Cobden Visit Cumberland again......... |
NOVEMBER 22nd ish 2001 |
You just can't get the staff these days.!!!!! With the Cobden Cumberland report now a month overdue, the reporter about to be sacked I felt we owe it To our readers to explain exactly what went on, so our critical overview begins: For the ventures who had amassed from all over the country (Adrian of Durham, Ian of Manchester, Thomas of leeds and Andrew of Edinburgh) to the cottage on Friday night it will be both memorable and legendary, Sadly though the Friday night news is highly classified and unable to be reported on through the media due to an injunction. This year the camp didn't start till Saturday morning due to the absence of leaders, but the arrival of scouts at wildboarclough was still deemed "too early" by the Friday night campers. First things first - the assistant leaders at the cottage had burned all the wood so first order of the day was wooding. A sizable tree was found on the ground and was hauled gradually in stages up to the cottage. This was a lengthy operation due to the saw blades being very slack and bendy, however there is great praise for the sharp axes now in the possession of few, thankyou Igor Amphlett. Dissappointing was the fact also that the wood was damn hard to cut and according to one of the few Pro - Axes in our team (Tommy Togs) was "highly knotted and with a negative grain", he knows his wood. However everyone made a lot of chippings and felt it had been a good mornings work. In the afternoon a wide game ensued as it was pointless to go walking, scouts v ventures as always and the scouts cheated as per usual. Needless to say they were all rounded up and caught quickly. Tea was ....erm.... well, something new. I don't know the ingredients but it didn't look too healthy. A bored evening began and everyone tried to entertain themselves. Eventually frustrated by the lack of anything to do a few got up for a walk in the dark round the area. All very nice but nothing to write home about. Eventually, Bed, Sleep, Good. Sunday morning and the Nippers were up far too early but gradually everyone rose and breakfast was served. A full kit inspection was proposed along with the mornings activity of a string trail up the river. Nippy Nolan instigated the moaning and the plan was quietly forgotten to the anger of some. Instead everyone packed up far too early, yes, again, and was then bored waiting to go home.How rubbish. A wide game was suggested but the scouts wouldn't catch the ventures so the ventures didn't want to play, - forced to they provided only a token search as it was raining outside. The rain subsided and a small walk up the clough began, ending with silly Scouser and Stupid Sproson getting themselves soaking wet and cold standing under a waterfall. Thats the Spirit. By now it was time to leave but only after a quick game of Hearts which Ian lost and Scouser won. It was a game played with little tact. Carry all the kit down to the cars and then go home. Good plan. Myself not reaching the door of my Edinburgh Penthouse till at least 10:30pm. So the post camp synopsis with action replays was given by Venture/ assistant leaders with the general view: " A wicked Friday night. Saturday was okay but lack of equipment meant no activities (not even a football to play on the slope with), and then Sunday was a general washout, weather and activity wise - Bookies are no longer taking bets on whether marple scouts will pack up extremely early so they are ready to go home and end up wasting the day. Frankly it's a dead cert." An enjoyable camp but the attendants must search their soul and ask deep inside "was it worth it?" And now for the late report courtesy of so called Newby Venture Ugly Mathew Rogers.if only we could get quality writersalas..enjoy it's not that bad. On a cold Saturday morning the annual Cumberland cottage camp began. All the Scouts gathered in the car park with kit strapped to their backs. We all piled into cars, and set off on the long windy journey to WildboarClough, where the cottage is situated. It was an extremely cold and foggy morning, but a few extremist Scouts arrived in shorts! As we arrived in the car park by the farm, we again put kit on our backs, and sent our parents on the trip home. Now the adventure had begun! We walked, well a few stumbled and scrambled, up to the cottage, but we got there in the end. The older Ventures (Consisting of the Tognarelli brothers and Ian), had already been up there one night, and so were settled in quite nicely. The fire was glowing when we arrived, and so all that was left to do was the cooking of breakfast. This was left down to Mike Sproson and me to do (As younger ventures attending the camp, apparently we have to "Learn these things"!) After the Scouts had eaten and got themselves sorted on the bunks upstairs, we went looking for wood in the forest opposite, where me and few friends camped to gain our Chief Scouts award a few months ago. After about an hours wooding, chopping and axing, we sat down round the fire for a well deserved cup of tea. Whilst all this had been going on, Pie had been cleaning around the cottage, which had been left in a "Disgraceful state" by the previous campers. Next was the first wide game of the camp, with the basic rules of "Scouts run, and in ten minutes the Ventures will come and hunt you down - Ready, Steady, Hide!" This lasted a good couple of hours and by the end everyone was tired and needed a rest. Tea consisted of Spaghetti (Was that what it was?-Ed) with some rather odd tasting creamy pasta stuff, which stuck to your plate. The evening drew on, and Tommy brought out his "Bop-it Extreme" game, which entertained (Frustrated) both the Scouts and Ventures. Later that evening Andy decided to go for a walk, and managed to drag some Scouts with him, which meant we could hog the fire for an hour or two! They came home and burgers were made for supper. These somewhat unappetising clumps of meat tasted just as awful as they looked! But we were hungry so ate up and said nothing. Later the Scouts were sent to bed, and the Ventures/Leaders stayed up making full use of the fire facilities at the cottage. We were woken up at about 6.30am by the Scouts, who were aggresively told to "Sod off back to bed!" by Ian. At about 8.00 we arose and breakfast was cooked - a fry up as per usual! Kit was packed away early, (despite the efforts of some Ventures to have a full kit inspection), so that we would have time for other things; A wide game was instigated (The Scouts runing again for some reason! - mainly because they whine the loudest!), but failed due to the poor weather and genuine lack of interest. The Venutres were assigned the task of chopping wood to leave for the next group to come to the cottage. (Seeing as this was Mellor, we made a valiant attempt to collect all the twigs we could!) We went on a wander at about 11.00, and managed to find a waterfall. This is where the trouble began! Apparently, when the Cobden Ventures had been on camp at Cumberland previously, they had all stood beneath the said freezing cold waterfall and had their picture taken in it for a bit of fun (Those crazy Ventures!)(We're mad we are-Ed!). Due to the fact that Mike and I were "Newby Ventures", we were dared to do the same. The challenge was to stand underneath the waterfall in a pair of shorts. We took on the dare, and tramped back to Cumberland wet and cold. It was soon time to leave, and the kit was subsequently taken down to the cars, and packed away. On the way back we reminisced over the activities that took place, whilst I listened to Liverpool beat Sunderland on the radio! The camp was thoroughly enjoyed by all, and my first experience of Cumberland Cottage was a good laugh! Matthew Rogers Newby Venture |