On the Friday evening another leader called. He wanted to talk over some concerns he had. Grey Wol and I consider it a compliment and are always willing to help. On Saturday there are always the checking up and preparations to be made but also a visit to Grey Wol’s Mum as we were totally committed on the Sunday. Late afternoon we had a phone call from Lisa. She hadn’t seen us for ages and wondered if she could call round. We have known Lisa since she was a young Cubscout at the 13th right through to her Explorer scouting. Well it was nearly midnight when Lisa left. She will be a qualified Doctor in four months time but is still involved in Scouting. We had lots to talk over.
After our late night, Sunday morning dawned grey and bleak with a chilly wind. We picked up Kane, Endeavour’s only competitor in the Cross Country and drove to the Sports Centre. Kane was pleased to see his old Troop the 9th and after helping me to give some shelter to the organisers stood talking his old friends. The numbers for the event were down this year but sometimes leaders and our young people are over committed, however there was good parent support and the event went well. The Sports Committee have lost one or two trusty members recently especially Doreen who has been at every Cross Country since it was started – she was missed and our thoughts are with her.
We dropped Kane home, he had run himself into the ground trying to keep up with the Ellis twins and needed rest and recuperation. After a spot of lunch ourselves it was off to the Theatre.
The “High Five” Concert was organised to support the Wessex Heartbeat Appeal which is our District charity this year. The performers were from local schools and dance and music groups all between five and twenty years of age. The Explorers were all there waiting for us including Ben who had been at the County Youth Conference all weekend and had had rushed back to be with us. While we were waiting in the Foyer for instructions one of our lost friends, Josh, saw us and came in to have a friendly chat he had left after an upset but he was obviously pleased to see us again.
Our duties were to give out programmes and goody bags to family groups and to rattle our buckets for donations to charity. After helping with the preparations we were taken below stage for some refreshments and then dispersed in the foyer and around the theatre to do our job. Some worked in pairs some independently. When the show started we gathered in the balcony to watch the performance. The show was to a very high standard with dancing, music and singing, the work that had been done by the young people, their teachers and trainers, was amazing and the Show was really enjoyable.
After the Show we were all in the foyer rattling our buckets until the last of the audience had left. We had been at the theatre form 3.00 o’clock until 10.30. Ben left early and also Joe who had a foreign exchange student arriving that night. The Explorers were polite happy and smart throughout. We had a nice message of thanks from the organisers and a credit in the programme. Our bucket collection raised £1,360 – Yes I think you can say a busy and worthwhile weekend.
Fly