Summer Camp 2022

It’s a warm August morning, and Bosworth Scouts are sitting by the statue of Baden Powell on the

quay at Poole Harbour, watching the yellow ferry steaming towards us. The summer sun has already

burned away the low cloud, and the Scouts are following our Founder’s gaze across the water to
Brownsea Island, where the whole thing began 115 years ago.
We’re here as part of the long-awaited Bosworth on the Beach Summer Camp, a week-long seaside
holiday planned by the Leaders along with the Scouts themselves. It’s the climax of our Scouting
year, and the Scout Section’s first full-size Summer Camp since the pandemic. Sixteen Scouts, all

aged between 10 and 14, and a Leadership team of four adults and one 15-year-old Young Leader, all enjoying a well-earned seven days of sun, sea, sand, and adventure.
Bosworth on the Beach really began on a cold, dark October evening in 2021, when the Scouts were
asked what they’d like to do for their summer camp next August. After an almost unanimous
decision that what was needed was a seaside holiday, the Scouts researched sites, assembled a
shortlist, and then voted for their favourite. Butcher’s Coppice Activity Centre in Bournemouth was
the clear winner, with proximity to Brownsea Island one of the factors contributing to the win.
Throughout winter and spring, whether they knew it or not, the Scouts participated in the planning
of the camp. Tasked with such things as sorting out camp menus, deciding what kit would be needed
to make camp life comfortable, and learning how to use that kit, the Scouts worked towards the
requirements of their Chief scouts Awards and other badges, and at the same time did a large part of
the preparation for what promised to be a fantastic week away.
It’s this youth-led approach that makes Scouting different from other groups designed for young
people. From the earliest days of that first camp in Poole Harbour, leaders have been there not to
arrange things for the Scouts, but to help the Scouts do things for themselves, and Bosworth pride
themselves on being as youth-led as possible.
Arriving on Saturday afternoon, after a four-hour journey southward, the Scouts lose no time getting
their tents up, and setting up their kitchen ready for dinner, with the Patrol Leaders, none of them
older than 14, taking the lead. A campfire is prepared, and soon everyone is sitting around with
bowls of chicken and rice, chatting about what is to come that week. Adventurous activity,
tomahawk throwing, trips to the beach, crazy golf, a waterpark, bowling, all these are on the list and
more, as well as that trip to Brownsea. Rumour has it that the traditional last night meal out is to be
at Nando’s, a real treat! Chat soon turns into yawns and snores, and by eleven the site is quiet,
apart from the barely audible snores of the leaders.
Sunday dawns, the sun climbing up and shining down warmly, and the Scouts breakfast and prepare
for their first full day of camp.
Butcher’s Coppice has been chosen not just for how close it is to the beach, but also for the wide
range of activities offered on site, and the week is going to start on a high, quite literally.
Expressions on faces range from awe through fear to nonchalance as the Scouts face their first
challenge; to assemble a team of three on a board no more than three feet square, set atop a thirty-
foot-high pole with nothing but blocks of wood for hand and footholds. There’s a fair amount of
trepidation in the air as the first team approach, the erstwhile nonchalance rapidly fading as the
ground retreats beneath their feet. Despite their safety harnesses and expert instruction, this is a
real step out of the comfort zone for many. It’s a testimony to the courage of the Scouts, some not
yet eleven years old, that they make it to the top, and, after leaning out backwards with only their friends for support, abseil down with barely a tremble. Some of those who had been most fearful at
the start are among those most eager for another go!
Adventure of a different kind is the order of the day on Monday, with the Troop taking advantage of
the convenient bus stop just outside the site. A short bus ride later, the Scouts are changing into
swimming costumes, laying out their beach towels, and getting out their buckets and spades for a
day on the golden sands of Bournemouth. Grabbing a prime spot close to the pier, leaders and
young people alike are soon cooling off, paddling and swimming in the salt water. Sandcastles are
built and demolished, ice creams consumed, amusement arcades visited, and sand collected in socks
and shoes!
Watching them running in and out of the waves, some on their first holiday away from their parents,
I can’t help but think how similar they are to those twenty boys who went on that first camp on
Brownsea. Although well over a century separates them, these modern Scouts, with their mobile
phones, lightweight tents, and so on, aren’t that different to the boys of Brownsea, many of whom
had never seen the sea or been on holiday either with or without parents. They have the same
hopes for the future, the same joy of life, the same spirit of adventure. Above all, though, they have
Scouting. They have leaders who trust them to do their best, to look after themselves and their
friends, who treat them not as children but as Scouts, responsible, careful, respectful of themselves
and other. They have parents who put their faith into those leaders to help their Scouts, and above
all have the confidence to allow their children a degree of freedom that others might not.
This is all still in my mind as the ferry arrives, disgorging those tourists who have already experienced
Brownsea. I watch as our Scouts line up, patiently waiting to be allowed aboard, politely gesturing
for a family to precede them and offering to help a struggling mother with a pushchair. Baden
Powell’s statue seems to be gazing at them. I think he’d be pleased to see how his Scouts have
turned out.