Both Sides of Summer Camp
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"Eddie Langdown" the3l...@btinternet.com
Just returned from taking 3 patrols to troop camp at Foxlease in the New Forest.
One of the most happy and successful we've run.
Two Good things were: 1. The Revolving 3 day Patrol Programme, A day cycling in the Forest - not to return for 5 hours. Taking bus, train and ferry to Brownsea Island (unaccompanied) and a day of serious cooking & site activities.
2. The 4 Rolling Pin trophies presented each day. 'Day Pin' - Patrol most points that day. Top Pin Most points so far. 'King Pin' most helpful Scout.
'Happy Pin' most fun scout.
Two Surprising things were: 1. The scouts actually wanting me to put Cl***ic FM on the bus radio!
2. The sexually explicit banter between the boys' and girls' tents.
Two Bad things were: 1. My dead beat menu, we must drag ourselves above fish fingers & smash.
2. After a hot sunny week, coming back with wet tents and no- where to dry them!
Anyone else care to share both sides of their camp?
Eddie Langdown GSL 16th Bermondsey, London http://bermondseyscout.co.uk/
"Manky Badger" you.m...@be.joking
We went to darkest Kent - about five miles away.
ditto 1 One of the dads came along and helped and was REALLY popular with the cubs 2 All the forecast rain came at night and we had dry days and packed up in the dry 1 With much less planned for the program compared with previous years the time still flew by and not everything got done.
2 One of the boys would seem to be incredibly hard of hearing. You'd think the parents would have told us this some time ago.
1 We still can't get the problem eater to eat !
2 Too much wind !
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Paul Harris nos...@127.0.0.1
What's the problem if they are hungry enough they will eat, so no problem as they were obviously not that hungry .
It was probably the beans.
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Paul Harris
"Manky Badger" you.m...@be.joking
if only.....
The child in question is a fat little thing who obviously eats, (and eats and eats) but every meal time at camp or sleepovers turns her nose up at everything except dry cereals and mashed potato and then cries because she doesn't like the food (and if she doesn't cry she forces coughing fits until she cries).
Then she starts loudly bleating about how she misses home and she won't stop until half a dozen others are also crying about homesickness as well.
Funnily her tears stop as though a tap is turned off the moment meal time is finished, but others are left upset.
To add insult to injury, on the last day she was telling the world about the lovely meal she will eat at home which consisted of pretty much everything she'd turned her nose up at camp.
Next time..... she won't come.
We've pandered to her and had her upset the others too many times.
I've come to the conclusion that we bend over backwards too much for one or two, but twenty+ other kids just get on with it without a word of complaint.
That was the sprouts!
We had Christmas on camp, with secorations, Santa and full Xmas dinner. And Christmas ain't Christmas without sprouts!
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"Eddie Langdown" the3l...@btinternet.com
I was talking to a Brownie Guide/ Guide leader ( while trying to scrounge an early morning coffee from her) and she told me that they had a policy of introducing a 'new food' to the kids every day. Saveloys, pickled- onions, gherkins ( which i thought were soldiers ), beetroot, various dressings, all of which I find totally obnoxious. But now I know why we are stuck in a sausage, fish finger and chicken menu rut; it is because it is all that I like eating!
I am seriously looking to buy some wind-breaks, green ones if possible ( i will get some made if I have to. ) I really hate sitting eating a nice meal in a patrol dining shelter with the wind howling through. We also had the altar fires raging like furnaces one day!
However, if you were referrinmg to flatulance.... the patrol I was eating with one day lost points for the boy next to me farting. 3 TIMES!
"Stephen Rainsbury" step...@rainsbury.net-spamnet- -
Glad that works for Scouts, I am still not sure about Explorers :-) Day trip from Thriftwood (Brentwood) to swimming pool in Chelmsford (two train stop - 15Km) - followed by a phone call "Steve we are in Colchester and the bloke here wants us to pay for the extra journey, we don't have enough and they won't take Visa Electron" I don't know the exact distance but its about 50km. Excuses ranged from 1 - We fell asleep (possible) 2 - Only Damien has ever been on a train before 3 - Damien went to teh bog and the rest of us hid behind the seats so he thought he was in teh wrong carriage but we missed teh stop.
I never used to have a radio on camp but it we soon found out that they worked much better when it was on. It was my wifes radio so it was Terry Wogan in the morning, which most were quite happy with and the unit chose the evening station, normally Essex. One evening after dinner I played "The Best prog Rock Album Ever" which i had just bought for ??3 from the garage while I was working out the finances and they all cleared off to the adventure playground. After 30 mins one of them rang to see if it was clear to come back yet :-) And before anybody comments you couldn't hear it outside out site.
That got me too.
The scouts were discussing condoms because the year 7's had been shown a load a few weeks earlier and they couldn't work out how they stayed on or what to do with them afterwards, and why would people want differrent shapes?
The explorers sat round the fire discussing why men like breasts!! The girls really wanted to know why differrent people liked differrent shapes I was in teh mess tent trying not to laugh, but one of teh girls came and asked me what my favourite shape to which I replied "Jills" they all went "Urggh gross....." and then changed subject..
The unit couldn't get over the fact that My wife and I both used teh solar shower (with screens round) without any clothes on! They used them because they were better than the site, but all apart from one AESL kept their swimming stuff on. One poor lad though didn't rinse properly and as he walked out his groin started to foam up. None of teh scouts used them.
My wife got uptight one night, she showed them how to make Chilli from basic ingredeants (including dark choclate and sugar) for 16 people but did Chill Bean Feast for our veggies. They didn't really get to grips with the idea of sugar and were not too keen, but when the realised that some had beanfeast it was almost a riot!!! next nights hand made spag bog was replaced with Bolognaise Benafeast and everybody was happy, exept 'er inoors who was disgusted and we ended up going to eat in the pub!
Same here, we had 7 Patrol tents, a 16' dining shelter, and our mess teant (12 man frame tent) in canvas and in plastic we hand 4 large leaders tents, 3 domes for explorer girls and AESLs plus the large plastic party tent which had been covered in dust but turned to mud with the rain.
The 8th HQ has open beams so we strung ropes from side to side and got the whole lot hanging down. The nylons were dry in 48 hours, but the last canvas is still damp to touch 7 days later. I say "we" I actually missed that because I called in at the M25 Thurrock services and it took over 2 hours get out due to heavy traffic. So when I got back it was almost all done.
The HQ is normally booked during the week but all leases know that it might be cancelled straight after summer camp, so we just put up a notice, but the treasurer was not happy as he had arranged for another community group to use it during the summer while the school they normally use is shut and didn't actually tell anybody. He wanted them taken down and couldn't we just air them one at a time in the garage? As tenants the unit was on shaky ground but the SL said ... NO.... but by then it was a done deal.
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Stephen Rainsbury ADC(Scouts) Gillingham Kent ESL Agathoid Explorer Scout Unit "Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens" - Jimi Hendrix
"Manky Badger" you.m...@be.joking
When discussing our problem, one of our leaders said that he'd read somewhere that the average youngster has to be presented with a new food item thirteen times before they can accept it as "food" - apparently it's a psychological thing. Me - I just shovel it all in :o) But if this is true it explains an awful lot of the trouble we have - in the past we've done (for fitness challenges and other things) charts where cubs record what they eat for a week, and so many eat the same old stuff with no variation. If this theory is true then they've each got a very limited mental idea of what constitutes "food", not all accepting the same things, and trying to get them to accept something new in the limited time we have is problematical at best.
The wind was so strong that my dome tent was blown nearly flat on several occ***ions, and had to be pegged down with wooden pegs normally used for patrol tents.
Sprouts !
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"rr" rr198...@hotmail.com
What happened to he advertised new showers then!
Bill Oldroyd b...@oldieshome.org.uk
We were helping at a garden show a couple of months ago and one of the traders was selling wind breaks printed with a beech hedge, possibly just what you need.
If the material had been in a wider width it would have been ideal for bivouacs - one wouldn't know where the scouts were :-).
Bill
eightet ...@hotmail.com
only managed a weekend, due to lack of leaders holidays.
good things: interest in old-style testwork- filled one morning with tree recognition, mapping and comp*** exercise everyone having a successful meal from bangers and spuds in foil (all eatable and all eaten without demur) troop getting tents down and packed away in double quick time surprising things sudden decision to mix girls and boys in tents, so that each tent mirrored the correct patrols.
interest in old fashioned testwork (!) everyone turning up to pack gear away afterwards.
bad things girls who tidy up after boys me being unwell and sleeping so soundly that I didn't spot sleepless kids on night one (with result that one was so shattered that he went home late next day) Bill
Ewan Scott ewansc...@btinternet.com
On Sat, 19 Aug 2006 23:23:00 +0100, "Eddie Langdown" We sort of do that.
Good idea. Must try it out on them.
Stranger thiongs have happened...
Nope. If it gets heard then they get asked to repeat it for everyone to hear. They don't and usually get the point.
Nowt wrong with Smash, you can do lots with it.
That can even be a problem if you do have your own hall. We were lucky we got back dry -otherwise we had 13 wet patrol tents and three wet mess tents....
Or it could have been 40 wet hike tents :-) Ewan Scott
"Pete" psma...@supanet.com
A bit of a problem with getting the gas plumbed in. They are looking good though - the two shower blocks are built and I believe at least one is almost finished inside.
Pete
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Peter Maley SL, 3rd Whitstable ESL, Tombstones ESU
"Pete" psma...@supanet.com
We had a week at Thriftwood at the start of the summer hols.
1) Help from the parents not just at the HQ before we left and after we got back but several helped us pitch and strike. Plus one stayed with us Saturday & Sunday and another came out Monday & Tuesday - both a real help.
2) The Explorers - no hastle - for example: give them food, they cook it and wash up - no grief, no 'I don't like it' complaints they just get on with it.
1) The patrol we thought would be the strongest (good PL & APL plus no first time campers) worked really well the first couple of days, then completely fell apart for the rest of the week.
2) Water Rockets! I've never played with them before - great fun! Next year I'll put them on the programme for the Scouts (not just for the leaders when the Scouts are off playing football)!
1) Tuesday's programme - far too much to do (10am Pedal Karts, 12pm Climbing/Abseiling, 2pm-5pm Rafting, 8pm Lazer Tag) and no time to chill.
Plus a fairly complicated meal to cook in the evening when they were dashing off to shower. More thought needed next year to avoid a repeat.
2) Guides ... sorry, too general, Guides who sing ... or more specifically Guides who insist on singing whenever they walk anywhere as a group! It didn't take long to find out they all loved each other and were they all came from so by the end of the week we were wishing their voices would wear out!
Pete
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Peter Maley SL, 3rd Whitstable ESL, Tombstones ESU
"Eddie Langdown" the3l...@btinternet.com
The way we dealt with mixed patrols was to provide each patrol site with 2 4 person tents to accommodate a 3/3 2/4 mix/. This was our 3rd year and it has worked fine.
But probably because of a slight change in personalities among the boys and the girls, this year the talk between the tents suddenly became incredibly sexually explicit. As an old timer I have heard it all from boys, but it was the first time I had heard it from girls, and I totally accept that they were all showing-off.... and didn't understand half of what they were saying. There was also no sign of anything but really good friendship and appropriate language during the day.
I have also found our mixed older scout hike groups have crashed-into the same tent on two occasions, but on both occasions it was talking during the evening and falling asleep fully clothed. They all paid the price by being totally knackered the next day.
I am firmly against mixed scout section sleeping because: 1. Some boys and girls might not want to, being shy, having menstrual problems and could feel unfairly coerced into doing it.
2. While kids who have grown-up through Beavers and Cubs often have a brother/sister relationship, we have had a few scouts join 'directly' and who have not shared the same respect or inhibitions. One new lad hid under a table to see the girls changing.
3. While I have accepted the few occasions that our scouts have slept together, I do not want to be known as encouraging it, or providing for it and get labelled in any derogatory way.
Explorer scouts are older and hopefully more confident and able to ***ert themselves.
Eddie Langdown GSL 16th Bermondsey, London http://bermondseyscout.co.uk/
"Manky Badger" you.m...@be.joking
We did these with a difference this year -
1 Make a paper cylindrical rocket 2 Get a film canister and wedge a bit of alka-seltzer (or as I decribed it "Guts-Ache tablets") in the lid.
3 Put water in the film canister 4 Replace lid 5 Put film canister into base of rocket with rocket in upside down position 6 Turn the rocket right way up (which brings water & alka-seltzer together) , put it down & wait for it to launch We tried replacing the water with various other fluids including vinegar, juice from the picked beetroot, lager and Spitfire ale. Spitfire worked best :o) One of my pet hates is campfire singing.
I detest it with a p***ion as it's blantently obvious that the cubs hate it too.
So why is it that they ALWAYS sing those very songs as a group at every opportunity except at a camp fire singalong?
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eightet ...@hotmail.com
This year we pitched two days before the camp, for reasons of darkness and late arrival. At the pitching session, the scouts suddenly said "why do we have to sleep apart? can't we sleep in the same tent?" As parents happy with this, and taking into account a quick personal word with each boy and girl concerned, we went for it.
I don't want to encourage it if it upsets anyone, but this was quite natural, and to say "no" seemed the opposite. BTW it only directly affected one patrol, and this contains 2 girls, one (APL) with her brother, and the other their next door neighbour.
Bill
Paul Harris nos...@127.0.0.1
>>2. The sexually explicit banter between the boys' and girls' tents.
>Nope. If it gets heard then they get asked to repeat it for everyone >to hear. They don't and usually get the point.
They are not all that shy so what if they do repeat it?
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Paul Harris
"Eddie Langdown" the3l...@btinternet.com
Last year we used wooden bread-boards as camp trophies, lots of room to draw on them. This year Wooden Rolling Pins.
Most of the music was short popular pieces, back-grounds to TV adverts, Star-Wars, theme to Durasic Park, I've never known the mini-bus so calm.
We were checking the tents one night, we heard a bit of laughing, leaders were turning-in and suddenly one girl asked the others who they would most want to see naked... we were hooked, it was graphic, but anatomically correct I guess, and so very funny. We went to get another leader and when we got back they had somehow moved-on to talking about oral sex, lots of giggling and "disgusting!" . We all walking out into the field and from there told all the tents to stop talking. We discussed it among ourselves, were more surprised than shocked, and saw it as 'growing up' and of us hearing it from boys but not used hearing girls talking like this. We decided not to do anything.
But then a few nights later, it was the same subject, but a brief 'dirty dual' between a boy and girl with others giggling. I think I just said, " Is there any sense to this conversation, we don't talk like this and we don't expect you to." Again we decided not to make a big thing of it, but one of the female YL's spoke to the girl for me.... more about the danger of her getting a name/ reputation that she might find it difficult to shake-off.
Eddie Langdown GSL 16th Bermondsey, London http://bermondseyscout.co.uk/
"Stephen Rainsbury" step...@rainsbury.net-spamnet- -
Not ready yet.. its a long storey with many versions, but they were definitely still working on them about 50m from our site :-(
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Stephen Rainsbury ADC(Scouts) Gillingham Kent ESL Agathoid Explorer Scout Unit "Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens" - Jimi Hendrix
"Stephen Rainsbury" step...@rainsbury.net-spamnet- -
According to the instructions you can bung ours in a pillow case and bung them in a tumble drier. SWMBO has strong views on this which include the letters O and N.
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Stephen Rainsbury ADC(Scouts) Gillingham Kent ESL Agathoid Explorer Scout Unit "Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens" - Jimi Hendrix
Baggy newsgr...@remove-baggy.me.uk
Are you sure you have the cause and effect the right way round here...
Groups tend to mirror their leaders rather than the other way round.
With Cubs at least you need lots of enthusiasm and silliness from those running the campfire and they soon all join in. Usually works best when you have a large group of people as there is a critical m*** of voices at the start...
"Stephen Rainsbury" step...@rainsbury.net-spamnet- -
The bloody place was crawling with them, which is strange as we were not allowed to Blacklands as it was Guides only that week!!
We got the key to the communal shower block after rafting but when the lads arrived it was being used, it sounded like girls so they sent one of our girls in and yes it was full of guides, so my lot sat down outside to wait until it was empty.
They had been in for 5 minutes when this harpy burst in, no introduction and berated them for terrorising her little girls.
One of mine asked her to leave and that he would sort it our when clean, so she locked them in!!
She sat outside moaning through the window so my lot took a nice leisurely shower got dressed and then used their key to let themselves out... dohh..
she had another go but they ignored her except one who said he was coming with her to the wardens office to complain that (a) she burst in without knocking and knew it was full of boys (b) she locked them in violating both civil rights and fire regulations and (c) we were clearly told at the camp briefing (which she didn't go to) that we were required to leave a leader in charge of the showers outside at all times.
He was about to start on dual standards in society where she seemed to think it was wrong for men to see naked girls but OK for women to see naked boys but decided against it, but she apologised said that she was tired and wanted to drop the whole thing.
She was never going to win.
He said he would leave it to me and left her to it. I didn't pursue it, we were having a great time and she was obviously suffering, it wouldn't serve any purpose.
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Stephen Rainsbury ADC(Scouts) Gillingham Kent ESL Agathoid Explorer Scout Unit "Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens" - Jimi Hendrix
"Richard Hunt" richardnhuntSPAMT...@hotmail.com
1) A superb week of boating at Longridge. A really superb - if a little muddy - site.
2) Kids enjoyed it all & worked really hard when needed to - never had billy's as clean as they did after 4 singing girls got to them on the final day.
3) A superb tow trip back down river in 12 hours - lock keepers - really friendly helpful people.
1) 2 trips to local hospital - although the award for ironic injury award goes to the kid who is always throwing stones and got got on the head with a rebounding stone!
2) Spending an hour and a half sorting out two brothers who had wound each other up the point of fisticuffs when I much rather would be having a shower, shave and .....
One final point - Longridge is a superb site. Excellent location, superb staff and great activities on site - please consider it or even better, make a donation - www.longridge.org.uk Rich SL; 1st Cuddington Sea Scouts
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