Manannan Pack – Silver Challenge Camp

Over the weekend 22. – 24. July 2011, we took six Cubs on a special goodbye camp to end their time in Cub Scouts before they all move up to Scouts. The idea of the camp was to work towards the Silver Challenge Badge which is the highest badge they can earn while in Cubs. We all met on Friday at the Scout Hall, the Cubs were not aware what we were doing or where we would be staying during the weekend. After a quick briefing we told the Cubs they must use the route card provided and walk to where we would be staying that night, the Cubs were dropped off at the bottom of South Barrule car park with Rob and Akela, the Cubs navigated there way up the hill and back down again. It was when we were in the plantation the Cubs twigged onto the fact we were staying at Watertrough Cottage. Once we arrived at Watertrough, the fire was well underway and we roasted marshmallows over an open fire, it was getting late so all the Cubs went to bed and were soon asleep.

The next morning everyone was up at 7am, and a quick bite to eat for breakfast and then getting eaten alive by the midges we tidied up Watertrough and headed back to the Scout Hall for a game of basketball. It was time for kayaking at Ballakermeen High School where we had games of kayak polo, water polo and swimming races, it was very nice to get clean and have warm showers. Everyone was getting hungry so we stopped off at Nobles Park for lunch, where we had lunch and played in the park. We then set off to Silverdale Park, where we played Danish Long Ball and had a Ice Cream. It was time for dinner so we went to Port Jack Chippy and had dinner which went down very well with all the Cubs, we then told them where we would be staying that evening, they were all very intrigued when we told them we were going to Druidale. We arrived to Druidale and set up Camp, the Cubs found a couple of rope swings and had a fantastic time on the swings, we had a camp fire, and all huddled around the fire, talking about their time in Cubs and what they have enjoyed and didn’t enjoy. It was getting dark so all the Cubs headed to their tent and were soon fast asleep.

The following morning we had a lie in and were up about 7.30am, soon after Akela was up most of the other Cubs were awake as well. We cooked breakfast over an open fire and the bacon and sausage baps were great. All the Cubs loved their breakfast and commented that we should do this more often, we cleared up the site and then headed back into Onchan where we had some races using the Go Karts, we played on these for about an hour racing around the car park. It was getting near lunchtime, so hot dogs and pizza was eaten for lunch which went down well with the Cubs, it was then time for a team talk because it was time for the all Island Cub Football. We travelled to Laxey where we met with the other Cub Packs including our other fellow Cubs in the Snaefell Pack. We did very well by winning every game in the group stages, then thrashing the Malew Cubs in the Semi Finals, then in the final we were again Douglas Cushag where we beat them 5-0. A big well done to the Manannan Cub team for winning the trophy for Onchan which will go on display in our trophy cabinet at the Scout Hall. After the football competition we met the Sunday Beavers in Laxey and joined in with the BBQ and games, to finish the weekend Akela treated the Cubs to an Ice Cream for doing so well over the weekend. All the Cubs were picked up by their parents at the Scout Hall in Onchan.

Thank you to all those Cubs who made the Leaders weekend really enjoyable, we wish you well in Scouts and we shall see you all soon.