At 4PM on Friday evening, 47 Beavers and Cubs assembled at the Scout hall, each one more excited than the last to go on their long awaited end of year residential at Ballyhornan.
Once we were on the bus our adventure had truly begun. Upon arrival head chef Ronan was already preparing our dinner, ready for all 47 Cubs and Beavers, not to mention the leaders too. But first we had something very important to do! Just before getting all of the Cubs, Beavers and leaders in attendance in to a rather impressively large full uniform photo, we had a rather important side quest to complete. Our new leader Aaron had to be invested! When someone new is invested in to our group, it is a reminder of how strong the community is within our group, and within Scouting, which is why it is so important for us to have our youth present and help us with the investitures.
Dinner went down a treat, with all of the Cubs, Beavers and Leaders sitting in the same hall sharing stories and chatting away. We are also very grateful of any of the Cubs and Beavers that helped us out over the weekend by completing odd jobs. Friday evening was no exception, dinner was cleared away so quickly that we were able to squeeze in a short trip to the beach to run off some energy before bed time.
On Saturday morning we got a sudden wake up call with an impromptu fire alarm drill at 6:30am, and I have to say, I am impressed by all of the young people who knew exactly what to do and waited patiently whilst the necessary checks were completed by leaders. Since we were already up and alert, the Cubs and Beavers began getting ready for the day whilst their breakfast was being prepared.
Around 58 bowls of cereal later, we were all ready for the day, and the Cubs and Beavers enjoyed some free play time with board games and outdoor equipment before it was time to get ready for our activities for the day.
At around 10am the Beavers began playing laser tag around the centre, being very creative in their hiding spots and strategy, it was great fun and really helped the Beaver Scouts learn the importance of team work and how to work with one another. After their laser tag, the beavers continued to play outside, playing games such as musical numbers.
Meanwhile, the Cubs were gearing up in wetsuits, which can be a struggle as some of our Cubs comically discovered. A lot of laughing and struggling later, they were all ready to set out on an adventure at sea. They split up in to three teams, one in the Canoes, a boys team on the stand up paddle boards (SUP Boards) and a girls team on the SUP Boards. Since the canoes left ahead of the other two teams, when they arrived at the Island they were welcomed with water soakers and a lot of splashing. There’s nothing like being drenched by freezing cold salt water to wake you up in the morning. The Cubs loved the activities and games that they got to play on the Island, for example., duck, duck, goose with a spin, where if you didn’t manage to tag your opponent, you had water sprayed down the arm or neck of your wetsuit. Some of the Cubs even decided to have it sprayed at their faces! On the way back to the beach, the girls made such a strong effort in paddling, then again carrying the very heavy SUP Board back up the beach and up the very steep sandy hill, that they won the race and earned themselves a pin each to display on their neckerchiefs.
Once back at the centre, all of the Cubs got hosed down and sat down for their lunch as quickly as possible so that we could get back down to the beach. We had a great afternoon flying kites, searching rock pools and building sand castles. They even had a Surprise visit from the ice cream van and everyone got a delicious ice cream treat.
After all of the Cubs and Beavers were dried and dressed they got to have some free time to play before a delicious dinner of burgers, sausages, mash, veg and spaghetti hoops. They even got chocolate cake to celebrate one of our Beavers’ 8th birthday! We all sang happy birthday, and he made a wish before blowing out his candles.
That evening we had a really energetic campfire led by three Cubs who have been working on their Chief Scout Award! Many songs were sung and as many s’mores were eaten. We were all very grateful to have had such an enjoyable day in the beautiful weather.
Whilst the Beavers headed to bed, the Cubs wound down by watching the Super Mario Brothers movie before heading to bed themselves. It wasn’t long before they were all out for the count after such a fun day.
We spent Sunday playing games, having the craic and preparing to leave. Once everything was packed up and ready to go, we hit the road, and were on our way home. In a short hour and a half we were back in Newry and all of the young people were reunited with those who look after them at home, all excited to hear about what the weekend had entailed.
A huge thank you to all of the Beavers and Cubs who helped out by doing whatever wee jobs they found, and to all the leaders that attended the weekend and made it possible. We are looking forward to the next camp for our 80th year celebration!