GSL Blog

This is the first of the GSL blogs and comes at the end of Scoutabout 2008.

Scoutabout is a fantastic Surrey Scouts and Guides combined camp, which only happens every three years. 8th Ashford sent 38 scouts, 2 young leaders and 17 adult leaders and helpers! Check out the photos from the scouts gallery for all the action. We said goodbye to Elliot 'kebab' Babb who had his 15th birthday on the Sunday and carried the 8th Ashford scout flag at the closing ceremony and looked very smart indeed.

We also invested into scouts Aaron Logan, Jack Coleman and Adam Crowe on the Sunday.

Among many funny and memorable moments on the camp my highlight involved someone not from 8th Ashford. Our activity for the weekend was the 'wet & wild' bungee run and we had tried on the Saturday to get a Guider called Katie to have a go. She promised to come back on the Sunday and do the bungee ride and we promised to be there too. Sunday dawned bright and dry and after an eventful Saturday night and another full breakfast the urge to sit and relax was great, but as we had promised we again set up the bungee with aching bones and muscles. Sure enough, Katie came along and had her two goes on the bungee, with much screaming. She reminded me that she had remembered her 'guides honour' promise to return and also the challenge put out by the Chief Guide at the opening ceremony for 'every Guide to at Scoutabout to do something they thought they would never do'. I am glad she did and I am glad we kept our promise, it is always easy to sit and relax, but true satisfaction comes from promising much and delivering more.

Special mention too goes to our Scouts Jack Wierenga and Sam Cross who helped on the Fire Service team and Sam who also co-hosted the closing ceremony in front of the 5000 scouts, guides and leaders!