It’s the most wonderful time of the year… no, not that one – it’s Group Camp! We’ve come to Walesby Forest Scout campsite near Newark, a short distance from Clumber Park. The weather has been on our side so far, and the young people are having a great time.

Friday check-in went really well; thank you to all parents and guardians for making use of the new digital consent forms. We hope you’ve found it easier and more efficient than their historical paper counterparts! Once the young people were all checked in, they went on a short walk around the site so they’d all be familiar with the facilities and various locations. One of the key themes of the weekend is the young people having both the time and opportunity to socialise and forge new friendships alongside the activities and new skills on offer. Before supper, the young people had free time to mingle. get their tents set-up and chill out.

Saturday morning, many of the Cubs formed the dawn chorus. Thankfully, one of our leader team is ex-forces and a bit of a gym bunny. Those that wouldn’t settle back to sleep found themselves taking part in a physical training exercise at 5:30am; all with the promise of another session before bed too. Breakfast was served by our wonderful catering team in the marquee. Shortly followed by our first batch of activities.

Cubs were the first to head out; walking for 30 minutes to the lake where they took part in body boarding and then the site assault course. Scouts & Explorers began pioneering projects and Beavers learnt survival skills including skinning, cooking and eating rabbits, knife usage and more. A solid lunch of fajitas went down really well before Beavers moving to pioneering, Cubs to survival skills and the Scouts/Explorers into some youth-led activities (sports mainly, but after a short-while we let them get out the water slide).