From the 5th - 7th October  2012  Market Weighton Scout Troop setup camp at Pocklington district campsite, Givendale.

The camp was a great success for all those who took part from the scouts to the leadership team, we achieve all that was set out before us,  from campsite service to an organised hike to  tracking skills.

Once we had all arrived we had flag break were John set out the plans for the weekends activities and how everyone was going the achieve this.

The patrol tents were erected in sleeping areas, all kitchen equipment stored away with time left to play wide games in the valley before supper and bed!

On Saturday the Scouts were up, washed and ready to start the day. First order of the day was cook breakfast on a wood fire, and wash up afterwards.

We split the scouts into 2 groups, 1 group helped with building a style in between compounds 3 & 4 to help with access to the forest behind while the other group help to reclaim the compounds from overgrown trees and hedges.

The two groups worked really hard as Chris' group cleared lots of tree branches away and trimmed the hedges back to open the camping areas up. Johns group built a new style between the last 2 compounds and repaired the style between compounds 2 & 3. The scouts took part in both groups which helps them to gain their Outdoor Challenge Award. 

We finished our campsite service just in time to have dinner in the hut before the scouts set out on a hike back to Givendale from the drop of point.

The scouts were bundled up into cars and taken to their destination about 5 miles away. They were given a map & compass told were the check points where and then set off. At each checkpoint Chris & James were there to check the team was all there and nobody had hurt themselves. After the last check point Chris & James arrived at the finish line to welcome the scouts back to our site, but after an hour had passed with no sign of the scouts John decided it was time to find them and see what had gone wrong. After 10 minutes of looking we found them walking up the road not across the field as intended. They admitted to getting lost on the paths through the fields but thought it would be better if they came back to the road and took the longer route to camp. We checked they knew where they were and how to get back to site and then left them to finish their hike.

They arrived about 1/2 hour after we left them to be welcomed with a warm stew which Graeme and the explorer's had been slowly cooking over an open fire. After everyone had eaten and the washing up was done it was getting dark in the valley and we decided it was time to light the campfire and do s'mores with marshmallows and biscuits to round the evening off before everyone headed to bed.

On Sunday all scouts were up, washed and ready to start cooking breakfast and do the wash up afterwards, they all packed their personal kit which was to be store in the hut so the tents could be opened up to dry out and be aired.

While the tents were drying out Chris was showing the scouts tracking signs that you would use if you wanted someone to follow at a later time, when they had a clear understanding of the signs Chris set them off on a course around the valley using the skills they had just learnt. It took them about 45 minutes to complete the cause which brought them back to the hut.

They had free time for 30 minutes while we prepared dinner for everyone. After lunch it was time to strike camp and load the trailer with all our gear from the weekend.

John closed camp after thanking the leadership team for their help in making camp a fun filled 3 days and thanking the scouts for having fun but being safe!

All the scouts walked to the top of Givendale were they were met by parents to pick them up, we all headed back to the Market Weighton Scout HQ and put all the camping gear away.

I would like to thank all the leaders for their hard work and participation in the weekend’s events and a big thank you to the parents who provide transport and helped to pack the camping gear away.