In a yearly tradition dating back longer that anyone cares to remember, a selection of lovely scogui members have given up their weekend to help run Forest Districts annual May Camp.

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On Saturday 8th of December, a cold damp morning, a small team of Scogui descended upon the Oaks campsite to lend a hand with some of the off-season improvements and repairs. The day started with Andy, Dave and Rich being given the task of cleaning and repainting the Clarke Hut kitchen. Starting well everything that wasn’t bolted to the walls and floor as removed and the inch-thick-in-years-old-grease extractor fan disassembled to be washed by Andy whilst Dave and Rich started the mammoth paintwork job. Joined briefly by Daz and later Rosie, the fearless Scogui workforce had the whole kitchen looking good-as-new before lunchtime, without many problems and without destroying too many ladders!

The afternoon saw new jobs for us; Dave and Rosie tackled one of the bunkrooms (too many jokes and innuendos can be made that are unsuitable for print) and Andy, Rich and Daz climbed into the roof of the ‘Black Hole Caving Experience’ ™ to reinforce the sagging roofing, which involved a lot of lying on backs with feet in the air whilst one of us did the nailing.

At the end of the day a lot of work had been done and everyone headed home for a well deserved rest. Bring on the Rifle Range!

Written by Andy Prudom

On a cold, Friday evening in October, the SCOGUI boys and girls met outside the Union to go to camp.

We were soon to be transported by various cars to The Oaks campsite where we were to have a fantastic two nights (and days, sorry). On arrival, various members put up their tent and we began the weekend by chatting as a group in a rather cramped mess tent. Our only light source was from Brewers gigantic torch.

Saturday morning, everyone got up by 10 for their cooked breakfast which was expertly cooked by Wilsher and Chappers and soon the activities were to begin. There were lots of activities that were organised by Wilsher, which most members took part in. First of all, there was mountain boarding down the campsite, which was really really good fun apart from when you fall off when your heading towards Becky or some Brownies in their sleds!! After that, the adrenalin was kept pumping by the climbing wall, which at 20 foot high was scaled by the experienced SCOGUI in little time. There was another 20 foot on top but the weather prohibited use. The abseiling was particularly amusing as the ground was slippery so when you touch the floor you slipped across the floor into the tower (however, I did not go down fast enough to slip at the bottom!).

After that it was back for lunch, sandwiches and crisps, and then SCOGUI were let loose on the assault course and the archery! The assault course was wet and muddy which pleased some of the members (but not the others). Archery, run by Mike and Jen (SCOGUI members) was very good fun, with most members improving through experience (except myself who managed to miss the target and the netting behind it and leaving the arrow lying at the foot of the brick wall 10 metres on! We were then treated to the Black Hole, basically a man made cave within which various games were played.

For dinner on Saturday we had Wilsher’s and Rich’s spaghetti Bolognese which was another good meal before an evening of singing around the campfire.

On Sunday morning, we were treated to another fantastic cooked breakfast before the remote controlled car racing which saw SCOGUI let loose with cars that travelled at pace and 3 cars were broken within 20 minutes!! Our attention was lost when a sofa was burned causing a large amount of black smoke to decrease visibility on the track. At midday the tents were taken down and SCOGUI had their traditional photograph taken before everyone headed home to catch up on some sleep.

Thanks and congratulations must go to Wilsher for organising such a good event and all those people who helped with the running of activities.

Written by James Walter

There was a small camp fire on the Friday evening (rumour was that there was no wood to burn!) and a sober Scogui started off the singing.

Despite the weather forecast, Saturday got off to a bright start. The camp site was woken up at 7:45 for breakfast and although the early birds had to wait a while before the food was served, we were glad we didn’t come down late and have to queue up for an hour! After breakfast the activities began and, unusual for me, there were two activities to choose for morning and afternoon. Scogui was well represented at the ‘Extreme Pub Quiz’ held in the afternoon in Brighouse (probably called extreme because the walking around was around 6km!). All of the pubs visited had character, be it the ‘Retro disco with Daz’, the Ukrainian satellite TV or the church organ in Weatherspoons and it was a really great afternoon out.

The evening meal and barn dance was held on site and members of staff from the camp site served us copious amounts of alcohol throughout the evening. The food was very nice: chicken of some sort followed by pie for desert. The barn dance band were good as always and the accordion players seemed to be enjoying themselves a lot. The highlight of the dance was when 3 members of Scogui started dancing Saturday Night to the barn dance music, only to find after a revolution that all 227 dancers had decided to copy them. Afterwards they proceeded to start a conga round the building which at one point emptied the dance floor.

Unfortunately the fancy dress competitons were not won by Scogui although many people commented that our miner’s strike costumes were excellent.

After the music stopped, everyone made their way down to an improved camp fire where much singing took place (often being run by Scogui and Medic Mike) and almost record breakingly long renditions of Chicago department store and a song about animals..

Sunday was showery which meant all our kit had to be packed away wet and covered in bits of forest. Many people did not make it to breakfast so everyone that did turn up got seconds, and thirds and the rest was served up as extra lunch. After an exciting EGM where the new SSAGO constitution was approved, silly games took place in which many people ended up getting very wet, very blue and very floury. The closing ceremony was held afterwards with many thankyous being said and modified mascots being returned before we all set off home. After an excellent weekend, it was nice to be able to have a nap on the bus home!

Written by Pete Everett

Written by Mark Perman

We started the evening at Richer Brewers house where we had French toast with PAte and vegetable soup. We heard of a telephone convocation between Kate and Richard involving PAte and a lot of giggling. There was some discussion over what French toast actually is and if Richard had created it I have absolutely no idea if he had but all I can say is it tasted good. There was also excitement at Richards over and inflatable sofa; as when you sat on it you could raise the person at the other end up in to the air.

The next course was at Em’s house and I left early with Kate and Martin to help Em however due to Kates ‘shortcut’ we ended up arriving only 2min before the others but this was just enough time to grab a seat as the others piled into Em’s lounge. The meal was a pastry roll with tomatoes and onion then either cheese or bacon, which came with potatoes and veg. it was all really nice. The potatoes had been cooked across the road so before they could dish up an expedition to retrieve the potatoes occurred with the aid of oven cloves, Em’s house mates and a large sheet of cardboard.

Pudding was at Edd’s so we didn’t have far to walk to enjoy amazing deserts. First there was strawberry mess which was strawberry’s, cream and meringue then chocolate shortbread and mint custard. Whilst we were enjoying food Richard spilt red wine quickly followed by lots of salt which he had great fun writing words with on the carpet. But before we left he did do a great Freddie Mercury impression with a vacuum cleaner.

We finished the evening off with cheese and biscuits at Andy’s and all huddled round the TV to watch Parkinson, then got bored so some people went the park and the rest of us sat round talking. It was all really good and I can’t wait for next year.

Written by Ashleigh Filtness

By 6pm the Scouts and Guides started arriving, and Scogui got themselves organised. As the Scouts and Guides were arriving and getting set up, the heavens opened, and the wind got up causing some of the tents to journey to the other end of the field. Once the tents were replaced, the shadows and bases were briefed, and released.

From 7ish onwards groups of 4-7 were released at timed intervals, in both directions. The idea being that bases would recieve an initial rush, then have a couple of hours without any groups then the last few would come through on the way home at least that was the plan. Fortunately the weather improved as the the teams were leaving. By 8.30 all teams were realeased, so the remaining staff started getting themselves organised and the fully utilising my laptops music collection.

Me and Simon then started on the minibus, visiting each of the bases every 30 minutes or so, to monitor the progress of the teams. Unfortunately the navigation skills of the Scouts and Guides were not great, so some bases were missed and the route often ignored.

At each of the bases was an individual incident, or activity. For example, a Kims Game, or first aid simulation (which included interest from local motorists who thought it was actually a real accident – doh).

By midnight the first groups were coming in, but two groups needed picking up including one that was impressively 3 miles off the map in East Leake when found. By 2:30 all the groups were in, and Scogui did what they do best relax and argue that black is white.

In the morning it was an early start with the Guides woken up early, so the Scouts could come in. Food was courtesy of Ashleigh and Chappers, and sport provided by Barry. The morning was concluded with Ken Gee presenting the winning team (Castle Donnington, Sea Lions) with certificates, and the promise of a trophy to come.

Written by Martin Whelan

Saturday 13th March
A nine o’clock start with a tasty cooked breakfast followed shortly by a scramble for the mini bus, and off to Hull. Once in Hull we made our way to “The Deep”, the deepest aquarium in the UK. An amazing place with some very unusual fish, including the Finding Nemo tank. Scogui Bear took some deep sea adventures as well. After a quick packed lunch and a short drive we pulled up in a country park which opened out on the Humber Bridge and the river. After a brief and very cold photo section with the local life boat team and a nice walk, it was back to the bus for the return trip to the camping barn. After an interesting vegetable bolognaise we made our way out into the cold to sing and shout around the nice warm fire. The perfect end to a great day.

Sunday 14th March
Another nine o’clock start was followed by another yummy breakfast and a complete blitz of the camp site and barns. The morning activity entailed visiting Lincoln and some people looking around the castle. Then setting off after lunch we arrived back just before 4pm to unpack and minibus and go home to a nice warm shower and a fresh change of clothes. To round off a cool weekend away, we all had dinner at EHB to laugh at the funny events of the weekend and to talk about our next trip into the outdoors!

Written by Richard Brewer

By this point, Yvette le Riche (v. posh) and Barry (not so posh) and Charlie and Steve had joined us and we all left the field and went to find the campfire. That was lots of fun; I was introduced to lots of SSAGO who I had heard of but hadn’t met, like (let’s see if I can remember the names) uh… Helmet and his girlfriend, she was very nice. In fact all of SSAGO I met were very nice, if a bit weird. All quite bizarre, although I think that makes them more interesting, and they’re all really friendly.

Charlie was being very generous with the vodka she’d brought with her, and I have no idea how much she put in my coke, but I think it was quite a lot. It felt that way anyway as I became nicely warmed up and found I could sing and talk very LOUDLY. I think Jen experienced it too. And I’ve not much idea about anyone else; all I know is that we sang a lot. Oh, and there was a lovely person from St. Andrews who’d come on her own and had a bottle of Aftershock. The guy we were talking to managed to hold it in his mouth for a staggering six minutes, beating Edd’s mates’ record. As the night wore on Steve, Edd and another bloke entertained us with all the campfire songs they knew.

Saturday
After most of us waking up late and nearly missing breaky we split into teams (musical instruments, cunning eh), and then proceeded to do an incident hike (whilst poor old Edd and a few others went to a lovely meeting). This involved face-painting, croquet with a football and two big sticks tied together, the ‘polo on a matchstick game’ and the ‘eat a whole packet of crackers as fast as you can game’ (the incident hike that is).

After lunch, we went on different activities including a brewery trip, a pub crawl (of course), a cave trip and a waterfall walk. The waterfall walk was excellent, if a little icy. Kate and some of the others were understandably a little worried about slipping and falling over the edge down the bank and into the torrent of waters below, so we waited for them. Lots of photographs were taken at opportune moments, i.e. the waterfalls, and we were very well looked after by the people from Lancaster.

After falling asleep on the coach, we arrived at Lancaster University and were taken to a large room which was rather similar to a school hall, where we were told we couldn’t come in until we had taken our boots off! This was of course a good idea, but from the groans around me, I got the idea that all everyone else wanted to do was sit down. On anything.

We were well catered for in a place that I, Edd, Jen, Mike, Kate and Yvette agreed resembled a 1980′s style leisure complex entertainment room. We were however, quite put out that there was no pud.

Anyway, the barn dance thing was great, loads of fun, most people getting very confused as is the way, providing lots of laughing and joking. How merry! I think we were all amused by watching Mike counting religiously the steps during every dance, bless. I must’ve looked funny myself though as I kept getting caught up in my furniture wire (thank you Amy!), that is, my net skirt with a hoop in the bottom.

I have to say that everyone looked amazing in their outfits- special commendation must go to Kate who stuck all of the sequins on her Dorothy shoes and looked fantastic. Also, I think I should take some of the credit for finding Edd his tale from the market. The judges were, of course suitably impressed when we paraded past them showing off our gorgeous costumes, while singing ‘Follow the Yellow Brick Road’. We were dressed up as the Wizard of Oz in case you didn’t already know, which seemed quite a popular choice as there were other SSAGO groups with who we shared the theme!

Sunday
Every one slept in on Sunday morning, most had breakfast and then it was the AGM. Not a huge amount to say about the AGM I think you’ll be pleased to know, except that it was very interesting and informative and the new committee were elected with Helmet as Chair- well done. Then we all went back to Loughborough having had a very enjoyable weekend!

Written by Lucy Giles