I arrived as the advance party on Sunday at Corf camp: And found myself a perfect spot to pitch my tent next to the creek: lots of wildlife, peaceful, tranquil a perfect place to relax and chill out. On Tuesday, the Scouts and my Explorer's arrived, this was the start of the 2006 summer camp!
The Explorer's site was soon full of tents, noise and excited bodies running around exploring the site. Richard and Jimbo chose to pitch their tents close to the Explorer's site, a big mistake! Amelia, Becky and Bryony making a Beeline for them, to avoid helping out with getting our mess tent and kitchen ready!
As I expected, the Explorers were loud and restless Tuesday night, there was lots of chatter, jokes and play acting and chanting of “Becky loves Jimbo” sounding round Corf!
Wednesday was a day of reckoning for me: Phew, it's hot! Could I turn this bombsite into a tidy and ship shape Explorer campsite? Thanks to my aides – Ellie S, Alex, Jack and Callum, we soon had some camp discipline and the site was respectable by lunch time!
After lunch, we drove to the UKSA centre at Cowes (listening to “Madness” on the way there) for a Dragon Boat Racing session. It was a good experience, but quite tiring. I think the coxswain's commands will be remembered by most as much as the racing, remember: “Yes, Sir, Yes”, “Ugh”, One, Two, Three, “Ah” as the mermaid said to the Captain.
As we were leaving Cowes, (listening to “Madness” again on the way back), there were rumblings around us and thundery spots of rain. We returned to Corf camp for a quick change. And it was off to Colwell Bay for a beach barbeque with the Scouts, Leaders and helpers, all had a great time.
Then, the “Great Storm”! As we were leaving Colwell, (listening to “Madness” again on the way back), the electric storm hit us! An Incredible display of lightning, rain: falling in stair rods, and inches of water on the road. The locals even bought out refreshments and offered shelter to those waiting at Colwell Bay Loo block for a lift back to Corf. Eventually everyone got back to the campsite safely; fortunately, there had not been too much rain on site. And guess what? There was another evening of frivolity and chanting of “Becky loves Jimbo” and “Rebecca loves Richard”. I opted out, went back to my pitch and fed my family of swans that seemed to appreciate my company and Scout food. Thanks for your text message to me Ellie S.
Thursday, a quiet relaxing day on site, (really it was)! By now life on camp was almost civilised. We would be up by 7:30, most Explorers were actually taking a shower before breakfast, breakfast was being prepared by the duty patrol, and we would all sit down and eat together. The washing up would be done. I've cracked it!
The morning activity was air rifle shooting in the hut, Rachel Bunt, managed to win the competition outright. Well done Rachel! After lunch, was a long session canoeing on the water with Paul Toynton around the creek and salt marsh. A nice man in a patrol boat from the National Trust approached us and told us that we should have kept to the main channel, as the marsh is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).
The highlight of the week was when Callum lost it. He regretted his actions after he doused Bryony with water in retaliation for what Poppy did to him. Big Mistake Callum! Remember: Bryony has short hair, Poppy has long hair! They are twin sisters and both play Rugby at County level! After a truce was declared we settled down to a nice evening playing cards, games and yes, more tittle-tattle and chanting!
Paul Toynton and I set up the “Skinner Moth Trap” that evening. By Friday morning we had caught over 100 moths, bugs etc, the largest and by far most beautiful being an Elephant Hawk moth, Paul's knowledge and enthusiasm for nature and conservation inspired many of us, Ellie S. took some brilliant close up photographs.
Friday, was our big day out in uniform! Nick Bunt had arranged for us to visit as special guests, the historical Brit Norm aircraft factory at Bembridge. After listening to more “Madness” on the way there, we were given an interesting tour of the factory and site where the world famous “Islander” short take off aeroplanes are made and repaired, and were given a bag of “goodies” to take away. A big thanks Nick for arranging that for us!
We took the scenic drive back from Bembridge along the spectacular south coast of the island to Freshwater Bay. Unfortunately, I was the only person to appreciate this tour, as Poppy decided to play my Katie Melua CD and after the first track, I was the only person still awake in the car and remained so for the journey! One hour later, we arrived at Freshwater Bay, and went for what should have been a short walk to the village chippy, unfortunately, my embedded navigation system had failed and it took much longer than I expected to find it. Sorry about that! Later that afternoon, some of us fitness fanatics went swimming at Newport Leisure Centre.
In the evening after dinner, we had a climbing wall session for those that wanted to, well done Ellie C, Amelia, Poppy and Becky. Did you know; back in my youth, when I auditioned for “SpiderMan”, I was fit, supple and could climb as well you can! Back at site, word soon got around that Rebecca had fallen in love with an Islander: not the aeroplane, but a lad on camp from 1st. Newport Scouts!
Saturday was a cooler day, which after the hot weather we had, was quite refreshing. The day was spent on site, David “Ropey” Chadwick, had constructed a challenging low rope course, which we only partly managed to complete within the time allowed. The Scouts managed to do better! (We hate Scouts)! The rest of the day was spent at leisure on site, Sailing, Canoeing, and rowing, chilling out with other Explorer's at Corf.
In the evening, Jimbo alias “Viper” gave us a talk about summoning help and attracting attention at sea in an emergency or when in distress, demonstrating smoke flares, that was cool! Then it started raining, so to save time in the morning we got everything moved into the mess tent, struck and packed the store tent.
The EC mob retreated to their tent, the more diligent Explorer's helped me, stayed in the mess tent, where we chilled out, sang Sea Shanties and Songs, this will be one of my most treasured memories of the camp!
Sunday morning we struck camp. The harsh reality was this was the last day of the best camp we have had together. After we had loaded all the kit onto transport, the Explorers and Scouts were dropped off at Freshwater Bay. From where, we walked back to Yarmouth. We had time to explore, buy gifts, share experiences and memories of the week. Before we boarded the ferry, we had a big hug and all agreed it had been a “Great Camp”.
Well done everybody! This is what good Scouting is all about! You had a great week and so did I. Many thanks for the gift and memories, which I will treasure.
Let's do it again next year!
Andy Brookes
Explorer Scout Leader