1st Chipping Sodbury Scout Group

One Friday evening 28 excited Cubs piled into our mini-buses and we headed off to Grosmont, Abergavenny.
When we descended onto the peaceful Scout camp, in a field below the sleepy village of Grosmont, we found the Cubs' five patrol tents had already been pitched in a neat row and all they had to do was dump their stuff, sort out their beds and explore the camp. Thanks Scouts, what a treat!

One activity the Cubs were dying to try was the delights of 'tuck' so they couldn't wait for their money to be 'banked' and sample its wares like the Scouts do. Soon a massive queue formed and I was amazed to hear them working out how many packets of Polos they could get for £2!
Having sampled the heights of the zip wire, rope bridge and scramble net the Scouts had put up during the week and been given a tour by the Scouts, it was time for bed and eventually(!) all fell asleep. Yes they did brush their teeth after all that ‘tuck’!

I don’t think even the lambs in the neighbouring field were awake before some Cubs the next morning, but I was hoping that the day's activities would wear them out enough for us not to have a repeat performance the following day. The Explorers cooked breakfast for us all – strange for us Cub leaders to have someone else cooking for us on camp, it’s usually all down to us – an excellent start to the day.

Each Cub Six were challenged to building a raft to race and luckily were given a few Scouts to help them. It was lovely to see our ex-Cubs, now older and more experienced Scouts (hmmm?), show the Cubs how it should be done. They were enjoying working together, ropes, barrels and poles gradually forming some kind of raft, but I couldn’t see how some of these ‘craft’  were going to stay together, never mind race the whole six downstream. The temptation became too great for a few leaders who couldn’t resist adding a few ropes/lashings/design tips!  The race was – interesting – some less raft, more heaps of poles, ropes and floating Cubs on barrels, but who cares, they sort of floated... and they all had fun!

The Beavers were next to arrive, wow camp was getting full – a sea of children aged 6-60’ish all enjoying the outdoors – ace! With lunch out of the way – good old spam (?)... it was time to rotate around the camps activity bases  – canoeing, archery, abseiling, air rifle shooting and more time on the zip wire, scramble net and rope bridge.  The weather got a bit miserable at one point in the afternoon, but failed to dampen spirits only briefly pausing a few activities.
When popping into the marquee to get a drink, I found our GSL Nick cooking up trays of something delicious, whilst about 3 leaders were up to their armpits in flour and pastry. Not a rolling pin in sight, they were rolling it with a bottle or something. This I had to stay to watch, I wish I’d had my camera on me! Amazingly they were making massive steak and kidney pies for dinner – couldn’t wait – the smell was amazing. So I was glad when we all stopped the bases to have dinner – yum! The Cubs and Beavers were starving after their busy afternoon and would have had thirds, never mind seconds! Still, washing up was easier for them that evening – not much to scrape off their plates this time.

The fire pit of one the Scout patrols was commandeered for that evening's campfire and whilst that was being built up by the pyromaniacs (leaders), the Cubs went up the hill to explore the remains of Grosmont Castle and returned to join the campfire songs. The Beavers most definitely contributed the most to these, but I’m not sure if that was because they wanted to sing loudest or if they wanted to get on and finish so that they could get into their beds – I heard several say they couldn’t wait! When I looked in on the marquee later I understood why - inside one half of our huge marquee 2-man pop-up tents had been put up – if I were 6-8 years old I would have looked forward to that too, camping out without the camping out! As the last Chinese lantern disappeared in the distance, the last of the Cubs went to bed – not too much persuasion needed this evening.

The next morning was later than the first by a few hours for most Cubs – phew – some tents having to be woken up for their breakfast! With breakfast cleared, tents tidied and bleary eyed Cubs/Beavers dressed, it was time for Flag Break and a group photo. We said goodbye to the Beavers and started to pack up the camp ready for leaving that afternoon. Whilst some bases carried on their activities for the Cubs, the camp gradually cleaned and packed away the camp kitchen, patrol boxes, patrol /storage tents and dining shelters. A welcome BBQ of burgers courtesy of the Explorers, now experienced in the art of burning food briefly stopped us for lunch as the weather started to get really miserable. Unfortunately we now had wet tents to dry out at HQ but at least it hadn’t been like it all week.
As the leaders dismantled the tepee, marquee and flag pole, these were the final signs that the camp was coming to a close, the Cubs and Scouts walked the campsite in lines finding the odd sock or two that had been missing all week... Yes I was tired and couldn’t wait to have a shower and some sleep, but I had had such a great time, shame it had to end.

A really big thank you to all the Leaders who make all this possible, you work so hard, but it’s worth it, honest! Thank you Scouts for making the Cubs and Beavers so welcome – they appeared to have a ball - I enjoyed my first ever Group camp and learnt a lot – I hope you all did too.

Sharon Cross – Rikki – Monday Cubs