With the disruption due to Covid fully behind us, we finally got back to our roots in 2023 and camped together for 3 days at the Moor House Scout Centre, just outside Durham. This included overnight sleeping for older children (8+), but was a day camp for younger children (with parents dropping them off and picking them up each day). Each day we included a number of activities:
- meeting in the big tent, introducing the theme and a memory verse of the day#
- workshops (e.g. making a rope ladder (and climbing it), producing Japanese sushi (and eating it), using materials to make a purse (older children sewed this)
- games – each afternoon we had a 2 hour game which involved a lot of fun and running around.
- cooking of evening meal of camp fires (the children needed to prepare the ingredients – slice the vegetables etc, cook in a pot over fire and serve). This was done in teams of about 8-10 children – we had 4 such teams at the camp, although the very youngest children were fed by food produced by children in the older groups.
- evening meeting in the big tent
A group of 10 rangers from Germany also camped with us as part of a visit to the UK. Meeting Rangers from other countries is also part of our programme.
Camp 2023
Meeting Together
Each day we started off with breakfast of course, and after that we met together in the big tent. We say our pledge, sing a couple of songs and introduce a bible verse that will give a theme for the day. This meeting lasts for half an hour or so. One of teh photos also shows the German visiting Rangers being introduced to the camp, They stayed with us for two days,
Our morning meeting, all rangers present and correct!
Seven German Rangers joining us for two days of our camp
Preparing food!
All the children are divided into groups of 8-10 children. Each group must cook for themselves. They are given teh ingredients before each meal. They need to prepare them (clean and slice vegetables etc), light a camp fire and maintain this safely while the food cooks. They then need to serve this and clean and wash up afterwards. This is much slower than providing centrally cooked food, but it enables the rangers to develop a range of new scouting skills.
Eating lunch – this is done in teams of 8-10 children
Getting the fire lit!
Fun and Games
Every afternoon we had a big game that lasted for a couple of hours and involved a huge amount of energy being used up. We had a numbers game, a well known game called Capture the Flag, and finally a version of rounders: Ranger Rounders which was a lot faster and more messy than usual!
