UK Scout Summer Camp 2020

11-12th July 2020 was 1st Lightwater Scout group’s first ever online Summer camp; joining 120,000 beavers, cubs and scouts from across the UK to participate in a jammed pack weekend.

It was a ‘dip in and dip out’ type of event, where participants could choose as much or as little of the live screened activities to go to.

Opened by Chief Scout Bear Grylls, it was off to a good start. Ed Stafford (adventurer) helped us to build a good base camp, then we joined the space race and created acid based reaction rockets with the help of the UK Space Agency. Dwayne Fields provided us with top tips for spending nights away from home. Followed by a session to improve our balance, focusing on core control and a perfect posture. Not so easy after too many months at the kitchen table!  Origami, compass coding, cooking, stories, tower building, astronomy and junk modelling instruments all kept us entertained.

In the more reflective moments we focused on care homes and how we can all carry out acts of kindness that improve wellbeing. We also considered the 6.6million tonnes of household food waste we throw away each year, looking at recipes that help to reduce this .

A virtual campfire was never going to be the same as a good giggle staring into flames with friends at camp; however it was very entertaining and even had some of us singing and laughing out loud.

Late on the Saturday, the older scouts had access to a murder mystery, ‘taskmaster’ challenges and a live radio stream. Some attempted ‘the 24hr challenge’ where they stayed up all night …lucky parents! While others played the new scout online ‘escape room’.

In the words of one of our cubs “I really liked doing things with friends, while not being with them, but being with them.”