Danbury 2023
Day 1
The good ship Danbury sailed on time this morning with 100 happy sailors bound for adventures!
We had a smooth sail and arrived at Camp around 11:30 am to enjoy the riches of a packed lunch and enjoyed the exploration of the tents and campsite before being whisked away by Instructors to find treasure in the following activities :
The Blackbeards and Buccaneers honed their archery skills and soared on aerial trekking. The Landlubbers, Hooks, Jolly Rogers and Krakens showed their bravery in caving (perhaps in the search for buried treasure) and joined forces on the zip wire and aerial trekking.
The Parrots repeatedly told us about their mountain biking and zip wire experiences.
The Planks and Shanties scaled the climbing wall into unknown territory and zip wired into a mountain bIke session together.
Treasures found treasure in facing the climbing wall and following the map mountain biking.
With little time to sit around and share sea shanties we were presented with a banquet of a roast chicken dinner and sumptuous chocolate cake, celebrating one sailor’s birthday, with time to spare to invite all pirates to the Danbury Fashion Show before a feast of hot chocolate and biscuits to bring a swashbuckling Day 1 to a close.
Time to up anchor and sail into the sunset ready for Day 2…
DAY2
All the sailors spent a quiet night under the stars, emerging from below decks ready for a royal’s breakfast of bacon, sausage, hash browns and scrambled egg with the added treasure of various cereals and yoghurts.
They set sail on day 2 of Danbury adventures with Blackbeards and Buccaneers learning valuable pirate survival skills at bushcraft. The obstacle course left no stone unturned in challenging the 2 groups to work as a team alongside the Jolly Rogers and the Hooks.
Krakens and Landlubbers honed their archery skills whilst the Parrots and Planks joined them for aerial trekking where the sky's the limit!
Shanties and Treasures soared overhead on the zip wire like circling birds and secret passages were discovered by the Shanties, Treasures and Planks whilst caving.
CCA staff took control of the ship after lunch, dodging several pirates and the occasional rain shower, to deliver CCA led tasks involving:
A scavenger hunt offering new pirate eye patches to the winning team!
The offer to decorate team flags for the marquee.
A soaking in the maths lesson on volume (handy when you are trying to fit stolen doubloons to your ship’s hold during rough seas!)
This CCA map of events was leading to our Walk the Plank challenge evening where tasks will mean team points as everyone “walks the plank” to win the spoils!
A spaghetti bolognese and arctic roll dinner will satisfy our happy, hard working pirates…until tomorrow!
Day 3
Well, what can I say?
The ship was well and truly met with high seas yesterday afternoon in the form of torrential rain, causing issues below deck and needing a few “quarters” to relocate due to high tides.
The Captains remained with the ship and we were on an even keel in time for hot chocolate and biscuits allowing all the boatswains to settle in their tents and fall asleep listening to raindrops on their rooftops which continued until the early hours of day 3.
Croissants and sausage baguettes rewarded our crew of mature and sensible sailors at breakfast in readiness for more CCA staff activities (put on hold from yesterday) including art, think outside the box and a selfie (digital school cameras) scavenger hunt.
Climbing walls were conquered by Buccaneers and Blackbeards whilst Jolly Rogers and Hooks joined forces to learn bushcraft (might come in handy one day).
Krakens and Landlubbers faced the obstacle course working together whilst Parrots and Planks worked on archery.
Treasures poured down around us on aerial trekking with Shantys aplenty.
Danbury staff continued to pour riches in the form of team points in all activities as they were so impressed by our pirates’ professionalism and community spirit.
Go CCA !
Pasties, potatoes and veg, plus waffles and sprinkles, rounded off the Wednesday midweek feast before we retire to the Royal Firepit to toast our conquests halfway through the Shwashbuckling Danbury voyage of 2023.
Day 4 is on the horizon...
Day 4&5
A succession of manhunts allowed our crew to become landlubbers together and with hot chocolate on offer, the sailors slept well before Day 4 dawned on the horizon offering 2 more Danbury-led sessions for each of our intrepid explorers.
Shantys sang out loud while they enjoyed the obstacle course and bushcraft.
Treasures followed the map to a leap of faith plus the obstacle course, climbing wall and bushcraft with the Parrots in tow.
Landlubbers cycled their way to the climbing wall fearful of the Krakens who followed them on the same sessions.
Jolly Rogers and Hooks joined forces zip wiring their way to the mountain bikes, leaving the Buccaneers and Blackberads to zip-wire into Caving.
We spent a warmer afternoon enjoying the free time and manhunt, sharing stories from our action-packed week in each other’s company and looking forward to our final banquet of sweet and sour chicken, rice and prawn crackers.
Nothing could have prepared us for the celebration ahead in the evening, as we all disembarked to relish in the endless talents of our sailors and captains at the Danbury Talent Show. Tears were shed, friendships sealed and plans for future journeys made.
Captain Hook, Smee, his parrot and the pirates chased Peter Pan, and Tinkerbell to make a crowd-pleasing entrance and we danced the night away giving one last rousing performance of our flashmob!
Friday is ship cleaning, shirt signing, and flag-making day and the crew has done us proud in every way.
Ship ahoy Danbury for another year!