News Section
Fells Marathon 2010 - Silverwood, Barnsley
Its sort of comforting when the weather forecast goes exactly to plan. Friday: Heavy rain and strong wind – tick. Saturday: Dry and sunny – tick. Sunday : Heavy persistent rain – tick. Silverwood Campsite, near Barnsley, was used once before in 2003, to host the Fells and it is a good venue.
This year we entered two Explorer teams and two Scout teams, though the exact make up of the teams wasn’t clear until a couple of days before the event – so no change there then! It was not a physically demanding course but the map reading called for care and precision so I must confess to a slight sinking feeling as we bade farewell to the teams early on Saturday morning! Fortunately Dave Laud – founding father of the event, but now taking a back seat – spotted the crucial spot just on the perimeter of the base site where the first significant navigation decision is required. Teams have 3 or 4 options and a wrong one there could have led to a very long day out on the hills. So Dave made sure everyone made it away safely.
One who very nearly didn’t make it was scout Harry who asked, after breakfast, what should he do about one of his walking boots where the entire sole had dropped off! Fortunately Clem was en route from Hornsea and a quick call resulted in a quick shopping trip to collect a pair of walking shoes. Harry had meanwhile set off with his team and one boot with and one boot without sole. It was only at checkpoint 5 where we able to change his footwear!
Sarah, Miles, Peter and Harry made it safely round the course that day. In the other scout team there were health problems for Will and Christian and so Ruby and Suzie were eventually bussed further round the course to join up with another team. All were eventually reunited at the overnight site where the facilities were at best basic!
The explorers meanwhile had been having an interesting day. Dom and his team of athletes were giving it a real go and other than a small navigation error would have been in a top three spot. In the other team Ellen was suffering and eventually required assistance and in a show of true sportsmanship, the team declined to merge with another team as it would slow them down.
Sunday was a wet miserable day but Harry (lost another shoe!) and Lauren (lost her passion for the hills!) took the opportunity to get a lift back to base. The rest of the walkers came in throughout the morning and were justifiably clapped in for their efforts. One benefit of the rain was that it washed the cowpats off the tents! The final placings don’t interest me that much as its really the taking part that counts (honest) but well done to Dom, Jonny, Neil and Tom for giving it a real go and only just missed a podium finish. Well done Sarah for immaculate map reading. Well done Explorer Ladies for good spirit which was deservedly rewarded with the award of the John Lancaster Trophy. And well done to all walkers for simply volunteering to take part. There’s always 2011!!
For more photos of the event click here to visit our gallery.
Bailwood Group Camp 2009
Over the May Bank Holiday, all sections of Hornsea Scout Group went to Bailwood Scout Activity Centre, near Aldbrough, en-mass for a three day camp. A massive thank you goes to Raksha (Odette) for organising her first camp – nothing like jumping in at the deep end. Actual numbers on camp varied by the day with helpers coming and going and he Beavers only being there for 24 hours but Sheila reported that she catered for 93 at one of the meals!
The weather turned against us as we strove to set up, some Leaders had arrived early in the morning to get the communal tents set up before the Sections arrived, so nobodies kit got wet! Camping was in tents, bivouacs and the log cabin and having seen some of the bivouacs (Explorers?!) I can only say thank goodness it didn’t rain.
On the Saturday the sun came out and it ended up being a glorious day. Steve Caulfield and his instructors arrived from Kingston Special Needs Group to give everyone in the group Archery instruction and parent helpers, leaders and children were all given the opportunity to try a new skill. Other activities on the Saturday included an alien egg hunt in the wood, our camp theme was Monsters and Aliens. Some of our Leaders and Parents built an obstacle course for the group to attempt and other parents took some children to build shelters. The highlight of the Saturday, was "It's a knockout" Wet Games, with a large body slide and water fight as a grand finale. With a campfire in the evening, the group were all exceedingly tired when they finally got to bed.
Sunday was a little more sedate, but as we had so many parent helpers with us on the camp, lots of smaller groups went off and did the things they wanted to. With our backwards cooking expert Scout Leader Richard Cleminson helping the children to provide really good pizza's for lunch it was decided to break out the body slide and have "ANOTHER" water fight to help everyone cool down on one of the hottest days of the year so far. Some of the group were starting to flag as our busy camp progressed, so when it came to camp fire that evening, twigs were sharpened and marshmallows were cooked.
By the time it came to break camp on the Monday morning, everyone was ready for a decent bath and perhaps an afternoon nap! But not before our Group Scout Leader Rob Carlisle invested our newest Scout. It was a fabulous camp and was only able to be so, due to the outstanding number of parents willing to give their time to come and help the Leaders. A big thank you to all those who volunteered. Same time next year? or are we all too tired to think of that yet!
There was stacks to do over the weekend but I think the star event was the water slide where, I think there was a competition, but the end result was everybody got soaked so I doubt if anyone remembers who won the event?!
The support we had from parents was fantastic and certainly the best I recall having on camp and I’m sure we have discovered some potential leaders. A huge thank you to everyone who helped. Same again next year??
Moonlight Challenge 2009
The weather was surprisingly warm, which was a great start to the weekend. We arrived nice and early which gave us time to set up and socialise with county Scouting friends. The checkpoints were challenging but a lot of fun, and navigation didn’t cause us too many problems thanks to the wonderful navigation skills of Jonny!
Some checkpoints, like aiming water bombs at targets, and trying to build a free-standing bridge out of logs, were almost impossible. However others were more depending on chance, such as playing the higher or lower card game, and we actually did really well on these! After an exciting evening round the dark woods we headed back to the tents for a night of lots of chatting, eating and very little sleep!
In the morning we had our cooked breakfast (some a lot later than others!) and made our way down to the presentation, where we had rather a surprise! WE WON!!! Not sure how, but we did! So after that bombshell we made our way home, having had an awesome weekend.
Former Scouts
While manning a fundraising stall over the Easter Bank Holiday Weekend (going through a watching paint dry phase!) our Scout Leader, Rob Carlisle, got talking to Tony Hampton who used to be a member of Hornsea Scouts between 1954 - 1962.
In those days the troop used to meet in an old loft above a farmyard off Back Westgate. The scoutmaster was Adrian Hill who used to be a woodwork teacher at Hornsea School.
Tony remembers that 2 of his fellow scouts were Christopher Dowson and Terry Ward. At the time Tony lived on Hull Road. During his time in scouting Tony went on to gain his Queens Scout Award - the highest award in the movement. He told me that the American equivalent is the Eagle Scout.
He would be pleased to hear from old colleagues as he has lived in New Jersey, USA for many years. Tony can be contacted by email at tony.joette@verizon.net
Rob Carlisle says "We would like to hear from any other former members of Hornsea Scout Group who gained the Queens Scout Award via our contact form which is also available below".
