The Mill Lane Scout troops took five teams to London this year for Monopoly Run Live – a Scout organised event with 8000 participants.
Monopoly Run ‘Live’ is a real-time version of the popular Monopoly Run (London) board game. It is played in a single day in central London and involves visiting the actual sites that the board game is based on.
We end up playing against five or six other teams that have signed up, some local but others travel from far away.
The scout troops headed off the Hamlet Wood near Maidstone in December for their annual Christmas Camp.
It turned out to be a bit of an eventful weekend as winter storm Darragh made its way though Kent
As you would expect, pitching tents took a little bit longer than normal, and supper and bed was a bit late.
We did manage to do our usual Christmas Quiz before heading to bed.
On Saturday they did manage to use the climbing tower in the dry (well mostly dry), however they did concentrate on more indoor activities than normal at other times.
The scouts used their bushcraft skills to make reindeer and their crafty ones to make wreaths and baubles.
Once again the catering plan worked well. Highlights were obviously the spit-roast turkey and all the trimmings, and the pulled pork rolls. 💕
After dinner we held our usual Christmas Carol-fire, Christmas campfire skits and a silent(ish) disco!
We were lucky enough to stay dry while we packed away and believe it or not the tents were nearly dry.
Thank you as always to the leaders and helpers that made it all happen and the scouts for coming along to give us an excuse.
Thank you to the volunteers at Hamlet Wood campsite for hosting us.
If this looks like something you would like to do, then you can join scouting too! As an adult or a young person.
The Mill Lane scout troops spent this weekend at Hammerwood Scout Campsite, between East Grinstead and Holtye in West Sussex
With a lightweight camp, we tend not to use any canvas at all, apart from a giant tarp as a mess tent, and hike tents for those that find hammocks a bit intimidating.
We were blessed with an almost completely dry weekend this time, although Wet Wood (the name of the wood the campsite forms part) is never actually dry.
Activities
The camp was a laid-back affair with quite a lot of time for the scouts to do their own thing. We did manage to organise
Swift Troop organised a set of night hikes to Westerham this week in a joint adventure with Seal, Ide Hill and Westerham Scout Troops.
Walking groups converged on Westerham from six directions, with groups departing from Downe, Halstead, Ide Hill and Merle Common (half way between Edenbridge and Oxted)
Taking photographs of scouts walking in the dark wearing high-vis tops is always challenging, here are some of them starting out, some having mid-hike hot chocolate and a couple of scouts-on-the-horizon ones.
All of the scouts looked pleased to get to the hut for a sit down and a bite to eat!
If this looks like something you would like to do please join us – either as an adult volunteer or as a young person. Get in touch with us.
This year a joint party from Chapman, Swift and Seal Scout troops camped next to the River Wye, one bridge crossing away from Wales and the Forest of Dean.
We were blessed with a beautiful week in a pretty miserable summer and were able to run two patrols.
The 4th and the 9th Sevenoaks took 7 teams to London on Saturday, competing in the annual Monopoly Run Live competition organised by a team from Hampshire Scouts.
The competition has grown over the years until this year when they have capped the entry at 8,000 competitors.
This year the run started from the Imperial War Museum instead of the usual London Eye. After a very damp first hour, the day brightened up and we even saw the sun in the afternoon.
The teams were generally not competing with each other this year, which meant more of the teams could taste success! Our top teams came 19th and 22nd overall out of over 1400 teams (well done Cars and Hustlers!)
This year’s Christmas Camp was held at Broadstone Warren, just outside Forest Row in East Sussex.
Weather was a lot warmer than last year, but the 16mm of rain made things fairly damp.
After a scout survey, we went for a climbing heavy programme. It included
Christmas Quiz – which team of scouts (or leaders) will triumph in a festive quiz. The leaders only get to answer questions that the scouts have missed.
Crate stacking – the scouts see how high can get as a stack of milk crates is built under them
Abseiling – scouts descend the side of the 12m climbing tower on a rope
Tunnels – the scouts explore a multi-room man-made underground tunnel system
Leap of faith – scouts climb up to a platform high above the forest floor and see if they can grab hold of a hanging bar several metres in front of them
Jacob’s Ladder – scouts climb up a ‘ladder’ of logs, each gap between logs getting further apart
Climbing – scouts pick a way up the side of the climbing tower
Silent disco – scouts choose to listen to one of three
Christmas Carol-fire – a Christmas-themed sing-song round the camp fire
Festive campfire sketch – each of the five quiz-teams perform a campfire seasonal skit.
And no camp would be complete without everyone’s favourite activity (apart from complaining about the weather), eating!
This year featuring: Cooked breakfast, porridge, soup, sandwiches, Christmas dinner featuring spit-roast turkey, stuffing, roast potatoes and veggies followed by panettone or Christmas pudding and custard; camp doughnuts, more porridge, spit-roast pork and apple rolls and mince pies
A huge thank you to all the scouts, leaders and parents that helped make camp happen.
If this looks like something you would like to do, then you can join scouting too! As an adult or a young person.
Last week 42 scouts and adults from Chapman, Swift and Seal Scout Troops made their way across the country side to converge back on the Scout Hut Mill Lane.
The navigational challenges varied between groups with some routes being easier than others, but all of them made it back to the hut in time for cake and custard!
Overall, the weather was slightly damper than usual, but the occasional shower didn’t stop us doing anything – although you will see from the photos, Carl did end up building a roof over the fire!