Winter Weekend! The last weekend of January saw the return of the "Winter weekend" - a county camp for the Scouts. We were there (along with 193 other campers) gaining our Polar Bear awards for camping/sleeping in sub-zero temperatures. The Friday evening was relatively eventless - not that I'd be able to tell you what happened. I was far too busy hob-nobbing at the Dolce Vita with several influential people. The heads of dancing and acting in the Gang Show were there, as was one of the chief producers! To say we didn't hint about parts would be to lie. Incidentally, an instrumental soundtrack for Hernando's Hideaway came on in the late hours of the evening, and we all sang along to it. How sad. Still, I was up at the camp at around 11:30pm Friday night for the regular games of hearts with the other leaders. The night was incredibly cold - even in a sleeping bag and in a two-man tent with three others didn't keep me warm. It was a bit of a shock that the night wasn't even sub-zero - or maybe it was just my sleeping bag! Saturday began far too early when I was kindly awoken courtesy of Jack Frost and the freezing temperatures. I had to get up to find my fleece, and once you get out of bed there's no turning back. The leaders and Scouts of Cobden were the only ones caught wearing shorts on the Saturday at Flag-break, with several, wimpier leaders enquiring "Are you doing this for a joke?". The Scouts were left to do as they pleased for much of the day, although the leaders were harassed into setting up and running a 5-a-side competition for all the Scouts (Which was Pie's brilliant idea. He also did very little for it, yet gained all the credit!). We had 17 teams, including one leaders team, and gave up play on the Saturday when we reached the semi-finals due to lack of light, enthusiasm and warmth. Both Cobden and Kinder managed to scrape through to the Semi-finals - not drawn against each other mind! The referee's job was in demand for most of the games - standing up and running around tended to stop the cold coming in. On the Saturday night, with three reinforcement Scout leaders to help us cope with them, the Scouts sang dodgy (not that we could tell what the words were!) songs around a collection of twigs, and all went to bed nice and early. All that remains to be said about the Saturday is that the night was bitterly cold - reaching lows of -8°C. Believe me, that is cold - especially in a three season sleeping bag that's blooming cold when it isn't freezing! Sunday began, as Saturday, with a draught running through the tent after one of the people from the tent had left the door open. It was already getting on a bit by this time, and what with the Semi-finals coming up, we figured that we'd best get up and sort things out. This even meant missing out on our Porridge! Cobden, and Kinder both lost their semi's, and faced each other in a third and fourth placed playoff. This turned out to be a completely farcical game, with Kinder showing no effort, Fido scoring own goals, and well, basically making a mockery of the whole tournament. The game was stopped after they intended to make the score 6 all, and go to penalties. They don't know this yet, but they played only about three and a half minutes of their ten minute game. For the record, however, I must add that Cobden beat Kinder! The Scouts then started to leave us, deciding it was better to toddle off early than to stay and help pack up. This merely meant that, as usual, the Ventures and leaders had even more work to do. After the camp we ended up staying till 4:30 tidying up and sorting out the kit. And we stayed late after Gang Show to dry the wet tents out. It just goes to show that whilst the Scouts' camp may have ended at 2 o'clock, the leaders always work that little bit harder! Overall an enjoyable camp, and a time for the Scouts to gain various badges and awards. COBDEN SHORT WEARERS Paul Duckworth Daniel Fidler Matt Scouser Adam Ollier Matthew Bostock Jim Bob Adam Dykins Nippy Nolan James Raynor Ben Tott Rob Sandoe Alex Whitehouse MANAGED BY (in order of time spent on camp) Rick Statham Tommy Togs Adi Togs John Dawson (kind of) Paul Amphlett Ian Corbishley Dan Hopwood |
Copyright Togmedia 2001 |