and Friday (23rd) were split days like Monday and Tuesday. Thursday's evening activity was a number of fun and exciting challenges like pole climbing, limbo and spiders web among others.

PLs expedition 2007

Rather early one Thursday morning in the Easter holidays 2007, 14 patrol leaders and 2 scout leaders piled into a minibus heading for Snowdonia, North Wales to practice our navigational skills before camp.

After arriving some way from the campsite we were dropped off by the leaders and left to walk on our own following the route we had planned some weeks before with all our tents and kit. About 4 hours later, tired and hungry we arrived at the campsite and pitched our tents. Next came tea and a little time to relax before going to bed.

Day 2 and after an early start we were ready and waiting for the day's walk. In our 3 groups led by Sally, Dave and Doug we were off. We followed the routes we had planned before but didn't expect them to be as long and tiring as they were but this was all to help us on camp. We got back about 6 hours later. After showering we cooked our meals on an open fire and cooked bananas and flakes for pudding. With the washing up done, we settled down for a chat around the fire before going to bed.

Day 3. Today we were all walking together in a big group up the Glidders with the help of Steve Hodges. The 1km high trek was very tiring but also very rewarding especially when we had our picture taken on the rock where the patrol leaders of 4 years ago were photographed. We arrived at the minibus but were not quite back at the campsite so myself and some others decided to walk the rest of the way back but this time without our bags. We arrived back to find everyone had gone into the water for a swim. We cooked another meal on an open fire and gathered around the campfire for on last time.

The last day and time to go home. After packing up all of our things we loaded the minibus and went for a nature talk. Following that we climbed into the minibus and headed home. Several hours later we arrived back in Warwick hot and tired after a fun PL?s weekend.

By Kirsty Baker

Wicked winter weekend – 2006

On Friday thirteenth of January, 50 scouts, and a few of us explorers, turned up at the scout hut complete with a ton of kit. (Some of which is still there) It was the start of a long, tiring weekend that turned out to be a lot of fun.

Friday was simple, get everyone settled down watching Pirates of the Caribbean and then go to bed? or not as it turned out. Thump thump thump was the noise that was heard downstairs where we were 'sleeping'. We played cards all through the night and all through to the morning after deciding it wasn't worth going to sleep in the end.

Everyone woke refreshed and enthusiastically in the morning, yeah right? Breakfast was handed out and they set to cooking it in their groups and then eating it. After everything was cleared away, those that wanted to kayak went kayaking and those that didn't did fire lighting or pioneering.

Those that went pioneering built an amazing assault course consisting of a swinging bridge, rope bridge, a ladder up a tree and other things. The firelighters built fires from wood they collected nearby and made dampers. I tasted one of these things, I was handed a stick with damper mixture on it (flour, water and salt) that had been charred on the outside. Apparently, it was cooked. The kayakers tested some kayaks from Leam Boat Center and generally paddled around. What was even more fun was that everyone did the activities in the rain! I was soaked.

After lunch the highland games began with chase the haggis or in other words, chasing the explorers around the park in a relay with a rather fetching hat as a 'baton'. Next was the three-legged race in which we put an explorers team in only we had four people so it was more six-legged. No one fell over but loads of people tried to cheat. I shall say no names.

To finish the highland games there were four more activities- welly wanging, tossing balloons filled with porridge, the assault course and the earth ball. A lot of people got very muddy but there were smiles all around, especially at the end of the assault course. The equipment was speedily put away and then everyone walked the incredibly long way to the swimming pool where we splashed around on the Viking boat thing and the floats.

To finish the day off, everyone watched Oceans Eleven whilst eating popcorn and then went to sleep eventually.

Heather (2006)

A truley wicked winter weekend -2006

Day 1 When I arrived at the scout hut the boys were still having their meeting and so we had to wait outside in the cold!!! But it got us ready for a cold weekend. When the boys had finally finished their meeting we ran into the warm hut and dumped our bags in the girl's section as the boys had already put their bags away. Whilst Titch and Shep put up the whiteboard so that we could watch a movie on the projector we were told which groups we were in: A Emma's team, B Rhiannon's team, C Bernard's and then there was team D which I was in and my leader was Ed. Once we knew our teams we got ready for the film and we ended up watching Pirates of the Caribbean which was good. When it had finished, at about 1am, Shep put the barrier up to separate us from the boys!!! We unpacked our kit and put our sleeping bags out where we were going to sleep, well you could call it sleeping, talking to our friends all night!!! Some people went to sleep and so everyone had to be quiet but it turned out to be quite hard and so Sally or Shep took it in turns to come out and to ask us to be quiet again! When we finally learned how to be quiet and we managed it until we saw some light come in from the sun and that was it, it was the next day and we hadn't realised until we were told to wake up, that we had had no sleep whatsoever!

Day 2 In the morning we had to put our bags in the corner dedicated to our groups, get changed and then collect our food, cookers and tables for breakfast, we had bacon and eggs. Unfortunately, once we had finished our breakfast, Lydia and I got the fantastic job of cleaning our groups' plates, cutlery and the disgusting pans that the food was fried in! We finally managed to clear up all the mess and we had to fall in with our groups. We got told what activities we were doing; our group and Rhiannon's group were told we were doing fire fighting with Pete. We went to Sally's back garden to collect all of the wood she had collected for us, some of the wood was parts of fences and so when we walked back to the scout hut we got a few puzzled looks from the public but we carried on and walked to the woods to start building our fires in groups of 4. Luckily I was with Becky who knew how to get a good fire started. Once my group had got the fire going I had to make some dampers made from flour and water. Watching everyone else try one I felt that I had to and so I got I little bit of mixture out it, held it over the fire and then once it had been cooked I put maple syrup on and so I ate my dampers and syrup, well you could have called it syrup with a little helping of damper! I decided for the 4th time that I didn't like it and, like on every other camp, I decided not to have it again. We were joined by the other two teams which meant that we had to go and do pioneering. Once we had got to Nick we were told that we were making an obstacle course! We had to decide what we wanted to make between our four, my group decided to make a wobbly bridge but we didn't know how well it was going to work, we made it after having put our hands in probably all the mud you could see and with our hands freezing off. When we came to test it out jenny was the unlucky person to go on first, let's just say I'm glad it wasn't me falling in the puddle below! We rearranged some ropes and had another go but this time it was Becky who tried it out, she, unfortunately, had to follow Jenny into the hut to get a little cleaner from her fall. We decided that we needed to add a few more ropes and make a few more adjustments, everyone was sensible this time not wanting to go on it until Sophie thought 'why not'? And third time lucky, it worked, it was ready for the rest of our group to have a go! At this point, we didn't realise that the whole troop was going on and when we found out we decided that maybe we did need to make it a lot stronger than it was. We went in for lunch, coated with mud! We were hungry at this point and so we left our clothes as they were and ate our lunch which was the usual sandwiches, crisps and a chocolate bar. Once we had eaten our lunch we thought that there would be no point in getting changed to go outside and do some more activities starting with chase the haggis race, which was where we had to try and catch up with whichever explorer was wearing the special hat! We chased them around the park and team C caught the Haggis. Once we had all managed to get back to the hut we were told that we were going to do a three-legged race with someone else in our team. I was with Lydia and this time we had to race around Deebs then around Scott and finally back to the scout hut. We then went with our teams to do different activities; my group was chosen to do the 'throwing of balloons with porridge in them' game! We had to throw a balloon filled with porridge over a high stick and then someone on the other side had to catch it, you were lucky if it didn't explode in your hands! We moved on to the next activity which was called welly wanging, where we had to throw a welly as far as possible. It was harder then it looked because they were so slippy and we even managed to get one into someone's back garden behind us! We then moved on to the obstacle course that our team had made but we were timed as a team, let's just day that we didn't get the best time! We saved the best until last, it was a massive ball which we had to try and jump against to get past the opponents and try to score goals but unfortunately, no one scored any goals. After all of the activities we were so muddy that we had to get changed before being allowed into the swimming pool for a splosh session with a massive inflatable float that we climbed onto and jumped off, it was really good fun. All the girls decided that we wanted to get out earlier so that we could all wash our hair in time. We met outside and we all walked back to the scout hut. We arrived to make our tea which was either sweet and sour chicken or a curry; our team went for the curry. We had to clear away again but this time I didn't have to wash up. We watched Oceans 11 that night which I enjoyed whilst eating some popcorn that Sally gave to us. We all got ready for bed after Scott putting up the barrier weirdly but in a way it was better because the girls had the same amount of room as the boys rather than the boys having most of it and us squashing up. This time most people decided that they would sleep because we were walking the next day. We went to sleep but we couldn't go to bed too soon because it was Pauls's birthday and so we sang to him and he had a cake. Day 3 After Doug turned on the lights and told us to wake up we got up for breakfast and then we got into the groups we had been put into for the hike, I was the APL of Jack's team. It was interesting when we were in Leek Wootton when we hid from Bernard's group and the field we dived into to hide, ended up being a private field but then they watched us go down the road and Nick and the explorers come to steal the missile off us and we tried to get the mad scientist, well this all ended up with the farmers calling the police saying that we had been involved with a major assault, it probably looked like it when we dragged Scott out of the car to get the missile off him and then Jack fighting with Steve so that Steve couldn't get the missile! Once we had got back to the scout hut we were meant to try to plant the missile in the chavs base but our team, the skaters, and the other team, the chavs, decided that we should join together and become on a big team to defeat the explores, we decided to get a log and out some tape on it so that the explores would think that it was the bomb and chase the wrong person but this didn't really work out very well, it ended up with everyone fighting over the mad scientist which got a bit rough and so we decided to call it a draw. It was an excellent weekend and I would like to thank Doug for organizing it!!!

Merlin's Patrol Camp - September 2007

By Catherine (PL Merlin)

The first weekend in September Merlin patrol went on a camp together at Horley Scout Campsite, near Banbury. While we were there we did some conservation work. This involved making more pathways for the nature trail which had been started by Snowy, the camp warden. (Anyone who went on Frosty Camp in January 2007 will remember that we started the first section of the path and put up bird boxes).

We arrived at Horley on a bright and dry morning. After setting up camp, Snowy brought all the materials down to the nature trail and we started work about 10am. We started on a particularly boggy part of the path down by the stream. This involved building up the path, making it level and removing all the big rocks which might make people trip up. We hammered in short posts and edged the path with wood before filling in between the edging with bark chips.

Martin Crossley came for the morning and helped us understand what we needed to do.

Going backwards and forwards to get the bark chippings we had wheelbarrow races.

Once we had finished the path by the stream, we started to extend the path back up the hill towards the path we made at Frosty Camp.

We were all very tired by 5 o'clock so we stopped and cooked a huge pasta meal and did some acrobatics!

1st Kineton and 2nd Banbury were also camping at Horley and they invited our patrol to a campfire which finished of the day very nicely. We did two sketches at the campfire and had to sing loudly, especially when each group took a turn with the songs as there were only seven of us.

Next morning the sun was shining again. After breakfast, we carried on with the path, but by lunchtime, we ran out of materials, so we made some repairs to the path we made at Frosty Camp.

In the afternoon Snowy took us back down to the path with more wood on the back of his tractor.

We had a visit from the District Commissioner, who came down and said how well we were doing.

At the end of the camp we all felt really good for helping improve the environment at Horley. Snowy was very pleased and we were awarded a Camp Service Team badge.

We all enjoyed the weekend!!!!!

A Great Afternoon Kayaking

Just want to tell everyone about the fun we have had this afternoon. Doug C had organised some kayaking. Six of us went down three scouts (including myself), two explorers and Doug. We all arrived, got changed and headed up to Rock Mill.

Along the way, we played various games, like paddling with only one arm. Definitely easier said than done. When we arrived at Rock Mill, we all got out, and went to 'Access the Weir.' It was deemed safe enough, so we all launched the other side of it, and got ready for some fun.

We all had a few shots; most of us did it three times. Fortunately, nobody got wet, but little did we know our fortunes were about to change. We left for home, and Ed decided to do a high brace. It was higher than he expected and he soon got very wet. After rescuing him, we paddled back to the hut.

I got out to put some hot water on and then got back on. We did a couple of Eskimo rescues then decided to get off. All the boats were put away and we got changed then we all went upstairs and had a hot drink. Five o'clock came and we all went home. What a GREAT AFTERNOON.

The thing is though, how many people are there in our troop? Consider how only six people made it down here this afternoon. I think we can do better than that. If Doug is going to spend his free time doing activities like this, we should all do our best to support him. If you don't want to do things like this, why are you a sea scout?

Guy

RN swimming sports

After a mad rush home from school we all left in a minibus driven by Martin down to Plymouth and HMS Raleigh. The 'are we nearly there yet' got as far as the traffic lights onto the Emscote road. After a couple of hours, we had a short break at the services and back on the road to the ferry between Plymouth and the destination on the other side of the estuary. We made it, nearly the last team to arrive but hey ho we still had somewhere to sleep. Met Scott and Pete and Barbie and Anne(who used to come to scout camp with us), got split up into our messes and after a while lights out.

 Next morning at an unearthly hour of 6.45 we were awoken after a few hours of sleep to march to breakfast for a nice greasy fry-up. By 8.00 we were down at the pool ready for a nice swim. This was all the individual heats and the medley relays. We got most people just a few places off the finals for Sunday morning. After a lot of shouting and cheering our people on the Explorers left to have their lunch whilst the scouts did their line throw where they came 2nd in the heat, Well done as the team that won their heat are all lifesavers. In the afternoon the scouts did their scout skills competition which involves many activities that include naming parts of the boat and pioneering projects working as a team, whilst the explorers went out in champs(chug chug powerboats) followed by power in Ribs for Becky and Sam and more chugging for me, Kat, Scott and jenny. The explorers then joined back as a team to take part in the explorer challenge. This year 'Admiral Swaine' (as known by us) got us to build a pulling boat to a specification which included thwarts(seats), oars, a defaced ensign and a JJ( Jonathon Jones whose one of the people running the event) This boat was then scored for how good parts of it were it then had to hold as many marbles as possible before sinking. We managed 200 marbles before it capsized and sank. However, we did win, and much to Admiral Swaine's disgust we even stuck to the rules properly as he had rewritten the rules from 2 years ago so that our team didn't bend them too much.

In the evening after another meal we went to the cinema on the base to watch Zorro and for the presentations on the Scout skills and the boat competition, we got a tin of Quality street which we shared on the bus on the way home.

 Sunday morning after cleaning the messes (dormitories) and packing we went back to the pool for the finals and a few other races. First up was the Explorer line throw where we had a rival team against us but much to their disgust we beat them by miles. Overall much to our delight came first. Which was deserved due to having some very good line throwers in our midst? We then made lots of noise for Lucy's final where she came 4th just missing out on a trophy. We then had the Under 16 relay where we came 6th.

 There was then time for everyone to have a swim in the Squadron relay which is all freestyle for the scouts an then the explorers. We did well in both of these but didn't make it into the top six.

A few of us by this point had dying voices we marched to the bus with our death packs(lunches ) in our hands running over somebody who stopped right in front of us marching through the centre of where we stayed.

 After several silent games as some were getting restless we got back all very happy(happier for some than when we left) at about 5 o’clock after a long journey.

 Well done to the whole team, Lucy, Emilie, Holly, James CS, Kyle, Lydia, Becky, Jenny, Sam, Scott , Kat and me.

Boys Gorge Scrambling

PL Gorge Scrambling (Vigilant)

On the 1st Thursday of camp, while the girls were on their expeds, the vigilant PLs & SPLs went on their own exciting activity.

With Sally, Titch & Deebs we drove in the minibus to a random layby near a random stream in the middle of nowhere, in a part of the Lake District populated mainly by sheep.

We were already partly wearing wetsuits (it was a hot day!), but finished getting kitted up on the roadside, by adding spraytops & buoyancy aids. It was then a short walk down the road to where a path went down to the stream.

Our first activity was to get accustomed to the water. This involved sitting and standing down in knee-high water & drenching each other. We then made our way up the stream, climbing over large rocks & up small waterfalls. The gradient varied from easygoing to nearly vertical. As we went up it got darker & darker as the gully walls grew higher & steeper.

Eventually we reached the top where we rested & took photos, before having a go at the mysterious 'washing machine'. This entailed being dunked by Titch into a plunge pool at the bottom of a noisy cascade.

The way down would have been better if there had been more rain - dry rapids are not so good for sliding down!

We all really enjoyed this trip, including our leaders.

It was a great idea, & would be a good activity to do again on future camps.

Thanks for taking us.

Sam T, Swift PL

Malvern Challenge

We took Eagle and Otter patrol to participate in a national event, a first for the Scouts and ourselves. I heard that this was one of the best events to attend from various people in the know. Nicola and I arrived to find ourselves in the middle of a huge green field with roughly 100 leaders erecting tents. Our first thoughts were, 'this is going to be big...'

Two hours later when 3000 scouts and guides descended on the field we changed our minds too 'this is going to be massive...' and we were right.

As Otter and Eagle arrived, we got ourselves organised and booked in. Then it was time to explore.

The two patrols found the tuck shop first...and started on the sweets which kept them and all the others going well into the early hours of Saturday morning...

The entertainment was a disco, and then there were the Pussy Cat Babes who were very good... considering they were playing in a cowshed.

Lights out at 11.30 yeah right then....

Breakfast at 7.30 ish, kit sorting and Malvern Challenge at 10.30, Otter and Eagle were left to complete the challenge by themselves which was a 7-mile hike around the local countryside whilst completing tasks en route.

Tasks were knots, first aid, bridge building, mini Olympics and other scouting stuff. The idea was to work as a patrol and complete the tasks.

Nicola and I spent the day helping at the mini Olympic event, welly wanging, hula hopping, half a yard of water drinking, and such like, whilst hydrating and applying liberal amounts of sun screen in the blistering heat...

Both the patrols were unfortunate not to complete the entire course due to the excessive heat and confusion over start times but both gave it their best shot and did their best, what more could I/we have asked from them.

Saturday evening we entered into the volleyball competition and won a couple of games. Then we were 'entertained' by some guy called Stretchy Dave. He could stretch his skin. There is no more to say on that... but it did turn your stomach at times...

Followed by a tribute band to McFly again they were ok playing in a cowshed. The main entertainment was a stunt team on motorbikes and a stunt man who set himself on fire and fell from a tower 40 foot in the air, which was very impressive. Bedtime again at 11.30 yeah right.

Sunday was spent trying out different activities and generally having fun with friends.

I think that we all had a great time and defiantly want to put the event on the calendar for next year.

We would like to thank Otter and Eagle for making it such an enjoyable weekend for us both especially when we didn't quite know what to expect.

Nick and Nicola

Patrol Leader's Training Course 2004

After a long and tiring wide game, we got ready for a night on board, but being as there was trouble in the park and JV was somewhere else we had to walk to the Shacklock's house with Rich to stay there. After 6 hours of sleep, we set off again back to the Scout Hut with our sleeping bags round our necks. We arrived at the Hut at 8:40 am, had breakfast then we had colours. Some other Scouts from Sutton came. In total there were 5 scouts from Warwick and 3 from Sutton.

In the morning we did stuff like drill and different types of flags. Lunch was burnt hamburgers, but we enjoyed it all the same. We also had a bit of a PLC over lunch. In the afternoon we went pulling in the rovers and learnt all the commands. A talk on how to run a patrol helped me a lot. Then we all put up a campsite, the Niger went up, then the Patrol Box, we couldn't find the right legs for eagle's patrol box. We tried Cobra's legs, Panther's legs, Otter's legs and finally we got Eagle's legs. So we put them on and then took them off, bit pointless.

We had a talk on the care of ropes and types of ropes. After, a bit of football then we tucked into Fish and Chips, which was the best meal of the day. We watched the Great Escape in the evening and at 11.30 pm we got to sleep. Woke up at 7:00 am, but it was really 6:00 am to me, because of Daylight Saving Hours. Breakfast was a fry-up, by Ken. Colours was at 8.40am, we did some more pulling in the rover in the morning. Just before Lunch, we had a talk on Rigs and how to take care of them.

Lunch came at long last. It was Hamburgers again, but they were not burnt. Sunday went quite quickly to me. In the afternoon we went rowing in the pioneers, we did skills like the man overboard drill. My fifth time in the rover on that particular weekend was much more fun. We learnt skills like how to tie onto a buoy and coming along side to the jetty.

After a tired day everyone went home at 2:30 pm, but not us, we stayed with Pete to clean the Galley up a bit because we did not know that it finished early. So at 5.00 pm I went home tired, but the felt I had achieved something. Even I had been to Camp as a PL I had definitely learnt about how to make sure my patrol enjoy camp more, but also make them work fairly. Thanks to JV, Ken, Pete for running and to Vic the leader of Sutton who came along. I enjoyed it, I hope everyone else did? 

By Dan

National Scout Sailing 2010

We had a fantastic weekend in South Shields and were made very welcome by our hosts 3rd South Shields Scout Group. We accomplished ourselves wonderfully, with some good results, with all of our entrants enjoying themselves. We finished our weekend with the prize giving and a trip to the angel of the north. before the 5-hour drive home.

 Pictures will appear here as we get them we now have some from the weekend.

A summary of the results is below, for the full results list see the South Shields Sailing Club Website.

Under 13s

Fast Handicap - Josh East and Rachel Stratton 2nd Place

Single Handed - Jacob East 4th Place

Slow Handicap - Jonathan Hissen and Matthew Burgum 7th Place

Under 15s

Fast handicap - James Foster and Alex Carr 2nd Place

- Jonathon Tilford Olivia Pickering 3rd Place

Single Handed - Elaine Thomas 3rd Place

Slow Handicap - Anna Clinkscales and Holly Scott 13th Place

Under 18s

Fast Handicap - Martin Pitchford and Elaine Thomas 7th Place

Single Handed - Sam Thomas 3rd Place

Slow Handicap - Ellie Crossley and Anna Clinkscales 13th Place

Adults

Abbey Bridgeman and Jane Thomas 10 points, 6th Place

Dave Tomlin and Mark Clinkscales 10 Points, 7th Place

James Thomas 14 points, 9th Place

Peek District Walkies - December 03

Our Epic journey began at 0800, yes 0800 in the morning, when I picked tom up then headed around to Dave's house. after a swift kit check we doubled back to pick DW up a pair of gloves. We headed up the M69 to the M1, and I drove (keeping to all speed limits officer) up the M1, when I saw the 1mile to Sheffield sign I questioned Tom's navigational abilities, and yes he hadn't been keeping tabs on where we were because

a) he thought I knew where we were going.

b) we had got there quicker than he had expected.

So a nice trip through Sheffield, then up into the National Park, and over a couple of high passes covered in some magical slippery white stuff (I believe they call it snow).

We eventually arrived at Edale and parked outside the School, we followed the path up to the bottom of the waterfall, where we started to climb up the side of the waterfall, occasionally playing in the stream, as the stream wasn't icy, and the rocks around were. It was hard work climbing up the side of the waterfall, when we started up the stream the snow was on the ground around us and got thicker As we got higher. When we reached the top there were a few people standing around we took a path and started walking, looking out for good bits of rock to have a play on with the Ice tools. We didn't actually find any proper climbable rock but we took some clever pics to make it look like we did.

We walked on for ages, had lunch and played on the rocks with the Ice axes, in various poses. we headed back towards the car at around 4pm and started home. Several hours and a McDonald’s later, we got home.

Dave (Dec 03)

QSA Exped Scotland 2003

Dates: Friday 15th August 2003 to

Wednesday 20th August 2003

Venue: Onich to Inverness via Caledonian Canal.

Participants: James, Andy and David

Friday:

12:00 - James rang Dave and told him he was coming to Scotland with us on our exped.

12:30 - Dave arrived at Andy's house to go food shopping for the weekend.

13:30 - Arrive back at Andy's to pack, on to Dave's house for him to pack.

18:00 - awaiting James' arrival.

18:30 - James finally arrives and we pack up our kit into James' car and off we go to the sailing club to pick up the rover.

19:30 - Picked right Rover (one without a hole in the bottom) thanks to help from Martin and Titch. And now off to the scout hut to scavenge for cooking utensils and stuff like the rudder and tiller.

20:30 - Finally leave for Scotland (2 ½ hours later than planned). With a little help from the other Martin and a lot of hindrance from Ben (his dog) we got the boat tied down and ready for the off.

20:30 / 06:00 - Long journey to Scotland including various stops to sleep, get food, utilise the facilities and for Andy to have a ciggie.

Saturday:

06:30 - The fan belt on James' car goes horribly wrong and we lose air con, charging, engine cooling and various other vital components(not to mention the stereo). Fortunately, we spot a slipway we can launch the boat from. We cook breakfast and make a small fire with lots of smoke to get rid of the damn midges which are biting furiously already. The Boat was packed as best we could and then it was off to the slipway.

10:00 - We finally got under sail and we were off into the wilds of Scotland.

 The first leg of the trip saw us tacking repeatedly into an oncoming wind, progress was depressingly slow considering the following tide. In our favour was the sunshine and a breeze to keep even the strongest midge miles away from us. We rounded the corner and started our run out of Loch Leven into Loch Linnhe. We found ourselves to be making a much better pace until the loch narrowed at Corran. The falling tide caused some incredible rip currents dragging us hundreds of metres back off course before we were able to ferry glide across into slack water. The lighthouse at Corran marked the start of our run towards Fort William.

We passed by Fort William and into Corpach with ease. At the first lock, we found the British Waterways Scotland office to be closed and would not be opening until 08:00 the following morning. We set sail for Fort William again, this time tacking against the headwind, making little progress with each turn. Elizabeth seems to be showing the length of her teeth as the ageing rigging struggles to make a close haul cover any distance. The decision is made and the oars come out to help the Rover to port for the night.

The facilities at Fort William are very good. We settled on the Grog And Gruel pub for the evening. Our bellies full of the finest local food and beer (except Andy who was drinking generic lager); we headed back to the boat. After pushing her off the rocks we sculled onto the nearest buoy and settled down for a pleasant night's sleep.

Danger Mountain - 09 04

Here in the network, we don't always play by the rules. Sometimes we make up the rules ourselves. Sometimes we abide by the rules, but the rules we are abiding by are so radically different to the rules normally adhered to that simply by conforming, we are actually making a bold statement. Our seldom-ending quest for 'high-jinks' and 'giggles' in the network has involved many such transgressions of what everyday folk consider normal. Bungee-jumping naked, scuba-diving with a mask full of live bees and full-contact ludo are just some of the events that may be on the network calendar at any given time.

This week sees the Grand Official (second) opening of the Second Warwick Sea Scout Network, under the maverick leadership of 'dynamo' James Sanders. As a taster of the activities that take place under the guise of the network, a series of (at least two) accounts of activities masterminded by and involving the network have been 'organised'. The following article describes just one such event. For insurance purposes, it should be noted that the events described hereof were undertaken by members of the network, rather than as; an important difference, for any big-wigs who have the misfortune to be reading this will, I am sure, agree.

The faint glimmer of my headtorch pointed skywards uselessly, glinting white off rock before mixing thickly with the night canvas of the sky. Craning my neck forward, I could just direct the fine beam of light at the jumble of ropes and gear that lay all around. Nervously, I checked the anchor again. Like a drunken blend of crochet and a house of cards (the number one Danish national pastime, apparently) the anchor securing our (hopefully) bright futures was decidedly shaky. Below Dave was swearing profusely whilst bouncing around upon the fixed climbing rope. This rope was in turn protected from the razor's edge of the granite slab upon which I perched by a pillow, constructed from a shoe and my best fleece -a particularly selfless act on my part, I considered.

In a moment of self-indulgent reverie, of the kind involving wibbly camera techniques and the occasional soft filter, I thought back to the origins of this hair-brained scheme to climb such a towering cathedral of granite as that upon which we now hung precariously, our lives and sanity teetering on the knife edge refuge we shared, tiny specks amongst a sea of rock; a vertical ocean of quartz diorite.

The original seed had been planted upon the discovery that a quarry near Leicester harboured granite of such epic proportions as to warrant a name like Danger Mountain. Curiously enough, the trip over had involved a great deal fewer U-turns than is customary. This I attribute to Dave's driving skill. An unpleasantly steep trudge up a grassy slope was rewarded with a view that cannot be described politely as anything but impressive. An air of almost reverential awe overtook us. This we dispelled with a series of posed tourist photos.

Making our way into the quarry, it soon became clear that the sheer walls divided themselves neatly into two categories: steep and with all the rugosities of the side of my house, or broken and looser than a particularly loose thing that I shall not describe for fear of causing offence to readers of a fragile disposition. The looseness was established with a carefully calculated series of increasingly vigorous tests, pioneered by Dave. This involved hefting increasingly large chunks of rock at what appeared to be the loosest parts of the wall, before pausing a moment to see whether anything fell off. It should be noted for any trained professionals wishing to employ this technique that scurrying around with the back and neck slightly bent ensure the maximum possible safety while undertaking the waiting part of the study. Honest.

As usual, the route lists downloaded from the internet had proved slightly less useful than nettle-leaf bog-roll and had been banished back to the bowels of the rucksack. It should be pointed out that there is a special sequence of Deoxyribonucleic acid that codes for the ability to read climbing guides, and needless to say, we don't have it. Instead, we decided to forge a route up a possible line, whether it had been climbed or not. To save on unnecessary waffle, I shall merely establish that if it was unclimbed before, it remains so. However, as we left the quarry, another seed, similar to the first began to grow. Nurtured by the pumping dance music on the journey home, and the ear-piercing treble of Hi-Hat anthems 4, the words 'You've got to believe in something. Believe in me.' became a mantra for the embryonic idea: oh yes, we would return, and better prepared, too. Next time, we would be ready for all Danger Mountain had to throw at us.

"Wish I'd been better prepared" I muttered to myself. One move from the floor I had become stuck. The block behind which I had banked upon jamming my largest piece of climbing gear was in fact larger than I had expected. Too large. Expletive. Around four feet from the ground, the inadequacies of my equipment (snigger) had reared their ugly heads, so to speak. The plan was to employ aid techniques to scale the vast granite ramparts of Danger Mountain. Aid techniques involve the placing of wedges into cracks in the rock. To these are attached rope ladders, which are climbed before another wedge is placed, and the exercise repeated. In theory. To this end, we had spent a great deal of time 're-organising' the rack of climbing gear, a process referred to by my university friends as 'playing with my nuts' (I should point out here for the uninitiated that 'nut' is a generic name for the metal wedges commonly used when climbing, and should by no means be regarded as an anatomical reference). Around my neck I know wore what felt like fifty pounds of carabiners, assorted wedges and other arcane devices.

In a flash of brilliance, I threw a length of cord over the large flake above me and clipped in a rope ladder. Oozing onto the ladder, I watched the cord for a movement, the anticipation of a four-foot fall drying my mouth and greasing my palms. Stepping onto a sloping ledge of rock, I placed another wedge, which shifted unerringly as I applied my weight to it. A few slightly more reassuring moves brought me to a ledge, and in the gathering gloom, I decided to pause there, and debate the plan of action with Dave. The ledge was wide and spacious, yet the slightly overhanging and almost blank face towering above me in the gloom only seemed to enhance the sense of irony as I shouted down that I was 'safe'. As I began to set up the belay, I was only briefly reminded of a well-oiled machine going into action. Hunting through my remaining climbing gear, I produced an anchor which derived most of its strength from the enormous quantities of friction as the rope ran over numerous sharp edges. Fulfilling his part of the well-oiled machine, Dave unclipped from the ropes, and grabbed a diversion sign before taking numerous pictures and chuckling for several minutes.

In a short time I was joined on the ledge - this is the sort of 'short time' in which the fledgling Roman Empire waxed fat and conquered half the known world, before collapsing into decadence, and eventual downfall at the hands of various hordes barbarian. It was obvious that a retreat was in order, and so Dave set himself up for a short but ageing abseil, encouraged by the words: "Make it smooth and quick, the anchor's [not very good]." He stepped out from our refuge with a confidence I did not hold, so it seemed more encouragement was necessary:

"Move faster or we'll both die!"

Dave had just moved out of eyesight when the sound of falling rubble rent the air, and all was silent.

"Dave, speak to me." Pause. Silence. Brown adrenaline.

"I'm okay, I just kicked some loose stuff." A wave of relief broke over me. Now, the question of how to retreat myself without achieving terminal velocity presented itself. A particularly sensible suggestion of getting down the same way that I had got up drifted up from below.

"You know that I told you to remove all my gear when you came up, Whitey?"

"Indeed."

"Did you?"

"Yes."

"Expletive."

This was going to be harder than I thought. Using a double Monica (simultaneous use of both knees) followed by a double Colonel Sanders (simultaneous use of both elbows) I left the ledge, feet scrabbling in the dark. Metre by metre I worked my way down. Feet flat on the floor, I looked up at the belay ledge, our 'high point' for the night.

Fifteen feet.

"Expletive."

As usual, the drive home brought the chance for a constructive debrief, in which opinions are aired, and suggestions are made regarding how problems could be avoided next time. The overriding sentiment for the exercise blended the wisdom gained in the undertaking with cautious optimism for the immediate future:

"Screw that, let's never come back here again."

"Agreed."

So if there is a lesson to be learned here, perhaps it can be surmised as this: to try and yet fail is human. To persevere and also fail; perhaps more so. But this is ultimately the quest of the network: not to fail, you understand; that would be silly. No, rather, the aim of the network is to do these things - things that the everyday world may suggest is breaking those rules by which polite society is governed - and to have a chuckle doing them. And if at the second attempt, you don't succeed, it may just be that it was a bad idea in the first place.

Second Warwick Sea Scout Network: Omni Secundus.

15/09/04

The Incident Hike Oct 2002

We arrived at the scout hut at 7:30am and although we spent a long time waiting for the event to start it soon got underway. We were divided into 2nd Warwick blue and 2nd Warwick green. We had to hike round a series of checkpoints and at each checkpoint, we had to do an incident. The incidents were first aid, tilly lamp lighting, pitching a tent blindfolded, making a square with rope blindfolded and trying to make and egg go as high of the floor as possible. 

At the first aid base the leader of the group had to pretend that something had happened to them and their group had to find out what it was and do something about it. 

We had to light a tilly lamp on my first base, fortunately, some of the little people in my group had been doing it on Friday night

Everyone was blindfolded except the leader who then instructed his group who were all blindfolded how to pitch the tent. This was extremely frustrating for the leader but good fun.

We had to make a square and a figure of eight. As in the one above everyone was blindfolded except the leader.

Using canes and string we had to make an egg go as high of the floor as possible.

We were marked for all the incidents and whoever got the most points was the winner!

2nd Warwick came first and third. The top two teams then went on to the next round of the competition, The Bear Trek

HMS Raleigh 2004

We met at the Scout Hut just after 1600. This year's swimming team piled into the 'Ford Community Minibus' and set of for HMS Raleigh, Plymouth. The journey down took several hours, and so by the time south of Bristol it was well and truly dark. As we were travelling down the M5, we noticed a funny smell. Chris turned his torch on to find a smoky faze filling the bus. After a quick stop on the hard shoulder, Martin and Alan decided that we should slowly carry on our way down to Plymouth.

We arrived at HMS Raleigh at about 2130, and at the end of the initial briefing, we Explorers were told that we would be sleeping over at a local army-run Napoleonic Fort - Tregantle. Alan was to stay at the fort with us so after the leader's briefing we set off in the minibus, leaving the Scouts at their accommodation at the main base. We arrived at the Fort late, but not as late as the other Explorers sharing our dormitory. We finally got to sleep after midnight.

After a 0545 wakeup, we made our way back to Raleigh, arriving in time to meet up with the Scouts for the march up to breakfast. After breakfast was the swimming heats. Despite past form in such competitions, we did quite well with several impressive wins and more finalists than anyone could remember. Also on a Saturday morning was the line throw, and again we managed to overcome our tradition of missing out. We won both the Scout and Explorer heats by minutes and were the heat declared of the events.

In the afternoon, we went boating. This was at Jupiter Point - the Navy's 'Sea Sense' training centre. After the convoy of minibuses had done several about-turns, we arrived and changed into our boating kit. This, as it happened was a little over the top, as the boat that we ended up on was more of a cruiser, than a RIB, however, we were given a bit of a guided tour of the dockyard and boats by the coxswain. While we were doing this, the Scouts took part in their football competition. Unfortunately, they failed to win a single game and were knocked out in the group stage.

After dinner, it was our turn at the football. We didn't do much better than the Scouts with our greatest achievement being that we drew with 8th Norwich, a team of girls. We too were knocked out in the group stage, without scoring a single goal. The Scouts were, by this stage, taking part in the Scout-Skills competition hoping to better our position of second in the previous few years. They succeeded, beating Torbay into Second place. After the football we made our way back to the Fort, pausing at some 'Local Services' on the way through.

It was another early morning on Sunday. After the accommodation had been inspected, we were bussed back to HMS Raleigh to find more cleaning facing us. Then, after breakfast, we marched down the hill for the swimming finals. When we got the program we were amazed to find that were in very many of the finals. In the best prize sweep anyone could remember we had a first and 2-second place in the individuals, a second in the U 12 Medley relay along with a host of other finalists. The gala finished with a speech from the Commodore after which we left for home. Fortunately, there was no further excitement in the minibus and we arrived home without incident.

Thanks go to Martin and Alan, who took us down, as well as the accommodation team: Pete, Barbie, and Anne.

Chris McCorquodale (Feb 04)

Swimming Team

U 12 Breaststroke Phil M 4th                              U 12 Backstroke Jenny D 5th

U 12 Freestyle Mark M 1st                                   U12  Medley Relay 2nd

U 14 Breaststroke Polly S                                    U 14 Backstroke Kat B 2nd

U 14 Freestyle Becky G 6th                                 U 14 Medley Relay 6th

U 16 Breaststroke Chris U 2nd                          U 16 Backstroke Steve M 

U 16 Freestyle Joe S 5th                                       U 16 Medley Relay 4th

U 18 Breaststroke Dave B-J                              U 18 Backstroke Chris M 

U 18 Freestyle Phil B 6th                                   

Scout Line Throw 1st

Explorer Line Throw 1st

Scout Skills Competition 1st 

HMS Bristol Div 1 Report 2004

Friday - 28/5/04 - 16:30 - We left home with high hopes that traffic would not slow us down too much. With a long journey ahead of us, we worried that we would not make it on time.

19:30 - We arrived in Portsmouth with time to spare, so we decided to get some tea at the local Fish & Chip shop. Then we went straight to the ship.

19:45 - We arrived at the ship, and we started to see familiar faces about the base. We were put with people from mixed scout troops to further the experience. We met our D.O. called Guy and our two A.D.O's called Rich and James.

22:30 - We had settled ourselves into our surroundings and lay down for a fun-packed week!!

1:00 - Still not asleep due to everyone being so excited that they can't sleep.

Saturday - 29/5/04 - 6:45 - Wake up from a night of six hours of sleep!! March to breakfast, which tasted good!! 

8:00ish - Our first activity of the day was a drill session with an army commander. A hot morning when everyone was tired didn't go down too well.

9:30ish - We all had to have a picture taken of the bow of the ship. (Picture available in photo section of this report).

12:30ish (Sorry can't remember any of the times!!) - March to lunch. Then the afternoon activity was visiting the submarine museum. Where we went on board a submarine and had a look around.

17:00ish - The usual things, freeplay, dinner, bed. 

Sunday - 30/5/04 - 7:00 - Wake Up, Breakfast, get ready (It is a bit repetitive I admit, but it's fun!!)

9:00 - Action Stations was our day-long activity. It was one of the best things we did. In this Building, you get to do all kinds of things, like go on a kayaking simulator on white water, fly a helicopter simulator, be in control of a warships weapons department, use a key to find out names of warships, run across a minefield, solve a jigsaw, answer a questionnaire, untangle yourselves out of ropes, fire guns at opposing ships and find out what kind of careers there are in the navy. That was just the morning. 

13:00 - After lunch, we were asked to make rockets, using the points we earned in the morning top buy various things like washing up bottles. We tried them out a certain amount of points were given to each team. Later we were set a challenge, to crack different kinds of codes including cyphers etc. Finally, we went on a GPS Trail around the town of Southsea, to find our radio diode, which we then used to complete the radio. After waiting for the bus to take us back for half an hour, we set off back to the ship.

18:00ish - "The usual"

20:00ish - We had a yachting brief in the evening, to find out which boats we were going on the next day. There are three yachts, Amaryllis, Alexander Fairey, and the biggest Bulldog. I ended up going in the Alexander Fairey.

Monday - 31/5/04 - 6:30ish - Wake up to the sheer joy of going on the yachts today. We were first into breakfast. We gulped it down, to board the yachts as quickly as we could. Our crew consisted of a captain, a first mate and six scouts. We set sail out of the harbour and into the Solent.

10:00ish - A round of very "sugarish" tea kept us all going on board. The yacht looks quite small from the outside, but when you get in it is massive, there is enough room to sleep six people, there is a toilet and a kitchen area and also a chart area where we had to find out where we were every so often.

12:30 - Long awaited sandwiches, filled us up for lunch. 

16:45ish - Terrible news, low on water and fuel for oven, in a Southampton Dock with an hour and a quarter until we had to get back. All lunch and dinner had to be cooked on board the yacht. With Jacket Potato waiting to get in the oven and no fuel we were stuck.

18:00 - We got back very tired, we just forgot about the potatoes and had sausages instead.

20:00 - "The usual"

Tuesday - 1/6/04 - 6:30ish - Wake up, march to breakfast.

8:30ish - The morning activity was visiting Fort Nelson, but half of us went Horse Riding, Fort Nelson was cool, and it made you realise how much people fought to defend our country

13:00 - The daily gun firing from a tank. IT WAS VERY LOUD !!!

13:05 - We were off to Horse Riding now, when we got there we changed into our kit. My horse kicked my instructor. Everyone had to stay at least two metres away in case it kicked again.

17:00ish - Off back to the ship.

18:00ish - "The Usual" also we had a Power brief about the next days boating.

Wednesday - 2/6/04 - 6:45ish - Wake up, breakfast. 

8:30ish - To the Power boats!! We were organised into groups, Blue Swan, Black Swan and beginners. I went off in the Blue Swan.

10:00ish - We got to have a go in a boat called the Osprey, it was the best ever session of boating I had ever done in my life!! Reaching speeds of up to 15 knots.

12:30ish - Lunch!! The most annoying thing was that we anchored up for lunch 200 metres away from the Isle of Wight, and I have never been there!! 

13:00ish - We spent the rest of the day trying to plot courses of where we were going to go.

17:00ish- The usual 

18:00ish - On our way to Dingy sailing and Kayaking Brief, we were told to hurry, but amongst all the hurry. Disaster Struck!!!! One of the 2nd Warwick scouts fell down the stairs backwards. It looked nasty. Everyone thought he might have broken his back. I think he would prefer to remain nameless!! Luckily he hadn't broken anything, just some bruises here and there. He was allowed to carry on with the camp.

Thursday 3/6/04 - 6:30ish - Wake up, have a bit of breakfast. Then it's off to morning activities.

8:30ish - We were split into two groups, where my group went sailing. We went out in bosun's (type of boat, if anyone hadn't figured that out yet!!). Where we sailed around the harbour, had a couple of races, then went in.

12:30ish - The afternoon activity was long awaited Kayaking!! We played a couple of games like kayak polo and tag. Then we went for a paddle around the ship. We had a go at our two and three star.

6:30ish - Usual - but we also had an exped brief, because tomorrow we went on an expedition. We did maps and compasses. Bed.

Friday 4/6/04 - 5:55ish - Wake up (earlier than normal !!!) get into hiking kit.

6:30ish - March to Breakfast

7:15ish - Issued with Ration Packs, Get on the coach, which will take us to a village in the countryside, where we would set off from.

8:00ish - Arrive in Staunton (I think ?!), set off, after failing to even leave the village.

8:30ish - Guess what we're lost !! Oh well it's what being a scout is all about !!

9:00ish - Back on track, but still a long way to our destination.

12:00ish - Stop for lunch by a gate, eat cold beans & sausages with a piece of card (This may sound horrible but was actually really nice).

3:00ish - Got to keep on going, I forget to say we were going round answering questions (e.g. what colour is the roof on that cottage?)

4:55ish - We have five minutes to get back to the village, better run!! Oh look nice man picks us up in car!!

5:00ish - Get on coach.

5:30ish - In Naval Base we then cook our meals on hexi-stoves.

6:30ish - Time to freshen up and get to the disco

8:00ish - Disco - DANCE - Disco - DANCE - Disco

10:00ish - Back to ship, Bed.

Saturday 5/6/04 - 7:00ish - Wake up (Last time!!)

7:00ish - Off to wave the D-day veterans to France, we stood in a line on the ship and waved our hats at them, they said it was on TV.

8:30ish - All packed ready.

9:00ish - In car, see Lancaster bomber and two spitfires go over us.

12:30ish - Yay!! Back home!! Time for a nice long bath!!

Sorry if you found this report to long, it's just there was a lot to talk about!! I would definitely recommend it, because it is really fun and you get to meet sea scouts from all over the country. Thank you to everyone who made this camp work!! There are some more pictures available soon, but I have not got them yet?

By Dan Trundle 

Hawk patrols epic expedition at summer camp 2003, Tegid/Bala.

On the first day with oversized backpacks and buoyancy aids in hand, the patrol (with me (DBJ) and Joe following them) crossed the perilous Llyn Tegid/Bala Lake in a Rover and proceeded to take on the wild hills of Snowdonia, heading North, straight for a big black dark and dingy wood on a really steep hill. The walking here was really hard as the path went straight up this huge hill. But soon we emerged again, out of the wood, to be greeted by a lovely view of the valley. From here we dodged the thistles and navigated around the rocky outcrops onto some land owned by the most savage of landowners, the forestry commissioner, who had already cut down huge expanses of forest (complicating the map reading). Eventually, we got to a big green field which we shared with some sheep for the night. 

After cooking sausages and beans for breakfast, very nice, we set off again, down into the Hirnant valley. Passing a derelict house, ooh, and then following the stream all the way to the pickup point. Then the tired and now quite wet (as it does rain in Wales) Hawk patrol got taken by car back to the campsite, whereas Joe and I were left to walk another mile to Bala, boohoo. (Actually, I didn't mind that much)

DBJ April 2004

Rowathon 2004

I REALLY enjoyed the rowathon! Even when i felt a little worse for wear on Sunday morning after staying up all the night as part of the over-night rowing team.

But it seems to me that what was accomplished was an amazing achievement. Covering 90 miles in 24 hours, that's 3.75 miles per hour sustained for 24 hours! And the organisation of the event was outstanding, thankyou Sally and the rest of the leader team.

So here are a selection of pictures, the ones of the mist are very nice.

DBJ 17/05/04

Rowathon through Titchs Blury Eyes

The idea for a Rowathon came to us in a flash of light (someone flicked the lights on and off by mistake), in 'the office' after scouts one Tuesday.

Two months later I turn up at the hut with all the stuff in the car, everything is planned, it's all going great.

10:25am I'm even early which is nothing short of a miracle.

We start the rowing at midday while various things are being set up, we go about various tasks and after what seemed like hours it was...

1:30pm blimey is that all only another 22.5 hours to go YAY.. at 3pm I decided that I should find out when my first row was...

11pm cor I could go to sleep, so after a trip back to the flat to get some half decent music, and many pork and apple burgers, I had a rest..

11:30pm ooh finally my turn to row, and we set off at lightning pace despite sally's desperate attempts to slow our pace when we have knackered ourselves out we realise that the reason she was protesting was that she had never done any rowing before.. Maybe we could slow down a bit.

2:30am Aah it's time chasing time, 11.15mins a bit off the pace, will try again later

3:15am lets get it right this time, 10.55mins ooh better but still the wrong side of 10.50.

4:25 Finally with the all star team of, Amy as the Cox, Titch, James, Simon and Shep we managed a lap time for the 1 mile course of 10.44mins which averages out at a speed of 6 mph yahoooooo

6:30am, not worth going to bed now I guess as the sun is coming up

9am mmm bacon sarnies sound good about now...

10:10 Got to keep going,

11:35 Final lap starts at a very sedate pace; we have all been up for over 24hrs.

12pm finally make it back with ice creams in hands to a champagne reception.

 Sometime later when everyone else had gone and there was just me and James left, shutting the gate I suddenly felt very tired.

A good event well done to all who took part, and hopefully with the money raised we should take delivery of 4 brand new Canadian canoes and a trailer... Titch May 2004

Beginners sailing day at Banbury Sailing Club, 19 May 2007

A few weeks ago, while watching the scouts struggling to learn to sail on the river with the wind going around in circles I thought “no wonder they take such a long time to pick this up”. This was followed by “why not do a beginner's day on one of our Banbury sessions? The wind’s much more consistent on the reservoir, and if we go in May the weather should be OK”.

Two days before the event everything was fine, I had a full complement of novice sailors wanting to go, I had a full team of Instructors and Safety Boat drivers with the appropriate Water activity permits, and I had the plan to take the two new Comets, and use the Lark and the 420 which we keep over there. Then on Friday Lunchtime, I hit the Windguru website to get the wind forecast – 20 knots, which is 23 miles per hour! Great fun if you know what you are doing, but not what you want for beginners at all.

Plan B? Either cancel the event or find a replacement for the Lark and the 420, which are racing boats and not really ideal for light scouts in a strong wind. Don’t want to cancel, so what else? Take the Rover, because it’s big, and stable, and the mainsail reefs down, and still use the Comets (because they reef as well)!

So we get there with our boats, it’s as windy as forecast, and the lake’s a little busy because the Banbury sailing club Junior section is there, and they are running an RYA course for Adults. Still, off we go, giving all of the Scouts a chance to crew the Comets, learn what the basic boat controls do, and helm the Rover under the close supervision of an Instructor who didn’t want any collisions!

Just before we planned to go in for lunch there was a nasty little rain squall, which provided another lesson in sailing – the sun doesn’t always shine, it’s sometimes cold an wet. Good practice for going to Bala then.

After lunch, the wind had picked up a bit more but we carried on with the plan – teach the first manoeuvre (going about), first in the club land trainer, then go and do it on the water. We went out, everybody practised going about in the Comets, and nobody capsized. In the Rover, the supervision was relaxed a bit (although the instructor was still in the boat) and the Scouts had to work together as a team to helm the boat and control the jib and mainsail.

All too soon, it was time to come off the water and pack up for home.

Our intrepid sailors were Maxwell, Shaun, Iain, Jonathan, Thomas, Emily, Fern, Victoria and Emma.

Thanks also to Sue, Polly, Titch and Rob Thomas for doing the instructing and Safety Boat Driving, and to the Thomas family for stepping in at the last minute to tow the Rover for us.

Oh, by the way, did anybody notice what happened to the Adults RYA course in the afternoon? They wimped out coz it was too windy, while the Sea Scouts went sailing!!

2nd Warwick Soccer Success 2009

Each year, the RN organised a six a side soccer competition which takes place at HMS Excellent in Portsmouth, with teams accommodated on the Type 82 Destroyer, HMS Bristol.

The Warwick teams had a very successful competition this year   with the Explorers winning the Plate, the Scouts coming away with 3rd place in the Cup; and the Explorers also winning a 3rd place in the penalty shoot out.

We entered squads in both the 12-14 age 'Scout' and 14 - 18 'Explorer' competition.  In both age categories teams first compete in a first round league competition.  The top two teams from each league go forward into the 'Cup' competitions.  The next two teams go into the 'Plate' competitions for the next round.. 

The second rounds are again played as leagues, but either within the Cup or Plate competitions.  The top two teams from this round go into the semi finals, and then the winners go through to the final.  There is a 3rd place match for the two losing semi finalists 

The teams and results were:-

Scouts 

Elaine, Holly S, Tom B (keeper), Tom O, Callum T, James F, Luke

First Round 

Won 1-0 against Felpham.  The goal scorer was Callum T. 

Won 1-0 against Watchet.  The goal was scored by Luke. 

Won 4-0 against 9th Itchen.  Goals by Tom O (2) and Callum T (2) 

Won 1-0 against Stretham.  The scorer was Callum T. 

The Scout team came top of their league with a maximum of 12 points, and went forwards to the Scout Cup competition.

Second Round (Scout Cup). 

Lost 0-1 to Durrington 

Won 1-0 against Sunderland.  The goal scorer was Callum T. 

Won 3-0 against Allerton.  Goals by Tom O and Callum T (2) 

The Scout team came second in their league and went forward to the semi-final

Semi-Final - Scout Cup 

A 0-0 result after extra time saw the game against Colchester go into penalties.  Despite a valliant effort, Warwick were eliminated at the 'sudden death' penalty stage.  Colchester went on to win the Cup competition.

3rd place Playoff 

Making up for their defeat in the earlier round Warwick beat Durrington 4-0 with three goals from Callum T, and a goal from Tom O.  This secured the Third place trophies for the Warwick Scout team.

Goal tally for the competition was Cauum T 10; Tom O 4; Luke 1

Explorers 

Sam T (goal), Zak, Joe B, Lydia, Oscar, Robbie, Mike

First Round 

Lost 0-1 to Colchester 

Drew 0-0 against 9th Itchen 

Won 1-0 against Barry.  The goal scorer was Robbie. 

Drew 0-0 against Leander 

The Explorer team were one of three teams to end up with 5 points in their league, and went forward to the Explorer Plate competition on goal difference.

Second Round (Explorer Plate) 

Won 2-0 against Gillingham.  Goals by Robbie and Mike 

Won 2-0 against Felpham.  Goals from Robbie and Mike again. 

As winners of their Second Round group, Warwick Explorers went forward to the semi finals.

Semi Final - Explorer Plate

Warwick

Final - Explorer Plate 

Oscar and Mike both scored in Warwick's 2-0 victory over Bournemouth.

Goal tally for the competition was Mike 3; Robbie 4; Oscar 1

Penalty Shoot Out Competition 

Valliant attempts were made by Luke (Scouts) and Mike (Explorers) in the penalty shoot out competition.  Mike came away with 3rd place.

Midland Sea Scout Meet 2004

First of all I would like to thank and congratulate everybody who took part in the meet. It was a very successful event and I hope we can do even better next year.

Saturday

On Saturday morning bright and early several Scouts, Explorers and Leaders turned up to take part and cheer on 2nd Warwick. The first race of the day was the scout under 14 two-man Pico Sailing. Our Warwick hopefuls sailed off to the start in a confident mood, until things went a bit pear-shaped! Just as the hooter sounded the start of the race, the Warwick Pico crew, who will rename nameless, (cough cough Heather!) Decided to go swimming! Eventually, she scrambled back into the boat, too late to repair lost time (you did sail the best anyway once you'd got going!).

Next came the Explorer Pico single-handed, with Joe S sailing well and getting second! Next a new event; you could be any age and go in any boat, and there was a big turn out for this event with several 2nd Warwick scouts entering. The race started and Joe S and Steve McC shot off in the Merlin followed by 4 2WK scouts in toppers, (that's before anyone else started going. Joe + Steve finished the race first, then Rob T followed by Polly, Dan T and Will. Unfortunately, because there were faster and slower types of boats, the scores were worked out on the Portsmouth Yardstick rules.(See the DELIGHTFUL Martin Sc for more details!). This meant that overall:

1st: Warwick Merlin

2nd: Walsall Rover

3rd: Warwick Topper (Helmed by Rob T)

After was the "wacky" novelty race before an early night in, ready for the next day!

Frosty Camp 2005... or was that 'windy'!

I'm not sure that 'frosty camp' was the right description, 'very windy camp' may have been more appropriate. Actually, the weather was remarkably kind considering I'd been woken by my alarm on Saturday morning at 5:45 to the sound of a howling wind and rain lashing against my window..."oh no!" Good start to the day?!!!

Next thing, my car wouldn't start when we were trying to hitch the trailer... things could only get better...

...and they did...!

Dave and I had arrived at Horley Scout Campsite by 7:40 am, to find John (QM) already unloading food from his car into the hut. We just had time for a quick recce to decide where everything was going to be put. We were shortly followed by most of the rest of the leader team... quick briefing... and it was no time at all before the trailer was unloaded and the Scouts, Cubs and Beavers were checking in and pitching their tents. The leaders, with the help of some handy parents, pitched the mess tents and set up their bases.

There were eight bases: fire lighting and backwoods cooking (run by explorers), archery and shooting (run by leaders from Banbury District and Nick, the DC from Kenilworth), pioneering (run by Andy, SL from 3rd Warwick), climbing and abseiling, Dutch arrow making, hiking and map making, assault course and zip wire and finally a collage craft activity all run by leaders, with the help of explorers, from 2nd Warwick.

After morning colours (during which several hats blew off) the Beavers, Cubs and Scouts were put into mixed 'patrols' of 11 or 12. They were named after British wild animals: Adder, Badger, Dormouse, Fox, Hedgehog, Mole, Squirrel and Rabbit.

Throughout the rest of Saturday, the patrols visited five of the bases in turn, stopping only for hot drinks and lunch, provided by a hardworking team of parents and coordinated by Akela. It was dark by 4:30 when the final base for the day had been visited and the Senior Patrol Leaders organised some 'keeping warm games' for everyone to join in with. Dinner followed, with the Beavers and Cubs eating in the hut and the scouts eating in the warm mess tents. More games were followed by a campfire, ably (and loudly!) led by Rich and Whitey...

... everywhere we go, (everywhere we go), people always ask us, (people always ask us)...

Those staying only for the day left at 8:30pm with their parents. Time for a calming down activity for the 65 Cubs and Scouts who were staying overnight. Dave and I set off around the site with them all to do some badger watching. The scouts were very quiet and it wasn't long before someone thought they'd seen a badger... so we all went and looked. Hmmm! I'm sure it was the same cub who asked me shortly afterwards "What does a badger look like?" A bit of star gazing followed, it was such a lovely clear night, and we used Ursa Major to find the north star, drew Cassiopeia and found Orion and Gemini. Then a little voice pleaded "Can we go to bed now?" - 9.30pm - I call that a brilliant day!

Some of the scouts started to stir at about 5:30am on Sunday morning. It's much warmer to stay in your sleeping bag you know! Everyone started to emerge into the gloom of a cloudy winters morning, but at least it was dry.

More of our lovely parents arrived early to cook us all breakfast... and a few strong, hot coffees later the leader team and scouts were all ready for another fun-packed day.

Morning colours were followed by two more sessions at the activities. There was no archery or craft today but the groups were smaller as some had gone home so everything went fine. It was lunchtime before we knew it and then time to start packing away, which didn't take long with everyone working together.

There was time for half an hour of tug-o-war (otherwise known as falling over and being dragged through the mud), finishing with the cubs and scouts against the leaders and explorers... well we were severely outnumbered... yep, they thrashed us!

All that was left was the final colours and announcement of the results of the competitions that had run throughout the weekend. Well done to Squirrel patrol, lead by Polly.

I hope everyone had as much fun as we did! Many thanks to all the leaders, explorers and parents who helped and most of all, a big 'thank you' to all the beavers, cubs and scouts for your excellent behaviour and smiley faces throughout the weekend.

I hope you enjoy the attached pictures.

Sally, Scout Leader, Vanguard (2005)

National Sea Scout Pulling and Canoeing Regatta

Rather early one Sunday morning a group of yawning scouts and Explorers set off down to London to take part in the National Sea Scout Pulling and Canoeing Regatta. It was the first time 2nd Warwick have participated in the event and we put teams in all events except for the under 12's. Racing took place along the Thames adjacent to Leadner Sea Scout Unit.

It was a bit of a learning exercise of where to go, what to do etc. However, we got our act together and started to win a number of the preliminary rounds.

Everyone did particularly well, seeing we were in strange boats and unfamiliar with the river.

Our biggest success of the day was Sam's win in the under 14's kayak - so he is now our own 'National Champion'.

It was a good experience to mix with other Sea Scout Units and Sea Rangers, some we knew already, some new.

A bit tired we all piled into the bus for the long journey home and a few KFC buckets on the way.

Well done to everyone who went.

St Georges Day Quest 2009

his year we celebrated St Georges Day with a difference and challenged teams of Beavers, Cubs, Scouts and Explorers to set out on a Holy Quest around the streets of Warwick, in search of the Holy Grail and St George.

Aided by monks who were positioned around Warwick, the Beaver, Cub, Scout and Explorers teams were asked a question and with the appropriate answer, received clues to the next Monk and so on until they found St George.

Each team was also challenged to design and make a shield, robust enough to be carried on the Quest, which were judged in a competition for the biggest, most colourful, most unusual etc.

Following the Quest, there was a short outdoor service and the usual parade through the town centre.

Comets arrive

Well the day finally arrived 23rd March 2007, It has taken just over 10 years, the First NEW exciting boats since the toppers arrived in 1996.

They are a little longer than an Express and are equipped with Asymmetric Spinnakers, Slab reefing and so sailing from now on should be more exciting...

Southern 50 2011

Its Sunday, and we're back from this year's S50, with stiff aching legs but otherwise none the worse for wear!

For those not in the know, the S50 is a walking event which has been run by Greater London (North) for the past 32 years. It is open to Explorers and Leaders. This year there was a record number of entries from round the country, almost ninety teams in total, split between the 30k, 50k and 50 mile events.

Three 2nd Warwick teams made it to the event- the fourth team was sabotaged when one of its members was called to Australia on business, at rather short notice.

This year's course was notable for the number of steep hills (both up and down), en route. The weather was at best overcast, following heavy rain overnight, which didn't really clear until lunch time. So although it was a nice temperature for walking it was also ideal for mud- lots of it. Fortunately, there were none of the classic Chiltern ploughed fields to be negotiated, just watery gloop, unavoidable, particularly towards the end of the day when it was dark and you can't really see what your walking in.

Of the three teams, one, "Sponsorus", comprised Explorers, Ellie Crossley, Emily Stratton and Jonny Tilford from 2nd together with Ben Irwin from Kineton/Jamboree Contingent. This was a first attempt at the 50K all but Ellie and they completed the course in a creditable 15 hours and 13 minutes.

A really good effort. "Why not?" were Network: Heather Crossley, Scott Bridgman, Sam Thomas and Ed Campbell. They powered round the 50K course in 10hours and 22 minutes, coming 5th overall and winning two trophies in the process- probably the best 2nd Warwick result ever?

The third team "Leaders of the Pack" are associated with one particular section of 2nd- guess which? Martin & Janet Crossley, Polly Scurrah and Mark Bridgman (honorary cub leader) managed the 50K in 13 hours and 14 minutes. (Incidentally, the S50 is not meant to be a Crossley family outing). Janet was notable for her unusual and imaginative rainwear. All in all a weekend to remember; some participants are already thinking about next year's entry.

Midlands Sea Scout Meet 2010 Results

After unfortunately not taking part last year we went back to the MSSM this year and made a good showing. Well done to all those who took part and thanks to all those who got involved in running the event.

Scouts

Canoe 3rd

Pulling 2nd

Dinghy Sailing 1st           

Overall 3rd

Explorer’s

Canoe 3rd

Pulling 2nd

Dinghy Sailing 2nd

Overall 2nd

The Greatness of Gable 2003

If anyone thinks that observing the two minutes silence atop Great Gable is taking the easy option for Remembrance Day then think again! It is a punishing climb by anyone's standards - it starts steep, continues steep and gets even steeper - more rock climbing than hill walking towards the top. It is certainly a test of fitness where your heart and lungs attempt to burst free from your rib cage!

Owned by the National Trust since 1924, Great Gable mountain (899 metres or 2949 feet) is at the centre of an area of 3000 acres of high fells acquired by the Fell and Rock Climbing Club as a memorial to the members who lost their lives in the 1914-1918 war. In June 1924 a dedicatory tablet was unveiled at the summit and since then a Remembrance service has been held there every November. For a number of years, a group from 2nd Warwick have taken the pilgrimage to Great Gable for this service. 

In November 2003 nine of us undertook the trip, setting off from Warwick on Saturday morning. A brief stop in Ambleside was followed by a scenic drive over Hardknott Pass. Initial plans for a walk at the highest point of the pass were quickly abandoned due the strong, bitingly cold wind. We opted instead to walk around the Roman fort on slightly lower ground. The views were spectacular.

The base of Great Gable stands about a mile from the campsite, which is a field opposite the inn at Wasdale Head. When we arrived the cloud level was high enough to see the peak, an unusual site apparently. 

We returned from a late afternoon stroll to Wastwater in the dark, evening starting early in the Lakes at this time of the year. A decent meal and a long evening at Wasdale Head Inn followed. It is entirely reasonable to assume that the evening before adds to the challenge of the following day!

To the amused looks of fellow campers all nine of us piled into a six-man tent for the night. It should have been warmer that way but the bitter wind seemed to pass straight through the tent after howling its way towards us down the valley. 

Sunday started chilly and thankfully dry but now the cloud obscured the peak. We cooked up the sausages and bacon we had taken for breakfast and we set off just before 9am full of bread and grease. We were among the last to leave the campsite. It doesn't look far on the map and I was sceptical that it could take so long to cover such a short distance. However the assurances that 'so long as we keep going we'll make the top for 11am' seemed to suggest otherwise! 

It was a colourful scene as a continuous straggle of walkers marked the path ahead. The steepness of the ascent and the reason for allowing two hours to complete it quickly became apparent. This is a challenging walk. The grassy bank quickly gives way to rough stony ground that moves underfoot in an energy-sapping way. Every footstep must be carefully placed but the frequent pauses to recover our breath allowed time to turn around and enjoy the emerging views. 

Approaching the summit from the west, a scramble up rough strewn rocks, the summit was covered in an eerie mist diffused by the low Autumn sun that crept above the horizon of the peak in front of us. The silhouettes of the walkers who had already made the top created a scene befitting of a science fiction movie. As we approached, the silhouettes gave way to a colour filled scene of fleeces, waterproofs and hats. This is quite bizaar in what should be such a desolate place. It was cold, very cold...and we could lean on the strong gusts of wind.

The short service included the observance of two minutes silence - nobody had told the wind to be quiet though so it was a noisy buffeting silence of rattling windproofs! The sobriety and location of the service combined with the sense of personal achievement at completing the climb make this a memorable experience. 

If the ascent is punishing then a warning should be attached to the descent. OK so breathing is easier but what about our knees? The views were good on the way down, which was excuse enough to be slow. It isn't pretty, actually 'bleak' is probably a better description, but then the cloud lifted, blue sky emerged and the true magnificence of the scenery was revealed.

I didn't want to leave the place but we needed to pack up and make tracks for a long, busy journey back to Warwick. So why did we do it? And why will we do it again? Shep told me before we went that we do this trip 'because it's fun!' It wasn't only fun, it was special! Cheers guys for a great weekend!

By Sally C 2003

Frosty Camp 2004

We arrived early on Saturday morning.  It truly was a frosty camp.  There was a freshness in the air and the grass was white and crunchy.

The Beavers arrived wearing uniforms and a big smiles.  They quickly changed into their activity clothes ready to get down to business.  Everyone was put into mixed groups of Scouts, Cubs and Beavers.

Several bases had been organised by the Leaders of a true scouting nature.

Assault course, Tracking, Backwoods Cooking, Orienteering, Climbing Wall and Knots.

Although the boys were of mixed ages, it was really good to see how everyone worked together on each activity.  The boys especially enjoyed the aerial runway.  There’s nothing quite like it to see a Beaver coming hurtling down the hillside towards you with squeals of delight and a big smile on his face.

Sunset came and we were all happy to enjoy a delicious hot meal that had been busily prepared by some of the Leaders and parents while we were on bases.

“Let’s go over to the campfire,” shouted Barbie “it will be nice and warm over there!”

We walked through the darkness and sat around a raging fire.

It wasn’t long before everyone was joining in with choruses of ‘Head Shoulders Knees and Toes’ and the ‘Bumble Bee’ songs.

It came to 8.30p.m and time for all day visitors to go home.  Wearily they collected their kit and departed with their parent. It wasn’t long into the journey home before a good many had fallen asleep exhausted from their busy day.

Rowathon 2004

The Challenge

The challenge was to row a rover continuously for 24 hours around a 1-mile circuit on the River Avon between Charter Bridge and the Banbury Road Bridge in Warwick.

We met the challenge!

The rover, loaded with at least a 5-man crew (one for each oar and one Cox) started from the jetty to complete its circuit. As it crossed the finish line the next boat already loaded with a new crew set off, so keeping the rowing continuous.

Target: 50 miles - Total distance achieved: 90 miles

Participants

Approximately 12 Beavers, 23 cubs, over 70 scouts, 14 explorers, 15 leaders, 31 parents and a few other relatives and friends took part in rowing at some point during the 24 hours. This was over 165 people in all, truly making this a whole group event. Many others simply came along and supported the event. With each lap requiring a crew of at least 5, and boats with our smaller members in often having several more, a total of over 480 bottoms went on seats in the boats during the 24-hours.

The younger children sometimes rowed two to an oar or were helped by the scouts. Some crews consisted of as many as 9 children! All 20 of our patrol leaders and senior patrol leaders were cox at least once and rowed at least once - some did much more as those over the age of 14 were allowed to stay all night!

At night the flags were lowered and replaced by a hurricane lamp - it was a dark night! The overnight crew consisted of 8 scouts, 11 explorers and 12 leaders, many of whom stayed awake all night, taking it in turns to man the boats in order to get warm and stay awake! 40 laps were completed between 10p.m. and 7a.m. Egg and bacon sandwiches went down very well at 1.30a.m (thanks Martin and Jess)!

Fastest Lap

10 minutes 44 seconds (Crew: Titch, Shep, Simon and James. Cox: Amy)

A number of challenge laps were included. These ranged from the Mum's challenge, the Dad's Challenge (several of them), The Tea Tent Challenge (very many thanks to the catering team), The Old Codgers Challenge, The 7th Warwick Leader Challenge (well we had to let them join in didn't we!), the Mc Challenge (2 scouts, 1 explorer, 1 leader and 1 ex-leader all from the same family), the Vanguard Challenge, The Vigillent Challenge and various scout team challenges, explorer team challenges and leader team challenges.

Many of the laps with the younger children manning the boats took nearly half an hour. The first challenge lap was a demonstration of how to row by the SPLs and was completed in a very respectable time of 14 minutes and 24 seconds. A mixed team of our youngest leaders (network members) and two scouts then set an early fast time of 11 minutes and 34 seconds mid-afternoon. This time stood unbeaten by the late afternoon and early evening challenges until it was finally smashed by an explorer team late evening, setting a time of 10 minutes an 48 seconds (Crew: Richard, Doug, Steve and Joe. Cox: Amy). This time remained unbeaten until 4:50a.m. when a leader team knocked 4 seconds off the time at their third attempt and after swapping their original cox for someone lighter (and actually the same cox as in the Explorer team that had set the time to beat)!

Well done to everyone who did the challenge laps, this definitely helped us reach our final total of 90 laps within the time.

Well those were the facts... and now some personal special moments...

Quote of the Night

"It's definitely easier to row if you don't put the oar in the water!" (Sid - our Chairman at about 3a.m.)

Funniest Lap

Simon being the 'Dragon Boat Master' whilst very hyper on strong sweet coffee and no sleep! (At about 4.30a.m)

Magic Moment

Rowing through the mist as the sun rose!

Thanks to everyone who supported this event and made it such a fun weekend!

I hope that the attached pictures show how much fun we were having!

Queens Scout Parade Windsor Castle 2004

"mm do I have to its like doing church parade but worse?"

"They will want me to be smart and stuff"

"Who is this duke bloke anyway?"

"Well I suppose since we have got the Queens Scout Award, I guess we could go to Windsor!"

"What? Not the queen what's the point"

Well they were some of the many excuses I had come up with to avoid going but there I was on the morning of the parade getting the shoe polish out and grumbling about lack of sleep and why was I getting up on a Sunday before I would get up to go to work!!! As usual, I was later than planned went and picked Shep up and hurtled down the M40 to Windsor, trying to make up a bit of time. Having driven up one stretch of road a couple of times we decided that they didn't want any visitors at the castle because there are no signs whatsoever from the motorway, and the only sign I did find was pointing back to the motorway we decided to follow our noses and head for the big castle-shaped building over there!

Having parked in the Railway station car park, taken a layer off, as the sun was shining and eaten half a sarnie by way of breakfast we walked off to the Barracks where we were to be taught how to march, feeling slightly self-conscious walking through a town with the old uniform on, we needn't have worried as before we got out of the car park there were people in uniform everywhere, and when I say everywhere I mean everywhere, people not in uniform began to look out of place!

We arrived at the barracks in plenty of time and had our passes checked, we were grouped up and put into a drill hall to have our uniform checked, surprise surprise I had forgotten something, my belt was on my bed, balls!! So having filled in a form promising to pay for the belt later, we went out for some drill practice.

Having come from a troop where we do drill twice a year just before church parade I was not expecting to be the best but it’s surprising how inept some people are just at walking never mind marching, I have to say it was fairly obvious the Sea and Air scouts stood out a mile not just with the different uniform, but most of them could already march.

We had an interesting colour Sgt shouting stuff, it was all I could do not to laugh at him, honestly, mate shouting stuff in a weird way, might impress your new shiny out-of-a-packet soldier but it's making my sides split. So on went our training I had by this time realised an error, my hat which I wear for 10mins at a time is tight, I now realised that I was going to be wearing it for some time and it was beginning to really hurt.

We were let out to go and have lunch, by this time my feet really hurt as well. We then met up with the others to have lunch.

Then back to the forming up area for the actual parade, by this time some of my initial expectations had been dropped but I am still a slob at heart and this was tough on my conscience!

We were formed up and marched into the Quadrangle, this was the point when things started to look worthwhile, the setting is impressive the building is a thing of real understated beauty, something that our American friends know nothing about. With the bands marching in we stood on the grass waiting for out 10 seconds with our Royal Host, this waiting period is long and boring, in the sunlight as well, so people started fainting all around, the funniest had to be the main colour party, the little guy fell over and the ones either side of him held him up each at arm’s length until some assistance arrived.

Both Dave and I were in the front row so got to meet the Duke of Kent while the people in the back row met some bloke in a skirt, George someone or other apparently he is the Chief Scout.

We then marched around the Quadrangle and out into The Chapel, now I'm not well known for being a god bother but the chapel is an impressive place, along with the memorials and Crypts of past Monarchs.

Outside again for a quick speech from George Purdy the Chief Scout reminding us of what we have achieved and what we should do from here.

Then march out and are dismissed a quick round of shaking of hands with 180 people that you have never met and a few minutes of peace reflecting on a remarkable day, then out thought the gates to meet all the people who have turned up to see us!

Well I'm not sure I would do it again but the chance to do it and have done it is a memorable occasion that should not be missed.

I think the quote of the day has to be "take this one opportunity in your life to walk into MacDonald's in Windsor stand in a queue between two other scouts, in a restaurant full of scouts all proud to be wearing the uniform"

Dave Tomlin May 2004

A View One Mile Back Southern 50

For those who didn't know, a Warwick organised team of Explorers suffered the unfortunate event of losing the Southern 50 30k event by one minute!

A view from one minute back - Hoxton Heroes Team 85

Thought I would take the time out to tell you what it feels like to miss out on the winner's trophy by one minute!

Aged 18, entering the 30k, it can be seen as "wimping out", and yes I would probably agree, we were wimping out! However, our group had been coming down to this event for years! We wanted to get Warwick a piece of silverware. I'd done 50k before and I'd usually end up in a team with someone dropping out, halfway through, ruining your chances of registering a valid time and therefore knocking you out of the competition. So I thought, why not pick four lads up for the challenge and try and actually win something?

I tell you now we tried! After a great pre-walk meal of McDonalds from down the road (we definitely saw some other 30k teams in there!) we got a good nights sleep in the hall, I have to say one of the best I've ever had at Southern 50. No late night piano sessions from some guy who thinks he sounds like Chopin and thinks that sleep is an overrated past time! We woke up at the leisurely hour of 5am, and had an amazing lie in??

We set off for what was checkpoint 12, but also our start point in Stoke Row. We arrived fairly early, but it gave us plenty of time to give the map a good thorough look at. We were planning on setting an extremely fast time. Our time came, 9.28am, we posed for our photograph, then when we were released, we were off like a rocket. Looking at the individual times published on the website, we could see that we had overtaken two teams already and got to checkpoint 13 at exactly the same time as two other teams! I found this really strange considering the balloons literally pointing you the right way and the fact that it was only a few hundred metres down the road. Anyway we got there within 13 minutes, pretty good seeing as it took one team half an hour guided by balloons!

We set off with no delay towards checkpoint 14 at a blistering pace. We had looked ahead at the next checkpoint whilst walking down the first road, so we knew where we were going. By the time we reached checkpoint 14 we had overtaken a fair few teams. We never once met a team who set off after us. We knew that to win, we had to keep teams behind us, and obviously good navigation would help us do that. So on the way to 14 we dispatched of Teams 84, 81, 79, 78, 76, 75, 74. We found it fairly funny when we took a slight wrong turn near 14 and as we turned back we found 3 or 4 teams confused at where we went wrong, furiously looking at their maps. We reached 14, and felt good so we carried on with minimum fuss. Sometimes we felt guilty that we couldn't stay a bit longer at checkpoints and talk to these lovely people. But as we found out every minute counts.

We continued on our way toward checkpoint 15. This is a checkpoint where we lost our way a slight bit. Some slack navigation cost us a few minutes in the woods. We started along totally the wrong path, and were heading east when the compass came into use. Once back on the right path we found the road which would take us to a small village which was home to a scout hut and checkpoint 15. We met a few teams in there already dipping into a selection of biscuits. We however continued without too much delay. We were now heading north towards Woodcote. As we travelled along the minor roads we overtook teams 73, 72, 71 and finally we had caught 80. When in Woodcote we caught sight of a Team of three girls and a boy. We weren't sure of what number exactly. It turned out they were our main opposition Team 77. We followed them through Woodcote, (they seemed to be taking all the routes we planned to take!), occasionally running to try to catch up. No matter how hard we pushed, they seemed to stay a similar distance away. As we approached checkpoint 16 we caught them, as they stopped to work out navigation. Then as we overtook we asked what Team number they were. After a few mental calculations, we worked out that we must have overtaken everybody in front of us. However, the next field was probably key to the whole event. Them being team 77 we didn't see them as competition as they had set off 16 minutes ahead. In the next field, we stuck to the footpath at the side, they however saw an opportunity and trudged straight across it! It would be the only time we lead every single group, however. A few hundred metres of being purely in front of absolutely everyone on the walk! We kept sight of them and reached checkpoint 16, a caravan in a lay-by, two minutes behind them. We headed off to 17 which was located in Ipsden. We kept on their tails which we thought was all we had to do, as we were allowed 16 minutes on them. On the way to 17 we stopped briefly to sort out a boot problem. Yet we still arrived at 17 two minutes behind them. Spirits were high, although I had looked ahead at the next checkpoint and decided it was what I called "a beast", I did feel sorry for all the 50 milers. Along this route to 18, there were two distinct choices go right over the hill towards Nuffield, or go hell for leather around the hill. We opted to go around the hill and head straight for the road. I still don't know which way Team 77 went, but however checkpoint 17 was the last time saw them. After a slight climb, and a fairly slow walk along the road towards Nuffield golf course, we arrived at Checkpoint 18.

We were told by some very nice Jam sandwich makers that we were the second team through and were trailing the other team by ten minutes. We set off determined to not fall behind. Some quick maths, earlier on in the walk, said that we had to finish no more than 16 minutes behind team 77 to win presuming there were no faster teams starting after us. We raced off along the bridleway, towards Swyncombe and checkpoint 19. A very gradual rising hill in a field which made our boots collect tonnes of mud, made us think again of the 50 milers doing this at 3am! This new-found desire to know how we were doing compared to team 77 resulted in us asking many leisure walkers along the way to 19. When posing the question "Don't suppose you've seen a group of girls ahead have you?" I have to admit we got some funny looks.

After a brief worry as to where checkpoint 19 was, we found it. At 19 we were told that team 77 had passed through quarter of an hour ago! It was getting tight. In reality it was 17 minutes between our two groups. Also after saying sorry for not being able to stay and talk much, to the kind people there we set off for 20.

It took us up a fairly steep foot path, however, we "blitzed" it. We continued on the footpath towards North Farm where we met a guy and a girl who seemed to know what they were talking about. We think they were Southern 50 officials but we weren't sure. They said that we were the first team through to just before checkpoint 20 but they knew that Team 91 were doing well. Which in fact wasn't true, because looking back at the results they had a non-starter and retired at 19!

Anyway, we took their word and considered new rivals, that could be anywhere behind us. We decided that we didn't like being chased! As we reached checkpoint 20, we were told that Team 77 had been through around 16 minutes ago. Things just couldn't get any tighter. After a very brief goodbye and thank you, we went for it. Reaching the B480 and heading towards Watlington. As we reached the village, I was itching to get running. We broke into a run soon after that and decided a shortcut through the village and not to go down the conventional route of Love Lane. We expected to come out near the pub next to the school. WHERE WAS IT? Turned out it was only one street to the right, so we didn't go too horribly wrong. We reached the school, and broke into sprints. After starting to go in the main entrance (Should have known from previous years, was just to tired to concentrate), we set off on what seemed like a endless series of left turns around the back of the school to the official finish. We burst through the doors and saw Team 77 and the clock stopped at 14:55pm. After handing in our tickets, we hovered over the times. I saw 14:38pm next to 77. When sitting down, we were still trying to do a bit of simple maths. Then it struck, one minute. One minute. As we were looked over very kindly by the finish staff, it started to dawn on us. We looked knackered I can tell you it wasn't the walk! No way, It was the Olympic sprint we did in the school grounds that got me!

We settled down after a while, and were told that nothing was official until Sunday morning. After a lazy afternoon, we watched as some other teams from Warwick came in then we hit the sack. Too shoeless to walk over and watch England get beat by the Welsh. On a Sunday morning, we hoped but we probably knew it was inevitable.

The presentation came and we enjoyed it. As we went to collect our trophy we raised a smile as we heard the "ooooh" as they announced how close we were.

In all seriousness, we have to say a massive well done to Team 77. To raise their game when we were bearing down on them and keep spirits high whilst carrying out some difficult navigation was top notch scouting. Well done guys.

Thank you to all the checkpoint staff, however little we may have seen of you! and also to the organisers for putting it all together. I say keep the 30k event, it provides interesting competition and some close results. I know the first two teams were only two minutes apart last year. Who'd of thought it was going to get closer in 2009.

Thank you everyone though we definitely had a thoroughly enjoyable Valentines day, spent chasing some girls through the countryside.

Dan, Ali, Dan and Matt - Team 85 - Hoxton Heroes

Cardboard City 2004 (what was in the Warwick Courier)

posted 6 Oct 2016, 16:10 by Dave Tomlin

Scouts crawled inside cardboard boxes in Hatton on Saturday to gain an insight into the lives of the homeless.

Explorer sea scouts from the 2nd Warwick group constructed makeshift homes out of cardboard boxes, bin liners and tape. Once the holes were covered and a doorway was constructed, they then spent the night sleeping in their temporary homes at Shrewley Farm.

Group scout leader Nick Shacklock said: "I hope they learnt that it's not a particularly easy life being homeless, even when you have lots of time to tape together the cardboard boxes.

"It's very uncomfortable. It's not a nice way to have to live your life. I hope this encourages them to take a different view of the homeless."

Mr Shacklock said it was hard to find activities for the scouts which are both interesting and create a better understanding of a section of society.

The teenagers were joined by some of the Kenilworth Phoenix explorer scouts last weekend.

13 October 2004

Both Xmas Disco's From Loz's Perspective

When you ask a normal Explorer to organize something, it will usually get done with only a slight hitch. On the other hand, when you ask C Meek to organise something, many people would think 'you've gone mad!'

It was the Saturday two weeks before the disco. I was sitting in front of my computer screen, still clad in a sweaty high-school uniform. Because I was drifting away into a binary code world of my own, I actually had no idea that it was two weeks until the disco. The only thing that reminded me of it was the orange flashing in the bottom right corner of my screen. Thanks to the luxuries of instant messaging, I soon found Meek telling me, in Lucinda Console, that there was a disco in only two weeks' time. This was when the planning actually started.

On the Sunday, myself, Meek and Andi along with a few others found ourselves at Andi's pad with two laptops and a rather heavy computer (Dubbed 'Tardis' -this is another story altogether) which had just been dragged from the my house across to Andi's (on the other side of town) by Meek. After a long period of about, say, 30 seconds or so, the disco had been 'planned' and the technology in the room was being used for purely entertainment purposes thanks to Meek. We decided that we should reschedule.

The same time next week, me, Chris and Andi decided to meet up at my house. Shortly, Andi knocked on the door clasping his laptop and usual snacks for the session. Some kind of planning was finally put into the disco within an hour or so. However one slight problem. Meek hadn't turned up. Several calls revealed that he wouldn't be there for 10 minutes then half an hour and so on and so forth. He eventually turned up just as Andi had cycled off in the opposite direction.

The day dawned upon us. The 18th December. I had arranged to meet Meek at his house at midday. At 11:45, I pulled myself out of bed. 20 minutes later, the Tardis and myself turned up on Meeks doorstep.

Tesco had proved eventful. I had insisted that they would let us borrow a trolley. Sadly, we made the mistake of asking. We found ourselves carrying back about 20 litres of drink, and 68 packs of crisps, as well as a large French stick and some squirty cheese which I called breakfast. Several bag splits and spine twists later, we were back at Meeks. The next two hours were spent using our artistic skills to wrap up the contents of pass the parcel.

At 4:30, myself and Chris appeared on the doorstep of 2wk, clad in posh shirts, blazers and jeans. Andi had already got there and was setting up the tables. Within ten minutes, everything was fine and dandy -except for the lack of one speaker, an amplifier and a Titch and a James. At 5:00, people started turning up, and we started to get panicky. A phone call to James revealed that they were 3 miles away, and that somewhere along the line, something had gone wrong with the timings. Several arguments and polite discussions later and we realised we shouldn't be wasting time and should be trying to get whatever we could, sorted. I returned from the sanctuary of the gents where I had been on the phone, to the main deck. I found several stereo components that appeared to have been thrown at 2wk some time during the 50's scattered on the floor, and Chris and Andi trying to get some sound out of the one speaker and a random amplifier. I informed them that this would be like trying to get a 3 centimeter speaker to produce Mozarts 5th Symphony in the Royal Albert Hall. Defeated, Chris (with some kind help from Liz) got a game going, involving several Explorers (including myself) and leaders getting wrapped up in toilet paper. Shortly, James and Titch burst in the Exit with our missing components. A scramble of hands got everything working as fast as possible, and soon the beavers and cubs were dancing away. At the end of the beaver/cub disco, we neatened up, and sat down to dinner -which for me (due to budget problems) consisted of a pack of jelly-babies! For the others, Andi cycled up to Hot Stuff and ordered pizzas only to realise that he had no way of transporting them back to the scout hut.

The Scout/Explorer disco worked fine. 5 laptops, the Tardis and several noise-loudening devices ran the disco, without one problem at all... except for when Scott decided to pull the plugs out! After this brief silence, interrupted only by the words 'Oh, Scott!' the disco returned to its usual noisy self. This came to our relief and utmost joy.

So, after several visits from the mess-up gremlin, everything ironed out smoothly. Myself, Chris, Andi, James, Titch and several other helpers put on what we think was a rather good night.

Thanks!

Loz

(Explorer and DJ, MMIV)

Explorers Remembrance Day in Ypres/Esquelbecq

One evening in July I was counting the yeasts in the bottom of a pint of "Whatever it is this week in the tap" at the Avon when Dave Charles, Explorer Leader of the “mud muppet” unit in Warwick hove into view and suggested that we should take both his and our Explorer Units to France/ Belgium for Remembrance Day 2003. Dave is well known for his liking for foreign travel and had had the idea after listening to a presentation by a local historian Shirley Wallis about the massacre of a group of Warwickshire Regiment men on the retreat to Dunkirk by the Waffen SS (Liebstandarte Adolf Hitler). Dave had approached me because he knew we had a house in France and therefore could probably be relied on to read the road signs properly and Sally could do any French negotiating required? he also knew that I had been involved in a number of battlefield tours in the army.

After a lot of machination and persuasion, and having got Kerrie McCann to champion the event with the Explorer Sea Scout Unit, things began to move in the right direction. grants were obtained from Warwick District and from Land-Rover, wreaths were purchased, boats and hostel accommodation were booked and several of us decided it would be easier if we drove rather than forking out £1500 for a coach. We were also successful in getting the Kineton Explorers on board too, making this a truly pan-District event.

A bright November Friday thus found 23 of us standing outside the 2Wk HQ ready to depart for France. Gums were bumped and cars were loaded slowly when eventually one of the leaders was asked? so when does the boat go then?? everyone looked at Dave who looked it up on his itinerary” HMMM THINKS” 2hrs to last check-in! Dover 200 miles?? That’ll be an average speed of 100mph then! So anyway we caught the next boat (only 90mph) and landed at Calais with next stop the Auberge Jeunesse in Dunkirk.

Interesting place the old Auberge!..double bunks which fall over, showers where the hot water came out of the cold tap, doors locked (and alarmed) at 11pm. Just time for an evening meal of rather eccentric constituents for most scouts, and three or so hours wandering around the beach/ town before lock-in. We leader types found a rather nice-looking bar which was empty when we walked in? there was a bit of a funny herbal smell in the air and the waiters were dressed rather oddly (leather etc) but we were made very welcome and settled in for a couple of pints ? within 30 mins the bar was heaving with every well-dressed young person in Dunkirk arriving to meet their mates! Obviously, we have taste!

Next day dawned bright and cold and the Explorers sat down to their first real French Breakfast (bread, bucket of coffee, butter) which some found even stranger than the meal the night before!

Saturday morning we spent touring some of the WW1 battlefields around Ypres, ending in Tyne Cot Cemetery which is the largest Allied War Cemetery in the World. Here the Explorers laid poppy crosses on each of the graves of the 90 odd Warwickshire Regiment soldiers killed in that area. We also held a ceremony and laid a wreath on behalf of the Hampton Magna branch of the Regimental association at the wall which commemorated the other 1000 Warwick’s who had been lost around Ypres and Flanders in WW1 and had no known graves. This was a very sobering experience for the Explorers, none of whom had appreciated the scale of the carnage which had taken place in that area before, nor the youth of those involved. Tyne Cot was also an excellent place to show the meaning of “Killing Ground” since the view from the cemetery (which contains two German pillboxes) allows anything which moves to be seen for around 2km. We also visited the Hooge Crater museum and the preserved (but not very) trench systems at Sanctuary Wood. This to was very interesting to the Explorers who were able to discover that rusty barbed wire at ankle height hurts when you run into it (that’s why it was there!) and that dugouts need heavy beams to support the roof (ouch again!).

The mid to late afternoon was spent with the Explorers loose in the town of Ypres (Ieper in Flemish) and organising their own evening meal which we understand went well (think someone found a Pizzaria!). We Leaders did much the same but without the Pizzas. The group then changed into uniform in a friendly hostelry and made our way to the Menin Gate for the evening sounding of the last post. This was a far more elaborate event than we had expected. Around 5-600 people were in attendance, together with reps from various organisations and the Grenadier Guards. It was my honour to stand in the centre of the arch and make the dedication immediately after the sounding of the last post. An Explorer from Kineton and one from Warwick (Woodloes) then laid wreaths at the memorial on behalf of the Scout District and the British Legion. The District Uni on Flag was the only flag at the ceremony and I was proud to have it carried by my son Richard.

We were pleased with the compliments paid by many of the attendees about the behaviour and smartness of our young people at the event and felt we had to round the evening off by a small beer (or pop) in the aforementioned hostelry.

After an interesting night navigation exercise (ask Barbie about bloody-minded drivers!) we arrived back at the Auberge just in time to be locked in. That night was rather a busy one for many of the leaders since one or two of the young people were found to have enjoyed themselves rather too well however, no harm was done and some people learned a lesson about fizzy beer!

Sunday dawned dull and perishing cold and there was a noticeably improved take up on the French breakfast as a result of that and the night's activities. Having packed up at the Auberge we left for Esquelbeq. In the village square, we had arranged to meet the deputy Mayor who had written a book about the WW2 massacre, based on an account by his mother who lived within sight of the barn where it took place (and later joined the Resistance).

We arrived at the barn at around 1045 “ I do not think that any of us had appreciated that the barn was in fact a cowshed about 12 feet square “ over 100 men had been herded in there and most killed by hand grenades and machine guns. The barn was full with only 24 of us inside and was bitingly cold. We held a two minutes silence in the barn and Barbie and some of the young people read out loud prayers and a passage from the Mayor’s book. We laid a wreath on behalf of the Royal Warwickshire Regimental Association inside the barn then moved to the nearby Cemetery where we once again laid crosses on the Warwick’s graves. We then went back to the Office de Tourisme for tea and medals (and warmth) courtesy of the Town.

From then on the trip became a fast run for Calais, an early boat and home in Warwick by mid-afternoon.

My take on this event was that this was one of the most successful events held in Warwick District in recent years. All of the leader team who took part (of whom myself, Sally, Kerrie and Barbie were from RN Unit 14) emerged proud of our young people, what they had seen and what they had done. We really felt we took part in something special

By Nick (GSL) 2003

RN Soccer Sixes 2006 - An Explorers tale

After departing a little later than scheduled on Friday night, the scouts and explorers arrived at H.M.S Excellent. The home of H.M.S Bristol, and more importantly the R.N Soccer Sixes competition. Hopes and expectations were high on arrival and settling down was to be the first obstacle for the explorer team. Not only were there other explorers to keep quiet, there was an issue with lights and a rather noisy/ancient fan!!

So we were awoken on Saturday, and after the march to the breakfast came the food, a nice helping of grease to keep the body fuelled until lunchtime. And after returning to the ship greased up, everybody got changed and was raring to go. A brief warm-up came the explorer's first game, a 1-0 defeat to eventual runners up Hamble. This was followed by three more 1-0 defeats to Worthing, Warsash and Watchet leaving us bottom of a tough group after a disastrous morning.

Lunch couldn't come quick enough. But at least our friends from the Walsall group were having the same difficulty with winning! As lunch drew to a close team manager Steve and Captain Scott Visited Warwick's very own witchdoctor Anne Porter, former 2WK quartermaster on camp (if your oldschool) anyway back to football and the plate competition or losers cup as it?s known to some. Anne's big hug and immediate effect on team manager and captain! As the explorers got two draws against Warsash and Barry. These were both encouraging results which spurred the team to gain two victories firstly a 1-0 win over Oulten Broad, where Steve coolly finished great interplay between Scott R and Dan T. This left us joint top of our plate group with Warsash and Barry, all on 5 points. Only 2 teams could qualify and we had the advantage as the two other teams had to play each other and we had Torbay. Where it looked like we were going to have a frustrating match until Scott's through ball for Steve C ended up in the back of the net thanks to a bit of suspect goalkeeping. 1-0 Warwick!!! And after a 0-0 draw between Barry and Warsash, we won the group and would have a slightly easier semi-final in the morning. After our last game, a quick shower after arriving back at the ship and we were off for dinner, a lot better than the breakfast, then down to the drill hall. Unfortunately the obstacle course was a bit of a challenge for a warn out side!! Next we went up to the Whaley club for the film; this year was Knights Tale (a considerable improvement on last years viewing of robots).

Sunday breakfast passed and it was time for more footie before we came home, firstly, the penalty shoot-out competition, a winner from a penalty comp between each individual team would bring together the 20 winners for a battle to be penalty king.

Our winner was Steve C, who unfortunately couldn't show the same form as he did to beat the 2wk boys. Smashing the ball onto the crossbar!

So after that story came and went the attention was drawn towards our semi-final against Durrington. 10 mins saw a 0-0 draw which took the game directly to penalties in a full size goal!

2wk lost the toss and had to shoot first, Dan T saw his pen saved, but 2wk breathed as Steve pulled off a super stop top keep the penalties at 0-0, Scott R stepped up next and rocketed his penalty pass the keeper, Durrington?s second penalty was saved and 2wk lead 1-0. If Steve C scored it was all over. He showed no sign of pressure from his penalty miss earlier in the shoot-out competition to drive home his penalty and take 2wk through to the final of the plate. The final came round against Allerton. After a cagey opening 2wk won a free-kick near the end of the second half. But confusion saw Scott score a cracking goal from Dan T's lay-off was disallowed and the free-kick had to be taken again, this time no mistake, Dan made a great run and Scott slid a beauty ball in which Dan tucked under the on rushing keeper! 1-0 2wk!!!! Allerton through everything at us in the last 2mins but Rob T and Matt C's organisation kept them out. The final whistle went and 2wk explorers were the 2006 Plate winners!!!!!

A quick presentation ceremony in the drill hall and we were on the road home, tired, smiling, and very pleased with a good weekends work!!

Special well done to Doug and Scott R for helping the team in their last football comp! also a special shout to 3rd Walsall explorers for the support all weekend and to the Warsash boys for their support on Sunday. Roll on next year!!

Phoenix team Southern 50 2004

On a dark Friday night an extreme walking detachment of 2nd Warwick's explorer unit left the scout hut and headed down the motorway for Herefordshire. We were heading for a town known as Tring, South east of Aylesbury. Here we would spend the night at a school before setting off on our exodus. We slept in the 6th form common room which we found to our amusement had been systematically booby trapped by the 6th formers of the hall, how funny! NOT! However having our carry mats covered in paint was no big deal, sleeping next to a broken window was.

After spending a windy night hampered continuously by the occasional BANG! We awoke to the sound of alarms going off. After a big fry up breakfast, that incidentally was 90% grease, we packed and began to wait for our time to leave.

Back in Warwick we had the choice of walking 30km, 50km or 50 miles (80km). Last year we had attempted the 50km and most of us had completed it, Joe even managed the 50 miles. So this year we decided to all walk 50km again. I was confident of completing the event since last year my team had managed our own version of the event known as the southern 60/50. We got bored of the route so walked south for 6km instead of west, we repeated this again later.

My elite team consisted of me (Dug), Joe (our uber map-reader), Chris and Scott. We were named Phoenix!!! We had all participated in the event last year and so therefore knew what to expect. It appeared to us that most of the explorers were doing the 30km and many of the organisers seemed surprised to see us attempting the longer distance.

We set off last of all the 50km teams. This was a disadvantage given to us and caused much suffering throughout the walk. Not only did we have to walk till later at night but also many footpaths had become well marked to say the least.

Despite these shortcomings though we managed to overtake several teams before the 2nd checkpoint and even gained sight of our leader team and of one of our other teams (named 'Recycled').

By checkpoint 3 we had not only covered 10km in 2 hours but also overtaken Recycled and the Leader team. Despite suffering from going up a rather steep hill we didn't stop at the checkpoint, previous experience indicated this caused much pain mainly due to locking muscles. By checkpoint 4 (which was cunningly hidden in the grounds of a stately home) we had overtaken all 3 Warwick teams along with several of the other 50km and 30km groups. We then lost A.R.S.E, (our other team consisting of Chris M, Chris D, Polly and Scott B) due to illness but soon caught up with them again. They then spontaneously vanished and we overtook them and never saw them again - EVER!

Comically we now found ourselves beating all the second Warwick teams despite them starting 20 to 30 minutes ahead of us. We were going strong all the way up to checkpoint 6(over half way) and were yet to make any navigational errors. This was due to using both of our maps - unlike other groups. Joe was our primary navigator but I followed the route on my map too to prevent mistakes.

Our time disadvantage was starting to become an issue since many of the footpaths were very boggy, I myself sunk past my thigh into a very big puddle. On the way to checkpoint 8 we made an error but fortunately this was realised via some compass work. Checkpoint 8 was actually named checkpoint 15 since the 50mile people did a big loop (walking 8,9,10,11,12,13 and 14 as well). Despite adding to our time somewhat none of the 2nd Warwick teams overtook us and we continued to make good progress.

Throughout the hike a team of about our age from London had been over taking us and every time a navigational decision had to be made were waiting for us like a confused dog. By checkpoint 15 we invited them to walk with us since they weren't slowing us down. I personally doubt they would have finished were it not for our map reading and endless supply of energy food.

By the last checkpoint I was feeling great, and considering that this was the 47km point this impressed even me! We didn't stop and after Joe and me had got our team and the group that had joined us back on their feet we hobbled off...me bringing up the rear to prevent us losing people. We arrived at the school and were very graciously given a head start by our newfound friends from London and we finished 5 minutes ahead of them.

Overall we had finished in less than 13 hours and had beaten all of the 2nd Warwick teams by over 2 hours. So next year...well 50km wasn't much of a challenge this year so I'm going to have to either run the 30km or walk the 50 mile. Looking forward to it?

disney weekend - a Riz and Steve View!!!

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.

Bag packing for Jamboree 2007

I heard that the kids going to the World Jamboree were organising a fund raising day bag packing at my local Off-License - Sainsburys. I thought this was an activity I should support, although I couldn't quite see why people would pay money for help loading their beer, crisps, peanuts and the occasional bottle of wine into their trolley. I mean, that's what I buy from Sainsburys????

Anyway, when I go in to Sainsburys (Friday afternoon, or one evening in the week) it's never very busy, so it should be a quiet day.

Shock number 1

Sainsburys sell all sorts of things that I never buy there - fruit, vegetables, bread, cakes, meat, fish, loo rolls, wrapping paper, bottles of pop, washing up liquid. Somebody even bought a baking tray thing! And they all expected them to be put into carrier bags, then loaded into a trolley. This wouldn't have been too bad except for shock number 2

Shock number 2

There are THOUSANDS of people go to Sainsburys on a Saturday, and most of them buy stuff, and then expect it to be packed into carrier bags and loaded into a trolley.

Fortunately, I wasn't on my own. Most of the work was done by our own Jamboree contingent, Polly, Kat, Heather and Rosie, Jenny, Matt and Jim , plus eight or nine other Scouts / Explorers / Leaders from the group, and the County Commissioner. We also drafted in some of the Jamboree contingent from the rest of the district to make up the numbers in return for a share in the spoils.

We packed, we loaded, we told people who we were, what / where the world jamboree is, listened to stories of other people's scouting pasts and tried to look cheerful at all times (some of us struggled with this a bit). By 1730 I was shattered. I don't think I'll be giving up my desk job for a career in retail if I can help it, and there was one more shock in store! fortunately this was for Polly

Shock number 3

Half a bucket of change is VERY heavy, especially when you have to carry it across Sainsburys car park, and then have to stand holding it while dad finds his car keys.

The bottom line (now that it's safely in a bank rather than in a bucket in our lounge) ? we raised £1250.

And finally the thanks bit; everybody who turned up to help, everybody who contributed, Sainsburys for letting us into their store, Janet / Heather / Rosie for organising it, and Susan, Joe and Polly for counting £1250's worth of change.

Southern 50 2004 2

So the day starts at 5AM yes that is 5AM!!! and that meant getting up and going to breakfast for 5:30AM!!! (sorry still hung up on that!) but me being really welcome of food at that time got up a little later and went for a coffee at about 5:50AM!!!

And then it was back to the School Gym that was out 'tent' for the previous night, to collect our kit for the walk and to the kit check for 6:30AM! (it's getting better)

So having ensured every member of the team, (James, Dave, Andy and myself) had all the required equipment, it was time for a final loo break and then on to the 'holding pen' till our departure time.

On to 6:58AM (Mmmm not too bad) we are finally given the grid references of the checkpoints we have to pass through and the order to go to them, and after 2 minutes to decide our route to the first checkpoint, we were off!

Every were we go! Every were we go!

Now for a word of advice, never let James navigate to your first checkpoint, yes you guessed it, we went the wrong way, but only about 1/2Km. so on we went check point to checkpoint.

People always ask us, People always ask us,

On each checkpoint they would stuff you full of food, and pour water, squash or a hot drink down you and shove you on as soon as possible, so you didn't stiffen up or go cold.

Who we are, Who we are,

The route was well laid out with the 30Km, 50Km and 50Mile all over lapping in places but each differing as well. so the day progressed with a stop for lunch at about 12 midday, and reaching the hot food point at about 7ish (sorry time started to blur after 6 hours of walking, and then we carried on still!)

And where do we come from, And where do we come from,

At checkpoint 12 (the hot food stop) sadly we lost Andy from out group, due to blisters, and I was nearly put out to the same fate, but 4 blister plasters later and a slightly longer break than any other, we were off again.

And we always tell them, And we always tell them,

But this was when it got harder, it was 8pm, we'd been going since 7AM!!! (sorry) we had merged with one of our Explorer teams, who had also lost one member to the blister fate, and it was dark and we were tired. so on we trudged, a lot slower than before, to checkpoint 13.

Were from 2nd Warwick Sea Scouts, and Warwick Sea Explorer Unit, Were from 2nd Warwick Sea Scouts, and Warwick Sea Explorer Unit,

And about 10pm, after travelling for 2 hour in the dark, using head torches, as cloud cover was that heavy and being out in the country with no light pollution, we arrived a checkpoint 13. At that point, both Dave and I should have Folded, but Due to a family trait of mine, I was stubborn, and carried on.

And if they cant hear us, And if they cant hear us,

So at 11pm, we were halfway between checkpoint 13 and 14, just 2 1/2 sections from the end! I could not go on, Dave and myself folded, due to my being ill from the Wednesday before, and the added bonus of blisters the size of dinner plates, and Dave not being much better, we got a minibus pick up and officially resigned at 11:30PM 15.5 hours and 45Km after the start!

We Shout a little LOUDER, We shout a little LOUDER!

The remaining 4 of the merged group got in at 2.30AM and the two explorers on the 50Mile still walking got in at 2AM.

Every where we go!...

Congratulations to all that completed, and congratulations to all those who got as far as they did, I think I might pass next year, team member shortage or not, FIND SOME ONE ELSE!

Jess (2004)

3rd Jamboree Training Camp

A while ago we went to Blackwell Court and as it was a while ago everything seems to have been a bit of a blur so this shall be a very short report.

The camp was designed so that we would be running in a similar routine to how we will be on the jamboree, for example we had to give tickets in to each activity before we were allowed to take part. Our campsite was also pitched in an area the same size as the pitch we will be given at the jamboree so that we could get used to living in a tight area.

The whole weekend was extremely cold and I for one had underestimated this and packed light. It was so cold that in the second night, three of us were squashed into my one/two man tent, cosy. A lot of our spare time was spent shivering around fires in oil drums and cooking was less of a chore than normal. Even so, the cold weather did not dampen our spirits and there was very little complaining.

We were put in to the patrols we would be in for the Jamboree and we set about constructing the camp gateway which was managed with great success on Friday night. The following two days we spent doing a mix of activities which were: archery, crate stacking, climbing and grass sledging. Personally I thought the crate stacking was the best though it was incredibly nerve racking when I was doing it. I don't think I have ever stood on anything wobbled quite so much before. The best anyone in our patrol managed to achieve was sixteen and a half crates high which is pretty high. The grass sledging was great fun as well although after a few goes, the enthusiasm wore off a bit due to the large walk back up the hill.

We didn't just do these activities though. One of the most important things we did was sort out our performance we will be doing in front of the rest of our sub camp. Ours was based on stomp and we used bits of routines from kegs and wags and altogether it looks really good and sounds very loud. We also had a talk about how we would describe where we are from to foreign scouts and stuff like that. At the end of the second night, we had a campfire which was as good as ever.

All that was left after this was to pack everything away and go home thoroughly exhausted.

2nd jamboree training camp

The weekend started when we all arrived at Offchurch Village Hall armed with spades, loppers and the odd pickaxe as well as all the usual kit. We had a quick talk about our patrols and what we would be doing and then we were sent outside to play a game involving covering each other in sticky spots to represent diseases. We came back inside all spotty and then patrol one set about cooking some hot-dogs which we promptly ate and this time had two each!

After quite a bit of talking, playing cards and moving kit around, we were ready to go to bed. The girls were sectioned off at one end of the hall and it was very cosy, the boys had loads of room which was unfair. Eventually the room became quiet and soon people started dropping off to sleep.... until Chris started snoring.

The morning came all to soon and my patrol dragged ourselves out of our sleeping bags and set about cooking the breakfast. We did quite well if i say so myself and it is the only time I have cooked baked beans and scrambled eggs for that many people without having a thick layer burnt on the bottom of the pan.

The activities soon started when we got into patrols. We did a load of challenges that were quite difficult and then went outside and did a challenge where one person was the shepherd and had to guide the rest of their patrol to the swings only using an animal sound they'd been given. It was quite difficult and our patrol did the worst at it but we did have a good time.

We then played a few games, ultimate frisbee, sailmakers grip and sitting on each other in a circle which took a few attempts before we finally completed it. After some lunch we started on the community project that was the main aim of the weekend. There were four things that needed doing: 1. a hedge needed clearing 2. some ground cleared, levelled and an arch built 3. small field needed clearing of the weeds and shrub 4. a fence built along one side of the field. My patrol started off doing the ground levelling which was definitely hard work. There were a load of roots and a metal rod that needed removing so that we could dig a trench either side of the arch for flowers. After hacking, digging and sawing at that base for about two hours, our patrol moved to the hedge clearing site.

Soon it got dark but we weren't finished. We all tried to do as much as we could but soon we had to abandon the work and go inside where patrol 3 got started with the cooking and the rest of us played cards or played guitars. After food we got into our patrols and started thinking about English food and stuff to put in our box. At the jamboree each contingent is given a one metre by one metre by one metre box where we can put what we want to. We will also be cooking an English food for the rest of sub camp to try as well as putting on a small stage event for the rest of the sub camp. Suggestions included such great ideas as Leamington spa water for the food and a slide for the box. Even so, somehow a paddling pool will be transported to the jamboree in our contingent box. WE then played a game that involved creeping up the hall in the dark and hiding behind various obstacles whilst avoiding the flashlight. After a long and tiring day we all went to bed.

The last morning started a bit later but everyone was still knackered and it was still a huge effort to get up (for most people). Patrol four reluctantly started cooking breakfast and soon smoke was drifting into the hall from the kitchen. The breakfast was actually very good . As we hadn't quite finished the project, it was decided that we would do it this morning. Jo-ann, Me, Polly, Laura and James finishing clearing the hedgerow which was nice and gentle work (ish). All was going well until a man and a big camera turned up and me and Laura were volunteered to speak in a short video that was being made. The man then left to go to the other group where others spoke and were filmed doing the community work, including some very funny synchronised digging.

Soon all the work was finished and we had lunch. All that was left to do was to clear up, pack and clean the place. We all got into uniform and went outside where we walked over to the archway and looked at what we had achieved.

Just want to say thanks to all the Warwickshire bears leaders for another amazing weekend. I can't wait for the next one.

1st training camp for the jamboree

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.

RN Swimming Gala 2005

Just a short report to give you the low-down on the event. Firstly I'd like to say a huge well done to everyone who took part, the team support expressed by those who went was brilliant and secondly a thank you to Martin and Sue for putting up with us.

Saturday morning began with the individual heats followed by the medley relays and line throw relays. Kyle secured our first final in the U12 breaststroke event and the finals just kept rolling in. By the end of Saturday morning we had managed to secure around 8 finals, including 3 medley relays!

Unfortunately, during the Saturday afternoon activities, the explorers failed in winning the creative challenge set by Admiral Swain but still managed to incorporate our well-known touch in the catamaran (in other words, stretching the rules to almost breaking point) even against the '2nd Warwick proof' instructions! While the explorers where slowly getting colder and colder the scouts where in a similar situation in their outdoor 5-a-side football competition. Although I did not witness any of this I heard on the grape-vine that James Briggs (who stepped in to swim at the last minute) proved very useful in the tournament, even though I believe we won one and lost the rest!

Sunday held the finals to the individual events, medley relays and squadron relays. We won the U18 medley and managed to acquire enough points to win us the U18 trophy (the only one Norwich failed to win). We gained several fifth & sixth places and two 2nd places by myself and Joe S. Unfortunately the team suffered a couple of disqualifications in the relays, bad luck on the day I guess.

Congratulations to all those who made it into the finals. This has probably been one of if not the most successful years at Raleigh the group has ever had.

Also, our thanks go to Barbie, Pete & Ann who where on the Admin team.

Chris aka Pants (2005)

Visit to Stratford Weir

Easter Eggstraviganzer 2004

The Explorers recently visited Lymington, on the south coast of England. We left Warwick on Good Friday and after a three hour journey we arrived. We toured the Marina and then launched the boats that we had brought with us: 'Brenig' and 'Cunning Plan'. We returned to Lymington Sea Scouts' very smart HQ for dinner and some of us learnt how to use the GPS and set our routes for the next day.

Saturday included taking the boats to the Needles, looking around Yarmouth harbour, lunching on a beach on the Isle of Wight and in the evening we did our first night navigation exercise: out around Lymington. We returned tired and despite my amazingly flattering and very stylish Tango suit, I was very chilly.

Sunday was occupied by Level 2 Powerboat training, and for those already holding the award, Wayfarer sailing was on offer.

Our second night took us out in the direction of Portsmouth and it was really cool! It was an exercise using our charts without GPS and it was memorable; with the Isle of Wight ferries crossing and me nearly going straight into an unlit mark. And I nearly forgot; Titch, Chris Mac and Sarah (of all people!) managed to overshoot one point and only corrected themselves, returning to the buoy, after nearly two nautical miles. Honestly!

On Monday, after a well deserved and badly needed lie-in, we cooked breakfast then cleaned and retrieved our boats.

We came back a very happy bunch!

All that remains to say is thank you to Lymington Sea Scouts, especially JJ, who I hope enjoyed the table wrestling show! And thank you to Alan Gandy and Nick, and to Titch for all the planning and organizing and for making it a really cool weekend. Cheers!

Cate M. May 2004

Dougs Southern 50 2004

At 8:00 on Friday night the Explorers who had been mad enough to volunteer to do the southern 50/50 left Warwick car park. About an hour and a half later we arrived at a school in a town on the outskirts of London (sorry can't remember name think it was Great something or other).

We slept, sorry did I say slept? I meant waited for it to become light, in a school hall about the same size as the Coten End Lower school Hall. Nearly all the explorers were sleeping there and it surprised me to find that most of them - even most of the bigger ones were doing the 30km route - wimps! Unfortunately, unlike the area the over 18's were sleeping in, which I have heard was relatively quite because they knew they needed rest to walk all the way, our explorer area was very loud until about 3:00 (we had to get up at 5:00).

And so after only a few hours of sleep we woke at 5:00a.m., had breakfast and a kit check and after some waiting left at quarter past 7. The team I was in contained Chris (who was team captain), Scott, Matt and Doug (me). Everyone would be recalled at 6:00am the following morning, no matter whether they were finished or not and since the teams all started with 2 minutes between each other leaving at 6am- to around 9am there was a generous time limit. The 50-mile teams left first followed by the 50km (which I was doing) followed by the 30km (wimps!).

The route had 15 checkpoints and a finish but that was for 50 milers. The 50km route and the 30km route left some of these out. We had to walk 1, 2, 3, 4,5A, 6A, 7A, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, finish. These checkpoints supposedly got closer at the end but it didn't feel like it!

Checkpoints 1,2,3,4,5 were really scenic because of a dense fog that gave the wood a erie feeling. We got to 6A without much difficulty and after a nice 6km "scenic detour" we arrived at 7A. I got rather painful feet and muscles on the way to 10 and felt really bad at 11. Number 12 was a really nice and jolly checkpoint in a warm hut with lots of food and my legs felt a lot better and I easily got to 13 where we unfortunately lost Scott who had been doing an excellent job map reading. 

We waited for nearly an hour for our other 50km team that never arrived with the intention of joining up with them to walk the rest of the way. We left at 11:30ish with the remnants of our 50 mile team and some other 50 mile team members.

14, 15 were agony! We had been told they were not far and I could barely move my legs. I was so tired I was mistaking cars for tents and trees for people. Every time I saw any sort of light I thought it was a checkpoint. We couldn't stop to rest for very long because then out joints would seize up. When, after what seemed like forever we arrived back at the school. I don't think I could have walked another meter.

Doug (2004)

District Craft Competition December 2010

We entered a good display of posters and cards. There were about 200 entries in the various classes from the various Cub Packs taking part, and we succeeded in winning four prizes including a first! Well done. Despite the cold weather (at least it wasn't raining), there was an archery competition in which we entered a four cub team. Haven't heard the results of this, but suffice to say some good hits were achieved.

Cubs at Charlecote Park District Camp September 2009

This weekend, with almost perfect weather, the Cubs tried a range of activities: archery, air rifles, scaling a climbing wall, the destruction of a bouncy castle (it only lasted Saturday), and pioneering. They also had the chance to go on a guided Park Walk, on which the Warden described the history of the park (undisturbed since the 11th century) and its amazing variety of wildlife (mostly too small to notice). For the adventurous there was an orienteering course.

On Sunday, they got the opportunity to have a paddle in the kayaks, which was definitely better than a ride in powered Rovers that was the lot of all other cub groups attending. There are definite advantages in being the only water oriented Scout Group at the camp!

Definitely a camp worth attending

Cubs at St Georges Parade 2009?

This year, we joined with other local scout beaver and cub groups to hunt dragon masters, hidden at strategic points around Warwick center, mainly on the far side of busy main roads. Six stickers were there to be collected, and we completed the task in good time for the parade and march around the town. Our dragon was probably the longest entered, but nobody told us when judging was takling place, so we were too late for the judgment! However see then photos to appreciate the achievement of lining quite so many cubs under such a long sheet!

County Bear Trek 2003

After our success in the Incident hike, with two teams going through, we turned up fully prepared and excited to the Shipston-on-Stour scout hut for the County Bear trek. This was a hike through the countryside around Shipston-on-Stour with six check points, four of which had activities which you earned points from.

We were driven to our first checkpoint, where we were to show how to resuscitate an unconscious person we had found by the side of road. This was ok as two of us already had the emergency aider badge and the others had practiced the method too.

We then set off back to the scout hut where we found the other team from 2nd Warwick. The task here was to move a barrel into a dustbin using three ropes but without touching the ground within about a 2m radius with anything. We succeeded with only a minute to spare!

On the next stretch we got a little lost but with some help from the other team, found the farm. It turned out that putting a sling on to the leader here was no mean feat, with lots of speculation and re-tying. In the end we managed it, just, but couldn?t remember how to make the triangular bandage into a wide bandage.

The next checkpoint was only a safety checkpoint, with no activity, so we carried on to Todenham. On the way, we spotted the other team some way behind us! After a brief stop for the whole team to climb into the phone box, we found the checkpoint where we had to disarm a rocket. 

From here we walked to Mitford Bridge (getting the rugby score on the way and overtaking a Stratford team) where the task was to light a fire and boil a cup of water on it using a flint. Difficult as none of us had ever used a flint before!

However, we managed it and set off to our last but one checkpoint, on a road past Burmington. On arrival, the leader here radioed in to make sure we could carry on, and with only twenty minutes left we walked away to our last checkpoint over a lot of fields.

We finished the route at 3:10pm, now exhausted having walked just over ten miles. We shared jaffa cakes and waited for the last team to finish. We were driven back to the scout hut were we ate and drank and again, waited for a lost team to come in.

The room was filled with tension as the results were announced, particularly as the top three teams were separated by only three points. But we cheered and clapped when we heard we had won and went to collect the trophy and certificates.

We left tired, full and very, very happy!

By Hermione 2003

DBJs view on the Chase Walk 2004

So again I find myself doing another stupidly long walk, but this time it had quite an unexpected end. It was the second time me, Chris, Joe and Steve had been on the Chase Walk, we had all finished it last year. Doug was the only newcomer to the 40mile hike.

We pitched in the campsite in the dark on Friday night. After a bad nights sleep we woke up at, yes another stupidly early time, 5:10, packed our kit and proceeded to join the long cue for breakfast of sausages and beans. The kit check was not very stringent, luckily for us, and we started walking at 6:37.

I had quite a bit of confidence in navigation, half remembering the route from last year when we completed the course, and if we were doubt you could always follow a group; however a lesson learned was that groups of who seem experienced walkers actually cannot map read.

We set off round the 16 checkpoints, going up and down hills with this odd mix of scrub and conifer trees on. The sun was shining and we were having a good time. It was easier walking than the Southern 50/50 and the previous Chase Walk as this time we knew we could accomplish it. We got to checkpoint 2 in good time, keeping to out predicted times, which were quite optimistic. On the way to checkpoint 3 it started raining, boo hoo. So I ate a mars bar. Then it started really raining and being windy, very windy!

We got to checkpoint 4 in the rain where we got some very nice flap jacks, so nourishing. We didn't stop at any of the bases for very long; past experience suggest that long breaks hurt your legs a lot after you get up again. So we made quick progress though the bases, in fact there was one team we kept pace with all the way, but they overtook us about 7 times as they stopped at every check point for ages when we passed them. It was quite odd how they kept overtaking us, except at the end when they got lost after leading us the wrong way, how inconsiderate.

We walked along a long canal (There's something about long walks and canals), there were loads of teams walking this stretch, it was quite reassuring for us to be walking in a group of teams as we knew we were going at the right pace. By this time, around 10:30, it was getting very windy.

We climbed up what we think is the third worst hill, but it seemed a lot easier, maybe because we had the strong wind behind our backs, just as we got back onto the chase we walked off it to checkpoint 7 ran by 1st Sutton Sea Scouts; worried they'd notice we were from Warwick we just passed though this base. From 7 to 8 it was all new territory to us as last year we took a short cut. But the wind became a real problem on some of the fields here. Particularly one field that was just bare soil, the wind was blowing strait across it whipping up clouds of dust which were flung into your face and body. This really really stung, luckily me and Chris had map cases we could use to shield our faces with; Joe wasn't so lucky wearing a short sleeved top, oww!

Heading back onto the Chase it was lovely and sunny again, really hot in fact; the wind was warm and southerly. On the way to checkpoint 9, south along the road, it became very hard not to be blown onto the on coming cars. This wind really did push you all over the place! 

Eventually we got to checkpoint 9. We checked in, and as a passing comment the lady there told us we weren't allowed to continue as the communications were down and because of the extraordinary strong winds, so we got some soup and waited with all the other groups here. The walk was cancelled due to the strong wind; I wouldn't have liked to be walking in the dark when a tree falls down around you, or on you. So all the teams got mini bussed back to the campsite. We had to walk around one fallen tree to get to the mini buses. 

This obviously was a great disappointment as we came all the way to complete the 40 miles and were doing very well, were the 23rd team out of 71 to get to checkpoint 9; I think we all could have finished. But as we were aching it wasn't that much of bad news

Back at the campsite there were many tents blown to the floor, poles bent, sheets ripped, one tent was shredded and one person had lost his tent completely. But our tents survived! Except a little rip in mine and bent pole in Steve's. We carefully packed up and sat inside with most of the other walkers till we got a premature lift back to Warwick on the Saturday afternoon.

It was a pity it got called off as we were having a very successful walk, but now I get to eat all my mars bars to myself, yum yum.

DBJ 21-03-04

Cardboard City - 2003

Simon had the crazy idea of making shelters from cardboard boxes and sleeping in them, this seemed like a good idea in August in the heat. Now in October it didn't seem like anywhere near as much of a good idea? especially as at 8:45am I was loading the trailer with cardboard it started to rain, not nice, and what's more, Simon wasn't there to join the fun?

Anyway we went to Dodd's farm and started constructing shelters, some good some mediocre and some well, I'm glad I didn't have to sleep in it?

When the "houses" had been built we took a well-earned rest in the farmhouse to warm up, then it was time for food then off to the district swimming.

We won the swimming (would have been hard to lose as we were the only explorer team), so the explorers also helped with the marshalling. I stopped on the way back to the farm to get pizzas, which reminds me you never did pay me back. when I returned to the farm the explorers had lit a fire as the frost was coming down. They soon ate all my pizza (gits)We then went to bed, there was a bit of shelter swapping and a few of them didn't get slept in, in the end, but hey what can you do.

In the morning we got up and had breakfast then ceremoniously recycled (burnt) the shelters. 

titch (03)

CAMP 2010 - Incomplete

Monday 26th July

Start of boating proper today, lots of fun on the water.

This evening they are playing silly camp sports (photos in the camp gallery)

The scouts went sailing, canoeing and kayaking and looked to be having a great time.

the explorers tried out the kata canoes and did some power boating, with a trip across to Poole for a bag of chips.

Wednesday 28th July 2010

Another good day on the water, with sailing in little wind this morning many happy faces and a few swims even in the light wind. this afternoon was a little windier with one or two sessions of sailing called off but a few leaders stepped in and did some joyrides, had some crazy camp sports this evening, the explorers went and polluted the local swimming Poole, there was a slight scummy layer on the top of the water when we left..

Sunday 25th July:

Had a great journey down with the Scouts, once the coach actually arrived!  With no holdups.

It was WELL noisy though, with 65 scouts trying to make themselves heard from one end of the top deck to the other (why?) over Radio 1.  The first sweets were definitely opened before we had left Warwick, and we then stopped at the services near Newbury to top up the sugar levels a bit more.   (Pocket money now collected into 'camp bank' ready for their next retail opportunity: tuck shop.)

Having received a "bring waterproofs" text first thing, we arrived in Dorset to bright sunshine. Had a  rendezvous with the mini-buses at the handy local park and ride as the coach was too big to make it down the lane to the campsite, so then arrived at the campsite in 2 shifts, into the care of Barbie and the advanced party at around midday.

The site already looked like a small village, with 2 marquees, 4 other big 'mess' tents and all the leaders and explorers sleeping tents in place.  Plus our huge central flagpole must have been causing serious flagpole envy for the sea cadets down the hill.  The sea looks really inviting, and the explorers were starting to unpack boats.

Shorts on, and then a busy and cheerful afternoon was spent setting up patrol sites, beautifully spaced out in an arc, the far side of the flag from the marquee.  And whose idea was it to alternate the tents green, white, green,.....?   Very aesthetically pleasing Barbie.   The scouts had lots of help to get everything sorted out, with adults being kept on their toes with questions usually beginning with 'I can't find  .....', except for Aaron's 'Why can't I get everything back in my bag?? ', after rummaging for a change of clothes.

Stores were issued by Sue early at 4pm, so that all the basic items such as toilet roll and jam could be put away before the evenings dinner of meatballs was started.

Handed over all my messages from Mums & Dads as appropriate to Jenny or Sally (our ex-cub leader) who would be running the medical clinic after tea. Sadly had to leave to come home for a couple of days before returning for the rest of camp .. can't wait to get out on the water.           Jane.

 Friday 30th July

Today was troop sail day for the scouts....after making a packed lunch and rigging loads of boats we launched from the camp beach at about 10.30 and sailed off.  As everyone has already had a day or two of sailing this week, they were all really impressive sailors.  Laura and Emilia were hanging off the trapeze, Elaine was leaning out of her boat so far that her hair was dripping.  Max Widmer & Elaine unexpectedly took a little swim but everyone else managed to stay in their boats.  For lunch we landed on a beach adjacent to a very private nature reserve (lots of convenient trees and bushes).In the afternoon the wind got up a bit, but the sailors coped really, really well, and were still smiling when we got back to the camp site at 4.30pm

You may have seen Elinor and Vicky wearing our 'happy hats' on the photos.  That was to reward them for capsizing a mirror dinghy without any sails up!  Owen had the hat today and wore it all day whilst sailing.

Thursday evening the explorers went swimming, and the scouts have now all been over the last two evenings -  they have awesome showers, although they might have blocked up filters by now.  Owen managed to find Heart FM on the minibus radio - well done to Kay for educating him so well,  I had the Bee Gees for them all to sing along to on the way home.

The explorers had an independent day today, going to Swanage by bus and train, and playing on the beach - they are just big beavers really.

Saturday 31st July

Today the Explorers went off on their RIB trip to Freshwater bay, they were delayed by an unfortunate first for a 2nd Warwick Camp... We had a boat stolen, one of the RIBs was stolen from the moorings, we recovered the boat later in the day minus its engine (the police later got the engine back).

We set off with two borrowed RIBs to the Isle of White and Enjoyed a fast run down to the Needles then down the south side of the island to Freshwater Bay. We stopped there for lunch ferrying ourselves into shore with a rope and a smaller boat.

Unfortunately Claire tripped over coming off the boat and the next wave was enough to set off her automatic life jacket in 2" of water some hilarity and a spare life jacket were the next order of the day..

SEA SCOUTS GO CAMPING - Article from The Warwick Courier

Some of the youngest members of the Second Warwick Sea Scouts joined their more experienced colleagues on their first camp recently. The six to eight-year-olds, who are known as beavers, got their first taste of 'camp life' during a weekend away in Oxfordshire.

"I don't think there are many other children in this age group who can tell their friends they went rock climbing, followed a nature trial and sat round an open fire on the weekend," said group leader Nick Shacklock.

"The beavers left the camp after the traditional campfire and the scouts who stayed woke up to a layer of frost."

All the scouts meet once a week in St Nicholas Park on different evenings, depending on the age of the youngsters.

The beavers meet each Monday, and this week they focused on smells, tastes and sounds.

There are a total of 155 youngsters in the sea scouts. The eight to ten-year-olds are part of the cubs, the scouts are aged between ten and 14, and the explorer scouts are from 14 to 18.

This weekend the group will be competing in a swimming gala at HMS Raleigh, Plymouth.

Mr Shacklock said: "We are sea scouts rather than swimmers, so we may not win the event, but I am sure they will give it a go."

The scout leader is already planning for the summer months when his charges will be able to spend more time on the water.

They will be able to sail on Boddington reservoir each weekend this year, after the club clinched a new corporate membership deal.

"It gives the scouts a chance to sail in a significant amount of water before they have to deal with river currents," Mr Shacklock said.

The group, which already has girls in its two scout sections, is expanding to include them in the cub section from March 4. A mixed group of cubs will meet each week in Coten End School.

Go to www.2wk.org.uk for more information.

This article was featured in The Courier on the 6th February 2004. All credits for this article go to The Courier.

Police Station visit for the Beavers 2007

On the 30th April the Beavers went to Warwick police station to have a look round and to have a go at asking some questions. The chief constable was there and the Beavers got to ask some questions. We were taken around the police station by Seb and Kate which made this trip enjoyable.

The first thing we did was to have a tour and see what rooms were there. Then we took the Beavers to the cells and we locked them in there. (Yes no noise). We did some fingerprinting which made the trip very messy. The boys and girls were covered in ink. Finally we had a look at the police cars which got the Beavers in a fabulous jolly mood. We locked them in the back of a caught-on-camera van. They enjoyed this very much. At the end Kate and Seb gave all the children little presents to take home with them.

We all said thank you to Seb and Kate for taking us round and we hope we can do something else like this in the future.

Cat (PL Merlin 2007)

Guide Dogs for the Blind - Beavers

On Monday, Mandy a local Guide dog trainer visited the colony to give a talk about her work.

To help her with the talk she had brought along André. André is a Golden Retriever who is in the process of being trained.

Mandy told the boys about the care and training each dog had to undertake before being suitable to be a working dog.

Guide dogs are trained to help not only people that are blind but also people with visual impairments. For example those with tunnel vision, cataracts or those whose sight has been affected from a stroke.

The Beavers were put into pairs. One acted as the guide dog and the other blindfolded and led around obstacles in the room. It is not a very pleasant feeling not knowing where you are going. You really do have to have faith in your companion.

Mandy had also brought along a video and some special glasses to try and show in more detail what a visually impaired person's daily life is like.

We agreed how important it is to train a Guide Dog and decided we would like to do a fundraising event to give our support.