Over the weekend 14th – 16th November, the 2nd Onchan Manannan Cub pack held their Cub Camp at Ardwhallan Outdoor Pursuits Centre in West Baldwin. The theme for the entire weekend was the Simpsons and once the Cubs were split into Groups and also shown where they would be sleeping it was time for the first activity, a night hike up to St Luke’s Church, it was a lovely clear night and it didn’t take that long to hike up to the Church. Once up at the church the Cubs worked in their Groups and did a treasure hunt around the grounds of the church before heading up the hill for a small fireworks display to start the Cub Camp in style.
After the display it was a very quick walk back to Ardwhallan for cake and juice before the Cubs were tasked to find as many lollypop sticks around the grounds of Ardwhallan as they could (there were about 200 scattered around). Once the majority of lollypop sticks were found we had a camp fire in the Viking Longhouse and toasted marshmallows around the fire, all the Cubs told a joke around the fire and a couple of the Cubs told us some really scary ghost stories. It was getting late, so we headed back to Ardwhallan for Supper before going to bed, the last of the Cubs finally got to sleep around 3am (much to Akela’s delight).
On Saturday it was an early start for the Leaders, however most of the Cubs were still asleep even by 7.30am, so a wakeup call was needed for some of the Cubs, after breakfast & inspection the Cubs were split up into their Groups to do the following activities; backwoods cooking, archery & low ropes / cheese crane. For the backwoods cooking Guy Thompson (Island Commissioner) visited us and showed and assisted the Cubs in showing us how to skin and prepare Rabbits, the Cubs really got involved with this and really enjoyed this activity, we also had a chicken and a duck as well, the Cubs made a Rabbit, Duck and Chicken stew and this would form part of Saturday’s dinner. The Archery was another activity the Cubs loved, working with Akela and Dan the Cubs all shot as many arrows as they could and tried to score as many points as they could, to make the activity more enjoyable the Cubs were tasked to blow up their balloon and try to shoot it. The final activity for the morning was the Low Ropes and cheese crane, all Cubs had to navigate their way around the low ropes without falling off and then they had to work as part of a team on the cheese crane.
It was then time for lunch and a break, for lunch it was pasty and baked beans which went down very well with all the Cubs, after lunch the Cubs were split into 2 Groups, one of the groups did some orienteering around Ardwhallan and the other group worked on the Challenge Bases around the grounds of Ardwhallan, after the hour had passed we swapped round so all Cubs had a go on each activity. It was then time for the final activity of the day, the assault course, the Cubs were split into pairs and had to race each other and to try and get the fastest time around the assault course, all Cubs did really well and enjoyed this activity and there was some really fast Cubs going round the assault course.
As it was approaching dinner time, the Cubs made their way inside for dinner of Stew & Spaghetti Bolognaise (most of the Cubs tried the stew and some even had seconds). After dinner the Cubs settled down to watch a couple of films before heading off to bed. It was quite an early night for the Cubs and Leaders which is a rarity (however this was a good thing).
The next morning was an early start again for the Leaders and some Cubs as they were wide awake, however the smell of bacon through the house enticed some of the Cubs to wake and make their way down for breakfast, after inspection the Cubs and Leaders went for a very quick walk to the reservoir and the Cubs had great fun sliding down the bank near the reservoir, after 30 minutes around the reservoir we walked back to Ardwhallan and played some man hunt games before doing a very wet assault course, all Cubs and Leaders got soaked but had a really great time. After everyone had done a few trips on a very wet assault course everyone got changed and packed their gear away and then it was time for lunch and a debrief before playing a game of Danish Longball and then it was time to head home.
The weekend was a great success and all Cubs had a great time, the weather remained dry for us which also helped towards the weekend. Thanks to all those Leaders who helped during the weekend and to Guy for helping in the Backwoods Cooking.
