I thought this would come. The National Citizenship Scheme was set up by PM Cameron in 2011. It has been scaled down over the last five years with the course shortening and centres closing. It has just been announced that the scheme is terminated from the start of the next financial year (April 2025).
That leaves me without a summer job for next August.
In Barnswood, the rain falls on a Thursday.
Week One: arrived very early, the compensation for Manchester traffic was unnecessary. Coaches fulls of YPs didn’t arrive for several hours so we readied the tens. That was reasonably easy. Here was the daunting prospect of disruption caused bad behaviour by some kids (from Oldham). As it turned out, only 3 boys were sent home this week compared with dozens previously after online bullying of another lad.
It’s happened again; one of my ex-pupils from QM is one of the Facilitators. I last taught her ICT in 2017; I will look up what she got at home.
Axe Throwing. After shadowing another freelancer, I was assessed and cleared to run my own sessions. We used two sizes; Ravens and Angel axes (there is some doubt about these names, but that what I was told). Anyway, the shaft-handlem axes were harder to hit the target with (I and the wipies found). One of the girls however, missed most of the throws with the angel axes, and heyd had 3×3 throws. Then onto the heavy axes, he hit the first one. She was as amazed as I was! I said, “Somehow, I knew that would happen“. She was so thrilled and relieved after the initial disappointment. That was a fine moment.
There were other lovely kids, especially the girls (who made up 2/3 of the ‘Waves’.
Week two: was easier, perhaps it got used to it. If m step counter is a guide, walking is double my usual. It went from a typical 8,000 to 16 – 19,000. Anyway, I was happy to do the extra evening and overnight shifts. Tuesday totalled 16 hours. Other days were closer to 11h. I’d put this down to girls being more mature than boys at 16 and willing to engage in interesting conversations. They listen better than the boys so they learn quicker in the Activities. I mainly did axe throwing, fire building and orienteering with groups of 14 at a time. I didn’t like Shelter Building as much. Eah session was 1h 30m but that’s too long for Shelter.
Staff were better on week two. Las weeks, there were three who were shirkers. Others felt that they were doing extra to fill the shortfall. Also, I go to know he regulars.
Friday is packup day. The weather was better, it was warmer again. The morning started misty after yesterday’s relentless rain. Rain marred last Thursday too.
Chilly at night 7°C to about 12 in the days. Mostly dry.
Day 1: The second group were cobbled together after spells on sepf-lockdown. There is a lot of this going on during this phase of the pandemic. Both groups have the same route but it was too short. Their route card had errors on some legs that were way out. So the kids were very early to checkpoints all day. The funny thing was the location. The villages around here are familiar from all this bike rides from Lichfield where I used to live.
Day 2: a day of drama. One parent had, apparently dropped off her daughter then driven home. They turned out from the campsite drive and then crashed. It was a head-on. The driver had asked us to keep this even from his daughter so she could get on with the expedition without worrying.
I went out to lead them over a blind humpback bridge. Ambulances and police cars shot over the bridge while an air ambulance circled. I didn’t find out till later what actually happened.
It wasn’t untill the end of the job that I heard what happened with that crash. Spoiler alert – nothing.
22°C, full sun, light W.
Arrived at a campsite the night before. Even for a Sunday, the motorways were relatively quiet. I didn’t rush down and got 71mpg. This is a 1 day practice with no overnight camping, COVID conditions apply.
Day 1: a long route for bronze training is the conclusion. 18km meant that we had less time for training skills. Good for endurance but not mapreading techniques. It got worse later as rain set in. Actually, the boys group sped up then while feeling the pressure to get back to base on-time.
Day 2: this the, a group of girls who were a delight to work with. They were keen to learn and had good stamina for the somewhat shortened route. It t was about 15% shorter which helped tremendously. The weather held out after a grey but dry morning.
Day 3: another group of lads. These were less boisterous and more serious. They had a wide range of previous experience from none to extensive international trekking. They’ll have no trouble with their qualifying expedition in September.
End: the only disappointment was cloudy nights stopped me seeing Comet Neowise
11°C, grey day with light breeze.
Surrounded by worries about the Coronavirus, we are back at this little campsite. The mule, who now has a name – Black Jack is still here and in good voice.
This pandemic could cause me substantial lost income. Most schools are allowing trips to go ahead although sports fixtures are being cancelled. We have lower contact numbers so we may only be affected later.
Poor little pups had horrible weather on day 2. He rain was heaviest at lunchtime. Though it was not quite torrential. One was pulled out after skidding in mud and turning an ankle.
Bronze practice expedition:
I’ve been here before, the camp donkey is in better voice than last year. At the end of each ee-ore, he does a horsey rasp as if to punctuate.
Day 1: walking with group 2 who were very energetic. I had to tick th off when I caught them high up a tree. They gone into woods to pee so of course, I stayed outside. That’s why I didn’t see them climb.
Day 2: what a blistery night. The tent got a really good shaking. Some kit was wet, which should never happen. It’s time for a new one.
A daunting long drive is the result of some poor planning by me. And it’s only 1 day’s work. Is it worth it? In all, 240 miles including a stop off to visit mum. I have negotiated a stay in a local scout camp which should be good.
D1: that was straightforward, we got through the material in good time and the kids did a thorough job. The route cards were done in an Excel spreadsheet which had a few good functions. It would work out journey times from other values the groups inputted. An oddity was that it had no cell protection. Overall, it was a good system that combines traditional methods with a spreadsheet. Functions were not as thorough as eDofE’s but it lacked the infuriating bugs
Warm and storms are promised.
Less walking this week but we’re assigned to work with a single group each. Fortunately, my group are very likable.
Day 2: a Tuesday: walking with the delightful Team 4. They are strong and set a good pace so I took them up Rivington Pike. The pace! They motored along but our timing was unfortunate. The Pike is quite exposed to the thunderstorm that hit the summit. Within a few minutes I got them off the hill.
Tuesday night: I go home – it’s my turn to cook supper. The cohort (Wave 6) had a rough night with heavy downpours associated with passing thunder clouds.
Wednesday (d3) was spent mostly making the camp good after the deluge. Water ran like a stream through the catering marquee (photo). We moved and cleaned tents and dried the kids’ kit. My Group 4 went out climbing.
Thursday (day 4): warm morning with some reduction in the field’s waterlogging. That was all undone in the afternoon. Several thundery showers returned the ground to it’s appalling squelchy state. At least my lovely group said they had a good day out in watersports. I wished I could be with them but useful work needed doing at camp.
The evening saw a few more showers which put me in a dilemma, should I drive home for the night? My own tent was reasonably dry, so I stayed.
Friday: packing up. Overnight, the kiddiewonks (Wipies) were moved to the barn to sleep. They were, however, cold. Many have awfully thin sleeping bags, some marked as one-season. Pretty much, no insulation then.
The coaches arrived early to take them home, and started boarding at 11am. My lovely group were on the 3rd coach and each came over for a parting hug (and handshakes from the lads)! That made my day.
29°C, hot humid sun and some thunder.
A week with 4 coach loads of kids from Northamptonshire doing NCS. They are divided up into teams of about a dozen, most of whom have never met before. Each team is coordinated by team leaders who are usually ex NCS ‘Young People’.
They do various outdoorsy activities like climbing, water sports and I do hiking with a team each day. We, as leaders get to see them develop confidence over the week. That’s something some kids need a break from their usual social circle in order to do.
For myself, I get to walk 8+ miles each day and the working environment is comfortable. We’ve had a hot and very humid week so I chose to sleep in my tent. For me, this is the way to get a good night’s sleep, it’s cooler than the huts..
4.1: intro and tuition, walking with the group all day and setting up camp with them. They were fit and able, my group of all lads.
The route was on familiar ground, both from previous DofE trips, visits from my old house. I even camped at the Scout camp when I was a little lad in the 70s. There were some recurrent problems with the group who had a tendency to split through differing pace. At camp, there were many problems with kit to solve. All of that meant I didn’t get my own cooking started until 20.30.
4.2: Day Two, all groups would walk by themselves with instructors doing remote supervision. My group sorted themselves out and started working as a unified whole. They met checkpoints at expected times and completed the day. After debrief, I was convinced that they’d sorted themselves out.
Micycle 