2019 has been a busy year so far at Bonaly Scout Centre with 9500 visitors from a number of countries including Poland, Germany, Spain, Austria and The Netherlands. Along with all our Scouting and Guiding visitors, we have had schools, youth organisations, corporate team building away days and Duke of Edinburgh Award expedition campers.
In May we had our busiest time of the year so far, and this included Braid District Camp and saw over 700 people visit Bonaly in a single weekend.
Possilpark Children’s Summer Camp came in July for their 33rd year running. It was lovely to see children being dropped off by parents and grandparents who remember being at Bonaly for the same Summer Camp when they were young.
Many groups use Bonaly Scout Centre as a facility to run their own activities. And if you are looking for something to do, we have activities that can be Leader-led with Grass Sledging, Orienteering, and Burn Dipping being very popular. We have a team of instructors who run activities and this year the favourites are High Ropes, Tomahawk Throwing and Archery. Those who hold the relevant Scout archery permit can use our archery range and equipment is available to hire.
We would all like to say a big thank you to our fantastic Active Support Unit, giving so much time and effort to help Bonaly provide the facilities and activities we offer. The Catering Team have fed 243 hungry mouths so far this year, the Tuck Shop Team are loved by the young folks and the Maintenance Team continue to keep the centre working, looking cared for and keeping the grass cut!
What’s coming up?
Later in the year we are hosting the Blair Atholl Jamborette 2020 selection and training camps.
The 1st North Berwick Cubs won our competition to name the new bell tents which replaced the old tipis. They will now be known as The Three Amigos and we are looking forward to the Cubs visit for their prize weekend in September.
Work on the new Amenities Hub is due to start towards the end of the year. It will be located between the Main Field and the Druim field and have showers, toilets, a washing and dish washing area covered by a wooden gazebo and a drying room.
We will be investing £10,000 in new activities for 2020 and these will be a mixture of leader-led and instructor-led.
A Spring Showcase event will be held at Bonaly and we would love to you to come and see how the centre is developing. Dates to follow in September’s newsletter.
And here’s an idea for an activity – the Egg Drop Challenge!
This old classic is one of our favourites here at Bonaly and can easily take place at the scout hall, or anywhere else. Each group is given the challenge to design and construct an EPS (egg protection system) to keep an egg safe when it’s dropped from a height.
You will need a supply of construction equipment and we like to use recycled materials – egg boxes, plastic bags, plastic bottles, newspapers etc. string, sticky tape and blu-tack are also useful. We test the EPS by dropping them from the top of our High Ropes Course but can you use an upstairs window, drop from head height or simply throw it up in the air.
You can make the groups earn their materials by carrying out different tasks such as tying a bowline, singing a song, reciting the law and promise or answering questions in a quiz. Scavenger hunts are always popular and a great way to collect construction materials.
When you’re going to camp, why not give the eggs out at the start, and get the young people to give them a name. If the Egg Drop is one of the last activities, they have to look after their egg all the way through camp!
A word from Mark Campbell, the new Centre Manager
Three months into my new job now and I would just like to say how welcome I have been made to feel by everyone that I have met. It really is great to be back in Scouting. There is a lot going on at Bonaly at the moment and we are all excited for the future, so there is a real buzz about the place.
If you have any ideas or suggestions for activities, events or anything that we can provide at Bonaly we would love to hear about, and if you haven’t been for a while, please feel free to call in and see what is going on.