We Were Prepared

[callmemadam]

Little did roseleare know what she was unleashing when she merely posted the words of 'Land of the silver birch, home of the beaver'. A host of Girl Guide memories, that's what.

We were not a very smart company. Here's a cut before more pictures.

Here we are outside our bell tent (I'm not in this) followed by rest hour.







My mother as quartermaster doing some cooking and now we are making rice pudding!



Then we eat the results.






My friend Sylvia poses for me. The tiny pictures were taken with my Brownie 127. I think the picture below is of me.



Some posh companies could afford special camp uniforms. The girl in the centre here was my one time BF at school. Lesley, if you're out there, I'd love to hear from you.

Comments

[minniemoll.livejournal.com]

Those tents look identical to the ones we camped in in the early 1980s. My mum was quartermaster at camp too. I have some photos somewhere, next time I come across them I'll post them.

We didn't have a special camp uniform, although I remember that we had to travel in full guide uniform to and from camp as a condition of our insurance, which then left us with the problem of storing our uniforms in our tents. I remember having to wear shorts if it rained, as legs were easier to dry than jeans.

Did you have to lift all your belongings off the floor of the tent every morning? I remember tying things to the pole in the middle of the tent.

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

Did you have to lift all your belongings off the floor

They were never allowed on the floor. We had camp gadgets, as we called them, all made on site with wood and square lashing. Racks for our bedding and kit bags, sticks for wellies. And we washed in bowls balanced on tripods. And had trench lats.

What a coincidence about our mothers! Mine was a Tawny Owl, not a guider, but helped out with camp because she enjoyed it so much.

[minniemoll.livejournal.com]

Ooh, sticks for wellies, I'd forgotten those!

I think we stored our stuff off the floor too, but what I meant was in the mornings we had to roll up our bedding and everything and get that off the floor too. I think the groundsheet came up as well. To me who was used to camping with my parents it all seemed a bit OTT, but it was obviously The Way It Was Done.

We had to make stands for our washing up bowls with sticks and string, with a drying rack to the side. Very ingeneous, but sadly the knowledge has never come in useful in later life...

Mum wasn't actually a guider, but she was friends with the three women who were (who were all mothers of friends of mine) and she got roped into coming to camp and doing the cooking.

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, everything cleared and the edges of the tent and the flaps neatly rolled up. Then inspection!

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

Hysterical indeed! You should point out the value of a packer's knot when tying up all those parcels you send! I use it all the time. Our bedding was just like that. There was a special way of folding the blanket, wasn't there, and fastening it with a pin? I can't remember how to do that but how very Swallows & Amazons it seems. The first time I went camping as an adult, with my husband and a friend, I had to tell them not to touch the canvas when it rained and was generally bossy but they hadn't been scouts so knew 0.

Ponchos, no. Badges were sewn to your duffel bag then.

A few years ago I owned up to being a Queen's Guide when it turned out the GGA had no records. Ever since, Girl Guiding UK has been sending me newsletters and asking for money. I would like to help out because I think it's really good for girls, although they do some very strange badges nowadays. There's a great move to get Muslim girls involved, which is liberating for them as they can have fun in a safe, all female environment. I'm afraid only liberal minded papas allow it, though.

[minniemoll.livejournal.com]

We must have been soft, we had sleeping bags. No pillows though, you folded your clothes up and used those.

Your draining racks sound just like ours. We didn't have blankets with holes in though - I made a pot bag and embroidered the dates of camps on it with the badges in the appropriate places. That's probably in the loft too, somewhere.

[rosealare.livejournal.com]

Mea culpa! You look like you had more fun than we did in the 90's :) Although I do remember the draining racks!

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

Heh, no need to apologise, I think we've enjoyed remembering :-)
Funnily enough though, I had a look through several old camp fire song books and couldn't find Land of the silver birch in any of them.

[pinkhebe.livejournal.com]

Norfolk's doing a HUGE heavy-weight camp this summer: we took the girls heavy weight camping about three years ago. Gadgets and the modern girl Do Not Mix unless pre-prepared. However, we still have camp blankets (mine has about two years of badges waiting to be sewn on).

Where were you camping? It looks like Chigwell...

It's the same now - any excuse to cook on an open flame.

~x~

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

Modern girls, eh? I admire your efforts with them.

I think these photos are of two different camps. One is certainly Cudham in Kent, which I think was an official site. One year we went to Brockenhurst and the farmer let us the field on condition we helped out at the New Forest Show. Our captain's husband used to get a lorry to transport all our tents and heavy stuff: the staff work must have been terrific.

Rangers

[dovegreyreader.livejournal.com]

I dipped out on Guides and re-joined as a Ranger I think because we used to share a den with the Venture Scouts which had obvious attractions. I remember going to something at Gilwell Park called The Sedan Chair Rally, did I dream this? I'm sure I was the passenger because in those days I was slight of form.