Ahoy me hearties!

The first May Bank Holiday fell neatly over the Easter break and the Group decided this was the opportune weekend for our first Group Camp since May 2019 in Lockerley! For many of the Cubs this would be their first time under canvas, obviously our charity sleep out least year didn’t need canvas and some simply hadn’t camped before. GSL Warren and his team of Leaders had completed a splendid job of transforming the HQ into a pirate ship for the weekend because that’s what you need for a Pirate themed weekend!

The Cubs were welcomed aboard the good ship Stanley’s Own in the early evening on the Friday, with the leaders setting those land-lubbing Cubs the task of setting up their patrol tents. Yes, we let Cubs loose with mallets. An hour or so of enthusiastic hammering (or is that malleting) later, tentative tugging of guy ropes and before we could say Long John Silver the Cubs were ready to enter their cabins. With their kit stowed and their bunks ready the Cubs and the Scouts rowed ashore to The Common for wide games in the dark before returning to the HQ for a nip of hot chocolate and some shut eye.

Unsurprisingly, the Cubs (and the Beavers and maybe some of the Scouts) awoke very early on Saturday morning. By all accounts a time in the morning starting with a four… so I’m told. The Cubs were kept amused until breakfast followed by flag break where Warren briefed the Group on the planned activities for the weekend. A production line was set up in the Guy Thomas hall (the Old Hall) with 90 or so packed lunches assembled in about 20 minutes.

With the morning proceeding like clockwork, the coach arrived on time to take the Group to the Historic Dockyard in Portsmouth (by the Oggin, the last reference to Jackspeak you’ll be pleased to hear). The dockyards were surprisingly quiet for a Bank holiday weekend, which did give the Dyak Cubs the opportunity to explore HMS Warrior in the morning without unnecessarily troubling the general public. Once on board, the Cubs quickly drew the attention of an onboard officer (a character actor firmly rooted in the 1860s) who kindly gave the pack an excellent tour of the vessel from the Captain’s quarters right down to the engine rooms. In hindsight, he probably was wholly unprepared for the pack and the questions he endured however we can only assume he found it character building and perhaps progressed to Captain in his later years.

Following lunch, the pack boarded the HMS Victory and we’re disappointed to find out that we had not arranged for a guide for them. With a leader led tour, recalling details from childhood visits and long forgotten history lessons the Cubs enjoyed an hour or so on board. Although I fear their greatest amusement was watching as I struggled to navigate the lower decks which are not of a comfortable height for a man of my stature nor, as I pointed out, Captain Hardy.

There followed a quick visit to the gift shop so that the Cubs could dispose of their spending money that had been burning a hole in their pockets all day before returning to HQ for a lasagna supper and movie night with a screening of Hook – much to the disappointment of the Scouts. Unsurprisingly many of the Cubs retired to their tents before the movie finished with the whole pack asleep before midnight.

Sunday morning dawned crisp and dry however few if any of the Cubs were awake to see the sun heave itself over the horizon. Sunday was set to be a big day with many activities to keep all amused. In the afternoon, there was a game of giant battleships planned with the battle groups made up of mixed Beavers, Cubs and Scouts who needed to decorate their own fleets from cardboard and decorate them to strike fear into the hearts of their enemies. To keep things interesting the groups rotated through the build activities/covering themselves in paint and also tried their hands at air rifle shooting and archery. Following lunch, pirate themed fancy dress costumes will put on, the fleet met in the HQ field with Zulu Cubs Akela, Jo, surprising many of them with her super soaker water rifle before the water filled balloons flew into the air and battle commenced. Unlike many conflicts, it seemed there was one true winner, all of the assembled Beavers, Cubs and Scouts who had a thoroughly enjoyable albeit very wet time. The final evening at camp was around the fire with songs led by Toby (our excellent compere for the whole weekend), George and our very own young leader Tom leading us through many campfire favourites before more hot chocolate and the last night under canvas.

The final flag break of the weekend on Sunday morning, saw Harrison invested into Cubs by the Group’s GSL Warren Turvey. A rare honour for Harrison, welcome aboard and we hope you’ll enjoy the adventure with us. With that tired and perhaps a teensy bit smelly Cubs were handed over to their parents and the weekend was over – all bar the packing up. Many may be disappointed to hear the next evening’s Cub meeting was cancelled, we’re pretty sure the Cubs and leaders were relieved though.

At the risk of filling too much space in this month’s edition, the next two weeks involved Athletics Dyak style (welly wanging, egg and spoon race, three legged race and an obstacle course) and the bikes ride in the rain at Bolton’s Bench. That’s not say we haven’t been busy in the month along the way we’ve awarded 31 badges: Adventure, Outdoors, Personal Challenge, Money Skills, Community Impact, Hike, Nights Away and Joining In badges. Well done, Harrison, Tobias, Gabe, Alex, Charlie, Joey, Oscar, Noah, Finley, Katie and Morgan.

Our top secret carnival prep is now well underway and our float will be revealed on the day. If you are aged between 8 and 10 and a half, or you know someone who is, and would like to Join Our Adventure then please feel free to have your adult contact Kev or any of the leaders if you would like to try caps with Dyak – we meet on Tuesdays during term time.

Ian Newman
Assistant Section Leader