Report from BB West:
It only seems like yesterday when I suggested it might be nice to have a company and seniors weekend in the District. Well, that was two years ago and we have succeeded. Maybe we could have had a few more companies but perhaps that was because it was August Bank Holiday weekend and companies had only just come back from camp. In the end we had 7 Companies represented (5th Gloucester, 2nd Camborne, 2nd Bath, 1st Tewkesbury, 2nd Paignton, 7th Bristol and 21st Bristol) with 18 Boys and 9 officers.
On Friday night everyone had planned to meet down at Broadleas from 7.30pm onwards, but as usual the M5 lived up to its normal Friday night chaos, and some of us had long delays finally reaching Broadleas at 8.30pm.
When we arrived other companies had started to get the tents erected so after finally unloading the van with all the equipment it was time for supper. The evening ended with a night exercise.
Saturday morning after a hearty breakfast we set off to Decoy Lakes at Newton Abbot to do water sports. The Boys had the use of canoes, surfboards and body boards, which kept them on the lake for an hour and a half. We headed back to Broadleas for a light lunch, before setting off to the Big Sheep at Bideford where we had booked a three hour session of Battlefield Live. This is a cross between Paintball and Lazer Tag which all Boys and officers took part in. Malcolm was heard to say that he did not know what to expect but he had thoroughly enjoyed it.
On Sunday we all attended the morning service at Bovey Tracey Methodist church and then afterwards the Boys had time before lunch to take a dip in the pool which I understand was cold. (Someone had to be the life guard.)
During the afternoon they were split into teams and were set certain tasks involving water as a sort of it’s a knockout competition. Sunday evening we went to Torquay for a couple of games of Ten Pin Bowling.
Monday morning we all played volley ball and dodge ball. After lunch we packed up, said our goodbyes and all went our separate ways home.
My thanks must go to Adric for the help in the organisation and all the officers who attended in making the weekend such a success.
After discussions between the officers and Boys that attended it was decided that it was such a great weekend we would like to do it again. It was agreed that it would be too much to hold it every year but maybe every other.
The next date for this enjoyable event will be Friday 1st – Monday 4th May 2009 at Broadleas, so book this into your diary as a weekend not to miss.
Gordon Dale
