Summer Camp 2019 Day 8

A strange thing happened this morning. Fiona and Mary were out of bed before Brendan. They must have known how much work was still left to do before we left camp.

We had a quick flag up and breakfast. Unfortunately, there was no time for an auction this morning, but, rest assured, it will return again on next year's camp. We left the patrol tables in place so that the patrols could have breakfast together before breaking the rest of camp. The tents, gate, and boundaries all had to come down. Rain was forecast from 9:30 so we made sure that the tents got priority and packed away dry.

The Mess tent and store tent took a team effort as they are big, heavy, canvas tents. Everything was brought to the trailer and it was starting to be loaded. Alan was due down at 11 to tow it home for us. One of the folding tables was left out and the scouts prepared packed lunches of wraps, crisps and fruit.

The Ventures decided to have a fry for breakfast on the last morning, which didn't make much sense to the leaders, but they were determined. A fry takes longer to cook, requires more gear, and takes longer to wash-up. Time is always against you on the last day of camp so maybe they just felt like they needed an extra challenge?

By the time Alan had arrived, the trailer was just about packed. The last minute bits and pieces were thrown in (I mean strategically placed as load balancers) under the tarp and the trailer was tied down. Luckily, the rain never arrived.

We gathered around our flag pole and Bugsy and Sean lowered it for the last time, officially bringing Summer Camp 2019 to a close.

Fiona and Brendan ferried the scouts to the train station in their cars. When they arrived there, one scout commented that it was a different train station to the one they arrived at. They also commented how much closer and easier it was to get to. VINDICATED!!!!

Sean had had a phone call from Irish Rail reservations to confirm that our seats had been booked and that they would be marked by A4 sheets of paper on the seats laid out by the conductor.

Very High Tech.

The train was bang on time and everyone hopped on board to find their seats. The journey home was uneventful. The scouts had plenty of games form the prizes they had won at the campfire the night before and decks of cards to keep them entertained. By the time the train pulled in to Connolly Station, Brendan, Fiona and Alan had arrived in Balbriggan and were starting to unload the gear back into our stores. Donal arrived over to give a hand. Luckily, he was feeling much better. Andrea and Martin from the cub team were there too as they needed to take gear for their camp on Saturday.

Some parents came to Connolly station to collect their scouts while others elected to let them travel home to Balbriggan and pick them up there just after 5pm. All in all, it was a very successful camp, helped in a great way by the fantastic weather. Most of the scouts had not experienced a camp like this before, but this is the norm that we will aim to achieve and improve on year after year. Thanks to all of the scouts, ventures, rovers, and scouters for making some excellent memories and we look forward to making so many more.

Normally, this would be the last blog post for the year form the scout section, but keep an eye out for more as we now start to train for the Phoenix Challenge and compete in the 4 day competition in August. #Bringiton