Cub Camp 2012 – Tolmers

Over the long bank holiday weekend the Cubs headed off for this years Cub Camp.

Saturday

19 Cubs and 2 Beavers set off from St Georges School at 9:30 in a small convoy of 4 cars, 2 trailers and the first outing for our new minibus and arrived at Tolmers Campsite just over 2 hours later. First thing on arrival was lunch so whilst the Cubs tucked in to their packed lunches the leaders sorted the kitchen tent as hot water for a cup of tea is extremely important!

After lunch they set about putting the tents up. The four girls had a nice easy dome tent whilst the boys had 3 patrol tents to put up and with the help of Rikki, Lucy, Coach and some great teamwork they had everything sorted in no time. They were assigned their tents and teams and sorted their kit just in time for the first activity of camp, the Coconut Tree Climbing.

Some got 3 feet of the ground a decided it was too high, some went half way and decided that was enough, some took their time and made it too the top, then there was Alfie and Ryan who are clearly part monkey and shot up in just under 20 seconds! The activity was booked for a couple of hours and most that had stopped on the first few attempts slowly gained more confidence and by the end all bar a couple had made it to the top.

They then had some free time for games before dinner. Akela explained that on this camp we had 2 new chefs (Sasha & Carl), Ed’s hand went straight up, “Aklea, have we got new chefs because you sacked my mum?”. Dinner was Spaghetti Bolognese and was lovely, if they are not careful they will be asked back again! After washing up the Cubs then had a bit more free time before hot drinks and marshmallows around the fire before bed. The rain then started.

Sunday

We woke to rain on Sunday but spirits were not dampened. After a hearty breakfast of bacon, egg, fried slice mushrooms and tomatoes the cubs were ready for the challenges of the day ahead.

The first was a master class in knot tying with the legend that is Point 5 along with Coach. They first learnt to tie a clove hitch, some taking longer than others but all achieving it in the end. They then moved on to a square lashing which again, although a challenge was achieved by all.

The cubs then had a warm lunch before venturing down to the lake for rafting in the rain!

Point 5 and Coach made the raft to save time and the adventure began. Akela and Kaa were first to venture out with the more nervous cubs and with a rope connecting us to shore we set off down the lake, spirits were high and the nerves disappeared whilst Akela and Kaa contemplated their sanity. At one point progress came to a halt until Coach realised he was ‘accidentally standing on the rope.’ The more confident cubs then ventured out and demonstrated their rowing skills, before some of the more nervous cubs felt brave enough to go it alone!

Well done to all the cubs who all overcame some big fears to achieve this goal!

After rafting a warm shower was in order for the wet and smelly cubs before they were given free time to explore the site further. After a tasty tea of sweet and sour chicken and rice the cubs toasted marshmallows before retiring to their sleeping  bags. It was still raining.

Monday

This was the busiest day and again was wet. After a lovely fry up again the first activity was archery and we waited to see if we had any Robin Hoods amongst us.

Initially not many targets were hit but as time went on their aims got better and many demonstrated they had the potential to indeed be Robin Hood!  They also had to try and burst a balloon with their arrows and a few of them achieved this much to their delight.

They then had the opportunity to visit the tuck shop before returning to site for lunch

At one point the sun came out but it didn’t last and soon the rain returned.

After lunch we had the inflatable assault course which was great fun for all. It consisted of an inflatable tunnel with obstacles including walls, hoops, nets and a slide. The noise level and excitement was high as they challenged each other in twos to race to the end, cheered on their way by the other cubs. The leaders then had a go with Point 5 (using some illegal tactics) challenging Akela, Kaa against Baggy (the name given to our young leader Lucy, much better than Stinkbomb!) and Carl against Rikki – you will see from the pictures that we had as much fun as the kids although it nearly killed us!

After the cubs went off on the name challenge game where they had to get answers to question from different people on the site-funnily enough no-one was able to find a Liverpool supporter.

We then donned our outfits for our Jubilee Party (indoors) where we sang the National Anthem, waved our flags and ate too much! Ask the cubs about the moment Carl fell of his chair (I can reassure you no alcohol was involved). The evening was finished with a campfire (our beacon to the Queen) where we sang lots of songs. We were entertained by one of Point 5’s sketches, a tale of a fighter plane with failing engines and a fire in engine 4 that needs to be put out, unfortunately for Sasha she was engine number 4! We toasted marshmallows, drank hot chocolate and went to bed.

Tuesday

A sad day where we had to work hard to pack up ready for the journey home. The cubs all worked hard to clear the site before we gathered around the flagpole for the last time.

Throughout the camp the cubs had worked in teams to earn points, they could earn points  for activities, general behaviour, helpfulness and bedtime. The competition was tight but the winning team was Diamond (Ned, Presley, Sean, Charlie and Jorge), well done to the other teams you all worked really hard.

Other prize winners were Adam (boy cub of camp) and Niamh (girl cub of camp), well done to both of you.

All the cubs were great and you should be very proud of them, they are a credit to you.

Special thanks goes to Akela who puts in so much work to arrange these camps.