This year’s summer camp was to Thorrington Scout Campsite near Colchester in Essex.
Overall, the weather was slightly damper than usual, but the occasional shower didn’t stop us doing anything – although you will see from the photos, Carl did end up building a roof over the fire!
Last week Scouts from Swift, Chapman troops at the 4th and 9th Sevenoaks Scouts took their summer camp at the Kent International Jamboree (KIJ) at the Kent County Showground in Detling.
Kent International Jamboree is an activity camp for scouts from around the world in the heart of Kent. With over 3,500 young people from coming together to take part in activities and celebrate scouting.
A Jamboree is an opportunity and an experience like no other. Most Scouts and Guides get to experience many different forms of nights away experiences but a Jamboree, whether it’s a local, national or international Jamboree is the kind of camp that will live with them forever.
Continue reading Our Scouts at Kent International JamboreeOur planned microlighting session during camp unfortunately had to be cancelled. After a quick reassessment of our weekend, we decided to relocate the camp to Hamlet Wood scout campsite near Maidstone.
The camp was a patrol camp, with scouts doing just about all the catering for the whole weekend, including cooking for leaders!
We tried a somewhat different menu for a change.
We did manage to squeeze some activities in-between the cooking and eating – we threw tomahawks, ran a catapult shooting gallery (only tin cans and chickpeas were hurt) and ran some wide games.
We have masses of photos and videos – there are a sample below but you can view them all in the shared album
Continue reading Scouts Camp at Hamlet WoodThe scout troops spend the weekend camping at Hammerwood Scout Camp, on the edge of the Ashdown Forest near East Grinstead.
It was a back-to-basics camp with the scouts cooking all their own meals over wood fires.
Menu for the weekend was
The scouts managed a good number of activities into the weekend when they weren’t cooking.
Both scout troops have been away on Christmas Camp, which was held at Waylands Scout Camp nr South Street.
We tried out two battery powered spit-roasts which we fitted to our altar fires for the first time. We gave them a work out with Turkey for the Christmas dinner on Saturday and roast pork in a bun on Sunday.
Apart from eating we managed to fit in some seasonal activities
We also managed to invest two new scouts! but we forgot to take photos
We survived the freezing conditions over the weekend for our ‘Christmas’ Camp at Kingswood Grosvenor Hall in Ashford.
On the first evening we all went to the huge gym to play a few games in an attempt meet our group leader, Finn, and to burn off some energy.
Before bed time one of our scouts decided to see if the smoke detectors could really be triggered by an aerosol, as we had been warned (spoiler: yes). We had a fire alarm drill….
Saturday and Sunday saw us split into four groups and rotate around the following activities:
The full album is posted on our Facebook Page in the Christmas 2017 Album
The scouts went camping at Old Hay Airstrip at the weekend. It is tucked away down some very narrow roads about 10mins from Paddock Wood in Kent.
On arriving, it took everyone right until late supper to get the tents up, but there was a wonderful moon as we all retired to a well-deserved night’s sleep (all I can say is the leaders slept well).
This was the first greenfield camp that many of the scouts had done, so there was lots of basics to cover (pitching tents, altar fires, wet pits, chemical loos, cooking for themselves, washing up).
Apart from the basics, we managed to cover knife skills – the scouts (and the cub and beaver) produced many good tent pegs and some fair attempts at cutlery. We all had an archery session c/o Carl and an enormous camp fire c/o Donald, complete with s’mores.
The catering worked out well this camp; the menu included a traditional scouting breakfast, hearty chicken stew, chocolate cake and custard, pancakes and lots of hot chocolate.
The main event was microlighting.  As usual when doing anything to do with flight, we spent the whole weekend looking at the weather.  On Saturday only three scouts got to fly before it was blown out, but on Sunday they managed to get all the scouts apart from the last three up in the air.  Overall though we had some great weather (too much sun was a problem rather than too little), it was just a bit blowy.
A big thank you to the Lee and Tony from Kent Scouts Air Activity Team
We ‘camped’ (indoors) at Hammerwood Scout Camp nr East Grinstead just before Christmas.
Although we started out with a more laid back programme, things seemed busier while we were actually there. However ..
Continue reading Christmas Camp 2016 at Hammerwood
The scouts held a crazy camping night at the end of September.
After considering options from hanging a tent from a tree, camping on a rope bridge as well as several involving water, the troop decided to build a ‘camping penthouse’ using their pioneering skills.
The platform was surprisingly stable, but a little bit uncomfortable for daily use.
The sleepover was a first-time sleeping under the stars for five of the scouts, and fortunately the weather was as good as we could have hoped for.
We have just got back from a really successful camping skills weekend.
The programme was on Saturday
The menus our teams cooked in the competition were
Stags: Homemade tomato soup / Chicken curry with rice and flat breads / Grilled bananas with chocolate filling
Foxes: Kebabs made with chicken, red peppers, onion and mushrooms / spaghetti with tomato sauce with meatballs and cheese / pancakes topped with fresh fruit
On Sunday, after an early start as the clocks had sprung forward
The scouts did very well and all enjoyed, what was for many of them, their first camp as scouts.  Maggie and Natasha did an excellent job as  patrol leaders too.
