The Scouts had a very successful Annual Camp in Lough Dan from Aug. 18th-23rd. For our scouts it was the longest annual camp they had ever done, spanning, as it did, five nights under canvas and six days. There were four patrols: Fox, Stag, Bear and Shark. Each had their own campsite with shared areas for washing up and dining. Each patrol competed vigoursly to make their own camp site the best with pioneering skills being deployed to make camp gadgets such as entrances, basin and bin stands and washing lines. Each patrol had to cook for themselves and keep their sub-camp clean, tidy and safe. Points were awarded and deducted from Patrols throughout the week based on their performance culminating in an all day Scouting Skills competition on Friday. In the end Bear patrol were winners by the slimmest of margins. An amazing achievement considering their patrol leader, Lucy was leading a patrol for the first time. Bear patrol included two guests - Alice who will be moving up from Cubs to Scouts in September and Cameron from Wales whom we befriended on Annual Camp last year. Maeve rounded out what turned out to be a fantastic winning team. Well done to Bear Patrol who become the second winners of the Ron Tier memorial trophy!

The competition covered Pioneering, Camping Skills, Emergencies with First Aid, Cooking and Backwoords skills including safe use of Axes and fire lighting. Of course the competition was only a small part of the camp, the overall vibe of the camp was very relaxed with plenty of time for the scouts to play games and socialise in the beautiful setting of Lough Dan. Among the activities we did were:

• Instructor led kayaking on Lough Dan,
• Backwoods fire lighting and cooking
• Pioneering, including building our own watch tower
• Archery
• Mini-raft building
• Bivvy shelter building
• Backwoods fishing
• Hiking in the Wicklow Mountains National Park including including use of portable stoves to cook a hot lunch
• Movie nights
• Camp fire

A great time was had by all and I think it is safe to say that both scouts and leaders left with happy memories that they will carry with them for many a year.