Tiger Cub Scouts Summer Camp – August 2024
On 24 July, twenty Cub Scouts in a minibus and leaders cars with Craig towing the box trailer with all our equipment in, drove down to Bushy Wood Camp Site in Hailsham, Sussex. The Cubs in the minibus sang as we drove down on a hot sunny day.
After being shown to our pitch on Birches 1, we had teams of cubs with loaded trolleys pulling all our equipment to the pitch, once everything was unloaded, the cubs sat in a circle on their chairs under a huge oak tree and ate their lunches they brought with them as did the leaders.
Craig and Linda after a walk around the site set about helping us erecting the patrol tents which wasn’t easy. It took us a long time as none of us had ever put them up before, the Cubs could not help much which was a shame. The Cubs loaded their belongings into their tents and we all thanked and said our goodbyes to Craig and Linda.
After a dinner of bolognese pasta, cheesy mac, garlic bread followed by pudding of swiss roll with custard and squirty cream the Cubs put on long sleeves and trousers and sat around a camp fire until bedtime. They took a long time to settle az they were excited, it was 11.30pm before they were quiet then the leaders went to bed.
25 July from 3am the boys started talking in their tents, Richard said he was up every hour telling them to go back to sleep, he even found them running around the site disturbing others and running relays up and down the grass outside our tents. At 5am Richard shouted at them to go back to their tents and stay there and be quiet. The cubs had slept for 3 hours!
After breakfast it took ages for the Cubs to get ready finding what they needed for the day, during which Shona arrived and pitched her tent. We eventually got the cubs in the vehicles and drove into Hastings for the day. I had problems parking the minibus as all the open carparks had 2.2m high barriers and the minibus was 2.7. I dropped off the cubs with David and Shona and drove off to find somewhere to park as we were already late for the RNLI. After parking in “buses only” putting on the dash Sonny’s disability permit I joined the rest if the group at the RNLI station.
We had an interesting tour of the lifeboat station being shown around the two lifeboats they have for different types of rescue; how they get them out to sea as well as how they rescue people in the water. They practice the technique of getting someone out of the water into the boat with a fully clothed dummy that weighs the same as a grown man and the Cubs got to try on some outfits similar to what the rescuers wear. At the end of our visit they gave us some badges and pencils for the cubs and lanyards for the leaders, I presented them with the certificate I had made for the cubs donation of £715.40 raised by the Cubs lapping West Green park on wheels (bikes, scooters, roller blades and a skateboard). The staff were amazed that the Cubs had raised such an amount and wanted to have pictures of all of us and their staff as I handed over the certificate. They said they have never had a donation that high from a group like ours before and will probably use it for training.
The cubs and leaders made their way to the West Cliff funicular railway, putting Sonny in his wheelchair as he didnt want to walk anymore. Richard met us at the top with the lunches and once all the cubs had come up the railway we walked them over to a park to have lunch and play. Afterwards we walked to the castle ruin where they ran around in the grounds in the wind and on and off rain, finally exploring the dungeons before we left to walk to the Smugglers caves to look around. The Cubs enjoyed the activities in the caves getting into the stocks and buying souvenirs in the shop. We left to walk back to the funicular railway and once back down on the seafront, Steve and Richard went off to get the fish and chips, whilst Shona, David and I found a couple of alcoves to sit in with the Cubs to eat. Steve and Richard returned and handed out the boxes of food, he left his box of fish and chips momentarily to give the ketchup to someone, the next moment a flock of seagulls were trying to help themselves to his dinner! After we had finished we walked onto the stony beach but after getting quite a way out it began raining heavily soaking us so we hastily returned. David was trying to push Sonny on the stones, we signalled to him to stop then Steve and I with David lifted the wheelchair like a chariot over the stones back to the tarmac again, which Sonny thought was fun. We made our way back to the vehicles with Sonny in his wheelchair pushed by a Cub and once everyone was loaded into a vehicle we drove out of Hastings back to Bushy Wood campsite.
Back onsite the cubs changed into dry and warm clothes, we had a camp fire again but not for too long as they were very tired. We sent them off to get ready for bed, some too tired to do their teeth and went to sleep straightaway with none of them having the energy to try to chatter, the leaders also tired went off to bed as well.
26 July We had a leisurely morning as we were only walking to Knockhatch next door and the weather had greatly improved with sunshine today. The Cubs had just about finished breakfast and finally got all their stuff together, then we walked down the road into Knockhatch. We went in and found a place to make our base to deposit everything then the Cubs went off to explore. A leader remained with all the bags at any one time, taking it in turn to wander around ourselves and take pictures. Some of the activities the Cubs needed an adult to be with them so most of us got to try out some of the activities. Charlie and Tiago went on the bouncing pillows for which they have to take off their shoes, when the returned to their shoes, Charlie’s shoes were gone! Shona went back several times to see if they had been returned but they weren’t there, they were eventually found dumped in the middle of the field later on! Richard brought the lunch then went off to get the meat for tonight’s BBQ. In the afternoon some of the Cubs changed and went in to the water activities returning all wet but excited. When Richard returned later on, Steve and I left to take the minibus back to Billingshurst and drive back to the site afterwards. The Cubs and leaders were all at the campsite when we returned, after our delicious BBQ of burger, sausage, chicken wings, corn on the cob and garlic bread (as the cubs love it) followed by pudding they washed up their own and some of the cooking equipment. They spent the evening playing crossbows until bedtime which they only talked a little bit before going to sleep.
27 July The cubs spent most of the morning packing and getting their tents down before having a water fight before going home. Thus ending another enjoyable camp loaded with memories of all the activities we visited, now tired children handed over to their parents many falling asleep before they made it home!
