After 10 months of planning and preparation the weekend finally arrived Air Camp 2023 – The Best Ever. With a total of 106 Scouts and Explorers, 22 of them representing 5th Dartford, descending to Old Hay Airfield, Paddock Wood.  The weather forecast was for a heat wave, which was accurate for a change. There was unfortunate accident on the A21 causing road closures and some a 2 hour delay in their arrival time, along with many parents discovering the wonders of the app WhatThreeWords/// as opposed to post codes and car SatNavs.

Arriving on site the airfield lived up to it’s name of Old Hay with the meadow grass being waist height, the camping field permitters had been cut this time leaving a tufty grass margin for us to pitch our tents. We were allocated the further most part of the field allowing us to set up both archery and shooting with the required safety zones. The heat of the day persisting whilst we frantically set up camp and laid out ranges through to 20:00 when the camp gathered together for camp opening ceremony, with the scouts being formed in to squads of fifteens, then undertaking an orientation exercise visiting all the location that the activities are being staged over the weekend. With the late dusk on June settling in to darkness the scouts returned to hot dogs, hot chocolate and cake before bed.

 

It would seem that some people need more sleep than others, with some others so excited that they talked more than slept! First light seeped through around 4am with the bird chorus going through to 7am when the Scouts where raised. The heat of the day was already prevalent, with number of repeated emphasis being made to wear your hat, drink plenty of fluids and put your sun screen on, and then again repeated many times through out the weekend. Fortified by cereals, porridge and bacon sandwiches the days activities started with the Scouts finding their squadrons and then disappearing to the activities around the airfield.

 

Activities: Archery, Target Shooting, Power Kiting, Rocket Lunching, Inflatable Bungee run, Paracord craft, Hanger tour/flight school and of course the big ticket Microlight flying.

 

After the activities station closed for the day, we prepared our fancy dress for the evening, with a number of Mavericks, Goose and Iceman from Top Gun, Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, along with a family assemble pieces of a model plane plus many others processed to the Saturday night entertainment where mountains of Domino’s pizza was served along with chocolate cake. The scheduled virtual camp fire was changed to a Silent Disco, which after a few teething problems turned in to an enjoyable memorable night.

 

A rinse and repeat of Saturday for the morning apart from the fried egg sandwiches, with the Scouts completing the activities that they hadn’t completed the day before. At midday most of the activities where completed, apart from microlight flights which continued to ensure everyone had a flight who wanted too. Striking camp at midday on the hottest day of the year reminded me of a rendition of ‘Mad Dogs and English men’ crossed with ‘It ain’t half hot Mum’, but working together we managing to get the majority of our kit back in the van before the 2pm closing ceremony. At the closing ceremony Lee Pebble, the Camp Director, thanked all the organisers and leaders for making the camp possible, along with thanks for the Scouts for their behaviour and enthusiasm, presenting the camp badge to all, wishing everyone safe travels until the next time.

 

NB: All those Scouts & Explorers who completed the hanger tour, flight school, and microlight flight are entitled to the ‘Kent Scouts Microlight’ activity badge.