:: Past Events
2008 CAMPS
November: Christmas Party, Bramhope
In a break with tradition, the cry from the team was not ‘oh god not more pork’, but ‘oh god not more turkey’… and chicken dippers… and gravy! But apart from a slight miscalculation on the menu front, the Christmas meal went down a treat. Activities were the usual Grand Prix in which Gordon carved up the Scouts to get to the finish line first, Giant Pushball in which Harry nearly got flatted about 10 times and the Assault Course in which the Stig managed to set a time of 1.53 despite all the obstacles being icy! Quote of the weekend goes to Gordon - “Was Father Christmas in the Bible?”
October: Escape and Evasion, Bispham Hall
A survival night where the lads were dropped off at an unknown location and had to navigate their way to the camp site, evading capture by the leaders before surviving the night in bivvys. Thankfully, there were plenty of sausage rations available to keep the troops fed.
May: Matterhorn Trophy, Bibby’s Farm
2008 saw the ressurection of 3rd Hindley’s inter-patrol hiking competition, the Matterhorn Trophy. The competition itself took place on the Saturday, as four teams hiked the West Pennine Moors in a battle of skill, speed and accuracy whilst Gary tore the remainder of his hair out as the leader of the sweep team. Eventually everyone made it back, with Jack, Glen, Jordan T and Ryan taking the trophy. Saturday evening saw the usual low standard of sportmanship as the lads played football and ultimate frisbee (that’s when Norman and Gordon actually let them have a go!). Finishing things up on the Sunday morning we just managed to pack in some pedal go-karting, and the rope bridge. Quote - “Marks and Spencer venison sausage? You must get paid far too much.”
April: Activity Camp, Bowley
Gordon decided to start the camping season off in style - with the help of Padge he managed to break his own tent (aka the Goron Bennet Wing). With some minor running repairs the weekend finally got underway with the usual collection of activities including some improptu baseball, kurling and indoor dodgeball. Despite the poor weather everyone had a good weekend - apart from the leaders who never slept a wink as a result of Norman’s snoring.
2007 CAMPS
December: Indoor Weekend, Linnet Clough
The local pig farmer can relax, safe in the knowledge that he can feed his family this Christmas… another 3rd Hindley weekend of pig and pastry based cuisine! Menu asside, the main entertainment came in the form of giant ‘connect four’ (note to self, don’t book any activities next time, just take some big games), giant jenga, world record chase-the-ace, shooting, ‘ultimate frisbee’ and pedal karts. Quote of the weekend is unattributed - “Are all these off the same chicken?” - Eh? Like when was the last time anyone saw a chicken with 27 breasts?
September: DIY Camp, Dunham Park
hy should the leaders do all the hard work? For this weekend the lads had to cook and clean for themselves, including designing their own menu and *shock* shopping for it too. This lead to some interesting experiments in trying to cook a microwave meal on an open fire! The main activities on the Saturday consisted of Cuey’s challenges, a)Build and fire a bow and arrow b)Make a brew on an open fire, at least 4 feet off the ground c)Find ‘Carls Leaf Challenge’ d)Build a burglar alarm for your tent e)Sedan Chair Grand Prix. Clarky’s team came 3rd with 8pts, Wilson 2nd with 10 and sneaking in to the lead with 11 was Tudor. Quote of the weekend went to Jordan Cain - “We’ve brought two bunches of grapes, some green ones and some blackcurrant ones”.
May: Escape and Evasion, Tawd Vale
Taking inspiration from the Wigan District ‘Moonlighting’ event, we decided to drop our Scouts off in an unknown location, armed with a rough map, a compass and basic hiking gear. They had to make their own way towards an agreed rendez-vous point (Tawd Vale) evading capture by the enemy (read: leaders). Upon arrival at their location the Scouts had to make shelter using whatever they could find and survive the night on minimal rations (probably sausage as usual)
May: Novice Camp, Bibby’s Farm
Whilst the older lads were out competing for the BST Hiking Trophy, Simon put the younger lads through their paces on the shooting, archery, assault course and much much more. One of the highlights of the weekend was watching Padge and Norman rescue a finely cooked trout from the fire.
February: Winter Camp, Bispham Hall
Due to popular request from the lads we decided to go camping in Winter (who says scouts are getting soft?). Entertainment was found in the form of a hike to Billinge Hill, outdoor pictionary, softball, a widegame and of course.. fire.
2006 CAMPS
July: Survival Night, Middlewood
Another one night spesh to test the lads to their limit, surviving only on the bare essentials. At first that lads were scared that there might be a bear in the woods, until it was revealed that it was in fact Carl snoring, with the help of four other leaders (he likes to call us his ‘backing group’)
May: Survival Night, Bispham Hall
‘DOES ANYBODY WANT A SAUSAGE???’ was the hunting call that could be heard bellowing across the campsite on Saturday morning. Having someone over-shopped for the ’survival essentials’ that would form Friday’s tea, the lads weren’t really hungry on Saturday morning. The leaders still tried to shift them all though!
April: Skills and Challenge Weekend, Middlewood
For once it didn’t rain! All the lads had great fun over the weekend, taking part in the many challenges set by Norman, such as gutting a fish, cooking an egg on a hot stone and lighting a fire without matches or paper. The final scores were as follows:
35 J. Woods, G. Mitson, L. Taylor
29 M. Silcock, D.Tudor, M.Wilson, R.Chan
24 J. Collins, S. Woods, L. Dunlip
22 J. Taunton, J. Hindley, C. O Connor
20 M. Cunnliffe, J. Clarke, C. Mercer
2005 CAMPS
December: Christmas Weekend, Bramhope
Bramhope was different from other years this time… Faz didn’t throw up! Apart from that it was the usual stuff, pushball, go-karts, widegame, giant games, headaches for the leaders, shooting, archery…. the lads love it though and want to go again next year!
June: Survival Night, Bispham Hall
3rd Hindley survived and smiled once again, this time at Bispham Hall. The lads learned about backwoods skills such as bivouacing and firelighting, whilst Norman learned how to fix a nackered chair he’d found in the woods!
April: Activity Weekend, Bowley
The first camp of 2005 was an activity weekend. That main events on Saturday all counted towards the lads’ supper, with the losing team getting standard issue soup and bread, and the winning team getting a whole host of extra goodies! The highlight of the weekend was the Sedan Chair race.
2004 CAMPS
November: Christmas Weekend, Bramhope
All the usual Bramhope shenanigins… assault course, giant pushball, shooting, archery… and a few new additions for 2004! A smokin hot* disco from DJ M Padge and giant inflatable gladiators!
* - “Simon, I assure you that the smoke machine won’t set the smoke alarm off”… “Woop woop woop woop”
June: Survival Camp, Great Tower
To be continued… nuff said.
Well… we survived and smiled… till about 7 o clock on Saturday. Due to hurrendous weather conditions, we made the decision that it would be unsafe to ’survive’ another night under a plastic sheet, with no fire or dry clothes! A wise decision.
This camp will be continued early 2005!
April: Activity Weekend / MAD Competition, Bispham Hall
Like the name suggests, this was a great weekend of activities, including the Multi Activity Day competetion on Sunday (did I mention that we came 1st and 3rd in it??? Oh yeah and we came 2nd and 3rd in the Richardson Trophy, which was held on the same day)
March: Indoor Weekend / Survival Training, Tawd Vale
Aah… this came was the butt of sooo many jokes! The only time we (read ‘Simon’) ever booked something without going to visit it first and we end up with a building that looked like a leftover from “Dad’s Army”. But, being 3rd Hindley, we made the best of a bad situation and had a great weekend, managing to get in all the usual activites and also learn some new backwoods skills.
2003 CAMPS
December: Christmas Weekend, Bramhope
Once again, the Scouts wanted to go back to Bramhope for their Christmas party. We did all the usual stuff, Shooting, Archery, Abseiling, Giant Indoor Games, Pushball etc… Extra entertainment came from watching Norman injure himself being a big kid with the pushball! Carl’s quote of the camp - “Norman, just hold it like that while I take a photo” (See gallery for evidence!!!)
June: DIY Camp, Waddecar
This time we had the great idea of letting the Scouts create their own menu and cook for themselves using portable stoves. Well it was a great idea when you watched Padge burning his fringe trying to ‘fix’ a petrol stove. Quote of the weekend came (as usual) from Carl - “By God, thee hast’be a mountin goat to get to that provvi!”
May: Novice Camp, Tawd Vale
We had that many Scouts wanting to camp at the beginning of the year that we had to split them in to two camps! In the second of the two camps, we took all of the Scouts who had never camped before to Tawd Vale. They got chance to take part in all of the activities and learn new skills without being stood on by the older Scouts. Quote of the weekend again brought to us by Mr Oakes - “Simon, Padge, it’s light out here, I think we’d better go to bed”
April: PL Training Camp, Forest Camp
.. and in the first of the two camps we took the PLs away for some training. And they needed it. Luckily all photographic evidence of their ‘pioneering’ has been lost, but take it from us, they needed training. Carl’s quote - “This tent’s like a Chinese puzzle”
