The Girl Guides Can Survive
Over the first weekend in September 11 Guides, from 3 different units across Burton attended a Survival Camp.
They were shown how to put up a variety of different styles of emergency shelters,light a fire without matches and cook food without pots and pans by an Army Cadets Sergeant Instructor and then tried other survival tasks like orienteering, how to use moss, the sun and stars to find north and what to pack on a walking expedition.
The girls also had fun finding food that had been hidden on site (using 6 figure map co-ordinates) and collecting firewood for a camp fire.
Part of their survival evening challenge was to prepare and cook a whole mackerel, this involved the girls having to gut it buy removing its head, tail and guts of the fish, before adding lemon juice and parsley they then cooked it in the open fire.
They also roasted or stewed carrots, sweetcorn and potatoes. One of the guide leaders said "It was fun watching them gutting the fish, it was something that they first turned their noses upto but most of them ate the fish, and everyone was full after their meal (the back up chicken wasn't even needed)."
The own made shelters were put to the test as it did rain on the Saturday night. Several guides had wet heads or feet and one of the guides had a mini swimming pool on her sleeping bag, but everyone had a good laugh about it.
12-year-old Guide, Niamh said: "It has been fun, best was lighting the fires and I didn't even mind gutting the fish."
The survival weekend will be part of the guides work towards their Baden Powell award, which is the highest award a girl can earn as a guide. The girls really enjoying spending time with guides of a similar age and taking camping that bit further.
The girls got on so well they have requested we run an adventure camp for the older guides in future.