Well... what a weekend!

What was originally planned as a more-or-less working weekend helping to support the Mackies Farm Open Day in aid of Muscular Dystrophy Research turned into a rain-dominated nightmare of relocation, adaptation and improvisation.

The weekend started off well enough and the camp (a relatively big one with approximately 25 scouts) was set up at the top of Core Hill in front of the Mackies wind turbine and with spectacular views across the Garioch. The plan was to spend most of the following Saturday morning helping the Mackies staff to set up what they needed for their Open Day on the Sunday and also to set up our large and small marquees at Daviot for the Beaver Fun Day - also taking place on the Sunday. With the large number of leaders and helpers we had assisting us, this was accomplished very efficiently indeed and we were looking forward to spending the rest of the day doing fairly relaxed scouting skills work back at the campsite which included building bivvys to sleep in that night. Also that evening at Core Hill we had planned and were preparing to hold a barbecue and campfire for well over 100 previously invited people - youngsters and families of the whole Group.

However, just after lunch the heavens opened and to the accompanyment of thunder and lightning the rain came down in stair rods for the next three hours, flooding out a couple of the tents and getting everyone soaked. At four o'clock the rain was still heavy and we had to make a decision seeing as the BBQ was only three hours away. Given that several of the kids had completely soaked gear, and that the BBQ could not have taken place in such conditions, it was decided to relocate the entire camp and BBQ back to Daviot where at least we would have the shelter of the marquee should it be required.

Quickly, the Scouts packed up all their gear with the leaders gathering together anything else that would be needed and we set off back to Daviot. Not more than 15 minutes after we got there, then the rain eased off and sunshine began to break through - SO ANNOYING! Nevertheless, we got the BBQs set up and the preparation work under way. The majority of the guests were notified of the change of venue through the Home Contact system - it may be an old system... but it works!

The barbecue itself was very good indeed with lots of compliments to the chef (Mike P) and his team (Rachael & Marion). Afterwards, we were beginning to flag a bit and spirits were dropping so what better than to organise a camp fire sing-song. And who better to run it that the quintessential master of ceremonies himself, Terry, who had remained behind after helping to set up the equipment for the Beaver Fun Day. Together with his "backing trio" of Chris, Nick & Jim, they put on a splendid show and cheered everyone up enormously.

Therefore it was a rather boisterous group that managed to squeeze into the four meeting rooms in the Daviot scout hut carriage to bed down for the night, but we were happy enough with that, rather than to have 20-odd somewhat downcast Scouts we were worried we would have.

Next morning, breakfast was served early again courtesy of Mike P and the team and we managed to get our first team of 8 scout helpers along to Mackies for the Farm Day by the agreed time of 9am. The rest of the scouts followed along shortly afterwards.

The Farm Day itself turned into a much busier (and more interesting and enjoyable) day than I think many of us expected. For a start, almost twice as many cars turned up as even the most optimistic predictions with 1900 vehicles being counted in by the car park marshalls (of which the scouts provided some). The farm itself was crowded with people and the scouts rushed to fulfill many tasks including (as said before) car park marshalling, as guides through the ice cream factory, ushers in the huge cow sheds to direct visitors to the robotic milking machines, as runners, fetchers and carriers from everything from chairs and tables to crisps and ice cream tubs, cleaning out various pots and containers, and even to wandering around selling ice cream tubs like old-fashioned cinema ushetettes with trays hanging from their necks. They did not have as much free time as I was hoping they would get but with the huge number of visitors that turned up their help was invaluable and most of the scouts seemed to relish the challenge.

It has to be said that given all that hard work they'd done up till then, and the attrocious weather conditions coupled with the upheaval that came with the camp relocation, not to mention being extremely tired because of it, they all did a magnificent  job on the day and we are very proud of them. Estimates are suggesting that approximately £43,000 has been raised in aid of Muscular Dystrophy research which is a fantastic achievement and one from which we can take some pride in being involved.

As mentioned before, there were many leaders and helpers involved in whole or in part of this camp and, boy, did we appreciate all the help. Thank you all so much for your hard work, initiative, flexibility, blood-sweat-and-tears and, above all, good humour throughout the weekend.