This weekend 1st Chapel’s Beavers, Kinder and Bowden Cub Packs and the Scouts took part in a Group camp at Gradbach Scout Camp on the theme of ‘Knight School’.
The Cubs, Scout and first half of the Beavers arrived on Friday evening and while the Scouts set up their tents the Cubs and Beavers set up their beds in the farmhouse and cottage. Once everyone was settled the Cubs and Scouts went for a night walk up to Castle Rocks and Luds church whilst the Beavers made mini catapults and went for their own night walk. The night finished with hot chocolate and bed.
On Saturday the day started with a breakfast of cereal and bacon/sausage sandwiches before the rest of the Beavers arrived.
After breakfast, the Cubs and Beavers spent their day doing a rotation of activities including making Heraldic Shields, backwoods cooking, Tomahawk throwing, splatterpults, and archery. The weather was incredibly wet, but this didn’t seem to dampen their enthusiasm. After a lunch of homemade soup and build your own sandwiches, the Beavers and Cubs continued with their rotation around the activities.
The Scouts spent their Saturday morning route planning before making fires and cooking their lunch. After lunch they followed their planned route practising their navigation.
Everyone met up in the tractor shed for a hearty tea of deconstructed lasagne (pasta with a choice of bolognaise, vegetarian sauce, cheese sauce and cheese) followed by a delicious homemade apple crumble and custard. The evening finished with an excellent campfire led by Harry.
After the campfire the first half of the Beavers departed and the remaining campers had a supper of hot chocolate before heading to bed completely exhausted.
Sunday started with breakfast before the Cubs and Beavers packed away their belongings and the Scouts sorted their tents. This was followed by Scouts doing archery and tomahawks, and Beavers and Cubs having a go at hobby horse jousting. The Cubs also did a fantastic treasure hunt organised by Darren and Ben from Bowden.
After activities there was time for a quick lunch of jacket potatoes with a choice of fillings followed by sticky ginger or syrup cake. After dinner the Cubs, Scouts and leaders worked together to pack up and tidy before a short closing ceremony by the flagpole at 2pm.
The camp was made possible thanks to the huge team of leaders and adult volunteers. A massive thank you should go out to John for the food and to the volunteers who manage and run the amazing and beautiful Gradbach Scout Camp.
