Ben Lavery-GriffithsCamping this weekend. Due to bad traffic we set up camp in the dark.
We’re using our new shelter which i can hang Tilley lamps from!
Scouts asleep, one a bit wobbly.
Just got int bed, f-f-f-f-freezing!
Finally posting about the rest of last weekends camp!
The wobbly Scout mentioned in my last camp related post lasted until about 01:30 in the morning before asking to go home.
We did a number of things to try and get them to stay, but in the end they specifically requested a call home.
Mum called and two hours later arrived to pick the Scout up.
Two leaders stayed up with the Scout and were then given the opportunity to sleep as long as they wanted.
Saturday kicked off with a fry up and pancakes. We utilised our new gas powered paella pan for bacon, sausage, and eggs.
Our first activity utilised the sites orienteering course. Two hours of Scouts running around the site looking for numbers on plaques.
Lunch was a choice of cheese, ham, or cheese and ham (but not ham and cheese) wraps.
I accidentally made all the Scouts think they HAD to have either cucumber of lettuce, so they all got something green in their lunch.
After lunch was crate stacking, much more fun than I had expected. Each Scout had 3 minutes to get as high as possible. Two Scouts and our YL managed to top out at 12 layers (24 creates in total).
When the three minutes were up the participant was asked to stand on top and the crates were topped from under them.
The rest of the afternoon was free time. Scouts made dens, rope swings, and played hide and seek.
The other group on site was interested in a game of Warewolves so our YL facilitated that.
Dinner was cooked with our new pizza oven - I think this will come on many more camps to come as it proved a great success.
Saturday finished with a campfire, which we invited the other group to as well.
For many in the other group it was their first experience of a campfire, and they all seemed to have fun, and most joined in.
Another freezing cold night, and my snorin caused another leader to go and sleep in their van 😬
Sunday was all about getting up and striking camp.
Bacon wraps or pancakes were on the menu for breakfast.
We left site about 15 minutes later than expected, which is quite good for us!
It felt like quite a fulfilled but hands off weekend, which isn’t what the other leaders are used to.
Next up, my greenfield permit camp 🫣
CheekyMcB@forquare “accidental” 🤔
Did the Scouts help with the cooking? Ours do at least breakfast even at the laid back camps in my experience.
Rather curious what the other Group’s plans were, because you don’t usually know if there will be other Groups prior to arriving, so they will have had plans prior to that.
At least they got a quality introduction to Campfires, Ben. 👏
Wondering also whether you gave them 1 Night Away for lasting a couple of hours from lights out? I personally wouldn’t.
I jested that they needed something green, and apparently I didn’t do it in a very jestery way…
I want our Scouts to be more involved - well I’d like leaders to have nothing to do with coooking!
On this occasion we had new things to get to grips with, and a leader who automatically does what he sees needs doing - something I’ll need to talk to them about going forwards.
No idea what the other group had planned. They were there for The Great Tommy Sleep Out.
It seems that they have been rebuilding the troop since the end of Covid, very much got the impression may of the Scouts were new and at least one volunteer had recently returned to Scouting.
No nights away for the Scout that went home.
@forquare The younger they are the less likely they are to understand when you are just kidding. Especially goes for sarcasm, they don’t seem to understand that until Secondary (12/13/14). I had a VERY sarcastic teacher.
It can be very easy to slip from demonstrating / tutoring something to accidentally doing too much of it for them.
Though with a tiny number of them you get the inkling that they want you to most of it and yet will still consider that they did it themselves afterwards.
Mint Spies@hischeekiness @forquare Introducing patrol-based cooking is something that takes a while to do: you need to build the kids' experience and create the right culture (for the leaders too).
We did it like this (over the course of about a year - we had a young troop without experienced PLs):
Camp 1 - every patrol is given a box of the same ingredients, laminated recipe cards, and a leader directly on hand so that they can ask questions throughout cooking
Camp 2 - give them a choice of meals beforehand, then provide the relevant ingredients for each patrol (so they're cooking different things). Leaders float but are a bit more hands off.
Camp 3 - each patrol plans their menu and gives a shopping list to the leaders beforehand, who then sort quantities and do the shopping. Leaders on hand if necessary (with spare ingredients in the store tent!).
Camp 4 - each patrol is given a budget and taken to the supermarket to buy their own stuff. Do not give in to requests for extra money: let them make the budgeting decisions. Leaders cook their own meals (on the same budget) and kids can come over to ask for advice when needed (and learn by seeing the leaders in action!)
You definitely can't jump to Camp 4 without building the skills beforehand!
@MintSpies @forquare Excellent.
Not seen all those stages personally, I don’t attend many of their Camps. Seen the first , the Patrols all cooked Spag Bol.
Last camp I was at (was relaxed and small numbers) the oldest (attending) just did breakfast for everyone under Leaders supervision. So it was bacon, eggy bread, beans.
Lunch (and probably Tea, I forget) was prepared by a Leader.
Youngsters did the dishes every meal though.
@hischeekiness @forquare I've always refused to let leaders do any washing up (which caused upset when we camped with a different troop, whose leader wanted to do all the pans herself "to make sure they're clean" - I just insisted on quality control and sent the pans back if they weren't clean enough: the kids learned quickly enough!)
The stages worked really well for us because we had such a young and inexperienced group of kids at the beginning: it's easy to start as you mean to go on! We talked about it as a leader team before commiting to it, which also really helped.
When we did "big" camps, like country camp, we offered the kids the option of leaders doing all the cooking, and they refused! We *did* do centralised lunches for those camps, but the kids were adamant that they wanted to cook as much as they could. Result!
This makes a lot of sense. I might have been inclined to get them cooking centrally and then cook in patrols, but that’s only because that is the way my troop transitioned us when I was a Scout.
My problem at the moment is that the last leader in charge did camps to facilitate adventurous activities that would take up all/most of the day. Ie camping was cheap and close to the activities.
So they always found it easier to let leaders to the cooking.
At the moment we don’t do enough camping that focuses on camp craft.
My greenfield permit camp is all about camping. Our other two camps this year are back to be activities based (big All Wales camp and likely an indoor winter “camp”).
I’m looking to plan more “camping camps” next year providing the feedback off the greenfield camp is positive enough.
Then I can introduce more patrol based camping - which Scouts have been asking for, but the previous leaders didn’t know how to/didn’t want to/weren’t confident enough to deliver.
@forquare @hischeekiness patrol camping is excellent, so I hope your introduction plans go well. Good luck with your permit assessment!
@MintSpies @forquare Seconded!
I may have only seen glimpses, but it looks it.