I'm a BP Guide, Get Me Out Of Here!
On Friday night, we met at the starting point of our Baden Powell weekend, we had to pick our favourite colour out of a list, but we didn't know why. Next, we had to pick a cocktail stick that had a coloured end, these would be our teams for the weekend. Cat then told us the team that would be arriving in camp in luxury – basically we would be driven and not have to walk – the most popular colour picked was Orange, meaning Orange were driven to camp. I was in team orange, and was quite happy to watch my friend walk off with the rest of the group.
When we arrived at camp, we set up tables for the evening activity and started to get to know each other, while we waited for the rest of the group to arrive. When they eventually arrived, we had a drink and some supper, before starting our evening activities. Cat introduced all the leaders, and we all said our names and what units we were from.
For the evening activity, we had to decide a team name and make a friendship bracelet in our team colours. We all chatted away and got to know each other, all the girls we really friendly, which was nice as I only knew one other girl there.
We also had an orienteering challenge! Around the camp were CDS with different animals on, and we had to find them and write the animals names down, it was very difficult as some teams were cheats and had hid them!
We all got our beds ready, we were sleeping inside as it was very cold, so Cat had decided she wasn't going to evict a team and make us sleep outside – not all guide leaders are evil after all!
On Saturday, we got up, had breakfast and got to know the other girls a bit better, before having our first trial. I was nominated from our team and got kitted up in my waterproofs as it was the first 'messy trial'. We had to run round a pole, then run to a table and 'apple bob', then get a marshmellow out of a bowl of flour – which was horrible! - and finally get a plastic star out of a flour and water mixture. Doesn't sound too bad – but everyone was throwing water at us. By the end I was soaked!
I got changed, then we had dinner. After dinner, two men from an outdoor education group came to see us. First, we had to collect some wood, to light the fire We learnt how to light a fire, with a fire lightery thing (I can't remember the name) ! Then the other girls had to skin a rabbit – I didn't because I'm a vegetarian, so instead I collected some nettles and tried them instead. They weren't too bad, and it tasted like lettuce to me. Everyone tried mallard and another meat, while the leaders cooked the rabbit. We went back up, and some people tried the rabbit, then we had dinner.
Later on, Cat's friend brought 2 bearded dragons for us to see, they were amazing to look at, and didn't feel like we excepted.
On Sunday, we had the finally challenges, which included sliding across a tarpaulin covered in Jelli Bath, playing 'condiment twister' and a whole group challenge which consisted of shoving our faces in plates of cold custard, mayonnaise, toffee yoghurt and mash potato.
The weekend was really good, and I had lots of fun, and I would like to say a big thank you to all the leaders that made it possible.
Fay Parker, 2nd Uttoxeter Guides