AVAST, ME BROWNIES! Brownie camp 2006

I belong to St Mark's Brownies, who meet in the Church Hall every Thursday. In August we went to Heyswood Guide camp, near Cobham, for four days. We were not staying in tents, but in a small building. We slept in a room with two long rows of beds, with bunk beds in each corner. There was a hall, where we had our meals and did activities. Just outside there was a medium-sized swimming pool.

The theme of the camp was pirates. We had all made designs for a special t-shirt to be worn at camp, and my drawing of a parrot ended up on the back of the t-shirt. We were divided into sixes called Rapscallions, Scallywags and Mutineers, and we took turns at doing the chores.

Every night we had a campfire in the woods, and we sang lots of songs. Then we went back inside, and drank hot chocolate while listening to Treasure Island being read aloud, before the mad scramble for the bathroom began. It was hard to get to sleep, because some Brownies liked jumping along the rows of beds. Nobody seemed to like the idea of getting up in the morning.

Most days we went water sliding: we put a plastic sheet on a hill and poured washing-up liquid and barrels of water down it, so that it would be slippery enough to slide down. One day we went grass sledging, where you get into a special kind of sledge and someone pushes you down the hill. Sometimes we went swimming in the pool, and it was absolutely freezing.

Inside the hall, we painted shoeboxes to look like treasure chests. We took it in turns to cook breakfast and put out the bowls, to get our Cook's badge. We also got our Out and About badge, and anyone who was there for the first time like me got a Pack Holiday badge.

I think everyone who went would agree that it was brilliant fun. I would like to say a very big thank you to Brown Owl and everybody else who helped.

Caroline, aged 8

October 2006

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