North Ayrshire Battalion Summer Camp 1st – 8th July 2022

This camp was a long time coming as it had been postponed due to the pandemic, so on the evening of Thursday 30^th June the excitement was unreal.  I went to bed for a few hours but couldn’t get any sleep and woke up at midnight to head off to meet the bus in Kilwinning. The bus was arranged to pick up some of the Battalion in Largs then head over to Kilwinning to pick the rest of us up at 1am but there was a mix up and the bus was late.  Our adventure started with everyone racing to Largs from Kilwinning to meet everyone and get the bus there.  At 2am on 1^st July we were off heading to Felden Lodge, our BB headquarters, in London, for a week of fun together.  Feldon Lodge had many facilities, and a full program of events had been drawn up for us.

Our daily routine was 07:00 Duty Squad breakfast prep, 07.30 Reveille, 08.30 Morning Devotions, 08.45 Breakfast, 09.30 Camp Inspection followed by Morning Activities, 12.30 Duty Squad lunch prep, 13.00 Lunch then Afternoon Activities, 17:00 Duty Squad dinner prep, 18:00 Dinner and afterwards Evening Activities, 22.00 Evening Devotions and Supper and lastly 23.00 Lights Out.

The activities we took part in were awesome and as well as spending time with my friends from 1^st/2^ndDreghorn BB Company I made lots of new friends from Millport, Largs, Irvine and Kilwinning.  We visited Thrope Park and I went on all the thrill rides including Stealth, Colossus and my favourite ride Nemesis.  There was so many rides and things to see.   The Making of Harry Potter Studio was incredible.  We got to see the costumes, props and sets from the films.  My favourite part was the digitally enhanced dragon coming towards up and feeling like it was breathing fire at us.  On another day we went Tottenham Hotspur Football Club Stadium.  The tour was great and we got to walk up the tunnel, sit in the players dressing room and even pretend to be the commentators and press reporters on the side-lines.  I loved going on the London Bus Tour to see all the sights and stopping off to ride the London Eye.  My mum is scared of heights so we would never have done this as a family.  The view was amazing, it felt like I was soaring above London like a bird.  It was an honour to visit the Imperial War Museum in London.  It showed us how people lived during the world wars and conflict.  The exhibits gave me shivers as it is very emotional thinking of boys our age being part of this history. Do you know this museum has been around since the First World War?  I also got to sit in a bunker with my tent mates and we struggled to fit.  I am 5ft 10 now and I was banging my head when I stood up.  We made so many amazing memories as well as new friends on the camp.

As well as the days out, we spent time playing games, exploring Feldon Lodge grounds and I even squeezed in some Cricket practice.  The food was great with so much to eat.  We had roast dinners, curries, pasta and steak pies as well as puddings like apple crumble and chocolate fudge cake for afters.  The last night was the best dinner when we had a BBQ. 

We travelled home on Friday 8^th July and I slept the next day till lunch time.  I was exhausted with all the activities we done but I loved every minute of camp and would say a week just was not long enough.  I am now counting down to the next camp in 2024!  The Boys Brigade return the first week in September why don’t you come along and join us and you could maybe come to camp next time?