On our first camp we had no area fenced but as stated before the Scouts were warned of the dangers, and apart from the odd prodding of the fire with a stick or burning unnecessary items they were well behaved, its funny how some boys can not resist prodding the fire or putting things on it, but fortunately they usually grow out of it.  Successful cooking depends on how you build your fire, and being able to look after it, the fire must suit the job in hand, not to big, or to small, 'remember' flames burn, ashes cook. There is nothing more infuriating than the fire going out through lack of wood, always have plenty to hand. As with most things, cooking comes with practise so that's what I let them do, and by the end of the camp four had gained their camp cook, I will not go into the details but watching them try to cook eggs on sticks is something I will never forget, try it yourself one day but be careful, and see if you can learn by your mistakes.

I have learnt over the years that good organisation is a must, but quite by chance this time we had organised some archery lessons and very successful they were, yes I have also learnt to use all that the camp site can provide, don’t be to proud or to foolish not to ask what they can do to help you, after all you’re there to enjoy yourself to.

With the weather being so good we went for a walk following the river down stream, being a good description as the water was never deeper than knee high remember think safe you can drowned in shallow water just the same as deep water, they had a great time. The walk back was just as enjoyable, with them hiding in the undergrowth by the path to see if they would be spotted or passed by, also looking for small animal or bird tracks in the mud noting the different trees and plants, perhaps if we had been more organised we would have taken plaster casts for the Observer Badge.

Important there is a bacterial infection called WEIL’S DISEASE, it is carried in rats urine and contaminates water and wet river banks, the bacteria does not survive for long in dry conditions, but can occur in any water, including swift streams and rivers. It can be a serious illness requiring hospital treatment and can lead to kidney or liver failure, an influenza-like illness and joint and muscle pains (pains in the calf mussels are often particularly noticeable) if you fall ill with the symptoms after water sports/activities particularly from 3 to 19 days following, then see your doctor and advise him/her that you have been participating in water activities and insist on the ELISA blood test. Always wash or shower as soon as possible after water sports and cover minor scratches on exposed parts of the body with waterproof plasters, but don’t let this stop you doing water sports, just be aware of this and Think Safe.

WIDE GAMES.

Camp is an ideal time to play wide games, and the best are played at night, however fast moving and contact games should be avoided if possible, as the risk of injury is greater, games that require stealth, are better played by cover of darkness, stalking opponents etc, enables the smaller or younger ones to take part at a more even level, also avoid games where people are “made out” and have to stand watching from the side.

The torch game as my Scouts call it, this game consists of two sides, the defenders and the attackers, the numbers should be equal but we find it is better if the attackers out number the defenders, but the difficulty with this is you have to adapt/change the   defending and attacking teams each time, to even the scoring.

The object of the game is for the attackers to approach from a suitable distance, and touch a defended area, a wall, hedge, clump of trees, etc, without being identified (captured in the torch beam and named by the defenders) an umpire is used to identify that the captured attacker is named correctly, and to make sure that the defenders do not sweep the area with the torch like a search light. You can only turn your torch on or off and hopefully catch an attacker in the beam, this gives them a better chance of moving about, so the defenders must keep their ears  and eyes open. The sides change round and the winner is the team that gets the most into the defenders area without being captured, if captured you must leave the game and assemble at an indicated area. Depending on the numbers playing, and the area covered, you may wish to add more than one area being defended, but as all games being played out of doors at night the success of the game will vary on the numbers playing and the degree of darkness, to the amount of cover provided, it is essential to keep this game moving to stop the captured Scouts from getting bored, or you may want to have a way they can be released by their team players?