I went to Wellies & Wristbands last weekend. It’s Girlguiding’s huge annual festival camp and I’d been looking forward to it for weeks.
It was a bit of a washout.
(I didn’t take many pictures. I did a few videos and put them on Instagram Stories and they’re now saved as a highlight on my profile under Guides Fun..)
Reading my blog from when I took my Rangers in 2015, that’s partly my own fault. Last time, I went out and about, I did crafts, I went zorbing, I rode a mechanical surfboard (and fell off). This time… well, I spent a lot of time in the hot tubs and I did two training sessions.
In fairness, it rained all day Sunday. That’s not conducive to going out and having fun, particularly as half the field activities were closed and indeed, the field flooded. Even my Guides spent most of Sunday playing in the tent. I did spend Sunday afternoon at the Ranger new programme sectional training, though, so that saves me going this Thursday evening to the county training. Also makes me the first person in the district to have the new programme training.
It’s also partly down to going with Guides instead of Rangers. My Rangers are my people – they would frequently catch me and ask me if I wanted to come with them instead of wandering around on my own. The Guides don’t do that – and it never crossed my mind that they might. They’re my pupils, not my peers and in fact, they’re not even that – I left Guides at Christmas and I came to Wellies with them because 1) I was still the leader when we booked it last autumn 2) I wanted to because it was fun. Two of the girls only started in May and I’ve only met them once or twice.
I did go on the zipline. We were given two activity cards each, randomly assigned to each group and we could swap them if we wanted. I swapped a Saturday 3pm Jacob’s Ladder for a Saturday 5pm House Zipwire (that means the zipwire set up next to the house rather than the permanent one out in the woods) and had my two zips on it. It’s fun but you wouldn’t believe how much it hurts hitting the end. You crash into the springs, swing right up into the air and then bounce while they’re lowering the wires to let you off and that means you’re getting your thighs smashed into the harness straps. I swear I had bruises but I can’t prove it because that’s not a particularly easy place to see, let alone photograph. Also, the restraint I demonstrated in biting back the words I wanted to yell about the pain in front of a queue of fifty-ish pre-teenagers!
Mostly I went in the hot tubs. The girls had eighteen of them and a handful of volunteers strictly timing eight-to-fifteen minute sessions, depending on the volunteer. The leaders had two and there was never a queue of more than one group. I stayed in pretty much all morning both days, getting out in time for lunch. Nothing has ever felt as blissfully hot as when you clamber in after a chilly night in a tent and yet after a while, you realise they’re not actually that warm and the temperature controls do nothing. 35° is pretty chilly after a couple of hours. I networked, though. That is, I asked “So, where are you from and where are you camping?” to everyone who joined me. I met a group who were astounded that someone had brought a laminator to laminate copies of the timetable and the menu and whatnot and then half an hour later, I met the very group who had brought the laminator. They hadn’t succeeded in laminating anything, though, because they’d forgotten the pouches. I still can’t figure out where they plugged it in, since tents in the middle of fields don’t come with mains electricity. I met commissioners and advisers, experienced campers and people who’d never been to Wellies before. People who’d brought folding rotary washing lines and people who’d barely brought sleeping bags.
Oh, and the other thing that made it not as fun as last time: sharing a tent with the other leader. I’m not a sociable creature, I don’t enjoy sharing tents at the best of times and… well, my other leader isn’t a very experienced camper. I’ve written a whole post on that but whether or not I post it depends on how nice I’m feeling. At the very least, I definitely wish I’d brought my own tent as a refuge.
Will I go again? Maaaybe. I’ll offer it to my Rangers for next year. However, first I’m going to offer Sparkle & Ice, which is the winter version. I have new Rangers starting in September and I’ve been told they’re very into adventure and activities. Winter camp will be a novelty for them and having been as a participant and a volunteer, I now know how to survive it. So I’d rather they came to the winter camp than the summer camp and I know if I straight-up give them the choice, they’ll go for the summer one. Once the forms and the money are in, then I’ll mention Wellies…
If this post was useful, or interesting, or entertaining – if you got anything of value from this post at all, please consider dropping a few pennies in my virtual tip jar. Guide leaders don’t get paid and we have to pay full price to take the girls to things like this.