District Winter Camp February 2024

Yet another great weekend at Hopehill, this year we were blessed with some great weather over the weekend, for the Scouts and Explorers to undertake the events over the weekend.

We had 60 young person’s attending this year with lots of 1st timer scouts and explorers eager to find out what Winter Camp is all about, with the learning of new skills and for the older ones having a refresher to ensure they are equipped and ready to tackle Hillcraft in the lake district or any camps that are arranged by their groups.

Friday evening this year the scouts and explorers were divided up into 8 team with a mixture of age ranges and abilities. They then had to create a circular route for an hours walk from Hopehill, each team then had to go out and walk the route they had created. We were blessed with a clear night so this made it easier for them to walk under the moon light,

On Saturday the Scouts and Explorers had a nice early start cooking breakfasts on lightweight stoves to simulate how it will be if they go to Hillcraft.

Following Flag break all the Scouts and Explorers back into the teams and went off around the 9 bases situated around Hopehill to learn or get a refresher on the activity that the District Leadership team on the bases had set out.

The bases are 1st Aid / Emergencies, Fitness, Security on steep ground, Stoves, Camp Food, Expedition Food, Equipment, Campcraft, Navigation.

Saturday evening the scouts and explorers had a fun evening run by Network, where they had to complete a few challenges within their teams, the evening was finished with watching Wonka.

Sunday sees all the winter campers doing a what3words navigation course, it was great fun seeing the scouts and explorers running around Hopehill to find what was at each location.

Over the weekend we had a little competition running to see who was the best Scout and Explorer and which team gained the most points over at the bases on Saturday.

The Results are as follows

Best Scout

1st	Celeste Cronin	1st Northfleet
2nd	Blake-Imogen Growns	5th Northfleet
3rd	Michalina Kucharska	1st Northfleet
4th	Thomas Busbridge	3rd Gravesend

Best Explorer

1st	Ember Vincent	Kipling
2nd	Katie Sawyer	Sputnik
3rd	Megan Jones	Kipling
4th	Jack Williams	Kipling

Best Team over the weekend was team C

Ember Vincent	Kipling
Megan Jones	Kipling
Morgan Wade	Kipling
Daniel Douse	Kipling
Harry Jesshop	Sputnik
Evan Hinks	Sputnik
Lily Waring	Sputnik
Joshua Munday	Kipling

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those leaders that gave up their weekend to make this event possible, I couldn't have done it without all of you.

Please look out for Winter Camp 2024, it is open to all Troops / Units for all Scouts and Explorers, this event can be used by the troops / units as a camp for the scouts / explorers to gain extra knowledge, also leaders can attend the event if you would like to learn or refresh any of your skills.

Darren Stranford

Assistant District Commissioner - Scouts