Believing in inflicting our high spirits on all corners of Britain, this year Akela had decided that the Welsh were due a visit from us and so had arranged our 50th camp to be based in Snowdonia. This involved us travelling by minibus to Dublin and from there the ferry to Holyhead. Complete with ear plugs and much patience, Michael Thompson herded us onboard the bus and we set off. When we eventually made it to our destination we were exhausted, but we knew we were in for a busy evening. However nothing had prepared us for the spectacle before us. Wow- Akela had brought us to a building site!!! Cool, this was going to be great, loads of scaffolding to climb, ladders, cement mixers, KEEP OUT signs. Excellent. I know he’d said it was going to be a fun filled week with lots to keep us busy, but we never thought he’d been planning this for us!! Maybe this was another house in the Habitat for Humanity scheme, after all Tom and Craig were here and they had been to New Zealand with their family to build a house, and Gail was here too for the week, and she’d been to El Salvador to build a house. This was unbelievable, we were going to build a house for the less fortunate in Snowdonia National Park!!! Sadly though, this didn’t seem to be the case- as evening went on and we wandered around what was to be home for the next week, it became obvious that the Leaders were going to spoil the fun. We heard them discuss all the usual stuff adults are more concerned about…Health, Safety, Cleanliness and Regulations. Ah well, it had seemed too good to be true!!

Next morning we were up and out. No time to take advantage of all the On Site activities, spoil sports- we were entertained at a local leisure centre, while two of the Leaders went off to search out a safer environment. That evening we packed our bits and pieces and set off again to a new location. Not anywhere near as much fun and exciting to look at, but I suppose I have to admit it did appear safer.

I think the rest of the Scouts will agree with me that the week did still turn out to be as much fun as first promised. While the Cubs did their own programme, the Scouts were allowed to do other activities that were more suitable for us. We went to a brilliant activity centre called the Ropeworks. This had some really scary looking activities set up. These included an aerial runway, and a swinging trapeze that you only reached after climbing a very wobbly pole that looked as though it never ended. When you climbed up you then had to launch yourself into mid air and grab a triangular bar. Eventually an instructor lowered us to the ground with the harness if you successfully managed not to fall yourself. Best of all was the G3 swing. This was an amazing G-Force adventure that was certainly not for anyone who wasn’t prepared to put their life in danger. We each got raised into the air on a bar and from the top we released ourselves, this left each of us flying through the air. Luckily someone knew what they were doing and we all landed safely on solid ground!!

During the week we took part in all sorts of Scouting adventures. These included pitching tents, building a shelter, rock climbing, bouldering and building rafts that were meant to support lively kids but which didn’t live up to their expectations. We messed about in the freezing lake, raced sticks, spent time in a leisure centre and loads of other stuff including sampling the BEST ice-cream in Wales (twice!).

Food was another highlight of the week, especially the day we cooked on site in a Fijian oven. We had to dig a hole in the ground that was 2x2x2 ft. When this was done we built a fire in it with wood that we collected locally and let this burn out until only the embers remained. Next we lined the hole with layers of cabbage leaves, sliced potatoes, sliced carrots, more cabbage leaves, meat and still more cabbage leaves!! Finally we covered the top with some of the soil and grass that we had dug out. The heat from the embers cooked the food very slowly. This took about five hours- or at least felt that long for those of us who waited anxiously for out lunch to come out of the ground. The smell was horrible, all those cabbage leaves simmering underground was enough to make even those of us who were starving think twice about rushing up with our plate and get served when we were finally given a nod. But to our surprise the food actually tasted good when we got past the top layers of soil and cabbage leaves!! I don’t think it was quite as appetizing as a Go Large Big Mac Meal but it certainly tasted much better than we were expecting!!

Once he got over the initial shock, Akela, who keeps his skills of tact and diplomacy well hidden, none the less managed to charm the Seacat Stewardesses and negotiate a workable solution. By 9.30pm, we had dispatched Leo and Kate (aka Jamie and Pamela) with a now unloaded 10th minibus to rendezvous with the Liverpool boat with (empty) promises of a luxury cabin and a cooked breakfast, been joined by reinforcements (Jonathan and girlfriend Sharon, who had packed at lightning speed and been deposited at the terminal by Dad, ADC John, with a screech of tyres and smell of burning rubber), had loaded all of our gear into an Ulsterbus and were on our way to Larne to connect with the 11.00pm P&O sailing to Cairnryan. 1.00am and the Cubs were to be found reclining comfortably in an air-conditioned coach which had met us on the quayside while the servants (Richard and David) stood outside in the pouring rain lugging everyone’s gear from the boat to the coach. After a brief stop at a motorway service station, we arrived in Carnforth at 4.30a.m unable to raise base camp by field radio (Carolyn and Fiona could not get signals on their mobiles!). Our coach came to a halt under the cover of darkness unable to negotiate the narrowing country lanes, and we dispatched Richard (without a torch) to find the campsite. Unknown to us, Richard was forced to embark on a several mile hike but just as our driver was threatening to leave us at the roadside in the cold pre-dawn drizzle and we were debating sending out a search party, Richard returned with Fiona in our newly acquired English reg minibus to transport us to base camp. What an adventure…inevitably the troops were up and raring to go again by 8.00am on Sunday morning which was more than could be said of the weary generals!

Activities during the week included a ‘guest appearance’ by our lot at the Southern Lakes Wild Animal Park, a trip down a very cold underground cave at White Scar in Ingleton, a stretch in the cells at Lancaster Castle Prison and the customary ablutions in the local swimming pools. We were particularly impressed by the pool at Salt-Ayre Leisure Centre in Lancaster which boasted a drawbridge style, electronic moving floor!! We also spent a wet night in Morecambe, seeking sanctuary in the amusement arcades and souvenir shops (some Cubs had to be dragged away from the posters on sale) before venturing out in the drizzle for the obligatory photo-call around the aptly named ‘Eric Morecambe Bring Me Sunshine’ statue. Mid-week we travelled by train to Manchester to visit Old Trafford and tour the Stadium. Unfortunately Becks, Giggsy and co. heard we were coming and legged it to Blackburn supposedly to play a match later that day! Johnny also saw quite a bit more of Lancaster Royal Infirmary than the rest of us did, having tripped on a stone and fractured two of his fingers on the second night! Well at least it didn’t happen to one of the Cubs!!

The was also an opportunity for a trip from Haverwaithe to Lakeside by steam-train, a tour of the Aquarium of the Lakes and a chance to meet the otters before cruising on our own private yacht on Lake Windermere (the public ferry was over-packed so the company chartered an extra one just for us!) to Bowness for an afternoon of canoeing and kayaking at Windermere Outdoor Adventure. Some of the seniors also tried their hand at wind-surfing for the first time. Another first for East’s Cubs was a visit to Leighton Hall to watch a flying display of rather fierce looking birds of prey and meet the falconer. (Un)fortunately Akela, dozing in the afternoon sun in an attempt to recover from our overnight journey, wakened just before Pamela could scatter the meat filling from her sandwich on his chest to tempt the birds!! Afterwards we were taken inside for a tour of Leighton Hall.. now would you be brave enough to let two dozen Cubs loose in a stately home??? Since our return thankfully no one has lifted the ‘phone to say the family silver is missing or someone has doodled on the portrait of their Great Uncle Albert!!

Silverhelme campsite also lent itself readily to all sorts of outdoor activities. Set in woodland, the site was teeming with frogs, toads, bats and all manner of repulsive beasties intent on keeping Cubs awake at night. Undeterred, all of the Cubs spent at least one night under canvas and many managed to complete their Camper badge. We also cooked several meals outdoors including French Toast for breakfast and a backwoods lunch. Sunday dinner was a much grander affair: a full two course dinner of mince, potatoes and carrots followed by cake and custard. Move over the Rankins, Pamela and David (complete with swimming goggles to ward off the smoke) could be the next cookery sensation to come out of Ulster, with tender mince and vegetables cooked to perfection and precision timing and served with piping hot gravy. Meanwhile in the blue kitchen Jamie (Oliver – I don’t think so) was dishing out burnt mince and crunchie carrots while Fiona in the Red kitchen was protesting that Richard had sabotaged their group by leaving an inch of water in the bottom of the oil drum that served as the altar fire and making off with all the saucepan lids. Shame!!! The seniors also had an opportunity to undertake a night-time assault course and build and sleep out in a shelter mid-week, due to ample insulation with plastic sheeting this proved to be much warmer than the icelandic tent the juniors were in that night.

Our theme for the week was Survivor, complete with inter-tribe competitions and immunity challenges and the chance to vote some one off the tribe each evening at the tribal council. By Thursday only two tribesmen were left from each tribe and they entered the ‘Big Brother’ tent for the grand finale facing an number of gruelling challenges before each eviction vote. These included messy games with syrup and jelly babies, feats of strength and of course chubby bunnies. Well done to our eventual winner, Paul from 10th.

During the camp there was an opportunity for a lot of badge-work with many of the boys finishing cook, home help and camper badges. We also attempted the scientist badge which necessitated the growing of coloured crystals, and beans, making electrical circuits and periscopes and demonstrating why candles need air to burn and how red cabbage goes a funny blue colour if you add washing soda crystals! Nurse Pamela also showed the Cubs how to investigate what happens to your pulse after exercise and we discovered what an unhealthy lot they all were, especially the ones who couldn’t even find a pulse to start with!!! Congratulations to Ross Clark and Paul McConnell who won the respective 30th and 10th Cub of the Camp Shields.