Sat. 20th July 2002 - Left Shurdington 10am and headed for Salisbury in a fleet of cars, the Green Goddess and two minibuses hired from Bournside School & Sixth Form Centre. Stopped for packed lunch and light relief at Postern Hill picnic site in Savernake Forest, then to Braggers Wood Campsite where we arrived just after 2pm. Van provided by Johnson Security and driven by Colin Mustoe, and other vehicles unloaded, tents pitched, and first visit to the sea at Mudeford. Returned to Manners lodge for hot dog, soup and a welcome cuppa after sunset. Cubs settled into bed by 11pm and Scouts almost did too. Troop divided into three Patrols,
two in Storm Havens, one in the Eagle Star bell tent, but girls in own tent. Cubs, who slept indoors were known
as: Leaders & Helpers: Sun. 21st July 2002 - Up at the crack, full English cooked breakfast and packed food for the beach. Shurdington's Skylon, the flying flagpole, constructed. All to Hengistbury Head beach and nature reserve. Swam in the freezing English Channel, made sandwiches, played Boule, built sandcastles, had fun. Road train to Mudeford while Mike & Mark drove minibuses over. Boat to Mudeford Bay. Fish & Chips on the green, then back to camp for some free time. Scouts built the fire site. Cubs games indoors. Late evening, in the dark, call from the Slee family who were so near yet so far from the campsite - rescue mission and we finally met them by the Crown Inn at midnight, after suspicious man was reported to the Warden for getting into a car with two women at midnight outside the campsite. Helen and Mandy had some explaining to do! All this happened near Shirley, in Bransgore. Everyone agreed Braggers Wood was more difficult to find at night than daytime. This made the Slee's feel a bit better! Mon. 22nd July 2002 - Up early, cereal breakfast then bee-line for Monkey World in Wareham, some 30 miles away. On the way Mark's minibus lost part of it's gearbox and we limped to Monkey World. It appears a bolt had sheared through. Fortunately Bournside School have AA Fleet cover. Decision was made to send one minibus back to Cheltenham, and AA even sent us a luxury 33-seater coach at 4pm when we finished from our Monkey visit. Proposed visit to Lulworth Cove had to be abandoned. Games on site instead. Tue 23rd July 2002 - Cubs went up to Burley (looking for Shirley?) for a 12-mile cycle ride in the New Forest, stopping to admire foals and ponies along the way. Three very tired Cubs were rescue half way at the lunch stop picnic site and brought back to camp. Back at camp Scouts taught how to use axe and bow-saw and prepare firewoood in chopping area, and cooked Spaghetti Bolognese for everyone. Cubs went crabbing at Mudeford. No-one fell into the harbour this year, sorry! Scouts were dropped at Holmsley Enclosure for a short familiarisation night hike. Wed 24th July 2002 - Scouts' turn for cycling the same 12-mile route in the forest (having driven through Bransgore looking for Burley Shirley), in preference to the proposed 20-mile route on tarmac. Much less a headache for the Leaders. Akela made an impromptu decision to take Cubs to visit the Alice in Wonderland theme park and had a lovely time. The Cubs did too. Come evening the whole group took part in archery, climbing and abseiling. Site campfire took place at 8.30pm and some of the Scouts did a stunt or two. Thurs 25th July 2002 - George's 10th birthday today and mum and sis were expected (with cake enough for 45 people!). Because of the minibus breakdown, Phil Old, warden at Braggers very kindly promised a coach to take us to Sandbanks to catch our boat to Brownsea Island. Caught the 10.15am boat and landed at Brownsea for the first visit there for many of the Cubs and Scouts. Our first thrill was to see a red squirrel shinning up a tree by the nature reserve. Most of us had never seen one before. Peacocks abounded, and Group stopped for over an hour at the Visitor Centre, where peacocks enjoyed bits of apple from the Cubs and Scouts. Lots to do here, craftwork, hands on and nature puzzles, and many succeeded in making a God's Eye from lolly sticks and wool. Back at camp the site was inspected by Christchurch Scouts' Hon DC Ken Old, who happens to be Phil's brother. A Cetificate of Excellence was presented to both Cub & Scout Leaders.
Friday 26th July 2002 - Last full day and we made sure it was really full! Scouts started striking most of the tentage as Colin had arrived with Johnson's van and it would save a lot of time on the Saturday. An attempt by the Troop to walk to Shirley (her again?) to catch a bus from the Crown Inn failed - the bus arrived on time, left on time, and the Troop were 1 minute late, with Kate and Tim running the last 100 metres to the bus stop. The Group split up today, Scouts ending up at Mudeford crabbing, with the Cubs being driven to Burley for a ride in a shire-horse drawn wagon or two. They had a very pleasant 1/2 hour in the New Forest. At 2pm, and after Fish & Chip lunch at Christchurch, the whole group was ferried by minibus to the river for a canoeing session. A very successful afternoon with everyone having a go, and many having a go at capsizing their canoe and getting drenched. Thanks to Phil Old, warden at braggers, Scouts were givin the added treat of being taken by special boat to Mudeford for more crabbing and a swim. Saturday 27th July 2002 - Final clearing up, inspection by Warden before departure, and having said our goodbyes we left for Ringwood and Moors Valley Country Park (eventually!) for a final fun morning. We arrived at Shurdington 4.30pm and proceeded to empty vans and trailers. THEN we let everyone go home!! - A really brilliant week.
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