Wings 2009 Harrington Giraffes by Hannah Smith

Saturday 1st August, 2009

Left home for Stockton Brook at 6.45 a.m. full of excitement and anticipation for a week camping at Windsor. Everyone arrived followed closely by the bus. On checking what was coming with us the poor bus driver realised we would need a bigger coach for the journey home! My Dad helped the bus driver squash things in to places you didn't know things could be squashed and by 8.15 a.m. we were on our way to collect the others from the Hilton services. We had a stop on the way to Windsor at a service station and arrived at our destination about dinner time. The bus driver had his break and we had our dinners. We then took all our equipment down to our campsite which was about a 10 minute walk away. We set up camp and had our tea. We went to the opening ceremony (sorry I have no idea what time - I had no watch for the whole of the holiday!) and had a disco afterwards. The Mexicans had a problem with no tents so we "borrowed" some Scottish scouts to help us fetch some tents for them and put them up. It was very difficult as we couldn't get the pegs in. We finally went to bed at about midnight.

Sunday 2nd August, 2009

We had breakfast and got ready for our first activity which we did in sub-camps. We got to know our neighbours and learned about Oxfam and Water Aid. We had to get stamps on our passports to earn our Challenge Badges. We got our neckers signed by various people to get another box signed on our challenge award. We had a disco with live bands. We had a great day and although very tiring we enjoyed ourselves.

Monday 3rd August, 2009

We had breakfast and got ready to go to the "Adventure Zone". Here we did caving, climbing and trampolining. It was great fun and I really enjoyed this as I have climbed before with my Dad. In the afternoon we went a walk to the field where we were in the "Outdoor Zone". Here we did archery, a bungee run, shooting and there was an inflatable slide. We had tea and after this were the Wings Factor heats. Went to sleep quite late again about 1:30am!

Tuesday 4th August, 2009

Had breakfast and went to the "Craft Zone". Here we made notebooks, coasters, book marks and a Staffordshire Knot sign for us to put on our tent. Before dinner we thought it would be fun to tie us together with members from other scout and guide units we then went onto the main stage and did hula hooping. After dinner we were in the "Physical Zone" and had a go at go-karting which was brill, stilt walking, space hopper racing and circus skills. We cheated on the tight rope walking by holding on to each other! After tea I went to find my friend from home who was camping in the Bell Sub camp. After this we watched some of the Wings Factor and played with a rocket. Went to sleep quite late again.

Wednesday 5th August, 2009

Wednesday's morning activity was the "Science Zone". We did the digestive system and made a splatter paint picture. After lunch we played rocket with the Woolwich Scouts. This was great fun. The afternoon activity was the "Hot Air Zone". We had brilliant fun with an obstacle course on inflatables, a bungee run, slides, a broncho bull, surfboard and trampolines. We would probably have done better without all the laughing as this made us fall off things! After tea was the Wings Factor show.

Thursday 6th August, 2009

Woken by thunder, or at least we think it was?! We were in the "Entertainment Zone" for our morning activity which involved drumming, dancing and acting. After dinner we were on the "Windsor Exploration" activity. This involved walking 300 miles to Windsor (OK not that far but felt like it!) which meant we had to go to McDonalds for a McFlurry before we could start. We had a quiz to complete around Windsor and it was great fun as it meant we looked out for things we may not have seen otherwise. Thought the London Eye big wheel had moved down the Thames a bit, then realised it was a smaller one! Our evening entertainment was a small fun fair set up. We went on the dodgems which was great fun. We then played cards for the evening in our mess tent with people from other units.

Friday 7th August, 2009

Our morning zone was the "Global Development Village". Here we learned what it was like to have a disability and had a go in a wheelchair to see how hard life was for people. You could have a go at sign language and learn how to manage if you were blind by doing a maze. After dinner we got the bus to Wraybury Lake to do our water activities. We did bellboating and kayaking. In the kayaking we had to raft up and people had to get out of their canoes and run along the other canoes and many boats sank!! After tea was the closing ceremony. We played cards with other people from our sub camp. Off to bed ready for a busy day of packing.

Saturday 8th August, 2009

Packed personal belongings away then had breakfast. We then took all the tents down apart from the mess tent and packed them away. Annabel got stung by a wasp! We then had dinner and put the mess tent down. We said goodbye to all the new friends we had met and loaded the coach (which was a bigger one so much easier!). We started on our journey home and arrived back at Stockton Brook about 7.00 p.m.

I had a fantastic time at Wings and would love to do it again. I met some great people from various countries and made some new friends. Thank you for the experience.

Hannah Smith, 4th Trentham Guides, Stoke-on-Trent.