Centenial Scout Camp And Stinking Rotten Something.....

Ok.......... First of all I would like you to have a look at the following photo and see if you can tell what it/they is/are......



Last week was the 100 year celebrations of Scouting...... we are lucky in this part of the world cos Ole Baden Powell held his first camp on Brownsea Island, which is this little island just off of Poole Harbour...... Poole is about an hour and 20 minutes away from here....... we love buying fish and chips and eating them on the quay wall watching the world..... but I digress.......

So....... last week saw the biggest ever come together of scouting groups, from not only here in Hamshire/England but all over the world...... Our scout group here in the village is the best group in the south of england.... we are the smallest district but have the most lads in our groups from Beavers, Cubs, Scouts and Ventures..... we take our lads on so many many wonderful camps, and canoeing and plane gliding, abseiling, hikes..... our group is the envy of all others *Beaming smile* and that is down to the people that run it........ these maties of mine have the same mentalness as me, and I have been apart of these peoples lives for 18 years.... when all our oldest kids were of the same age, these are maties that I have camped with socially away from our scouting groups...... the fun and laughter we have shared, I would never be able to duplicate if I lived to be 100.

The saddness of not being able this year to camp and hike each month has been heart ripping for me, it was my only true outlet for me, and cos of me gimpy knee its been impossible to participate as I usually would.....never mind aye...

These are not the usual namby pamby scout leaders, these are the most amazing off the wall maties.......

Dinosaur Derby we hold every September with giant 7 foot racing dinosaurs is the highlight of our village shows.......



We are not a group that does the annoying fundraising stuff throughout the year, we hold our Dinosaur Derby in September, it is OUR one fundraising day, we raise usually about $8,000 in that one day, our Derby is now the biggest village attraction throughout the year, and jebus what fun we have.........



This a view of the line up :) - see that little brollie (green and red) behind the red dinosaur, that is where I was sitting most of the day...... we must have about 45 or so different sideshows, our day has grown to be the biggest event in our village...... and so that each stall/sideshow does not have to carry money or change, the little tables with the brollies have tickets and people come and buy strips of tickets and that is what they pay for the sideshows/stalls with, every stall has a value of just one ticket..... its great value and cos its really all about the KIDS in the village, even if they do not win on whatever stall they are having a go at, they always come away with a small goodie or scrummie..... so we have 4 brollie tables that take all the money for the day...... keeping all the dosh safe :)

ESPECIALLY FOR FOOLIE.....



Here you can see the length of the course :)....... the dinosaurs have attached ropes to them and teams stand at one end of the course and at the OFF each team has to pull the ropes to make the huge heavy dinosaurs race across the field..... last year we made little dinos for the kids to have a go at the pulling....... I know the adult races are well competitive.......

This is how it works.... we have a tote tent and just like in horse racing you make a bet on which dinosaur you think will win....... yes its gambling lmfao.... start em young we say..... so you bet on a race, its just the cost of a ticket like everyother stall in our show..... then Allan who is usually up the tower with a mic will invited people to come pull the dinosaurs.... I got a black eye one year where this big bloke in front of me got carried away and elbowed me in the face, knocked me spark out cold LOL.....

The dinosaurs are on like mental sledge runners to help them glide across the field, as you can see the course is fairly long..... and with part of our fundraising, local business's get to name races in our programme.... so like just for instance, the Tyre fitters in our village could name a race 'Tyrosaurus' with there name all over the page, its great advertising and they have to pay for the page.... what we also do 2 weeks prior to our Derby is........ EVERY house is the village is knocked upon and asked if they would like to buy a programme which costs a quid..... its the entry fee..... but by doing going around every house in the village, almost every house buys a quid programme whether they are coming for the day or not, because they see it as our fundraising..... so the majority of our money we make comes from our selling of the programmes around this village 2 weeks prior to the event...... that way we can make sure that the ticket sells on the day are made cheap enough for EVERYONE to have the most fun day without breaking the bank......

Sorry waffling here lol...

Anyway again I digress.......

Every August Bank holiday we have a Family Camp, in Shedfield, which is a little hamlet where a parcel of land was bought by our scouting association just for the use of scouts..... its surrounded by woods and there is a pond thing in the middle.......we invite parents and family of any beaver, cub, scout or venture to come away with us for a long weekend and camp under canvas and join in all we do..... its NOT like any scout camp...... its an amazing fun filled side splitting weekend....... we all have a rota as of what needs to be done so that everyone chips in with chores....... and this is how cool it is..... we prepare and cook 3 fully cooked 2 course meals aday for up to 150 people on OPEN LOG FIRES...... :) so one of the chores is to get the wood........ dont believe me? and I dont mean bloody burgers and rubbish, I mean well proper grub like chicken chaussuer and curry and hotpot and corrination chicken and soups and and and, ok you just have to be there to understand...... we DONT do burger meals lol.....



This is me matie Angela she is the main leader and I have known her and have been maties with her family for 20 years..... thats Simon to, he was originally one of our cubs years ago :).... and thats me matie Wendy on the left..... she is probably now the only person on earth that really truely knows ME and all whom I am, except for one incident in me life, she knows everything lol poor Wendy aye.....



This is my Jacob having a bash at abseiling down the tower that we built in the woods.....



This is my Jacob receiving his medal for the BEST DUNNIE DIGGER on last years summer camp lmfao......

Anyways, see how I go off track..... gawds sake........ and yes, I go off track when talking to people to lol....... ask PT how when we talk on the phone, how our talk just goes off in unknown directions LOL..

So the first photo...... did ya work out what the hell it was?......

Well the weekend before last I dropped my Jacob off with his gear, to the drop off point where our scouts were jumping on a coach to take them to the New Forest for our Hampshire Centenial Camp........ 4,000 scouts on one camp, it was the biggest gathering of its kind, and it was happening all the same week all over england and the world....

I was the first parent to ever in the history of hampshire scouting to have a son in each group...... Jacob was a Beaver, Sam was a Cub, Tom was a Scout and Ben was a Venture...... well one has to be famous for something right?

opps there I go again....

Because we have been doing this scouting marlarkie and bivi camps and school camps for so so many years, my lads KNOW how to travel light, and it was funny to see so many kids with so much gear....... my Jacob fits all his needs including sleeping bag, into one rucksack....



He also knew that the coach would drop them off and they would have a 3 mile hike through the woods to get to their site..... how the hell were some of these kids gonna manage with cases and bin bags stuffed with gear and even camp chairs LOL...... and cos it had rained for 3 months the hike into the site was 6 inches at least deep in mud...... apparently it was just the funniest thing...... in a few weeks when scouts reopened I will have great photos to share....

So my boy came home last weekend, knackered beyond belief, but with the most amazing experience under his belt....... and this is what I was presented with......



and....



The first picture is a picture of a pair of my socks which he nicked to wear with his hiking boots cos they are/were well thick...... he took enough gear to last a week with wet weather stuff, ya know, be prepared.......

Well I think he wore me socks all week cos he was wearing them when he got home.... and all the socks in his rucksack were still neating rolled into balls and were wet and stunk but had not been worn.........the rest of the clothes were filthy lol

Boys aye........ who'd ave em........... :)

So if I go on holiday next week, it means that I will miss our family scout long weekend camp, it will be the first time since we started it 12 years ago...... and even though we have tents and camping gear coming out of our ears in this house, I had bought a pink flowered tent especially for that weekend away.... I know I know, I dont do Pink but this tent is to die for.......

Ive already been told that camp will not be the same without me, and our nightly talks and laughter around the campfire will not be a shadow of what it was if I/we dont go.........

But I need a holiday..... I need to get away..... I need a break from the madness and stress and hard work of the life I have here....I have not had a break for 2 years, not even a weekend.... I need to try and recharge me batteries before me big operation comes up in the next few months....because I will not be doing an aweful lot for a while after that, let alone working..and I know I am going to hit an all time low........ so, this year, and this year only, I am going to have to miss the most amazing weekend of me year for pastures new, for unchartered waters....... I NEED to do this....... I NEED to find out.........

ok sorry, just twaddling a load of bollocks here as usual LOL

x