Down in the Woods at Denny

The Powerpod and its crew were the guests of Forth Valley Scouts on Saturday 26th May - this was part of their centenary celebrations and the theme of the camp was Past, Present and Future. The boy scout movement was founded by Baden-Powell in 1907 and is therefore 100 years old this year so the scouting movement is doing a lot of celebrating. There were centenary camps all around the UK during this weekend, there is also going to be a big summer camp, or jamboree, in SE England where they expect 40000 scouts from all over the world to camp over 10 days. The Powerpod has been invited to this too, unfortunately it cannot go due to prior commitments.

The venue was the Forth Valley Scouts camp at BarWood nr. Denny, Stirlingshire, which proved to be a large piece of hill with a lot of mixed woodland - so much so it was very difficult to see where all 500 campers were camped!

By arriving on site about 9:30 am there should have been plenty of time to prepare the trailer and its activities but the pitch offered did not meet with one of the basic requirements of the trailer - some sunlight - we were surrounded by trees! Thankfully after a bit of searching a good site was identified next to the local amateur radio enthusiasts. The first lot of 15 cubs arrived for the 10:30 am session of "Energy Mix*", "Polar Melt**"and a round of the three workshops solar, wind and trailer. Two hours and 30 cubs later there was a break of an hour before the drop in workshop sessions started which included those used earlier plus the "Hydrogen" cars and the bike generator. We entertained and informed throughout the afternoon to about another 70 people including parents and leaders who took an interest in the activities. Finishing about 5pm we manged to get off-site by 5:30 and home an hour later - so another succesful outing for the Powerpod and its crew of Lindsey, Stella and Ruaridh!

Postscript
Disappointingly, the question of "Who are the Woodcraft Folk?" never arose. Is this because they knew who we were or were they just not interested? It looks like we must continue to improve selling ourselves and not rely on what the people may read or not read on the side of the trailer.

Games we play - this is a first try at naming the games - further suggestions for names - and games welcomed!

* Energy Mix. A cooperative game introducing the terms of renewable energy.

Participants each have a seat (a piece of camping mat) which they sit on in a largish circle. They are asked to name three renewable enrgies that they know of e.g. wind energy, solar energy, wave energy, hydro energy, biomass). The leader of the game, who is not sitting, calls one of the renewable energies and the sitting participants now need to quickly change places , the leader shall also try and sit down thus leaving a person without a seat. This person now needs to shout an energy to gain a seat. When "global warming" is called everyone must change.

**Polar Melt. From the DFs - A co-operative game introducing the concept of the Arctic ice melting and the hardships encountered by polar bears.

Due to global warming the ice cap at the Arctic Circle is melting and the participants are polar bears trying to swim between the ice floating on the sea. When global warming is called they all need to be on a piece of floating ice ( again a piece of camping mat) before they are caught by the leader of the game (represents the bears drowning due to being weak from having to swim so far between the bits of ice pack ) . The game continues with the number of ice floats being reduced until they are left with only one.