Scout Summer Camp, Poole Harbour, July 2008

Camp site

Our 17 Scouts and 16 Explorer Scouts shared the 14 acre site with Salisbury Sea Cadets.

For water activities we took the 2 new Bahias (including trapezeing kit for one of them), 4 Picos, 2 Coypus, 2 ribs, 4 sea kayaks, 5 canoes and 9 kayaks.

Water-colours of the Scout tents and view from the Explorer area by Laura Dawes.

A Scout tent by Chloe Hinton

Photos of our camp and the view over the Sea Cadet's camp.

Pictures taken by Ros White when visting the site in December to assess its suitability.

Photos taken by Richard & John Savage when visiting the site at low tide to work out potential mooring locations for the boats.

Saturday, July 26th

Leaders arrive and set up camp.

Richard put out signs through Rempstone Forest to the Camp Site which were so good that everyone found the site with no trouble at all (including 1^st Liphook and various other scout groups camping at different sites in the area).

Search for David's wallet: it turns out that it had travelled from Sandleheath to camp, then to Wareham and back to camp, all on the LandRover roof!

Sunday, July 27th

David C. and Stephen went off to take scouts from Harpenden climbing. Our Scouts arrived at 11am. Lunch, then on to water for first session, Explorers sailing and Scouts kayaking and canoeing.

Stephen & David taking Scouts from 10th Harpenden climbing (photos by Stephen)

Water activities (photos by Stephen)

Blindfold Trail

On Sunday evening we set up a blindfold trail in the trees beside the water. The scouts showed remarkable bravery and teamwork as they followed the rope, climbing under and over trees and branches as they went. Some even made it through the large, prickly bush about 2/3 of the way along the course before they ran out of time. There were also an assortment of phantom obstacles, such as a low crawl under a patch of thin air, and an uphill section that those of us with eyesight and torches couldn't identify.

The explorers went last, and seemed to have more difficulty than the scouts - for some reason, the rope led them into a patch of tidal mud where they sank up to their knees! Despite this, the explorers managed to get furthest and almost completed the course in the 20 minutes allowed.

Geoffrey White

Blindfold trail (photos from Geoffrey)

Blindfold trail (photos from Stephen)

Monday, July 28th

On Monday morning half of the Scouts went climbing at Hedbury Quarry and other did half rifle shooting and team-building tasks. They then swapped around of the second half of the day. The Explorers went cycling or walking to the beach at Studland for lunch then back. After tea was the second water activities session. In the evening there was a first aid talk and tilley lighting demo.

Scouts climbing (photos from Stephen)

Scouts rifle shooting and doing teamwork & leadership tasks (photos from Ros)

Tuesday, July 29th

The day was organized the same as Monday, except with the Explorers and Scouts reversed. In the evening everyone went into the forest for a wide game (German Spotlight).

Explorer Scouts climbing (photos from Stephen)

Wednesday, July 30th

Everyone went to Brownsea, using all available craft. We returned after lunch, with the tide somewhat low - high enough to get to our moorings but leaving things a bit muddy! After a quick wash off everyone went straight off to Wareham for a swim (Geoffrey reckons that the pool should be clean enough to use again in a couple of years time). In the evening there was a low ropes course in the forest.

Expedition to Brownsea (photos from Ros)

Expedition to Brownsea (photos from Sally)

Expedition to Brownsea (photos from Stephen)

After returning from Brownsea we took the Scouts swimming to clean them up!

Low ropes course (photos from Ros)

Low ropes course (photos from Stephen)

Thursday, July 31st

In the morning was the last water activities session of the week.

The road to Studland had been closed which, combined with the rain, caused a change of plan. Instead of a beach barbecue there was a short hike & wide games in forest. This was followed by a barbecue and camp fire on site.

The Explorers stayed awake until about 4am, when they woke all the leaders by hammering pegs into the ground ... but the noise eventually went away. When the light of morning arrived we found that they'd stolen the flagpole from Salisbury Sea Cadets and erected it on our site in place of ours. We don't know why they did this, but all the leaders were annoyed about being woken up by it.

On camp on Thursday (photos from Ros)

Friday, August 1st

The Scouts had raft at team building sessions in the morning, followed by a trip to Swanage for lunch and shopping.

After chips for lunch Tom Collings returned to the chip shop for scraps to use for crabbing. He returned with a bag of fish off-cuts. After successfully landing a crab he let Alex Crossley have a go. A misunderstanding resulted in the line being dropped into the water. Atfer seeking permission from the leader, Tom waded in to retrieve it – getting soaked in the process.

When the Scouts returned they presented David C. with a badge saying "I don't discriminate – I hate everyone".

The Explorers did a blind hike – they were dropped off somewhere (all asleep so no need to blindfold them) and had to find their way back to camp.

Everyone was collected at about 4pm, except from the leaders who had to return boats, equipment and the minibus.

Raft building (photos from David M)