Training Camp #1
On the wet Friday evening I arrived at the campsite in Lincoln for the first of the training camps. On arrival, everyone collected their Neckers and a complementary spork from the last world Jamboree. After pitching tents in the dark with the wind whistling around us it was time for some team building activities as well as a practice involving us and our kit rushing through the fire door as quick as we could pretending it was the bullet train! We were also split into our patrols for the weekend with a patrol leader and patrol seconder (assistant patrol leader to the Scouts!) in each.
Bed time was around 11ish and slowly but surely everyone was tucked up in their sleeping bags trying to sleep. The campsite isn't sheltered very well so the wind rushed through the campsite knocking many tents and even collapsing one.
In the morning tents were repaired and re pegged, then breakfast needed to be cooked in a cooking tent. Unfortunately it was too windy to use an event shelter so a mess tent was pitched. An hour later breakfast was plated up and eaten, then the mornings activities could begin. First we were congratulated on making it on to the unit, second given a presentation on the outline of our three week trip to Japan. We would spend 2 full days at Tokyo followed by 12 days at the world scout jamboree ending with 3 days in with a Japanese family. An inspirational talk then followed from Robin Wright who is the county commissioner for Lincolnshire.
There were four main activities that day, each taking place with the leaders. Kev had us considering the the layout of the campsite and what to pack in the one metre cubed crate we can use to transport kit for the Jamboree itself, Ali led a session on personal hygiene as well as food hygiene , George did emblem and name designing and Steven discussed what the units code of conduct should be like and what should be included. For lunch, each patrol was given ingredients for a basic Japanese noodle recipe and expected to cook for them and their assigned leader.
After an action packed morning, creativity was the theme of the afternoon with a bin bag fashion show with four rounds: beachwear, winter wear, casual wear and special occasion wear. The best part about the whole thing was that Ali, George, Kev and Steven were the models! First up beach wear, mankinis and bikinis becoming the hot topic, pun intended! Winter wear and casual wear soon followed with some very daring outfits claiming to be a part of the Disney princess range. Special occasion wear brought smart suits and a very pretty Cinderella dress to the catwalk.
The evening bought meat touchers and bucket boys to shame as we all enjoyed a barbecue with sides and condiments as well as heated battles of speed, a card game. A campfire followed with many sketches, songs and of course, smores. A quiet night gave everyone some well needed sleep and a fresh start to the morning. Eggy bread and alphabet spaghetti set everyone up for the walk to a day of fundraising, bag packing in Morrisons.
In Japan, the meals will all be tailored to our needs in a hot country so the leaders decided we needed a preview of the type of lunches we would be having: cake, fruit and more cake. After a long hard morning of bag packing everyone enjoyed a lunch before working the last few hours to raise all the money we could. The grand total of the bag pack was £1421.10.
After walking back to camp and cleaning and taking down the tents the goodbyes came. We were all sad to go but very excited for the next training camp in April as well as the next few fundraising days and camps. Overall the camp was great and everyone loved it!
