Fungus Foray in Sutton Park
On Sunday morning 26
October, 11 members and friends of Roman Way went on a Fungus Foray
into Sutton Park. As seems to be the norm for our events no sooner
had we set off from the car park than the skies cleared to
give way to a lovely sunny morning. On our way through the woods
and heath land we found many strange and wonderful fungi. Luke, the
leader of the party, thought he had found the world’s biggest
patch of puff balls and rushed over to them excitedly only to find
that they were windfall apples. Oh well! Several foragers
retired to the carvery in the park and enjoyed a blow-out lunch.
A good time was had by all. A big thank you to Luke for
leading and guiding us.
Regional Council Assembly
At the Regional
Council Assembly held on 11 October 2008 at Warwick University we
won the Stampede Appreciation Award for the year 2007-2008 for our
collection of 10.4 kilos. Congratulations to all those who
sent me their used stamps. A tremendous effort – thank
you. The R.S.P.B, the charity who takes our stamps, have also
expressed their grateful thanks.
Please remember to save all your Christmas
card stamps and send them to me. Each stamp needs about 1cm of
envelope all round it. Thank you all again. Jean
Entwistle
AQUA – The Water Jamboree 2008
Dear All, The Aqua Jamboree is now over and I have returned
home with a million memories, new friends and very stinky
clothes.
Our journey to the campsite got off to a bit
of a dodgy start when the minibus was almost an hour late, but that
just meant we didn’t have so much hanging around time at Gatwick.
My rucksack was unbelievably heavy even though it seemed I hardly
had anything in it, and it got heavier when our Guide leader got us
lost in Salzburg, but it’s all part the fun of the experience isn’t
it?
(Photo is of Beverley Parsons at
the Aqua Jamboree)
When we finally arrived at the campsite and
were given our area next to our partner group from Vienna, Austrian
Scouts that we got to know well and some of whom became my best
friends. We pitched our tents and then attended the opening
ceremony, which was amazing. It was only then that I realised how
big this Jamboree really was; 5,000 young people from all over the
world having fun together like one big family, which, in a sense,
we really were.
Our days, and nights, at camp seemed to fly by
in a series of activities. We constructed a swimming pool with the
group from Vienna and held a pool party complete with “surprise
cocktails” (a.k.a. fruit juice and…SURPRISE!). I invented a
cocktail that included pretzels and lemon cake (SURPRISE!), but no
one seemed to want to try it.
We were all part of a wide game where we
were survivors of a plane crash. We had to collect pieces to fix
our plane to get back to camp. No one else spoke English in my
group so I did a lot of pointing and arm waving. I very quickly
learnt to say “I am English and I cannot speak German”.
My favourite activity was Challenge Valley. My
friends from Vienna and I spent 4 hours crawling through muddy
tunnels, shimmying across the river, climbing rope ladders and
completing all sorts of challenges. I rode on a camel and we all
took part in Project Q, which raised money for 3 wells in the
Democratic Republic of Congo. Towards the end of our Jamboree I
spent 2 days Kayaking on the lake of Mondsee. My arms and shoulders
ached unbearably and I managed to get sunstroke, which was not
pleasant. I’ll know better in future. Back to camp for the final
days, which were really sad. We had to destroy all that we had made
and had come to think of as home. The closing ceremony and saying
goodbye to all my new friends was a tearful occasion. We all
promised to stay in touch and I hope I will be able to meet up with
them again in the future.
Before returning to England we just had time
for a little sightseeing, we did the ‘Sound of Music Tour’, as well
as a bit of souvenir shopping. I finally got home in the early
hours of Saturday morning and gratefully sank onto my nice soft
bed.
I had an amazing time, one I will never
forget. Thank you for your support, helping me to raise the funds
that I needed to attend the Jamboree. I hope that I will be able to
use the experience that I have gained to help others in many
different ways.
Many thanks again.
Yours sincerely,
Beverley Parsons
The Bournville Village Festival
We had a wonderful day at the Bournville Village Festival
held this year on 28 June at the Cadbury’s Recreation Ground in
Bournville attracting almost 10,000 visitors. We had three
stalls with gazebos, posters, sails all advertising the Foresters’
brand, which raised over £1000 for our branch charity Acorns
Children’s Hospice. The Festival programme mentioned
Foresters with a half page description of the services offered and
the website contact details.
The newly named “Box the Sox” did very well as we only charged
50p. It is harder than you think but the children loved it.
This was manned by Jean Bullock ably assisted by Phil Knott.
Our President, Lance Bruton, had a new stall this year called “Play
Ball” – shooting balls into bags with prizes depending on how many
you achieved. The Bruton family were joined by Anne and Roger
Mann.
The usual basket ball stall brought in
hundreds of youngsters during the day and evening. In charge
of this stall was Charity Chairman, Del Wilford, her family and
Jean and Peter Entwistle, Luke Whitehouse, his fiancé Sarah, Peter
Gaskell with twins James and Matthew.
The grounds looked really colourful, record
entries for the flower show, cakes, painting and crafts. The
Maypole itself was danced twice during the day with no mistakes and
the youngsters enjoying themselves all dressed in white.
There were lots of events in the area,
marching bands, dancing, brass band and much more. The finale
was a spectacular firework display sponsored by Cadbury’s, which
was a marvellous end to a lovely day.
We all got home by midnight, worn out but
satisfied with our days work.
We opted to travel along the valley of the
River Dee on the steam train, we travelled through some beautiful
scenery to Carrog. On our return to Llangollen we had a walk
through the town watching some really talented rock and rollers
dancing in the street and further along we listened to a brass
quartet. After lunch we went to the canal and had a ride on a
horse drawn boat on part of the canal where no motorised boats are
allowed. It was so tranquil. After another short walk
through the town, we joined everyone on the coach for the journey
home. There was a quiz and a raffle on the return journey and many
people said that they’d had a really good day out.