At the end of May the Guides went on camp. While they were there they were tested for their camper badge, or advanced camper badge if it was their second camp. It was the wettest, muddiest camp we had ever been on. The Guides did extremely well under such adverse conditions. We only had one Guide who we never saw again at Guides! Eleanor wrote this piece as proof she had completed all the clauses for the badge.

Campers Badge

We went to Whitely Woods in Sheffield. We stayed for 3 nights. I really enjoyed it and would definitely stay there again. We did lots of different activities like archery, which was really fun but hurt your fingers and wall climbing, which was great, but some of the stones were wobbly. We also made crafts, had a cocktail party, made Go Karts and went to a campfire. The weather when we arrived was nice and sunny, but on the second day it started to rain, a little, even worse on the third day it rained non – stop and we had to do our activities inside. Even though it rained badly, that wouldn’t put me off going to Guide camp again.

To strike and pitch a tent you need to firstly lay the tent out flat on the ground where you want it to go, and then take out the tent pegs, the tent poles, the ground sheet and the inner tent. After that feed the black and grey tent poles through the tent and put all the ends through the hoops. Next untie the guy ropes and use a mallet to pitch the tent, do the corners first. Then lay your inner flat inside the tent and clip them all to the tent. Use the ground sheet to fill the gap between the inner and the main door to get in, and use some more tent pegs to attach to the tent, from the outside.

To set and light a fire for cooking you firstly need to get a lot of dry twigs and sticks and place them on a dry place on the floor, also place some newspaper on top. Secondly put 2 bricks on each corner for shelter, and then draw a circle around your fire. This is a fire circle and you are not allowed in this circle at anytime only to deal with the fire. To light the fire get a couple of lit matchsticks and put them on your newspaper, sticks and twigs.

On the last night it was our patrol’s turn to cook. We were told to make chilli. First we put all the mince with the onions in a big pan, on top of the fire. We put 5 packets of chilli con carne in a jug of water and stirred. We got rid of the fat left in the pan and then added the con carne sauce and tomato puree and left to cook. We boiled the rice and it was ready to serve. We left it on the fire and everybody got a spoon full of Chilli con carne and a spoon of rice (if they wanted). Then we filled a bowl with hot water and washed up the pots and pans we had been using to cook with and also our own cutlery.

We had to make sure that our bedding and personal kits were not touching the side of the tent otherwise the rain would leak through; we also had to make sure our tents were clean and tidy, with no litter or sweets on the floor.

To treat a cut you firstly need to wash and dry and also apply a non allergic plaster if necessary. To treat bruises you need to apply a damp cloth for at least 10 minutes. To treat stings firstly cool with cold water, next get the casualty to remove the sting if it is left in the wound. Then apply anti itch cream if permission has been given for its use. To treat minor burns first immediately cool the area with water for at least 10 minutes or until the pain stops. Then if necessary once cooled put a clean non fluffy covering over the burn e.g. a dressing. If possible immediately remove jewellery, watches etc as the area can swell quickly. Seek help if the burn is 2.5cm square or more and do not burst blisters.

E. K. Year 7