On the 28th July the BP [British petroleum] barge,[which holds 6 articulated lorries - so as you can imagine is fairly large - ] was fully laden with vehicles, trailers, generators, 9 x 1100 litres bins, 17 portaloos. Then, when the tide was right, it made its way over the water to Brownsea Island.
Over the next few days the camp took
shape:
1 x extremely large FORD marquee was erected - used for catering -[5 hours and
15 people to erect!]
40 x ridge tents
Various other marques
The Sub camps were suitably decorated - the Sub camps were called -Wolves, Curlews,
Bulls - as these were the names of the original subs camp on Brownsea.
The portaloos were made useable - although the general public managed to use
them first!
The generators were fired up and a fully working professional kitchen - was
setup and running
Myself, Tim, Rex, Sandra, Liz and
Nicky were in charge of the site services, this included:
Bins - sorting recycling and general waste - we were given 1000 fruit shot /
water bottles for the camp - so Rex spent many a 'happy' few minutes jumping
on these bottles, in the bins! Squashing and then compacting them.
Loos - cleaning, restocking etc…especially the' Mothership' [as it got nick named, ,the large disabled loo, that was sited on the staff camp site]
Generators - moving them to where they were needed and kept re-fuelled [boys and their toys! Need I say more]
Transport on the island -
Site safety.
Building showers for after the water activities
So as you can imagine, we were kept busy all of the time, most days from 7 am through till midnight.
The weather was good to us, most of the time, - only one real soaking, but luckily we found a half built coracle nearby, which when up-turned made a fine umbrella -[in fact it made a better umbrella than it did a coracle! ] But the weather was exceptional when the Scouts were on site - clear blue skies, long hot days and surrounded by a sparkling clear sea. - Just perfect.
The Guides and Scouts that had signed up for Brownsea Reloaded, arrived at North Weald on the 1st Aug, spent 24hrs at Eurojam, and then arrived down with us mid afternoon on the 2nd Aug.
Before the Guides and Scouts reached
the campsite, they first walked the 'Eurotrail'.
This passed through various countries in Europe - including Germany, Switzerland,
Holland, Italy, then finally through the Channel Tunnel into England. - This
was all brought to life with the help from the Oxford Gang Show.
The participants then finally reached the campsite and spent the remainder of the afternoon in their sub camps, meeting and getting to know each other and playing various games.
In the evening there was entertainment on the stage till midnight - not sure exactly what went on, we were too busy putting marques up for the next day, but it sounded good. - So loud that the National Trust came and asked us to tone it down, as they could hear it up the other end of the Island, where a Shakespeare production was taking place! - -Whoops.
Wednesday 3rd…the next day, we all awoke to the sound of music blaring at 7am -- everyone was up, ready for an action packed day…
There were a variety of activities
on offer:
Canoeing
Coracling
Rafting
Sailing
Whaling
GDV
Crafts
t-shirt printing
inflatable assault course
circus skills
quasar
bucking bronco
archery
low rope course
Certainly no chance for anyone to get bored ! - including us , we tried our
hands at juggling, and mastered the art, to a degree, but not good enough to
give up our day jobs!, then we tried to control the 'bucking brocho' , - and
failed dismally, had a race on the inflatable assult course - this was later
deflated early in the afternoon, due to a scout falling off ,hurting her back
and causing an unscheduled visit from the Air Ambulance.
We called the Air Ambulance out twice that afternoon !…….but it
sounds worse than it is…..because being an Island that is the quickest
way to get a paramedic on the scene - -pleased to report that both participants
were back with us the next day.
Then that evening - more entertainment on the stage…….we managed to see some of that, and we helped with backstage equipment.
Thursday 4th………The
final morning……..
Everyone was up bright and early….the partipants made their way to the
stage area for the closing ceremony…and while they were there, we loaded
all their bags into the trailers and these were taken down to the quay for them.
Then the great clear-up started…………….all that had to go back to mainland, had to be on the quay on Brownsea that evening …[so the camp that took 4 days to set up..had to be taken down in 1 ]……so it was all hands to the deck……but we did it…..even though we were still loading our bins on to the trailer at midnight !
Friday 6th…9am ….trailers loaded,,,bins and loos on the quay side….the barge arrived to take it all back to the main land………quite a site, seeing the whole camp sail away..
That night we had a hog roast /party……and celebrated the fact we achieved our plan….
In Neils words,,,,,'we've only gone and done it'……………..
And guess what……we are doing it all again in 2 years time ! Hoorah
To see
the great photo's go to the photo gallery!