Nine members K2 joined Scouts & Explorers from the 7th and 88th Nottinghams – and hundreds of other Scouts from across the UK and around the World – at Red Rose 2014.
There were six activity packed days with themes including international, water activities, fun, challenge and discovery. Here are reviews from some of those that went…
International by Grace
Sunday was our first full day at Red Rose and International Day was a good way to get to know the campsite layout and attempt to make friends from other sub camps. Each sub camp had a different continent and Buttermere was Africa. Each Scout group had to come up with their own activity depending on what country they were given.
K2 was given Uganda so, with Butches amazing songwriting skills the leaders created a game to play, that came with a song which I personally think should be number one in the charts, but each to their own. I spent most of international day colouring and making bracelets but there were other things to do such as trying different foods and playing games.
Fun by Isaac
In the fun zone I thought the inflatables were great, especially the assault course and gladiator podiums. The sumo wrestling was fantastic. Circus skills were good but they could of had more things to do. Me and Sam had a fab game of volley ball, so thumbs up to that.
Adventure by Cat
Tuesday was Adventure day where there were a variety of different activities for people to do which took place off site. I was lucky enough to go to Great Tower for the day where I took part in the Gladiator challenge. We raced up it and even did it blindfolded! We then continued with the activities by doing orienteering in the rain and after lunch we tried some archery. We decided to ignore the targets and, instead, shoot at the apple. The day was good fun and action pack and I met new people and made new friends.
Challenge by Tom
Challenge day for me and many others was an interesting as well as fun set of activities. To start with we entered a big tent full of tables, chairs and men busy at work crafting sculptures with younger scouts. All of us at K2 decided to make a wrist band with a whistle. We then wrote on dog tags letters and symbols to spell out names using hammers. Whilst waiting to move on to the next activity we decided to watch one of the wood men at work. Isaac and I were fortunate enough to be called up to craft either a woggle or a dipper. So, not knowing what it was, I crafted a dipper which was given to my Grandma as a gift because I had no use for it.
We then moved on to the next set of activities down the field. Here we cooked bread and jam on a pan outside. Waiting for it to cook when burnt metal on wood to smelt our names or symbols of our choice. After a nice snack, we boiled ribena using fire and kettles. We then moved on onto the best part of the zone which was named Adrenalin. In this zone we crawled through tunnels, climbed up towers and pushed through the assault course.
Challenge day was my favourite day for activities as it included all the activities I had looked forward to that week and also introduced me to new ones I had never done before and really enjoyed.
Splash by Laura
Well, splash well and truly lived up to its name. Although no one from our group actually went in the lake, everyone was soaked through after the first few minutes. A group of us chose to do canoeing first, an activity that very quickly turned into water fight with a nearby bell boat using the – I’m sure innocently – provided buckets on board the canoe. Soon traitors began to emerge as the bell boat moved too far away, and our canoe descended into chaos as a water fight broke out between team mates.
With a boat full of water and some soaked and rather cold Explorers on board, we all stood and had a sing along to heads, shoulders, knees and toes with an added jump – just to make us all feel extra safe in a small, rocking boat! There was a ridiculously long list of activities to choose from throughout the day, making it impossible to try everything. I tried my hand at sailing on a small two man dinghy – something I’d never done before but thoroughly enjoyed – before finishing with an hour kayaking. I loved this day because the necessity for team work meant I got to know people a lot better, and I enjoyed some activities I’d never had the opportunity to try before.
Finally, Discovery by Moz
Discovery was a great idea for day out round the Lake District doing the tourist thing, and it would have been amazing if it wasn’t for the fact that it poured down and we spent most of it sitting in damp waterproofs peering through steamed up windows of boats, trains and coaches!
We still had fun though exploring the various coffee shops and shops of Bowness trying to stay dry, travelling on a boat across Windermere then on a steam train. A nice change from the usual Scout camp activities.
