Our newest four assistant patrol leaders spent last weekend in the depths of the New Forest with 13 other new APLs from the district.

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On Saturday morning, the the leaders talked to the scouts about various leadership techniques. Pancakes were cooked outside under typical conditions – hail – before we went through camp skills, such as menu planning, camp-site layout and hygiene!

After a healthy dinner, the scouts wrapped up warm and jumped into a minibus to be dropped off with a map and torch at an unknown location and were told to walk back to camp! Fortunately the night was beautifully clear, so the paths were lit up by the stars, but it did mean it was well and truly below freezing (we set off at -2 degrees)! The scouts in the more “adventurous” group even had to shimmy across a fallen tree to get over a river!

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The (tired) scouts brushed up on their practical skills on Sunday morning, being taught by our (tired) leaders how to teach axe and saw usage to other scouts. Then we pioneered the most over-engineered volley-ball net possible, and created a 30m “aerial runway” aka a zip-line through the forest.

All in all, we all learned a great deal from the weekend, and went home happy and knackered!

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