11-13 December 2009 - Jim Jukes and Harcourt Webb log cabins, Kinver Scout Campsite The arrival at the campsite started with the scouts being shown to their room and settling in, whilst yet again, maestro chef Nigel Butler had the thankful task of preparing a hearty roast pork dinner for 13 scouts, 4 young leaders and three leaders soon to be four when the GSL managed to escape work. After a successful meal, the weekend plan was outlined and the scouts were given free time to chill (after they had cleaned up and done the washing up)!! The programme was a simple one, to relax, enjoy the weekend and have a thoroughly good time – based on parents and scouts responses in received emails, this appears to have been achieved. Due to the early start and the days walking on Saturday, it was time for an early night for the scouts and allow the leaders/young leaders time to finalise the bases for the hike- despite our best endeavours and numerous attempts to get them to settle down we finally succeeded; – by now its silly O’clock though – so we decide to retire - bases are sorted, scouts are sleeping and young leaders are going to get a good nights kip – wrong!! 6.30 am Saturday, Scouts decide to have a game of footie inside the cabin right outside young leaders room- what a fantastic alarm clock; any parents that say they have problems getting their scouting child up in the mornings, please ask members of KD12 scout troop how they manage to get up so early after staying awake for so long. By the way, parents of KD12 scouts that have said how much your child enjoyed the camp but were very tired, well, now you know why.

Saturday started with a good cooked scouting breakfast along with cereals, toast and juices, after cleaning up, discussing the route it was time to set off on another low keyed Ian Pain “short walk”. After a few wrong turns, both teams arrived at the lunch spot, Kingsford Country park some with painted faces, some having done the gooey mess kim’s game and obstacle course. With lunch completed the teams swapped routes and went back to complete the remainder of the walk, however, asking the locals which way, does not really help when they are not sure which way you should be going in the first place!! Trust the compass and map and never ask a local- as you can guess one team deviated from the route - after a few phone calls and some sound searching skills the group were located safe and secure and they got a free lift. Everyone back nice and safe, time for dinner. A full Christmas turkey dinner, ably prepared by James Davies’ supervised by Nigel Butler with the scouts preparing all the veg. After a fantastic meal we opened our secret Santa presents, had our desserts - mince pies or carrot cake or chocolate cake. Once the menial jobs that all scouts love to do (washing up and tidying up) was completed, we set out explaining the new wide game that involves 2 teams and a game of stealth, cunning and teamwork- it went so well we played it twice, but had to call a halt – sorry scouts but three times would be too much. So here we go again, bedtime- how strange, some very tired young people not too tired to have a custard pie fight – well done to Pete for being the first victim, very special mention to his brother Tom – Roy will not forget, he still owes you!! Now its time to retire- strange, no noise and only a hardened few managed to stay awake for about 30 minutes after they had gone to bed.

Sunday, another hearty breakfast for some weary warriors and then off to the Crystal leisure centre, Stourbridge for a degreasing and swim – see, scouts do wash, well sort of. We then returned back to the campsite for a nice healthy light lunch of jacket pots then ready for the fumigation of the cabins and the area of usage- this was achieved with minimal fuss and the cabins were duly cleaned to a high standard- if I may make one training note to the training team, can we please teach scouts that the hairy end of the brush is better used when it comes to sweeping up, the other end is purely to hold and you get more rubbish collected with the hairy end!!

All the cleaning done, place looks better than when we took it over, (as I believe should be the case), debriefed the camp and everyone agreed that they had enjoyed it and that it was fun- each commented on their best bit of the camp, main question asked is, “Where is it next year?” Luckily, have 30 days to decide and 334 days to prep for it – physically and mentally, so here ends another great camp , only a few things remain, to say a special thankyou to the scouts for their efforts and also their excellent behaviour. Secondly to say thankyou to the young leaders that support the leaders, so Rhys, Tom, James and Martyn- thankyou. Finally but by no means least, the leaders: Josh a big welcome and a big thankyou for your help and effort over last few weeks, not to mention the effort over the weekend. Roy yet again your support is valued, wisdom and comments always well received and your efforts duly noted – thanks. Nigel, this is the camp that you have organised and structured so well thanks for making it easy for me to take the reins, be involved and to do the shopping with you – next year you are more than welcome to shop alone or with the young leaders. Finally to the parents of our scouts, thankyou for you support and contributions and I would like to wish you all a very merry christmas and a happy and prosperous new year.

With thanks Ian Pain KD12 Scouts