Rain fails to dampen spirits at District Water Day - 11-07-2010
On a recent Sunday Scouts and Leaders from Swanley District converged on Mote Park Maidstone for the District Water Activity Day, writes Glyn Williams, Acting Scout Leader at 1st New Barn.
The weather decided that everyone was going to get wet but there were still about 30 Scouts and Explorers who wanted to brave the elements and have a fun day on the lake.
Three groups of differing abilities were kitted out, briefed on the safety aspects and warmed up with some exercises by the instructors, before they were set afloat.
The intermediates and more advanced were soon paddling across the lake, while the beginners received instruction nearer the shore. It wasn’t long before they too were zooming about and having fun.
With it raining ‘cats and dogs’ you would have thought that they were wet enough but they all seemed to want to get wetter. There were requests for capsize drill, ‘walking the raft’ where they ‘raft up’ and in turn get out of their canoe and walk along the front of the other canoes – before falling in!
There was even some chariot canoeing where one Scout tries to hold two canoes together while the other Scout stands up and tries to paddle them along. At lunch time a hot drink and something off the BBQ provided a welcome warm up session as the rain had now turned into a monsoon.
The afternoon session saw about ten of the hardiest, or is it more foolish, take to the water again for more fun and games. Despite the rain everyone seemed to have a great time with quite a few Scouts trying out canoeing for the first time. Malcolm and his team should be proud to have organized such a brilliant event despite the conditions!
And if you thought that sounded fun then you must check out Splosh 2010
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