“Scout Leaders should strike for a pay rise” and a few little things I learned at Strategy my first Scout camp.
Don’t volunteer on the first night of camp, you keener!
In classic newbie earnestness, I volunteered in advance to help with supper on the first evening of camp. So, it meant that I had to rush my tent up, leave my Explorer Unit and fellow leaders who were all lounging about in the evening sun throwing grass seed at each other and (after three escalating tannoy calls asking for the leader who had ‘made the commitment to help with supper’) to report to the catering tent immediately! I cursed my past self for being such an eager beaver, and tramped across friable sun-bleached pasture to go and serve 2000 cups of soup, whilst my camp mates hung about in the bar exchanging plastic tokens for IPA.
It’s actually also quite cool to volunteer for supper on the first night!
Throughout the two days following my souping pluckiness I lost count of how many little ones remembered me from supper. And, how many that had been paralysed with belly-wrenching homesickness whilst getting soup the night before, were bouncing around and rearing to go the next day. It’s far nicer to be remembered for giving out food and homesickness busting donuts rather than pulling out ticks, which was my other camp job.
Scouting is almost entirely voluntary!
A parent unloading their 12 year old Scout and related camp paraphernalia from their car asked me “do you strike on the same days as teachers?” My bemused face didn’t deter: “are you not campaigning for a pay rise, too?” Nah! We get to have this much fun and sleep deprivation for free! I guess we could conceivably ask for a 100% pay rise and cause no pecuniary impact on our management.
Tents aren’t soundproof and young people are convinced their leaders can’t possibly have lived any kind of life before becoming boringly ancient!
Late on the first night I lay in my sleeping bag chilling, millimetres from a clutch of our Explorers outside my tent. They were engaged in clamorous chat about all things teenage peppered with endless innuendo. The moment I poke my head out of the zip they immediately revert to stage whispers of “Shhhh! Sorry! Shut up – you’re gonna embarrass Jools,” only for the volume to return the moment I zipped back in!
Explorer Scouts in your own Unit are fabulously loyal to their leaders and to each other
Even though we were supposedly taking them on the camp, our Explorers, knowing it was my first time, helped me put up my tent and came to wave and tease me when I was doing my time at ladling soup. They even managed to find free ice cream and deliver it to us whilst we were waiting in the sun for their parents to arrive.
Camp blankets are a competitive sport
The blankets laden with badges from every camp and activity since the start of time are worn with pride as soon as the sun falls off the horizon. They are physical proof of the owner’s provenance in Scouting. My blanket, so far, only has my name on it. I suppose I could add the sewing badge (glued on) and a collectors badge (stolen) from my threadbare girl guide sash which is somewhere in my mum’s garage. I think I might just start again from scratch.
The feeling as the tents go down.
Countless shelters spring up at the start of camp, creating a melee of guy rope trip lines, rat runs between tents, precariously balanced (but essential) kettles for tea, lost uniform, flags and a hubbub of palpable chat and excitement. It is a canvas realm, the preserve of those that live there, just for a weekend.
A little world and its infinite variables that will never be created again. There’s a melancholy on the last morning, and whilst football is still being played in the avenues between shelters, wash tents and piles of packed lunches; the shrieks become fewer and every time you look up there is one less tent. Their claim on the space released, becoming again just a woven fabric puddle on the ground awaiting its next chance to become a home.
By the way, the soup popularity was as follows: Tomato>Chicken>Vegetable
You really do have a wonderful way with words! I felt like I was there camping with you all when I read that!
❤️❤️❤️
I’ve just relived every camp I’ve ever been on from being a homesick Girl Guide to the Cub leader picking my way through the minefield of guy ropes in the hurridly errected leaders area
It took me back to my scouting days!!