Scoutabout 2008 Report
On the 20th June,
fourteen Girl Guides from 7th Epsom Methodist Company travelled
in a coach to Ardingly in West Sussex to Scoutabout 2008 for the weekend.
After setting up our tents among the camper’s city, we ate our well-deserved
dinner and then joined the festival-like opening ceremony with the other
five to six thousand Scouts and Guides from all over Surrey. It was a great
evening, but some would say that Saturday was even better.
Everyone enjoyed the day of activities that had been set up by countless
volunteers and Guiders and Scout Leaders. To mention just a few:
quad-biking, an arts and crafts hall, two zip-wires, a circus skills area,
various water sports, popcorn-making, caving, pancakes,
bouncy-castle-slides, canoeing, dancing, abseiling, a dunk tank, archery,
skateboarding, trampoline, self-defence, different team-challenges, a
bungee-run, crate stacking, bowling, carving, go-kart racing and scouting
skills. A particular favourite of all who tried it was ‘The Belgian Box’. In
this activity, we had to shuffle through square-sided tunnels that were no
more than 30 cm height and the same in width. After entering on the top of
three storeys and wiggling along on your stomach, there is a drop to the
storey below you and then several twists, turns, drops and upward climbs
before the person reaches the end. It’s such an enjoyable activity because
it’s unique, it can be challenging because of the physical confinement and
the lack of light and because it can be fun when someone gets stuck in an
awkward position, particularly at a drop, or they need some help overcoming
one obstacle or another. It was certainly one of my favourites!
On the Saturday evening there was a disco for all of the Scouts and Guides.
There were a few live bands in addition to recorded music, and this made it
an even better and more exciting experience for us all. Again, everyone
really enjoyed this.
We had a second chance to try as many of the two hundred activities
available to us on Sunday. Most of us had a go at a range of things – my
group picked our way from an inflatable slide, to the arts and crafts zone,
to the water-based activities to our favourite, ‘The Belgian Box’. In the
arts and crafts area alone, there was a diverse selection of activities.
There was face painting, bag-decorating, temporary tattoo art, woodwork and
badge-making amongst many other things. I enjoyed the badge-making so much
that I now have sixteen of them pinned to my schoolbag!
Overall, I think everyone who participated would agree that it was a great
weekend and that there are activities to suit everyone. If you do get the
chance to go, as most Surrey Scouts and Guides do, I really recommend it.
The more, the merrier!
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the many of you that helped
either by setting up an activity, supervising one, cooking the food, driving
a coach, taking a company of Scouts or Guides, organising the music or any
of the other tasks that had to be done to make the weekend so enjoyable.
Thank you.
Stephanie Ekins, 7th Epsom Methodist Girl Guide Company.
Guiding
