The campfire at night.

After a long day it’s good to sit around the campfire or in absence of a fire just to sit in a circle, or at a table with a small lamp on it, and contemplate the days events. What went well as they call it in your Leader training, in the relaxed atmosphere you may find things you thought went well were boring for the Scouts or vice-versa but these discussions must include the cooking of sausages and drinking hot chocolate.

After or during this camp get-together, there must be some time for a camp fire song or two, joke telling, and camp fire yarns, etc, remember this is their equivalent to sitting in the pub and having a pint, sit and listen to what they are saying, and join in at their level, be honest with them, and you may be surprised at what you learn, during your life there are two or three thing you will never forget. One of them is the smell of wood smoke, and the taste of tea made on an open fire, and the other is the sound a fishing rod makes when you cast a line. At a realistic time advise them to go and get some “sleep” remember when you were young and give them a reasonable time to settle down, at times I have lay in my tent and bite my tongue. But the excitement of you’re first camp or being away from home is no excuse to ignore others trying to sleep, this is a good time for Leaders to run through the events of the day themselves, and consider what went well also. After listening to the Scouts version you may wish to change part of the next days programme, I also found it handy to keep some sort of log for reference later.

Mornings at camp.

Getting up to early in the morning can be just as disruptive as staying up to late at night, early morning can also be a dangerous time at camp, I have heard of and seen, young Scouts get up at 5am and start cooking eggs and bacon on little less than a bonfire, chop wood in their bare feet, or just wonder off without telling anyone where they were going. Have a time for getting up and strict rules to what can, and cannot be done, explain the rules and the reasons for having them, appoint a responsible person to be in charge for that morning (roster nominees)  preferable a Leader, or patrol Leader. The cooking of breakfast etc can be done by the names or Patrol on the roster/list for that morning, knowing that if you, or others, don't want to get up before 8am all is well, its no good looking at each other after an accident, saying I thought you were looking after them?

Back to our first camp.

As with most Troops with little experience of camping (as above) we all got up at various times, oblivious to what was going on outside the tent, there were voices outside my tent at 6.00 but I turned over and went back to sleep only to be awoken at 6.30 with a cup of tea, “ I must emphasise that this was done by the Patrol Leader” with the best of intensions, this being a good way to get a Leader up, because all Leaders know you must not drink tea etc in your tent, so thanking them I reluctantly got up (I must explain I am not known for getting up early in the morning) To my surprise there was a good fire burning, and the Scouts were waiting for me to help them cook breakfast having had their cereal. A quick head count revealed two missing who were still fast asleep in their tent, but this was quickly remedied with one or two appropriate words and not long after we all were sitting on a varied selection of DIY seats, some of us still half asleep, eating a variety of fried objects, described as a full English breakfast, on our knees, well on plates. Odd as it may seem this is what makes camping so much fun, the relaxed atmosphere, the funny comments, and the well done food, are all part of the adventure, having washed all the plates, and inspected the tents, site, etc, inspection is something I hade to do at camp so I encourage them to do it, some people consider it to be some form of discipline but to me its teaching self respect.

We then got ready for the first activity of the day “archery” the campsite provides the equipment, and an instructor if required, needles to say we took the instructor. You should have seen the look on his face when he saw us, the archery site is some distance from the office, so off we went instructor in front like the pied piper and the Scouts following behind each carrying a bow singing Robin Hood like countless others before them, and the instructor thinking oh no not again! The walk was a pleasant surprise with the sun just lifting enough to brake threw the trees, it cast a long shadow over the path, and watching that small group of young people making their way to the archery site made me smile, was this an insight into why people become Scout Leaders. On arrival we all set up the equipment and after the rules, and a short but comprehensive talk on what to do, and not to do, with a bow and arrow, the most important rule being no arrows IN THE INSTRUCTOR!

To his surprise and mine everything went well and everyone had an excellent time, Leaders included. This in part was due to not having a long wait in-between each turn, theirs nothing worst than just having six arrows at the target, and then back in a queue, having the archery to ourselves gave everyone the opportunity to improve, and at the end we had a small competition with the winner getting a Mars Bar. With no arrows broken or lost, we all returned in good humour including the instructor.