Luddenden Guides @ WINGS 2009
15 girls & 3 leaders went to the International Scout & Guide Camp at Windsor Great Park in August 2009.
At WYW's Annual Review in October Chessie, Molly, Lucy & Phoebe told us of their experiences:-
During my time with Luddenden I’ve done some fantastic things:
- I've been to Switzerland and stayed at Our Chalet,
- I've been to the Big Gig,
- I've camped at Walesby World Experience and visited the centenary -World Scout Jamboree,
- I've performed on stage at the Scarborough Spa in the final of the North East England Search for a Guiding Star.
All of these were incredible experiences…but none of them compared to Wings 2009 it was AMAZING!
We met nice and early at Leeds Station – 15 very excited girls, and 2 very brave leaders.Tieing friendship knots in our fantastic new neckers was our first challenge.
We all felt so much better when even Anne got Sue to tie hers too!!
We arrived at Kings Cross and took the underground to Waterloo.
We then boarded the train to Windsor and were languishing in our carriage waiting for the train to depart, when we were suddenly and noisily joined by a group of very tired looking girls in tartan neckers (Phoebe: not as nice as ours though!) each of them carrying a rucksack the size of a small house on their back.
They awkwardly made their way down the aisle bumping and banging their way into empty seats. At this point we looked down at our very small day pack containing such items as soggy sandwiches and puzzle books and gave thanks to our other intrepid leader who, at that moment, was sat on the M25 in a Sowerby Bridge Hire'n'Hire van just so we didn’t have to endure the same ordeal that those poor girls had!!
Thank you Michelle!
We arrived at Windsor station to join a host of other people in various different neckers (Phoebe: not as nice as ours though!) and jumped onto a double-decker coach to be taken to the Wings site.
At last we’d arrived, and we were amazed at the size of it. There were tents as far as the eye could see, there were flags, marquees, and LOADS of portaloos.
Please don’t mention the portaloos!
We were each given a Wings goody bag and Wings necker (Phoebe: not as nice as ours though.) (All put on yellow Wings neckers) Now we certainly looked the part, we just had to wait for our stuff to arrive!
At long last the Hire n hire van trundled into view to be greeted by a huge cheer, and then the hard work began!
The site was divided into 5 sub camps named after famous inventors. We were in Bell, and the entrance to our camp was wicked. Every time you crossed the threshold a doorbell rang. (ding dong!) We even had our own tardis!!
At 7pm that evening we all assembled in our sub camp groups to parade to the main stage area for the opening ceremony. We certainly made an entrance in Bell and were by far the loudest with loads of people ringing bells – one scout leader had even brought a big wall-mounted fire bell. The ceremony was followed by an awesome disco and the bar was set for the rest of the week. We were very excited!
The first day was called Big Sub Camp Day and was a brilliant way to break the ice. Each group had been asked to bring along an activity. Ours was sheep badges and hand printing, with some Yorkshire Mixtures thrown in. We left our ace leaders in charge and wandered around the site taking part in a whole variety of stuff, from nail art, to steeplechase. And of course we had to pay a number of visits to the Welsh contingency for freshly made Welsh cakes! Yum yum!
Our Yorkshire accent got us into a sticky moment at one point when we asked some Irish Scouts if they'd like to sign our neckers and they thought we'd said….
(Lucy: in Irish accent) “you want us to sign your knickers". That certainly was an ice-breaker and one I wasn’t allowed to forget all week!
One of the tasks in the Wings Challenge was to collect 10 free hugs from new friends. We made a HUGE sign advertising free hugs and wandered around the site. Needless to say we smashed the 10 mark – yet another brilliant ice-breaker. We were even interviewed for the radio and went out live on Wings FM – much to the amazement of our leaders when they heard it back at camp!
And this was only day 1!!!!!!!!!!
The week went on and every day was filled with a whole range of activities; and was filled with loads of fun and loads of laughs. And so many people asked us if we’d like to swap neckers with them (Phoebe- look of horror), No, our neckers!!, (Phoebe: even bigger horror!).
We went geo-caching
Shooting,
Bell boating
Canoing
Climbing
Artificial caving
We hula-hooped
We drummed
We bounced
We rode a rodeo bull (although not for long!)
We did archery
We made a raft – and fell in!
The list is endless!!
And because our leaders love us so much they even took us off site one day and we went to Thorpe Park. We went on some amazing rides and all got incredibly wet on the Log Flume.
And each night we couldn’t wait to get cleared away so we could go off to join in the evening’s entertainment.
We dressed 2 kill for the Neon Night
We danced our hearts out doing our dance routine for Wings Factor
We sung along to the live bands.
We boogied on down at the discos.
And before we knew it we found ourselves at the closing celebrations.
We swayed along to Sammy, the winner of Wings Factor as he sang his winning song. (arms in air with torches) The entire audience held up mini torches, swaying and singing along to the chorus - it was a fantastic sight. We watched the brilliant firework display and laser show and still found the energy to dance at the closing disco.
So sadly the week had come to an end…..and yes
The portaloos were gross! And the queues for the showers were long! And lugging our daily food allocation from collection point back to our pitch was such a drag!
But that's all we can find to complain about, and even these things made the week what it was…….we had just experienced one of the best weeks of our life’s.
And here’s just a few of our favourite photos.
And there’s just one more thing we’d all like to say….
Pleease will you take us to Wings 2014!!