On Thursday 5th July, 23 students set out on their assessed Silver Award Duke of Edinburgh expedition, along with Miss Fenner, Mr Smith and Mrs Colwill, in the New Forest. After setting up camp in the sunshine at Ferny Crofts campsite, and it staying dry all night, participants woke to rain, which, unknown to them at the time, wouldn't stop until Sunday morning. After breakfast and packing up their tents, Miss Fenner took everyone to the beach, from where participants would set off on their journey. Teams ‘Jonny’s Dons’, ‘Jimmy’s Group’ and ‘The Kerplunkers’ arrived back at camp as expected that evening, but after a while, Mr Smith went to look for ‘The Avengers’, who had taken a wrong path, and had ended up miles from the campsite! ‘The Avengers’ were previously known as ‘The Lost Boys’ on their Bronze expeditions, and everyone was quick to point out that perhaps they shouldn't have changed their name!
On Friday night, 39 Bronze participants arrived with Mrs Minikin, Miss Folkard, Mrs Berisford, Miss Beck and Mr Harvey, and were greeted by the continuing pouring rain that the Silver participants had been subject to all day. After a very wet night, all participants and staff found themselves very lucky to have the luxury of hot showers on Saturday morning – not found on our usual campsites in The Chiltern Hills! The rain on Saturday was torrential, and many areas of the New Forest were flooded, meaning that participants had to change their routes to ensure that they followed a safe route. All staff were worrying all day about how wet the participants were getting, and spoke to the assessors about cutting their journeys short. One of the Duke of Edinburgh Awards Scheme rules is that Bronze students must complete 6 hours of journeying per day – so after 6 hours, any Bronze students who hadn’t already made it back to camp were collected in the minibus and brought back to the campsite. Silver students were collected after 7 hours, if they hadn’t already made it back to camp.
The people at Wilverley campsite, where everyone stayed on Saturday night, allowed everyone to have the use of their Scout Hut to dry out their clothes and sleep in, which was really great, as everyone’s clothes and tents were soaking from the rain. Therefore, everyone woke up on Sunday morning in high spirits, and then the sunshine came out! After a much easier day on Sunday, participants got back in the coach to Chalfont St Peter, where their parents were eagerly awaiting their return.
Mr Smith and Mrs Colwill would like to thank the staff who volunteered to help on such a wet weekend: Miss Fenner, Mrs Minikin, Miss Folkard, Mrs Berisford, Miss Beck and Mr Harvey. Poor Miss Fenner sprained her ankle in the mud on Saturday, so we’d like to send our best wishes to her, and hope she gets well soon! They would also like to thank the assessors from the New Forest Assessors Network, and Paul Barraclough, our Silver Assessor, who really helped us out all weekend, and offered support and advice to both participants and staff!
On Thursday 5th July, 23 students set out on their assessed Silver Award Duke of Edinburgh expedition, along with Miss Fenner, Mr Smith and Mrs Colwill, in the New Forest. After setting up camp in the sunshine at Ferny Crofts campsite, and it staying dry all night, participants woke to rain, which, unknown to them at the time, wouldn't stop until Sunday morning. After breakfast and packing up their tents, Miss Fenner took everyone to the beach, from where participants would set off on their journey. Teams ‘Jonny’s Dons’, ‘Jimmy’s Group’ and ‘The Kerplunkers’ arrived back at camp as expected that evening, but after a while, Mr Smith went to look for ‘The Avengers’, who had taken a wrong path, and had ended up miles from the campsite! ‘The Avengers’ were previously known as ‘The Lost Boys’ on their Bronze expeditions, and everyone was quick to point out that perhaps they shouldn't have changed their name!
On Friday night, 39 Bronze participants arrived with Mrs Minikin, Miss Folkard, Mrs Berisford, Miss Beck and Mr Harvey, and were greeted by the continuing pouring rain that the Silver participants had been subject to all day. After a very wet night, all participants and staff found themselves very lucky to have the luxury of hot showers on Saturday morning – not found on our usual campsites in The Chiltern Hills! The rain on Saturday was torrential, and many areas of the New Forest were flooded, meaning that participants had to change their routes to ensure that they followed a safe route. All staff were worrying all day about how wet the participants were getting, and spoke to the assessors about cutting their journeys short. One of the Duke of Edinburgh Awards Scheme rules is that Bronze students must complete 6 hours of journeying per day – so after 6 hours, any Bronze students who hadn’t already made it back to camp were collected in the minibus and brought back to the campsite. Silver students were collected after 7 hours, if they hadn’t already made it back to camp.
The people at Wilverley campsite, where everyone stayed on Saturday night, allowed everyone to have the use of their Scout Hut to dry out their clothes and sleep in, which was really great, as everyone’s clothes and tents were soaking from the rain. Therefore, everyone woke up on Sunday morning in high spirits, and then the sunshine came out! After a much easier day on Sunday, participants got back in the coach to Chalfont St Peter, where their parents were eagerly awaiting their return.
Mr Smith and Mrs Colwill would like to thank the staff who volunteered to help on such a wet weekend: Miss Fenner, Mrs Minikin, Miss Folkard, Mrs Berisford, Miss Beck and Mr Harvey. Poor Miss Fenner sprained her ankle in the mud on Saturday, so we’d like to send our best wishes to her, and hope she gets well soon! They would also like to thank the assessors from the New Forest Assessors Network, and Paul Barraclough, our Silver Assessor, who really helped us out all weekend, and offered support and advice to both participants and staff!