We set off for camp on Good Friday with some trepidation – this camp to Meggernie had been cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to Covid so we were all wary about how the Scouts (and the Leaders) might cope.
Meggernie Outdoor Centre is a Scout Adventures facility, located in wonderful remote surroundings near Glen Lyon. After a couple of hours drive, and the odd stop for a dodgy stomach or two, we got to the centre in glorious weather. We quickly got all the kit into the centre, allocated the Scouts to their rooms and introduced them to the camp theme – ancient civilisations with 4 Patrols – the Aztecs, Mayans, Incas and Olmecs. Their first task was to build a structure and design a flag related to their civilisation – the Scouts quickly embraced the theme, with some brilliant creativity and the outputs were fabulous – we knew then we were going to have a great camp. After dinner, we had a “catch the tartan” wide game so the Scouts could enjoy the fresh air (and hopefully send them to sleep quickly on the first night!!) and rounded off the first day with a campfire where the Scouts led the singing for an hour or so before flag down.
Saturday morning brought more sunshine and after a massive breakfast and the first camp inspection including cleaning the kitchen, toilets, hall and dorms (the Scouts earn their keep!!) we split the group, with half doing a Tyrolean Crossing across the river on the site and the other half doing grass sledging and a night-line activity – proving that shouting at one another is not the best form of communication. In the afternoon we did Scout skills bases out into the sunshine including putting up hammocks, making woggles from paracord, fire-lighting skills and axes and saw work. In the evening we had a hugely competitive Geocache challenge where the Scouts ran for at least an hour around the site searching for “trinkets” and after a campfire, the Scouts were asleep very quickly compared to the previous night.
On Easter Sunday we did a “Scouts Own” session based on the theme of “If the world was a village of 100 people” which resulted in an excellent discussion on inequality in the world. We then did our traditional Easter Egg Hunt on the site before having target practice fun with nerf guns. In the afternoon we repeated the previous day’s Tyrolean Crossing and Grass Sledging/Night-Line activities, with the two groups swapping over. We also managed to pack in a Bouldering activity where our younger Scouts demonstrated their prowess at climbing along the boulder wall with ease. After dinner we had a games night including giant Jenga, giant Connect 4, a ping-pong “forfeit” game (try complimenting a door for 30 seconds!!) and a “tights with a ball” obstacle challenge. At the campfire, the Scouts once again led the singing, and you could see they were enjoying themselves despite their tiredness.
Monday was “hike-day” – we all set off on route to Glen Lyon and once there, we split up, with the younger Scouts doing a low-level walk along Loch an Daimh where they found a secluded beach to enjoy the sunshine and a forest to avoid the rain shower. Meanwhile, the older Scouts headed up a Munro – Stucd an Lochain – which has an altitude of 960m. The Scouts did brilliantly to climb up the steep slopes – some of them could be called mountain hares!! Unfortunately, due to an incoming piece of weather (it snowed 5 minutes after we had stopped to apply suntan lotion) and a slightly twisted ankle we had to abort but the Scouts were happy that they had nearly reached Munro height (918m) and that we had made the right decision – the mountain is there for another day. On returning to camp, what better way to get rid of an accumulation of “grime” over 4 days than to slide down the “slippery slope” – the funniest highlight of the camp! Following a shower (the only one during the camp for most of the Scouts!) and dinner, we settled down to watch a film (loosely) linked to the theme and a final campfire where it was great to see Scouts and Leaders linking arms, singing Flower of Scotland, knowing we’d had a brilliant camp.
We finished the camp on Tuesday with a big breakfast, a big clean, a big litter sweep and a massive “Meggernie Howl” before flag down and presentation of the camp prizes.
So, a superb camp, helped by the good weather and the fact the Scouts were so well behaved, got involved so enthusiastically in the activities and got on so well with each other – hopefully lots of good memories were made. When asked what his highlight was, one Scout said “everything” which summed up the views of all at the camp.
Finally, a massive thanks to the leader team for giving up their time, preparing their activities and for being such good colleagues and friends and also to our hosts Rab and Judith at Meggernie who supported us so well.
Roll on Summer Camp in July.
Camp postings and photographs can be viewed via this link. https://www.facebook.com/CramondScouts/
The Leader Team – Duncan, Eilidh, Gillian, Hector, Karen, Mike, Paul
Have fun, make friends and develop new skills. Our Scout Groups are run entirely by volunteers. Each week leaders give up some of their time to plan and run weekly meetings for Beavers, Cubs and Scouts. As well as this, there are a large number of volunteers who help behind the scenes to ensure that the Group runs smoothly.
In order to continue running such a full and diverse range of activities for our young people, we need your help!
Please get in touch if you would like to volunteer – either working directly with young people, or behind-the-scenes. Even if you can only spare an hour a month, we would love to hear from you.
Email Scouting Support Officer Kirstie Armsworth and have an informal, no obligation, chat. Or feel free to nominate a friend, family member or colleague.
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