This is a very LIGHT HEARTED look at what we will be doing on Sandiway Camp 2010 – Sandiway is the most idyllic site you can imagine, in woods that are an outreach of Delamere Forest. Facilities on site are good with clean toilets and showers, a duty warden team, tuck shop and plenty of activities to try. Activities on site include climbing, archery, low ropes course, rafting, a canoeing and bell boating pool, orienteering and a bouldering wall.
On this camp however we are keeping things simple and going back to basics. The cubs will arrive and walk down to the camp area (leaving parents at the car park). They will be split into tent groups of 6 or 7 ish and will then unpack and pitch their own tents (with a little help from the adults). Once the tents have been pitched and the cubs are changed into their scruffs its wide game time (a wide game is usually a hide-and-seek type game played over a wide area). After a snack and drink we then usually go for a gentle walk along the White Gate Way (a disused railway line which runs along the site). With everyone suitably warn out – or as is usually the case, still hypo and full of energy: time for the last toilet trip and then change for bed.
Saturday morning will be an early start as the cubs are usually awake by 6.30 ish. After a quick check and sort of any overnight problems the cubs will be up, changed and ready to start breakfast. On this camp we are planning to go completely back to basics: after a bowl of cereal the cubs will be split into groups, each group will have to carry an alter fire (a metal half barrel and stand) from the storage area to our camp area, collect a sufficient amount of wood, light their fires and then when the fire has burnt down to embers they will cook bacon butties. (At this point some parents will be freaking out at the thought of their child lighting and cooking on a fire – they really can do it, parents are often amazed at what their kids achieve in cubs and cub camp is a very unique experience that is not matched by any other youth movement).
After breakfast has been cooked and eaten the cubs will do the washing up using the 3 bin method – each cub takes their own dirty plates, bowls, cubs and cutlery: the first bin is for scraping scraps into, the second bin has washing up water and cloths in and the third bin has rinsing water in, then after giving everything a wipe with a t-towel it is put away ready for the next meal time. Bish-bash-bosh and the washing up is done.
Time for a quick wide game and then it will be shelter building time. Providing the weather is kind to us we are hoping to build some bivi-shelters (open ended shelters - or as one cub once described it 'a wind tunnel') made from fallen branches, sticks, ferns and anything else found lying around the woods (no living trees, bushes or animals will be harmed in the making of these shelters, only dead trees, bushes and animals! will be used). We will be working on these shelters on and off throughout the day.
Lunch will be sandwiches (make by the cubs – YES, children really can butter their own bread and put their own filling on – the butties often end up looking a bit rough around the edges, but their often still edible), fruit, crisps, choc bars and juice.
As well as continuing with the shelters in the afternoon we will also be going on the low ropes course.
Mid afternoon some of the cubs will help to prepare tea, peeling potatoes – with real potato peelers (its ok parents, take a deep breath and keep reading), and laying the tables. Tea is usually Turkey Roast, Mash and Veg, or Pasta and Source, or any combination they are willing to eat (by this time they have usually built up a big appetite and often don’t care what they get as long as it’s food – fussy eaters suddenly become a lot less fussy). While some are preparing tea the others usually make wish boats from sticks and string (more about this on a moment). After tea the cubs washing up again: using the three bin system.
The evening is a time to really chill out, and we usually start with a gentle walk and a wide game before return to site and collecting our wish boats – these are hand crafted (bodged) boats (clumps of wood, sticks and string) that cubs can attach a wish or thought too. We then float the wish boats with small candles attached on the round pool (in the dark, 30 little boats floating around the pool with candles on looks really nice). Now it’s camp fire time, songs will be sung and stories will be told. Cake and juice also usual appear at some point during the evening.
Finally some very tired children crawl off to bed and literally within 15 minutes the site is in absolute silence. On this camp we hope to give the cubs the option of sleeping in the shelters they have built (by now parents, you’re probably really freaked at the thought of your little angle! sleeping in a sleeping bag, in a shelter that they have built, in a big dark scary forest. What’s the worst that can happen! – this is a unique experience and over the last 20 years the memories that former cubs are most fond of is the time they built and slept in their own shelter - don’t worry, my hammock will be very close by)
Sunday morning is a bit like the morning after the night before (parents will know what I mean by that). It can be as late as 8am before the first cubs wake up (I have know when we are in a hut for it to be gone 9am). After any overnight problems have been sorted (much more likely as they went to bed very tired), the cubs get up, change and start the 1 hour long task of getting their sleeping bag into its stuff sack. The mass of clothes lining the tent floor also get matched with its owner, or in the case of pant, boxers and odd socks they get put on a bag and washed by a leader ready for the next pack meeting. Finally, once the bags are packed it’s time for breakfast, usually cooked on gas burners by two cubs (parents, pick yourself up of the floor – cubs and gas burners do really go together) that have volunteered to get up early and cook bacon, sausage, smilie faces, beans and eggy bread for the masses. (By this point anyone who started the weekend as a fussy eater will usually have given up the idea – until they get back home!). Washing up is again done by the cubs – yes, you guessed it, the three bin system.
Sunday morning is always slow and relaxed; at some point we usually have a gentle stroll over to the bouldering wall and then stop for another wide game on the way back to our camp area.
The cubs are then again let loose with the butter and sandwich fillings and we all relax for lunch.
Madness now sets in, everything needs to be packed away and there are only a group of tired kids and their even more tired leaders to do it. Actually, our cubs are amazing and helped by the young cubs the older ones know exactly what to do. Once they have packed their own tents away the cubs then help the leaders to put the frame tent (the one we store food and cook in) and the army dinner (a big open ended shelter that we eat under) away.
Now for the slow plod up to the car park with our bags to meet the parents (on most scout sites, parents are not allowed beyond the car park – child protection). On the way home many cubs fall asleep (parents, don’t expect detailed blow by blow accounts of the weekend), after tea, a bath and an early night they are usually up bright and full of energy ready for school (ye right, teachers usually know if we’ve had a cub camp because the kids are often surprisingly quiet)
About 3 hours after the cub’s leave camp Baloo usually gets home, the trailer is back at the hut ready for the cubs to unpack it on the Tuesday night, the horse is fed and watered and a takeaway has been purchased.
A weekend is far too short for a cub camp: the first night they are hypo, the Saturday they are hypo and the Sunday they are tired. On a longer camp we would give them a VERY early night (around 5.30 / 6.00 ish) and then for the rest of the camp they are an absolute please to be with. We WILL have a longer 5 night camp during February Half Term next year in a hut. We used to have a 5 night camp each year and it was the most popular camp we used to run but as leaders change and get older it became difficult to get the adult help – we WILL make it happen next year.
Cubs – why not click on the link near the top of this site that says ‘Wistaston Scout Group – Blog List’ and have a look at what the scouts got up to on their 2008 and 2009 week long summer camps (loads of pictures)
Parents – if you really want too – read on
Cub camp is the best part of being a cub, they learn to be away from their parents, they learn to do things for themselves, they learn to look after their belongings and make decisions for themselves. They leave cubs being able to prepare and cook food, able to pitch a tent, able to pack a rucksack for a weekend away and able to look after and respect the people around them. Team games, working together to pitch a tent, build a shelter or cook a meal all help to improve leadership and team work. Camp life helps to keep them fit and healthy, and every part of camp from beginning to end is aimed at helping them with confidence and self esteem. With such a mix of children they are encouraged to working together, look after each other and help to make camp an enjoyable time for everybody. We have a duty of care while they are with us and problems are sorted out quickly and quietly, on a sunny weekend we take using sun cream very seriously, drinking plenty and eating properly are actively encouraged, tears are very few and far between and the only nervous people are the parents at home worrying about their little treasures. After 20 years there are very few problems we have not already come across. (The minute parents have gone, the tear dry up, and the smiles appear). We have had numerous cubs that have missed home on the first 1 or 2 camps but over time they get over it. We currently have a cub that will be going on his 4th camp, on the Saturday night of his first 2 camps he came to me because he was having a ‘wobbly moment’ missing home (It only last 5 minutes). On his third camp he was walking around on the Saturday night with a big smile on his face, when I asked him why he was so happy be said it was because he was not missing home ‘I’ve got use to being away from home – Cub Camp is Great’. There is a younger adult at the 35th who when he was a cub had the occasional ‘wobbly moment’ and gave me a few sleepless nights before he got used to being away from home, he even had a 'wobbly week' on a scout summer camp, he went on to do every camp we ran, 150 night later, he never missed a night away. We learn more about our cubs on one weekend camp than we could ever hope to do on pack nights, the better we know our cubs the more we can help them to develop and grow up during their time with us. The scout movement is not a youth club; its sole aim is to help develop young people into better, confident, capable young adults who have values of working hard, true, honesty and respect.
