Cardiff Boulders

Boulders Sleep Over
by Tomos Watkins and Maya Williams
This past weekend a few members of our unit completed training to be members of the Explorer Service Team, known as EST at the All Wales Scout Camp, this is a recount of our adventure.
We arrived at the ungodly hour, for teenagers at least, of 9a.m. at Bayden Scout Hall, excited for the day ahead. Starting straight away with an icebreaker exercise to get to know the rest of our fellow members of EST, followed by a team building exercise consisting of constructing a bridge… taking longer for some than others but it was completed by all.
After this we were given descriptions of each of the different roles we would have the option of doing. We were told about all the different bases and what we would be doing on all of them. From showing participants how to make paracord bracelets to belaying we had a lot options. Right from the start we were informed of how important our role as EST was for the smooth running of the camp. After this we were told about the at this point famous pink high vis vest we would be wearing. This was met with laughter and the feeling of belonging. Once we had put our names down for which activity we wanted to do we took a break for arguably the most important part… LUNCH!
After a bare minimum of 4 chicken burgers each, we started the next activity. We split up into two teams to play a weird but enjoyable team building version of Jenga. Meanwhile teams went off to do a picture hunt around IKEA. This was all greatly enjoyed. I enjoyed this greatly as we all got to know the other members of the Explorer Service Team. Finally, once, all the members of the EST were back and we said our goodbyes… for now!
Now, with the training finished, the real fun could begin.
On Saturday evening Unit 95, Y Dreigiau’r Mynydd and Unit 96, The Welsh Baabarians congregated in Boulders for a night of climbing and various other activities. We were lucky to have climbers and instructors to give up their evening to look after us, we all enjoyed it very much. After our climbing activity, we had a quiz put together by Rhian and Tammy, one of The Baabarian’s Leaders with round consisting of general knowledge, pop culture, dingbats and celebrity faces. Followed by a fabulous fashion show created using black bags. All the participants, designers and creators did an amazing job, everyone looked fabulous! The models were confident and very good at strutting their stuff.
With the help of the leaders some of the Unit prepared breakfast, cooking copious amounts of bacon while others helped pack up. At 9a.m. we said our goodbyes and left Boulders to find 49th Cardiff Scout Hall. We set off on a very wet and miserable morning to walk to our Scout Hall. Some of us decided it was a good idea to utilise their time by eating McDonald’s and others kept on walking, once the first batch arrived Joe set up a PowerPoint presentation on our goals for the Jamboree. These are targets we set our self to improve ourselves as people. We waited for the rest of the unit to arrive before we began. After our informative presentation on educational, physical, cultural, spiritual and social goals which we split up into groups to discuss the possible things we could do to improve ourselves. From “take up meditation” to “be sixteen” we had a wide variety.
With this done we had an informal chat about how the Unit is doing. One thing that came up was unit merchandise and our badges they’re available for £2.50 (please email joe.holmes@scoutscymru.co.uk if you are interested in ordering some) and will go to helping fundraise our Unit going to the Jamboree. Between badges and the popular idea of unit bucket hats we should be the most fashionable unit at the jamboree. Now that this was done there was nothing left to be done but was tidy up and look forward to our next meet up as a Unit!
Thanks for reading and stay tuned for the next oneRead more