Fordell Firs Blog

Roped activity assessments

noreply@blogger.com (About Fordell Firs) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 16:07:00 +0000

Last week it was once again time for Steve Spalding (who is the centre's external advisor for roped activities) to pop down so that the staff could have their annual assessment, and also to look at how the various activities have been running during the past 12 months. Steve came down for 2 days - friday for most of the full-time staff and then a sunday session for the volunteers.

Starting off at the climbing wall, he assessed everyone for their setup / belaying / group skills before going on to look at different ways in which we can teach participants to climb the various walls more efficiently.

Above : Climbing movement training (or hiding from Bob?)

After that it was onto the crate-climbing, abseiling and finally 3G swing - where we spent quite a while looking at ways in which the current setup and operating procedures could be modified to make the running of the sessions more efficient. Lee also kindly acted as a 'stuck/scared scout' so that we could be assessed on a few different procedures which are required to lower clients safely back down in the event that there is any problem with the release mechanism.

Above / below : Lee bravely acting as a pretend scout for the 3G swing.

Steve's back shortly for further assessments (zipline and jacob's ladder) and the centre also has our own annual GNAS archery and first aid courses coming up very soon in November and December respectively, so more reports on those soon.

Acceler8

noreply@blogger.com (About Fordell Firs) — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 15:35:00 +0000

Two weekends ago the centre was host to 'Acceler8', a Scottish Headquarters open day for Scout leaders/adult volunteers. The event aimed to bring together a huge number of different Scout support teams (including our Fordell staff), Scout campsites, outside charities and organisations and commercial exhibitors as well as provide partcipants with the chance to try out lots of the Fordell activities.

Above : Marketplace marquee (and band marquee at night)

The saturday morning saw us helping with car-parking and reception duties, before running most of the site activities all day long (as well as covering activities for Grangemouth High School too!!!). The morning started off with heavy rain, but this soon cleared with only a few abseiling sessions having to be cancelled. There were several hundred visitors to the event (as well as exhibitors) with a good number taking the chance to try out the activities. The 3G swing (Phoenix) seemed to be the most popular, and the screams of fear could be heard as far away as the main flagpole :-)

Above : Gang show members performing on the stage

Above : the very popular food area

Above/below : Skills zone in the wet weather hall

Above : Tiso's outdoor display (particularly popular as they were giving away free chicken tikka and chocolate pudding)

Above : Woodturning base

Around 80 of the visitors were staying at the centre on the saturday night, and there was a campfire followed by a live band in the main marquee later on. On the sunday morning the Fordell Active Support team were up bright and early to cook breakfast for most of those who stayed over and raise some funds for themselves in the process. On the menu were bacon and sausage rolls, with an optional extra of either chocolate crispy cakes or beefburgers (which had been kindly donated by a scout group who were leaving that morning). Sadly, there wasn't a great uptake of the beefburgers or crispy cakes, although a few of the diners did sample them.

Above : Breakfast in full flow on the sunday morning outside the staff hut.

Above : the only breakfast in Fife where chocolate crispy cakes are standard.

Above : A satisfied customer about to eat his 67th burger roll.

Above : Due to cutbacks, Pete and the radio club have had to move to a slightly smaller meeting hut.

Other news, and Bob's managed to source yet another Land Rover - this will replace one of the older ones which was getting a bit tired (it'll just be used on site to move trailers around, etc).

The KARS radio club kindly provided some fantastic graphics for it, some of which can be seen below...

Above : New Landrover already prepared for towing Stevie's car.

Above : Pol attempting to push the Landrover to Paris to raise funds for charity.

Comedy highlight of the weekend was when Pol (who's across from France for the summer to work) received his much-awaited staff top, only to discover that someone had accidentally (?) ordered the wrong size...

Above/below : A delighted Pol with his new baggy staff hoodie.

More news in a few weeks - that's us now into September but things are still looking busy at weekends with lots of groups in for camps/activities. Coming up later in the year we also have the usual GNAS archery training/assessment courses and our first aid course too.

Spring news

noreply@blogger.com (About Fordell Firs) — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 17:15:00 +0000

Above / below - inside the new classroom.

It's springtime again, and after a few quieter months the centre's busy again with lots of weekend camps, visitors and events.

Over the winter there's been lots of work taking place - the biggest change is that the new classroom building is (just about) finished; it's now fully furnished, electrically fitted out and has a fancy new 'smartboard' installed which will be available for use in training courses, seminars, etc. A new set of access stairs and ramp are currently under construction, and will probably be completed by the time this blog is published. Many thanks go to all the companies and individuals who helped install and fit out this new facility.

Above - Henry checking that no-one is making a mess in his new hut.

In the main camping area, there's now a new hut as well (up near the caves) - this is the marvelous one that Henry and his team built from scratch. Now most of the camping sites have their own hut which is great for groups to keep their equipment/food in and to have a (small...) base for during wet weather.

Last month saw a freakish snowstorm which started on a saturday morning and left the entire site covered. Unfortunately it occurred just before a charity event (GI Jane, for the Meningitis Research Foundation), but despite the freezing conditions the event went ahead and all the participants appeared to enjoy themselves. A few of the activities had to be cancelled due to the weather (eg zipline and abseiling), but most of them went ahead as you can see in the photos below...

Above : Staff just about to head out into the freak snowstorm.

Above : The army putting the GI Janes through a warmup routine.

Above : 81st Antarctic Cub Scout group camp.

Now that the ice has melted at Lochore Meadows, the Bell Boats have been taken back up and will be used by both Fordell visitors and local scout groups. Last weekend the centre ran another Bell Boat Helm course (thanks to Dave again) which was well attended by a mixture of Fordell staff and local scout leaders.

Above : Ali didn't even notice when the rest of the staff dismantled the staff hut and rebuilt it 20 feet away.

More updates soon, but just time for another fun and free competition. Just tell us whose mystery hands these are in the following photograph...

The winner will win a signed copy of Bob's new book ('The Donkey and the Well'), as well as a complimentary coffee next time they are at the centre.

Getting ready for winter

noreply@blogger.com (About Fordell Firs) — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 19:00:00 +0000

Above : new electric indoor campfire (we had a video but there are some technical problems so you'll just have to use your imagination for now...)

Well, the nights are fairly drawing in now and the last month or so has been spent getting the centre ready for the winter period again. Things have quietened down quite a bit, although there have still been a good number of groups staying at the centre.

There have been a few more changes on site; there was recently a visit by a group of local bank employees who put in a big voluntary shift and managed to make a huge difference to the access path to the challenge course. This has (until now) always been very muddy and in bad weather was often the most challenging part of the challenge course. The new path looks fantastic and will make a big difference when running this activity.

Above : much-improved path to the challenge course

With the colder weather fast approaching, the Bell boats have been brought back from Lochore Meadows; they'll be stored at Fordell until the spring when they can be used again.

Henry and his crack team of woodworkers have been busy in the main store; in a single day a few weeks ago they managed to construct a new hut from scratch. This will be located on the site near the caving complex and we'll have photos up soon.

Above : Henry with his new hut

Above : The hut project was so successful that the centre has bought another 4 Henrys, which will be used for further hut production, general maintenance and activity instruction from now on. These are the new 'energy-efficient' Henry models, which can run for an entire day on only 1 gallon of coffee.

Camping numbers have dropped off quite a bit (as usual) due to the cold weather, but there are always a few scout groups who'll come along anyway and we expect this to continue pretty much right through the winter.

Above : Scouts find a loophole in the Fordell rules which allows them to camp without paying any fees.

Above : Due to the financial climate, the centre has had to replace the Ford Ranger and trailer with a somewhat less powerful model.

Above : Local cubs building a levitating flagpole.

This month the centre's been running the annual GNAS archery qualification course; this is run over two weekends with the second one starting tomorrow morning.

Into December and the next event is the staff / Fellowship Christmas party in a few weeks time - this year we're doing something a bit different and having a trip into Dunfermline for some (proper) bowling, followed by a race night and the usual food back at Fordell. Photos up soon, and hopefully some video of some very amateur bowling.

Shiny new things

noreply@blogger.com (About Fordell Firs) — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 20:00:00 +0000

Above : busy flagbreak during last weekend's Explorer camp.

Above : Explorers enjoying fantastic weather on sunday

Lots of new things to report on since the last blog update - starting in reverse order, the centre hosted a big Explorer Scout event last weekend called 'Explore!Explore!Explore!' . This was a national event and was well-attended by around 150 Explorers. Weather for the weekend was great and the Explorers had a mixture of on and off-site activities. Saturday they headed off on a train trip along the Fife Circle to take part in a number or different bases en-route, and Sunday was spent taking part in activities on site which were run by the Fordell staff.

Other recent news, and you might have noticed a new building which has appeared recently next to Henderson centre; this is a new classroom facility which will be used for a variety of purposes including training for corporate/scouting events. The building was supplied by Portakabin and looks like it'll be a very popular and useful addition to the centre.

Before and after photos below...

Above : foundations in place, awaiting arrival of new classroom building.

Above/below : new classroom facility

The centre has also acquired a few new items on the activity front, the most unusual being an 'unrideable' bike which has a special gear mechanism on the steering column to give reverse steering. The staff have been trying this for a few weeks but haven't had a lot of success so it'll be interesting to see how the kids get on with it.

Above : Mystery person demonstrating the new 'Unrideable' bike.

There's also a new 'pillow fight' structure which has been located on the stage near the vending machines. It's much more robust than the ones we've had in the past (which have often been built out of pioneering poles) and nicely padded so not so sore to fall from!

Lastly we had the annual roped-activity training / assessment sessions last week - activities advisor Steve Spalding popped down to run 4 sessions over 2 days where most of the staff were re-assessed on the activities (climbing, crates, abseiling, 3G swing, jacob's ladder). The sessions went well and for once the weather was kind which made things a bit easier. Only thing remaining now is a similar session for the zipline, which will be held in the near future once Steve is back down again.

That's it for now, but check back soon for more updates (or why not sign up to the email alert service which should be lurking somewhere at the top of this page?)

Summer news

noreply@blogger.com (About Fordell Firs) — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 18:00:00 +0000

Above/below : Flagbreak during the recent guide centenary camp

That's us into the summer holidays and things have started to quieten down a little bit (at least at weekends) after a pretty hectic few months.

After the really successful Fast Forward camp (see last post) there have been a few other big events including a weekend camp by Forth Valley guides to mark the 100th anniversary of guiding - with several hundred guides on site.

Above : Camping tip number 314 - always check that your new airbed will fit inside your tent before you go camping.

As with the Fast Forward camp, the guide one ran very smoothly - even with the car-parking on the friday and sunday which we'd thought would be a bit of a nightmare (most of the attendees were being dropped off by parents instead of by minibus). Despite a few busy moments, the car-parking system seemed to work well and everyone managed to arrive and depart with the minimum of delays.

Above : busy car-park as parents arrive to pick up their kids.

After the guide camp we also had a visit from a large Youth Theatre group who were basing themselves at Fordell whilst taking part in events nearby. Another good group and they got extra points by even supplying the staff with breakfast one morning which was a welcome change from the usual "50 for £1" Tesco value sausages which we normally have.

Activity-wise things have been very busy up until the past few weekends; the new King Swing has been popular and the centre has also purchased 2 additional Bell Boats which will be put to good use soon - now we have 3 in total so can cater for groups of around 30 in total.

Last sunday some of the staff had a rare trip off-site to put up a couple of marquees nearby at Townhill playing fields. Unfortunately they couldn't have picked a worse day for it as the wind was horrendous and despite trying to bravely put up one marquee they had to beat a hasty retreat for safety reasons and return the following day when things had died down a little.

Arriving back at the site conditions turned even worse which wasn't a good thing as another large guide group had just arrived to set up their camp. Lots of flattened and damaged tents and even one of the marquees was affected and had to be taken down for safety reasons, however after a few hours conditions improved a little and everyone could relax a little bit. Possibly the windiest weather ever seen at Fordell (in one instance the wet weather hall blew away and landed in someone's garden in Inverkeithing, and had to be brought back on a trailer on the monday).

Above : Hungry Henry having a good feed after being forced to run 75 consecutive low ropes sessions due to a staff shortage.

Above : 15 seconds later

And finally, it's time for the summer caption competition. Simply think of a witty caption, send it in to the usual address and the winner will win the contents of Craig's plastic container, sent by Royal Mail Special Delivery.

Fordell Fast Forward camp

noreply@blogger.com (About Fordell Firs) — Thu, 27 May 2010 18:00:00 +0000

Last weekend was the first ever Fast Forward camp, an event for older cubs (who are nearly ready to move up to Scouts) and younger scouts.

The weather was fantastic for the whole weekend and the event went really well; very tiring for all the kids and staff but everyone had a great time and it looks like the event will be run again regularly.

You can visit the official Fast Forward website to see what happened, and also read more about it on the Scottish Headquarters site (no point repeating everything here!).

Pop back soon for more news and updates, and hopefully the good weather will still be here.

Busy season again

noreply@blogger.com (About Fordell Firs) — Tue, 04 May 2010 17:06:00 +0000

The busy season's now officially here and the site's going to be pretty manic for the next few months after a nice quiet spell. Two weekends ago was the first real busy weekend of the year - with big camps from Leith District scouts and also Rosyth District, who were holding their annual St George's Day camp. It was also a busy weekend for the Fordell Fellowship as it was the AGM on the friday night - good attendance as usual and the usual mix of formalities (electing new committee for the next year) and socialising. Thanks go to Pete Merckel for doing a talk about the new Active Support structure (which the Fellowship will change to later in the year) and to Kev Mitchell for doing a really good talk about his work with the Ochils Mountain Rescue Team afterwards.

Both Leith and Rosyth districts had a great time and it was good to see everyone enjoying themselves. The Rosyth kids and adults had a trip away on saturday to the stock cars at Cowdenbeath - free entry but there was one catch which is that they'll have to go back and clean up litter after one of the race meetings in a few weeks time.

Above : Fielder not making much of an effort...

Above : Cub watches in horror as the ball heads straight through the staffhut door and hits Bob the warden.

As well as the 2 big camps there were the usual mix of smaller groups and day visitors, including a visit by the smallest sumo wrestlers yet seen at Fordell...

Above : the smallest sumo wrestlers in the world (probably)

Above : the biggest novelty sideburns in the world (apart from Noddy Holder's)

Other news - as mentioned in the last update the site now has a Bell Boat (soon to be two), and over a period of 3 days recently nearly 50 staff, volunteers and local leaders were trained up at Lochore Meadows to achieve their Bell Boat Helm award. The plan is to keep the boats at the Meadows most of the time, and for Fordell and also local groups to use them for groups of up to 20 participants. The course itself was much fun - everyone on it performed admirably and aside from a few minor mishaps (Brian guiding the boat over a huge buoy and getting it stuck underneath) everyone emerged unscathed and much the wiser.

No photos at present but we'll have some of the boats once they start getting used properly in a few weeks.

The next few weeks are pretty busy and then it's time for the first huge camp of the year, which is the Fordell Fast Forward - a camp for older cubs and younger scouts. Richard Fairbairn from Edinburgh is the camp organiser and has made up a great website for it, so why not have a look at the link above to find out more? Unfortunately all the spaces were filled a long time ago but there will be photos up during and after the event.

Finally it's time once again for the irregular and pointless photo competition. Just tell us who this shy chap / chapess is and you could win an original Fordell comb. Is it Kenny from South Park?

King Swing

noreply@blogger.com (About Fordell Firs) — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 18:30:00 +0000

Above : Kingswing shortly after completion.

It's been fairly quiet at the centre for the past few months in terms of groups and activities, but there's been lots happening in other areas, some more obvious than others.

The biggest change is that a huge medieval-like contraption has sprouted from the ground behind the Scottish Headquarters / Henderson building. We're not sure exactly where it came from, but maybe the wet weather and fertile soil had something to do with it?

On closer inspection it's actually a fully-working 'King Swing', which will add another roped activity to the centre once the staff have been trained up and assessed to run sessions. The idea is that one brave person is attached to a pair of huge metal cables which are suspended from the top beam, and the rest of the group hoist them up until they are almost at the top of the single pole at the back of the swing. The lucky test-pilot then pulls a release cord and hurtle down towards the ground, which they clear by a small margin before zooming skywards again.

From initial tests by some of the staff, the swing is amazing fun so looks likely to be a popular activity once it's up and running. One of the main reasons for building the swing is that it will be fully accessible and useable by disabled users, unlike a few of the other roped activities at present.

Above : Giant wedgie machine

The centre has also purchased a 'Bell Boat', and is in the process of purchasing another - these are 8-person boats approximately 30 feet long which are very stable and easy to use. They will hopefully be based locally and the idea is to train up lots of the staff and local leaders to provide a new water-based activity. These will also provide another activity which is suited towards individuals or groups with disabilities. No photos so far, but we'll have some from the first training sessions in a few weeks' time.

Above : Everything ready for Giant Jenga championships

Above : Scene after first round.

Other than than, a few less obvious changes have been made. The main store has undergone a complete transformation from the Aladdin's cave of before. A new racking system was installed recently and a forklift has been purchased for the centre. The main reason for this is to tidy up the main store area where most of the equipment and marquees are stored, and make them easier to access.

Over the past few months, the Fordell staff and Scottish Fellowship (who run the marquee service and organise other camps/events) have been in helping with the transformation. Everything's looking much tidier now and 4 people have been put through forklift training recently, 2 from Fordell and 2 from Scottish Fellowship.

Above : New racking system just after installation.

Above : Store looking way more tidy than before.

The busy season's nearly here again; from the end of April until July every weekend's busy with groups and activities. Before then there's some training organised for the Bell Boats, and also the Fellowship AGM in a few weeks time, so more photos and updates soon.

Happy New Year!

noreply@blogger.com (About Fordell Firs) — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 19:02:00 +0000

Hope you're all surviving the freezing weather!

The centre's now fully open again, with quite a few groups braving the icy conditions. The first group of the year were some mad explorers from Glasgow who turned up on the 2nd January for a weekend of activities (mostly indoors though) and a spot of sledging on flagpole hill.

The past few months have been pretty busy - here's a quick roundup of what's been happening.

November saw us holding two of our regular courses - GNAS archery one over 2 weekends and Brian & June's popular first aid course over 1 weekend.

We were also honoured to have a visit from Radio Scotland who came to record some material for one of their programmes : Bob became a star after being interviewed and there was also the excitement for the listeners of listening to crate climbing and pioneering on the radio!! What fun, you could really feel the tension as the scouts finished off their square lashings.

Into December and still busy in terms of groups. The staff treated themselves to a fancy new TV, after suffering with the old one for far too long. Plans to improve the reception by installing Sky Freeview were quickly dashed due to signal problems, but hopefully we can find a solution soon. Of course, it was also time for the annual Christmas Meal which was fantastic - this year we headed out for a spot of 10-pin bowling then back to the conference room for a great meal (courtesy of the new caterers) and a fab xmas quiz hosted by Claire & Lindsey.

There's another busy year ahead with a few new events - more updates soon but till then here's a random selection of photos from the past few months.

Above : the staff had to help a few cars out of the iced-up carpark in December

Above : Henry trying out his new sledge

Above : Foggiest day ever - Bob waits in vain at flagbreak for the scouts to arrive.

Above : How do his feet reach the pedals?

Above : Sleeping beauty

Above : Radio pioneering - Bob being interviewed about this exciting new extreme sport.

Above : Teambuilding in the rain.

Above : new staffhut TV, a huge improvement over the old one.

Above : Bob showing Brian how wide the well was which he found the donkey in.

Above : Fordell Christmas dinner 2009

Above : Ian tries for a new world record of some description.

Above : Stevie enjoying the traditional Christmas party games

Above : Luckily, Brian didn't seem to have suffered any serious damage.

JOTA 2009

noreply@blogger.com (About Fordell Firs) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 19:05:00 +0000

Amazingly, that's a whole year since the last Jamboree On the Air (JOTA) so last weekend it was time for it again. The event was organised by Fordell's resident amateur radio club (KARS) who had been busy during the week setting up the equipment and rigging up a few temporary wire aerials in the trees.

Bases were set up in the reception building and Scottish Headquarters - this year there was a special website setup for the event which you can look at here.

Above : reception room busy on sunday afternoon

Above : Caught in the act...a couple of young scallywags try to hack into a US Military website during Jamboree-on-the-internet.

Above : Main man Richard feeling a bit camera shy

As well as the JOTA, the KARS guys have also been helping the centre a bit by making up vinyl vehicle stickers for the centre land rovers. Both vehicles are now looking splendid with custom signs as you can see from the photo below.

While the JOTA proved very busy, the rest of the site was fairly quiet in terms of activities and visitors. Most of the staff had decided to have a rare weekend off, apart from serial Fordell addicts Henry and Ali who weren't able to tear themselves away from the staffhut, cheap coffee and even cheaper food for even one weekend.

Saturday was pretty quiet and sunday we had a visit from an combined stag and hen party (?!) who had heard that the challenge course was good fun and spent a couple of hours falling off beams, getting stuck in tyres and finally having a shot of the climbing wall. Excellent group and they all seemed to have a great laugh, even if a few of them found some of the challenge course obstacles a bit challenging.

This weekend also looks like being quiet, next event coming up is (I think) the annual first aid course by Brian and June which we'll no doubt have some photos of here.

Bye for now!

Above : Things to do in the staff hut when you're bored #421 - play Pacman with Quorn slices and crisps.

Paddy the dog

noreply@blogger.com (About Fordell Firs) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 17:00:00 +0000

Following a busy weekend a few weeks ago we received an email on behalf of the Tullibody guides, who'd had a camp and taken part in lots of activities on site. With them had been their official mascot, Paddy the dog, and as promised here are some photos of him taking part...(totally unedited of course...)

Above : Feeling left out as the guides all get to go crate climbing.

Above : Trying to drop some hints to the instructor.

Above : Harnessed up and ready to go.

We hope Paddy and the guides enjoyed themselves at Fordell and look forward to seeing them again soon.

Away from activities and there's been quite a bit of work going on at the centre. As mentioned a few months ago, the quad track has now gone and is gradually being turned back into a grassy camping area. The photos below give you an idea of how much it's changed (and these are a month or so old, so it should be looking even more different now). Now we're nearly into the winter season, there'll be a lot more time soon to spend on various projects and odd jobs around the centre, so look out for lots of exciting (?) photos here.

Above/below : old quad track before/after clearing and topsoil.

Despite the end of the summer, the weekends are still pretty busy for now- lots of groups either camping or popping in for activities. A mix of weather with a few cracking days and a few dreadful ones too.

Above : Don't leave animals in hot cars!

A couple of weeks ago we ran some activities for the Pentland Challenge, which was an activity camp based at Bonaly and organised/run by the Scottish Fellowship. Due to the large number of participants at the event, a few groups were brought over from Edinburgh on the saturday where they took part in some of our activities (climbing, jacobs ladder, challenge course, low ropes, etc).

Above : Craig discovers the chilli pepper which has been comically planted in his shepherd's pie.

After a particularly busy saturday, the staff retired for an enormous meal of shepherd's pie, only to be called into action immediately after it was discovered that one of the toilets in the toilet block had a bit of a problem. Brian was unanimously elected as chief toilet-unblocker while the rest watched and learned from a safe distance (the staffhut). The photo below gives an idea of the seriousness of the problem...

Above : No comment required.

Above : Brian telling an enthralled audience about his near-death encounter in the toilets.

That's all for now folks, as the blogmeister has to rush off to Dunfermline to help with his Explorers, but we'll be back in a couple of weeks with another update so stay tuned.

Disclaimer : no real dogs or fluffy animals were harmed during the making of this blog post.

Mystery object

noreply@blogger.com (About Fordell Firs) — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 19:15:00 +0000

Yes, it's time for another fantastic free competition!

Just tell us what the mystery object is in the photo below (being shown off by Ali). It was found a few weeks ago somewhere on the site.

Answers to the usual address - the first correct answer will win a wonderful prize.

Terms and conditions : Prize is a 5-hour self-supervised session on the low-ropes course which must be taken between 1am and 6am on the 31st December 2009. No cash alternative. Fordell staff, volunteers, friends and family are forbidden from entering, as are any persons who have visited Fordell in the past, know someone who has or have read this blog. All entries should be accompanied by a £25 'processing fee' cheque, made payable to the 'Fordell Fellowship Christmas Meal Fund'.

Back again!

noreply@blogger.com (About Fordell Firs) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 22:35:00 +0000

Above : Fordell on a particulary wet August day.

Yes, after a well-deserved holiday the blog has returned (slightly sunburned) with some of the summer's news.

After the last big event (Dunfermline District camp), the grass had a couple of weeks to recover and then it was straight into the usual busy summer period. Midweeks suddenly got much busier as we had lots of summer camps, and weekends quietened down a bit as most groups tended to leave and arrive then.

The new grasscutter made a long-awaited appearance and was quickly put to good use. Previously we've relied on the tractor to cut the main fields, but it's always been fairly slow and was hard to get into some of the smaller areas. The new grasscutter can now cut both the main camping areas and also a lot of the areas which needed strimmed before, so should be able to save loads of time.

Sadly, we had to bid farwell to the old Zetor tractor, but hope it's found a happy new home somewhere else.

Above : No, Henry, you can't borrow it to use as a golf buggy.

Over the summer there have been a huge number of different groups, including quite a few foreign groups. Due to the busy midweek periods, 2 of the Fellowship (Craig and Stuart) were taken on as full-time summer staff and are still working there at the moment. Although the weekends were a bit quieter for a while they're now back to normal with most weekends needing 10 or 12 staff in to cover activities.

Midway through August and it was time for the annual roped activity training/assessment session again. Slightly later than usual, the first one was for the 'old' people, ie those that had been running sessions for a few years.

Above : Midway through the rope assessment on a fantastic summer night.

As usual this was run by Steve Spalding - and there was a big attendance as we also welcomed 3 scout leaders from across the Forth Bridge who were there as part of the Climbing Wall Award.

Above : Zipline training / assessment.

On the night we looked at the setup for climbing, crate climbing , abseil, zipline and jacob's ladder. All these have been running very smoothly over the past year and it was decided to leave most of the systems as they are. The only exception was zipline, where we looked at a few new options regarding rescue, and also played about with the new method for the instructor to climb up to the platform at the start (using an autolocking device on a fixed rope instead of having to fiddle about with lanyards while climbing the pole). A few different rescue scenarious were carried out, involving a 'random' staff member being sent down the line and told to feign unconsciousness while the rest of the group rescued him. Several major wedgies later and things seemed to be running fairly slickly.

Above : Ginga rehearsing for his lead role in the Fordell Xmas pantomime (Jack and the Beanstalk). The real Jack isn't available on the day of the performance, due to family commitments.

Above : Trying out some rescue techniques on the zipline.

Above : 2 weeks prior to the zipline training, Craig tries to rescue a pulley which an unnamed instructor accidentally dropped down the line.

Visitors with a keen eye will notice a few changes around the site. Here's a wee summary for those who haven't...

After the tractor, the old Range Rover was next to go as Bob swapped it for a slightly newer Land Rover. We now have 2 in addition to the Ford Ranger and these are only used onsite for moving trailers, doing bin runs and for using during the zipline sessions. Although the Range Rover was a definite favourite with some of the staff, due to its automatic gearbox, electric seats, electric sunroof and fancy trim, it tended to be very unreliable and wasn't particulary economical at all.

Above : Replacement for the old Range Rover (no electric seats this time though).

The staff hut has been having bits and pieces of ongoing work as usual - new addition to the wonderful lounge wall is 2 pairs of ancient ice-axes which were found hidden away in the depths of the main store. As it was unlikely these would ever be used again (or that anyone would actually want to), they're now decorating the back wall.

The front of the gazebo's been tidied up with the addition of some new stone chips - previously this was a muddy/rocky mess and now looks much nicer.

Above : Front of the gazebo looking much tidier now.

Above : Wee rock garden near the reception.

Dunfermline District Camp

noreply@blogger.com (About Fordell Firs) — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 13:11:00 +0000

As promised, here's some photos from the District Camp - there are also loads more on the main Fordell website (thanks to Ian), so have a look there afterwords.

The weather was generally great for the whole weekend - friday night stayed dry as all the groups arrived. Most of the tents/marquees/equipment had already been set up beforehand so things went pretty smoothly. Groups started arriving from 6pm onwards, and by around 8:30pm everyone was assembled at the campfire circle for the opening ceremony.

Saturday morning saw lots of excited hyperactive cubs and scouts up incredibly early (some at 5am!), playing football and waking up the leaders, although strangely this didn't happen on the sunday morning and they seemed reluctant to get up.

The main camp programme consisted of lots of different activities on saturday and sunday morning/afternoon, as well as an arena show at saturday lunchtime, a bazaar saturday evening and a campfire again on the saturday night. During the weekend groups had the chance to take part in the usual site activities as well as offsite ones (watersports, quad biking, etc) and other one-off bases.

Here's a selection of photos from throughout the weekend, enjoy.

Above : arriving at camp. Bonus point if you can spot Henry!

Above/below : Opening campfire.

Above : Many of the scouts quickly made new friends from other groups.

Above : An eager crowd gather in anticipation of the old donkey story on saturday morning.

Above : groups enjoying the good weather before the arena show

Above : Firemen getting ready to rescue invisible man from crashed car.

Above : Craig leads a team of scavengers to try and salvage some spare parts for his own car after the show.

Above : Bob realises the pitfalls of buying a used car on Ebay.

Above : Aerobics session just about to start up.

Above : Fordell staff busy with popcorn/candyfloss sales.

Above : Gladiator action

Above : One of the more popular bases on the saturday night.

Above : Camp leader John trying out his fantastic new mic stand, as the staff wonder where the bit off their hoover has gone.

Above : Hovercraft looking a bit bruised after some poor drivers/pilots on the saturday.

Above : The mystery of the disappearing popcorn is finally solved.

Above : much better fire on the saturday night!!!

Above : Honda Pilots, in one of the nearby fields.

Above : an exclusive for the camp - the world's largest working guitar effects pedal.

Above : Scouts busy in the radio club hut.

Above : Yoda and friends at the closing ceremony.

Busy season again

noreply@blogger.com (About Fordell Firs) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 22:35:00 +0000

Above : Groups busy setting up in advance of District camp this weekend

Well, that's us well into the busiest part of the year - most weekends for the past month or so have been pretty hectic with a huge number of groups visiting and taking part in activities. Most weekends have seen around 12 staff in to help out (some weekends with nearly 20 over the whole weekend!) but luckily the weather's been fantastic in general, although maybe a wee bit hot for some of us.

This weekend sees the biggest event of the year, a centenary camp for Dunfermline District Scouts with nearly 800 expected in total. Most groups have already been in to set up their tents and equipment in advance so that they can just turn up on friday and get started with the programme. The site's looking pretty good; the dry spell has helped dry out the notoriously wet areas although some other bits of the grass have suffered a bit with the heat which will make it hard to get tentpegs in!

Above : Group which drew the short straw and got stuck next to the infamous burst water pipe...

The new grasscutter arrived a few weeks ago and has been much in use already - we should have a few action photos here soon for all you machinery freaks out there. We bid a sad farewell to the trusty old tractor, but wish it well for its future life.

Aside from the usual activities, there have been a few other events recently including the annual Gibb Bugle and Totem camping competitions for Dunfermline and Rosyth district scouts respectively. These are both run together to maximise the use of leaders/judges, and over a period of 2 days patrols from each group are tested in a variety of ways to give them the chance to show how good they are at campcraft, cooking, mapwork, gadgets, etc. A good weekend seemed to be had by all, the only downside being event leader Graeme having a freak accident which resulted in a broken ankle so we wish him a speedy recovery.

Above : Scouts laughing at one of Mr Ness's rubbish jokes during the camping competition (not)

Above : building a camp gateway

Above : scouts working out an escape route from the camping competition to the 10-pin-bowling complex at Halbeath

Above : Cutting some cheese for the world's largest toastie

Another new sight at Fordell is a curious monument which has appeared on the front lawn (next to the Richmond Chalet). This is going to be the centenary cairn and will be comprised of individual stones which have been donated by scout districts and areas across Scotland. The work is being carried out by a leader from Edinburgh who is also a stonemason (and some of his scouts), and is pretty much finished now - just awaiting the arrival and attachment of individual metal plaques which will go on each stone to show who donated. If you're on the site, why not have a wee wander and check it out?

Above : enormous jigsaw puzzle

Above : Team just about to get started on the cairn

Above : mixing up some porridge for Bob's breakfast

Above : (Nearly) finished centerary cairn looking good - just waiting for plaques.

Lastly, a fantastic free competition for you all to take part in.

Just answer the following question and you could win a wonderful Fordell Firs comb.

Q. Who is this well-known local leader who is trying to hide his identity during the camping competition?

Send your entries to :

Murray Thompson Competition

c/o Fordell Firs

The first winner picked out will receive a free comb (but will require to pay courier charges of £25.95 before despatch).

That's all for now, but we'll have another update next week with lots of photos from the district camp.

Have fun and look back soon.

Flagbreak fun

noreply@blogger.com (About Fordell Firs) — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 15:07:00 +0000

Above : Pipers head to flagbreak

Lots of photos in this update (at no extra cost to you) to make up for the lack of an update for a wee while.

Over the past few weeks visitors to the site have also had an extra bit of added value as Bob has put on not one, but two fantastic flagbreaks on sunday mornings.

Above : The famous £5 note story in full flow

First up was a fun-filled-3-in-1-flagbreak featuring not only the fantastic £5 note story, but also the yearly reenactment of Zulu (Bob's favourite film) AND a visit from Boghall pipe band, who were staying in the Henderson centre. After the pipers played a few Scottish tunes, the groups were divided into 2 (Zulus and British Army) and commenced a brief but exciting battle with some predictably bad acting from both sides.

Above : Carnage after the first Zulu battle

Onwards 2 weeks and word had spread of the fantastic flagbreak so Bob was obliged to re-run the Zulu show for another group of campers. Not only that, but it was also one of the young Edinburgh scout's birthdays, so a brief celebration was added into the running order as well.

Above : World's highest scout belt? Or lowest headband.

Above : Birthday scout getting congratulations from everyone at flagbreak

Above : name the staff members

Above : victorious pipers leaving flagbreak after defeating both the Zulus and British Army

Apart from breaking flags, there's been lots more happening on site. More groups are starting to camp now and the good weather has meant that lots of activities have been running. Some local explorer scouts became the first ever to be invested at the top of the zipline platform (photos below), and last weekend the St. Andrews scouts attempted to build a replica of the Forth Road Bridge at a scale of 1:1.

Work-wise, it's been busy - last weekend's main project was to built a fence round the jacob's ladder, which was going perfectly until someone (who shall remain nameless but who may happen to appear in a photo below) burst the main water pipe to the field whilst drilling a hole for a fencepost. Luckily everyone's used to dealing with such incidents (some more than others), so although it did delay things for a while it's not a major problem. Hopefully the slats and door should be added to the fence soon - in the meantime enjoy the rest of the photos.

Above : Zipline initiation 1

Above : zipline initiation 2 - the smell of fear

Above : Newly invested explorer leaps from the platform to collect his celebratory wedgie

Above : Luckily, there wasn't a water pipe under here

Above : But unfortunately there was here...

Above : The real source of the staff hut coffee is finally revealed

Above : Jacob's ladder fence - halfway there

Above : St Andrews scouts/explorers midway through their huge monkey bridge

Zipline training

noreply@blogger.com (About Fordell Firs) — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 19:34:00 +0000

Hot on the heels of the climbing assessments, it was time for a similar session on the zipline last sunday. Steve Spalding popped down again and luckily the weather decided to behave itself for a change and everything went ahead as planned. 4 staff were getting trained/assessed and spent almost 7 hours in total trying out different setup techniques, practicing rescues and occasionally hanging around in an uncomfy harness because the rest of the group had forgotten about them (Coco). Stopping only for a brief lunchbreak (Morag's fantastic homemade soup being a welcome alternative to the usual Tesco Value cold meat sandwiches), the team headed straight back up to continue the session, although some had a bit trouble climbing back up the pole as they had eaten far too much. At the end of the day, everyone had learned a huge amount and felt much more confident about dealing with any unusual situations which may arise during zipline sessions in the future.

Above : Rescue practice

Above : Siamese twins

Above : Ginga getting a few tips from Steve

Above : Reinforced ground anchor

Meanwhile, back at basecamp, Brian had assembled a crack team of joiners, firefighters and general layabouts to try to add a new (free) conservatory to the front of the hut. He'd managed to pick this up from his neighbour, but unfortunately had forgotten what it was supposed to look like by the time he brought it to Fordell. After almost an hour of muttering and arguing, the team had worked out how the roof went together. Something then clicked, and within a whirlwind couple of hours the rest of it flew together. Although there wasn't time to fit the glass panels last week we managed to finish everything off this weekend - despite Ginga having a horrific accident when he plummeted from a 2-inch-high paving slab onto the ground. The final conservatory fits in pretty well with the existing hut and we look forward to testing it out during the summer months ahead.

Above : Brian tries to remember what it looked like before he took it to bits

Above : Colin boasts about the size of the fish he caught last week

Above : Unfortuntely Henry reveals that he caught a bigger one

Above : opening the window for a wee bit fresh air

Above : nearly finished

Staff makeover

noreply@blogger.com (About Fordell Firs) — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 17:42:00 +0000

Above : modelling the snazzy new jackets before flagbreak on saturday morning.

After a few years of everyone wearing randomly coloured outdoor gear at weekends, things have now got a bit more coordinated after a large consignment of superb outdoor jackets and gillets arrived last weekend. It was agreed a few months ago by the Fordell Board & Bob that it would be beneficial if the volunteers could have some new outdoor gear provided in an effort to look better to visitors and also to keep them a bit warmer and drier during bad weather. After a meeting with local firm Keela, who provided us with a great offer, most of the staff took up the option of ordering new gear and duly collected it last weekend.

Despite a few sizing problems things seem to be sorted out now and the new gear seems hugely popular.

Above : Testing out the new jackets on an unlucky person (guess who) during sunday's downpour.

Soon after getting the jackets, the weather took a turn for the worse and gave some a chance to see how waterproof they really were.

Above : A narrow victory for the rain as the staff rush to the safety of the hut.

Saturday morning was fairly busy mainly due to a rearranged visit by Skillforce, who had cancelled a recent trip due to bad weather. A 3-hour activity block in the morning gave some of the fellowship who had recently passed their climbing assessments a chance to get in some supervised group experience, while the rest got stuck into a few odd jobs (and coffees).

Above : Zipline training on sunday was cancelled for fairly obvious reasons.

Saturday afternoon was much quieter until some silly person (not a million miles away from typing this blog) suggested it would be a good time to take all the mountain bikes out and give them a check. After taking over 10 minutes just to remove them from the activity store, it soon became apparent that it would be a fairly time-consuming task to service them all, so those needing work done were marked and moved elsewhere and the rest given a clean and routine service. Now we should have enough decent bikes to cope with normal weekend hires, and can work on the rest at our leisure as time permits. The bike store is also hugely less cluttered which should cause much less problems in the near future.

Above : the enormity of the task suddenly dawns on Tom

Above : Tom tries to make a quick escape while the others are busy testing the bikes.

Above : what we made with all the leftover bits of bikes.

After the bikes it was time for saturday tea, with half the fellowship staying on site to make up bags of sweets for the shop and the other half having an exciting trip to the centre of world motor racing (Cowdenbeath Racewall) for the stock cars. As soon as the stock cars finished, an amazing mini-hurricane hit Cowdenbeath, soaking those silly ones who hadn't bothered to wear their new jackets. The campsite was also hit by the freak weather, with one group's tent being blown away and the radio club having some of their wire antennas in the trees being blown down by the high winds.

Above : Ali and Ginga seconds before being caught skiving by Bob.

Onwards to sunday morning and it quickly became clear that the planned training session for the zipline wasn't going to happen, as the freaky weather continued with some snow. After struggling to think of something to keep everyone busy,Stevie hit upon the idea of testing out the new pool table which had recently been donated to the centre(and is now in the reception building). However, this plan didn't last longer than 5 minutes as Big Bad Bob appeared and insisted that everyone head out into the freezing cold and rain and move some wood from the carpark to the woodpile (and we couldn't use the excuse about not having decent waterproof gear anymore).

Above : near disaster as tired Calum falls asleep inside the bouncy castle and gets rolled up inside it on sunday afternoon.

The rest of sunday was quiet in terms of activities, so everyone got stuck back into the bikes again and managed to service / repair about 6 more which was good going.

The past few weekends have also been pretty productive - here's a few photos of some of the action. The biggest task was to load most of the (900ish) old quad track tyres into a lorry and take it up to another outdooor centre a couple of weeks ago. Despite initial optimism that we could get them all in one load, it quickly dawned on everyone that this would be impossible and several runs were required (thanks to Brian for driving it up and down)

Above : Lorry full of tyres and still several hundred left to go...

Steve Spalding also popped in a couple of weeks ago to carry out assessments for the climbing and jacob's ladder, and the sessions went very well with a great attendance from the fellowship. There were also a lot of newly-qualified rope instructors which will be a huge help during the summer, and since then some of them have been back in getting some group practice under supervision before they are allowed to start running sessions themselves.

This weekend Steve's hopefully back again to carry out assessments the zipline (weather permitting) so hopefully we'll have a wee report up here shortly.

Above : this month's caption competition (winner will receive a trendy extra-tight harness like the one Calum is modelling here)

Snow at last

noreply@blogger.com (About Fordell Firs) — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 17:04:00 +0000

At long last, the much-awaited winter weather finally arrived at Fordell last weekend, much to the delight of the kids staying on site, and some of the staff of course.With only the Henderson Centre occupied (by a cub group) there weren't too many activities running (some also being cancelled or changed due to the weather). A late cancellation from a group up north meant that there were more staff than were required to run activities, so work progressed on a few ongoing projects as well.

Starting slightly later than usual on saturday (an extra couple of coffees being essential to keep the cold at bay), the first task was to build a campfire for the crazy cubs to enjoy in the evening, despite the fact that the small campfire circle, and seats, were covered in snow and frost. Survival guru Ginga, who once survived for 3 months at the North Pole living on only a single Tunnocks Teacake and 5 grains of rice, quickly took control and within 15 minutes had built a wonderful fire using his patented pallet-technique.

Above : Ginga has a cunning plan to melt all the snow on the site.

Campfire built, a short detour was taken on the way back to the staffhut to investigate the frozen pond at the back of the campfire circle. Despite initial appearances, the ice wasn't as thick as it appeared and a very minor rescue operation had to be organised when one of the plumper members of the Fellowship fell through the ice into the perishing (6 inch) depths.

Above : Scott of the Antarctic taking risks.

The cubs were still keen to take part in activities, despite the cold, and split into 3 teams for caving, challenge course and climbing. Caving wasn't affected by the snow; climbing was OK except for the temperature and the challenge course was just a bit more challenging than usual, some of the obstacles being out-of-bounds after being iced-up.

Above : Cubs and leaders having fun on the challenge course.

Above : Cubs arrive at Fordell to discover that the Henderson Centre isn't quite as big as it looks in the brochure.

With the snow limiting what work could be done, all 6 staff ended up doing the same task in the afternoon, replacing the door at the caving complex. The plan was to replace the old solid wooden door with a metal mesh one - mainly to improve ventilation when the caves aren't being used. A couple of hours later, and despite everyone getting in each others way (not helped by a huge invasion of excited cubs midway through), the new door was fitted.

Above : Fitting new caving door - 4 staff required...one to fit it, two to watch and one to get accidentally locked inside.

Next task was for Bob to take some photos which will be used in new promotional brochures for the centre. Some of the cubs had willingly agreed to pose for photos of some of the activities, including the new traversing wall, circus skills, stilts, spacehoppers and slingshots. Everything went to plan with the exception of the stilts, which were a bit too tricky for the cubs - although the problem was solved by propping the cubs up against the wet weather hall wall (which may be cunningly photoshopped out for the brochure).

Above : Auditions for 'Fordell's got Talent 2009' in full swing.

Above : Cubs attempting to launch Bob into space.

Sunday continued in much the same manner with a mixture of activities, odd jobs and copious amounts of tea and coffee consumed in the staffhut. Sadly the snow has pretty much disappeared now but it looks like there's a fair chance we'll see it back soon.

Spot the difference

noreply@blogger.com (About Fordell Firs) — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 17:32:00 +0000

Above : Huge mole caught in the act on the main field

Well, things are still pretty quiet here at the moment due to the time of year and cold weather, but there's been a huge amount going on in the past few weeks. Visitors should notice quite a few changes since the new year, and here's a quick photo summary.

We've been busy...digging a huge trench across the main field to allow the radio club to connect to their aerial (and to supply power to the centre of the site for big events)...refurbishing downstairs in the Richmond Chalet...digging a drainage ditch behind the chalet...installing a new PA system into the wet weather hall...putting up a new climbing (traversing) wall in the hall...doing some more DIY work in the staffhut as well as the usual onsite activities for the groups who have been staying. Anyway, enough waffle - here's the photos.

Above : Halfway through digging the trench for the cables

Above :digging a drainage ditch to coax the rainwater away from the Richmond Chalet.

Above : Newly-refurbished dining room with kid-resistant plastic easy-clean walls. May also be the world's largest whiteboard now.

Above : New Richmond kitchen midway to completion

Above : starting out on the new traversing wall in the wet weather hall

Above : Come and have a go - those who suffer from vertigo need not apply :-)

Above : We were delighted to receive a visit from Mr Rod Stewart, who unveiled the new PA system. Despite having put on a bit of weight in recent years, his voice is still in top form.

Above : The Bridge of Weir scouts resorted to desperate measures in order to save diesel while travelling to camp

Above : Staff weightlifting endurance competition - Bob showing everyone how it's done with a winning time of 1 minute 30 seconds

Above : Ginga showing everyone how it's not done with a dismal time of 26 seconds

Happy New Year!

noreply@blogger.com (About Fordell Firs) — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 17:42:00 +0000

Above : Just a normal sunday flagbreak.

Hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year - although the centre's open again there's not too much happening for the first few weeks so here's a wee look at what's been happening in the last month.

December started off with a fairly quiet weekend activity-wise, which meant only one thing for the staff...lots of time to get on with moving the endless pile of tyres from the old quad track down to the main car park. The good news is that the task is almost over, and they should be disposed of in the near future, but in the meantime visitors can experience the majestic sight of 'Michelin Hill' as they drive in (and it is even on the official site map, thanks to Ian).

Onwards a weekend and it was the long-awaited staff/Fellowship Christmas party. This year we were thrilled to receive a visit from not only Santa, but also a certain Buzz Lightyear and his friends during the same weekend (see photo above)...and although there was mild disappointment when they turned out to be the local cub sea scouts in disguise, their efforts were much appreciated and livened up the weekend.

Above : Ali wins the Christmas talent show with his fantastic Kenneth Williams impression once again.

After last year's successful Archery competition, it was time to try out the new crazy golf centre along at Halbeath for the highly competitive staff competition. Despite freezing weather everyone had a lot of fun, with old pro Henry teaching the youngsters a thing or two about how to play (see our exclusive video highlights at the end of this post). After that it was back to Fordell to get warmed up then off for a meal locally and back again to the conference room for another first - a staff quiz. Cheers to Lindsey and Claire for organising this, it was great.

Above : Nearly there - moving a few more of the tyres from the old quad track at the start of December.

Onto the following weekend and we had a youth football team staying in the Henderson, who turned out to have one of busiest programmes of any group we've had staying...saturday saw them taking part in onsite actitivies for a couple of hours then being driven through to Lanarkshire straight after to play a game...then straight back for more activities!
The only problem at this time of year is the lack of daylight hours, which resulted in us running out first ever fully-floodlit bungee trampoline session early on the saturday afternoon!

Above : Not much daylight in December - time between first and last photos was under a minute! Well, nearly.

Although the centre is usually closed between Christmas and New Year, this year we had a busy weekend on the 27th/28th with a group of Edinburgh scouts staying in the Henderson Centre. The weather was pretty kind and although it was chilly in the mornings there wasn't much in the way of rain or indeed snow so all activities went ahead as planned.

Above : Edinburgh scouts enjoying a very cold climbing session on the 27th December.

Above : The Dalgety Bay Ramblers popped in on the 28th December during one of their walks through Fordell estate and seemed surprised to see that there were actually groups staying and even pitching tents in the freezing cold.

Above : the highlight of today's blog...sit back and relax whilst old pro Henry gives you a golf lesson!

November News

noreply@blogger.com (About Fordell Firs) — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 14:44:00 +0000

Above : Waiting for the scouts (who will never arrive) at flagbreak on a particularly cold morning.

Well, despite a lack of blog updates last month there's been loads happening on site - so here's a quick roundup of everything which has been going on...and the usual random photos.

November started off with a busy busy weekend - with not only a good few groups staying but also a first aid course and GNAS (archery course) being run for some of the staff and others on site. The first aid course was run by our very own Brian, and was designed to be a refresher as everyone on it had already been on a full course. Over 2 days, roughly 12 staff went over various first aid scenarios which may be expected to happen on site, and covered the usual bandaging, CPR, burns treatment etc.

Above : Ali chills out during the first-aid course

Brian did a great job teaching the course (except for some memory-loss when it came to tying a particular knot) and even found time to show everyone his slideshow from a recent aid trip where he drove an old fire engine all the way to Bosnia and trained up firefighters there. He also employed the dirty trick of showing everyone some particulary gory photos of wounds just before teabreak, just so that it would ruin our appetites and he could have all the good biscuits to himself.

Above : Bob teaches Brian how to tie a reef knot properly.

Meanwhile, the GNAS course (part one) was taking place in the wet weather hall - this is run annually and is aimed at training up people in order to allow them to instruct archery sessions. As most of the staff are already qualified the spaces were filled with external participants, including local leaders and a few from much further away (Aberdeen). Again there were around 12 on the course which made for a few problems at lunchtimes when there was a bit of a fight for the limited number of sausage rolls.

Above : Getting in some group practice at the GNAS course.

Onwards a week and a fairly normal weekend with a few groups staying and quite a few activities. The following week, however was much busier, as there was a big SSAGO (University Scouts/Guides) camp with around 150 participants. The event had been meant to be running elsewhere, but after a big problem with the intended campsite the organisers had spent ages trying to find a suitable replacement venue, and luckily Fordell was available.

There were groups from all over Scotland and England - arriving friday night and staying till sunday afternoon. Saturday saw everyone head into Edinburgh to take part in lots of different bases/activities, which gave the staff back here a fairly easy day as there were no other activities on. The groups arrived back later on and had a ceilidh and campfire which seemed to go well, and which was much quieter than expected (what happened to noisy students?). The Fordell staff who were in weren't able to participate in the ceilidh as they'd overindulged at teatime with a huge Indian banquet and were unable to move for several hours afterwords.

Above : Local scouts check their tent, which hasn't been used since their 2001 summer camp.

Above : The mystery of the beaver who disappeared during the 2001 summer camp ' hide and seek' competition is finally solved, as he emerges victorious and slightly hungry.

Above : Fordell curry night.

Last weekend saw the second weekend of the GNAS course, where the participants spent saturday learning more skills/techniques, practicing groupwork and getting ready for the assessment on sunday. The course seemed to go well and we look forward to seeing some of those who passed back in at Fordell with their own groups or maybe coming along to help us out with activities from time to time.

Above : Stevie has a bright idea.

Weather-wise, it's definitely getting much colder so there's a fair chance that there'll be a few snowy photos on the next blog update, maybe even from this weekend coming if the weather forecasts are to be believed.

Surprise

noreply@blogger.com (About Fordell Firs) — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 15:13:00 +0000

Above : Bob receives a card to commemorate the 50th time he has told the story about the donkey and the well at flagbreak this year.

Well, what a busy weekend that last one was. Not only the were the usual groups and activities to be looked after, but there was also a top-secret mission to carry out, along with a huge amount of work on site.

Bob, as you might be aware, is having an enforced 'holiday' after having an operation on his dodgy knee - so it's now up to Claire and Stevie along with the volunteer staff to look after things for the next few weeks. Last weekend also happened to be Bob's 50th birthday so secret plans had already been made up to have a surprise party on site on saturday evening. Despite a few problems caused by his appointment being moved forward by a week (meaning he wouldn't be around on site on his birthday), things were swiftly sorted out on saturday morning. Most of the staff headed outside (despite the horrendous weather) to continue moving the mountain of tyres from the old quad track and carry out a few more pre-winter jobs including dismantling the gazebo on top of the new stage. Meanwhile Chef Ramsay (aka Ginga) and a small but talented team of cooks were busy buying and preparing food for the party.

Above : Trying to hoopla Calum

Above : Stevie practising his fancy dancing before the party.

Above : Auditioning for a part in Still Game.

Everything ready, all that remained to be done was to come up with a cunning ruse to lure Bob out of his house (where he was sitting watching 'Zulu' for the umpteenth time that day) and up to the conference room where everyone else was waiting. A quick phonecall from Claire informing him that there was a water leak in the conference room roof did the trick surprisingly easily, and he was driven round by Morag to see what the problem was. Despite the Scout rule that 'A Scout is to be trusted', it was soon revealed that Claire hadn't been telling the truth at all and instead of finding water gushing from the roof there was instead a rabble of hungry staff members waiting for him to arrive so that they could get on with the buffet.

Above : Bob's old shrapnel wound from the Boer war starts to play up.

After a great/embarrassing slideshow featuring old photos of Mr Bob, it was time to open his presents which included...a huge framed photo, a hat and pipe, a Leatherman multitool (so that he doesn't have to keep borrowing Ali's) and lots of Tiso vouchers (so that he can buy another Leatherman when he loses the first one). A fun night was had by all with a great attendance from staff - and a good rehearsal for the Christmas night out which is not too far away at all.

This weekend's again a really busy one - both GNAS archery course and First Aid course running as well as a few groups - more news about them soon.

Jamboree on the Air

noreply@blogger.com (About Fordell Firs) — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 17:39:00 +0000

The radio club (KARS) have added an update on the JOTA event which was held at Fordell a couple of weeks ago...you can read all about it on their website here (no point repeating everything on this site!)

(http://www.kars.org.uk in case that link doesn't work)