This weekend some of the Squirrels, Beavers, Cubs and Scouts (plus their parents) took part in the 55th District Parent & Child Camp at Earleywood on the theme of Liberté, Egalité et Fraternité. In spite of the weather (!) everyone had a great time completing different challenges on a French theme e.g. oeuf et cuillere (egg & spoon), maitre des arbalétriers (crossbows), the French Open (mini golf), River Seine (teamwork with guttering & a ball), Le Place de Pétanque (boules), and the Battle of Agincourt (soft archery & soft axe throwing) to name but a few.
As in previous years we were VERY excited to find out on the Saturday morning about the Crew Challenge and this year it was to build an iconic French building and illuminate it. Our fearless parents chose to recreate “The Storming of the Bastille” and within hours we had a replica Bastille castle PLUS a dramatic pageant re-enacting the whole event. The Young People were truly FABULOUS as you will see from this video of their performance to the judges.
As to be expected, there were also toasted marshmallows (of course!) and a campfire, and all the Young People will have earned at least the Nights Away Level 2 badge, a mandatory requirement to achieve the Chief Scout Bronze Award, with Elliot notching up his 13th Night Away – congratulations Elliot!
Due to the weather the camp unfortunately finished earlier than planned in the Sunday morning and we are waiting with baited breath to hear which Groups have won any prizes…fingers crossed!
In the meantime, a HUGE thank you to all the leaders, parents and Young People who came along, to everyone who helped plan and prepare everything beforehand, did the shopping, transported the kit, set up the camp, threw themselves into all the camp activities, did the cooking and washing up, then packed it all away, helped unload at the Scout Hut, hung up the wet tents and pushed the trailer back into place. Extra special thanks go to Karelle (Elliot & Zoe’s Maman and also a Scout leader) who was our Chef de Cuisine for the camp. Being French, she made an absolutely fantastic bean cassoulet, followed by VERY delicious cinnamon eggy bread using brioche (not bread!!)… the culinary bar for camp cooking has well and truly been lifted!!!!