Scouts Summer Camp

2nd  Onchan Scouts held a week long Summer Camp over the 1. – 8. August 2009. The Camp was based in a field directly behind the Peel Town Commissioners Camp Site on the Poortown Road, which enabled us to use the Camp Site facilities. We shared the field with Leyland St. Marys, a visiting Scout Troop from England.

The fourteen Scouts and two Explorer Scouts arrived on the afternoon of the Saturday and their first task, after being sorted into Patrols, was to the erect the Icelandic Patrol Tents which would be their homes for the week. We also had on site a large Mess Tent which would be used as the cooking tent, dining room and wet weather base and a forty year old Nijer Tent which was our store tent. As most of the Scouts had never put up such a large tent as an Icelandic before, this was turned into a training exercise. After tea we had a good walk around Peel and after a few games it was time for bed.

On Sunday morning after breakfast and tent inspection the Scouts were split into two groups and each group had a two hour session of pioneering and kayaking, with some Scouts in one group even managing a short kayak surfing session. Four Scouts meanwhile hiked along the Heritage Way to Douglas to enable one of their party to complete the Three Legs Challenge. In the afternoon the Scouts spent an hour or so in the swimming pool next to the camp site and in the evening we watched the Peel Carnival Firework Display with Leyland St. Marys and 1st Ballaugh Scouts who were camping for a few days on the main camp site.

It started raining at about 06:00 on the Monday morning and this lasted for over thirty hours, the winds were also quite strong. The tents coped very well, especially the Icelandics which had had their corner guylines double pegs, just in case. The bad weather meant a few phone calls had to made and the programme rearranged, so in the morning we went off to the House of Manannan for a two hour tour. In the afternoon it was train trip from Port Erin to Douglas and then a Tram Trip from Ramsey to Douglas. Tea was at KFC, which took a little time to arrive as thirty Irish Scouts had walked in about two minutes before us. In the evening we went off to the Cinema to watch the latest Harry Potter movie. Due to the bad weather we didn’t manage tent inspection. no rain however had managed to get inside the tents

It was still raining on Tuesday morning so the Scouts spent an hour at the NSC Swimming Pool before lunch and then we had the afternoon at the Wildlife Park near Ballaugh. The rain stopped and the sun came out during our tour of the park. It was a pretty good visit and the Scouts were able to watch some of the animals being fed by the keepers. Back on site the field was still quite boggy and the entrance to the Mess Tent had become quite muddy. In the evening we watched a movie in the Mess Tent.

On Wednesday morning most of the field had dried up and after breakfast and Tent Inspection we travelled over to Peel Castle where one of our main activities was due to take place, Coasteering this was run for us by Keirron Tastagh of Adventurous Experiences and involved the Scouts in a scramble, climb, jump and swim around the rocks of the ancient castle. For many of the Scouts this activity was the highlight of the week. In the afternoon Kierron, ran a three hour climbing session for the Scouts off Fenella Beach.

 

On Thursday. The Scouts took the tram to the summit of Snaefell and hiked part of the Millennium Way to Sky Hill, a distance of about five miles. In the late afternoon we boarded the Manx Sea Quest Boat and spent an hour watching Basking Sharks behind Peel Headland. We managed to spot around ten sharks with a couple coming quite close to the boat, close enough to see their gaping mouths. In the evening we invited the Leyland St. Marys Scouts to join us for a outdoor movie projected onto the white door of the mess tent. This worked very well and most of the Scouts watched the movie wrapped up in their sleeping bags as it was getting a little chilly.

On Friday it was off up to Mooragh Park, for a day run for us by the Venture Centre. The Scouts enjoyed two hour sessions of Sailing, Canoeing and Raft Building. It was very warm and sunny and a lot of the Scouts caught the sun and got a little sunburnt despite splashing on the sun cream. In the evening Scouts from the Troop who weren't camping with us joined us for the night and our Patrol Leaders ran  a joint Scout Meeting with Leyland St. Marys. On Saturday, the last day of the camp, the Patrol Tents were taken down. The kit all packed away and after lunch a formal camp closing ceremony was held, with prizes bring given out to the Best Patrol and the the Best Scout on Camp. By 15:00, the site was all cleared and we headed off home.

More photos are on display in the Scout Hall.