Young Leaders Report

Please let me introduce myself, my name is Owen and I have been in the 15th Oxford Scout troop for a little bit more than four years. Through every Friday night meeting we learn more about Scouting and more about ourselves, and as I reach 15 I am becoming too old to be part of the Scout Patrols, wanting to continue with the troop I have opted to take on the role of a Young Leader, this gives me a great opportunity to pass on my skills and to carry on learning more skills which I can pass on later. My time at the 15th Oxford means that I’ve been on four Summer Camps which (excluding the leaders) is more than any of the other current Scout; because of this I think that I know something about Camp life which I thought would be nice to share with you.

Firstly, every single camp is different, mainly because of the people who go and what we do. Some camps have been activity mayhem, others have been very Camp based, however each one of them has been extremely fun and very rewarding to all who go. Camp is also where you find out a lot about yourself, some find out they don’t like camp - having to leave early – but most of us find out very specific aspect of our character that we didn’t know we had until going on camp. Most of the time Camp is a lively atmosphere with us playing lots of games such as Rounders, “Silly” sports (Three-way football in a field of thistles for example), and the many Wide games (So called because they are played over a wide area) helps to further this liveliness.

But Summer Camp isn’t all fun and games; every morning you wake up at around 7.00-7.30 am, get up and dressed, go find wood, make a fire, then cook for a couple of Leaders - a joy if ever there was one! After this there’s the preparation for inspection which means you have to tidy your site and wash up anything that’s dirty, wash yourself and sort out your kit. It does not end here, throughout the day you still have to do lots of other things; everyday each patrol is assigned a duty, these are either as Duty patrol A, B, or C. Duty Patrol A collects wood, checks to toilets and the water canisters. Duty Patrol B helps the leaders to cook on the big fire, which is often located so that the smoke blows mercilessly into your face even when you move to the other side! Finally there is Duty Patrol C who are in charge of doing the washing up. It is hard work but frankly that is what you expect when going on Camp - it’s NOT going to be fun the whole time.

You are marked throughout the week on all your efforts, and at the end of the week the Sports trophy and the Overall trophy are given out, and (providing he is on Camp) there is the Terry Saxton award for best Scout that year, which this year was given to Matthew, who I think really did deserve it. The Sports award went to Barracudas and the overall award went to my patrol, Lynx. Thank you to all those in my patrol who helped me to win this - especially as it was my last Camp as a Patrol Leader.

So, to sum up; Scout Camp may be hard at times, but overall it’s worth it when you get to win the Trophy for Camp. As for the Friday nights, without these camp would not be possible and it is a testament to camp that all the leaders and young leaders see it as their highlight of the year, their reward at the end of the Scout term, and it is because of camp that the very few low points in the year become all worth while!

Owen - Young Leader – 15th Oxford Scouts