This weekend just gone, saw the first camp for Apex Scouts of 2026, luckily most of our plans were outside as the weather was very much against us! After a very risky and messy start, thee arrived on Friday evening and due to the none stop rain decided not to pitch our tents outside, we kicked off the fun and games by designing our own clown faces before setting up a make shift camp indoors and enjoying a suitably themed movie. There was a distinct lack of singing along to begin with but as the film progressed some of the scouts couldn’t contain themselves any longer and joined in.
Things quickly improved from there on, and Saturday morning saw a visit from our friends at Shooting Stars Circus Skills (https://www.shootingstarscircus.co.uk) pay us a visit for a full day of intensive circus skills training. The scouts had the opportunity to try their hand at many different skills and try lots of different gadgets and were given free time to hone the skill that they enjoyed the most. The leader team came to the conclusion that 3 or 4 of the young people may have distant relatives that are part of the circus as they were naturally talented at several disciplines!
After all this practice, grit, determination and perseverance, several went on to perform their new found skills to an audience of their peers
Saturday finished with the scouts making theit own tea and another movie, the planned campfire was not meant to be with the continuing damp, wet and foggy conditions. Our spirirts on the other hand remained high. No photos of team Cowboy dinner, team Spag Bol or Team Tacos, they must have worked up an appetite during the intensive training and the food vanished before we had chance. I also have a sneaky suspicion that Louis, Craig and Paul snuck for a sneaky nap whilst myself and Jane taught the young people valuable cooking lessons.
After a good nights sleep and a full English breakfast on Sunday morning, it was time to make our clown face designs a reality, A special thanks needs to go to Char for giving her Sunday morning up to save this from being a disaster, none of the rest of the leader team would’ve done the designs justice as she did! The scouts then headed off on a hike to the viewing point and back, we almost made it back before the next deluge of rain but was caught out with less than a kilometre to go. \who knew scouts could suddenly hike at twice the speed!
We are not sure who had the most fun on completing the Circus Skills badge this weekend, the leaders or the young people. Now to plan our next adventure in the Peaks for our summer camp….
