As the final day on camp dawned upon us, we got up ready to face the task of breaking camp and clearing the site to leave it as we had found it. While the scouts packed up their belonging, the leaders prepared a communal breakfast of cereals and beans on toast.
We then had flag break and instructions were given for the mornings activities which involved moving all of the kit bags into one of the mess tents, so that the other tents could be packed away while it was dry. The mess tent and kit bags would be the last things to go onto the lorry, so that they would be the first off at the end of our journey home.
The scouts worked really well together and made light work of cleaning down and drying off the tent groundsheets and packing them away ready for the next camp. Besides packing away the tents, there were packed lunches to make, washing up to be done, toilets to be cleaned and packed away, and numerous trips to load the lorry, not to mention the task of filling in the cess pit.
We then had to ‘walk the line’ to litter pick the field, although there wasn’t much to be found as we had all kept the camp tidy throughout the week.
We seemed to break camp in record time and were all done and loaded by 1pm, which just left time for the award of camp prizes for ‘Best Patrol’, ‘Most Improved Scout’ and ‘Scout of the Camp’ – you know who you all are – well done! We then had a brief prayer (Campers are Special People) and moment of quiet reflection to think about our camp experiences.
After a couple of group photos with the mountains in the background, we all bid a fond farewell to the site and got on board the vehicles for the journey home.
The journey itself was uneventful, and it was great to see our families back at the hub. It was all hands on deck again to unload the lorry and pack away the equipment ready for next time.
The success of the camp is dependant on the generosity of so many people, including the on going support of our scout parents and the leaders who give up their time and annual leave.
Special thanks must go to:
Mr Paul Wigfield of PW Sealtech for his everlasting support and the loan of his lorry for the week. (It enables the group to take all of the equipment necessary to provide such a rich camping experience).
The Wednesday club for preparing and maintaining all of our equipment, and last but not least our superb Scouts for making it all worthwhile!
We will be having a few weeks off during the summer holiday and look forward to seeing you all in September. We will be in touch by text to confirm the date of the next meeting.
