Sixty six ready-to-go, fully energised Shells began their 3-day residential to Beaudesert Park (approximately one and a half hours away from KES) at 9:00 in the morning. First, we loaded the mini coolers with our perishable food products, then everyone had a hand in loading the lorry, which took a lot more teamwork than we expected, and we had not even started yet! After registration, all the shells began to load themselves on the coaches… I can still faintly remember the singing and laughter coming from the back of the coach. When we reached our destination, we were bewildered by the immense area of fields and playing areas! (but also, by the trillions of midges lingering around).
We were greeted by instructors, and they meticulously crafted a massive tent from a tiny bag with sticks. After a load of teamwork, we finally finished our tent, but it was the wrong way round! After that conundrum, we joined the main assembly area, to be greeted by all the teachers. But we were tricked….the teachers each equipped themselves with sun block sprays. I remember the kids playfully screaming as the teachers whipped them out like guns spraying everyone with sun cream.
Eventually, it was time to complete our first activity, the Group Challenge. There were lots of hard activities which could only be completed with teamwork and trust, and they were a lot of fun.
Finally, time passed quickly, and it was time to cook dinner. The best part of everything for me, we cooked halal beef burgers, with vegetables and cheese. It was great, and it felt good for us to cook. After that, we had a two hour break, where we explored the area, an abundance of activities, and bugs. But the worst was still to come…I remember standing next to the forest right next to the campsite, and I saw millions of midges radiating out of it. I ran away as they flooded the campsite, harassing everyone as they tried to copy the teachers’ actions with the suncream, with their bug spray! It was hilarious!
We had a very fun evening activity involving the forest, until it was time to go to bed. This concluded day one.
On day two, we awoke, for the longest day so far. It was freezing cold, so we changed, brushed our teeth and got ready for the day ahead. We came to the dining hall to eat breakfast, then left for free time for three hours! We eventually got to cook our own food, and then it was assembly time. We made our own lunch, sandwiches, fruit and biscuits. The devastating sunblock shootout began again, and kids had no choice but to wear it with a sun hat.
We had our second and third activity, survival skills, where we learnt skills on how to survive in a forest, and we even made our own bread and cooked it! We had a break, and during lunch, we had a water fight, which almost everyone took part in! Everyone was fully soaked at the end of it, and then we had our fourth activity, which was archery, and the teacher created a fun game to play, called ‘Bake a Cake’. Then there was our fifth activity, which was coracling. All I can say is that I came in hoping not to be soaked, but then I realised, to have fun, you need to get wet! So, I did lots of dares to jump, and capsized. Six times. We then came back, and had a shower, then changed into fresh clothes, and began to cook our last meal. After dinner we had free time for hours, then we went to bed, to get some rest before we left at midday the next day.
The next morning, the daily alarm of midges did not hesitate to wake us up. We came to the assembly, where we began our two last activities, abseiling and zip line. The abseiling was petrifying! Especially with the steep, slippery slope we had to climb down, but we made it anyway. The coach ensured we were fully safe, and that we weren’t going to fall. After that, we had a zip line. The height was even scarier than the abseiling, when we climbed to the top of the pole, but when we jumped off, it wasn’t scary at all! We got to see in the trees, with all the wildlife flourishing, and how it was like to be the size of a tree. Part of the activity was pedal-carting, which was very fun, especially with races we had against each other. Then all sixty-six tired, sleepy Shells began to meet at the assembly area to begin going into the coaches. Leaving some staff behind, to help the new fully energised Shells now coming into the camp.
Overall, the trip showed our teamwork as a group flourish, and each of us began to notice our individual strengths. We would like to thank Mr Boardman, and all of the teachers, for creating an amazing and enjoyable Shells’ Camp.
Ibrahim
