Gradbach Camp Report
Once again our Cadets thoroughly enjoyed their annual excursion to Gradbach, near Flash, in Staffordshire, the highest village in England. We stayed at a large farmhouse owned by the Scouts which can accommodate all 12 staff and 30 Cadets. The weekend began on the Friday night with a convoy of mini-buses and cars making their way along the A50. Cadets soon settled in and enjoyed their burgers before settling down for bed. Saturday was the busiest day starting with a 6K walk in the hills which enabled the cadets to hone their map-reading skills as part of their Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme training. They soon learned how variable weather conditions can be in that sort of area and how difficult it can be to track their location on a map. Afterwards in the afternoon Cadets did some team building work. Then at night, after dinner, they did a 2 hour night exercise outside where they were given a scenario which involved a certain amount of field craft, retrieving top secret items lost from a ‘crashed aircraft’, without being caught by the staff. At 9.30pm just as the sleet started to fall Cadets returned to base to have their hot soup. Before bed they performed some light hearted sketches which made fun of Staff and fellow Cadets in a good-natured way. Over the weekend in between all of the activities Cadets were fed by delicious food prepared by Staff and Committee members. This included a full Sunday roast! Cadets understandably returned home tired, well-fed and happy on the Sunday.