Presentation Night 2009
Northwinds Explorer Scout Unit Report 2008 – 2009
The last twelve months has been another busy time for Northwinds. The Explorers have done lots of activities and been on numerous camps.
Northwinds has done a total of 14 nights away with 12 of these under canvas. The camps have ranged from a very busy weekend at Gilwell 24, with 24 hours of non-stop activities, to a very cold weekend at Woodhouse Park.
The main camp of 2008 was our time at Smuggler ’08 in Cornwall. Unfortunately this camp for Explorers from all over the country was rather disrupted by the weather (lots of the activities had to be cancelled due to the wind and rain in August and we struggled to keep the doors on the mess tent from blowing away!).
The Unit has walked a total of 117 kilometres (73 miles) in 12 months over 5 hikes with distances ranging from 10 to 16 miles. So far in 2009 the Explorers have completed 37 miles towards their target of 75 miles. This is being done to mark the 75th anniversary of Northwinds in scouting (although obviously not the Explorer Unit – the name was originally used by 234th Bristol Scout Group).
Some of the activities the Unit has done over the last year include high ropes, quad biking, climbing, abseiling, inflatables, stilt walking, kayaking and zip wire. On the less adventurous side there were things like origami, a Russian Night (where the Explorers sang the Russian national anthem in Russian), Mexican food, building towers out of newspaper and Ready, Steady, Cook with the Explorers cooking a meal for the parents. We also went to the Bath Gang Show to see one of the Explorers (but not on the night he fell off the stage while dressed as a cow).