1st Shiplake Scouts

DURING the past year a group of young people and leaders from 1st Shiplake Scouts have been working on the Scouts’ Cymru bronze dragon award.

As it is an award from the Welsh Scouts, we thought it would be amazing if our last camp could be in Wales.

We approached the South Wales Aviation Museum near Cardiff, which kindly agreed to let us be the first ever group to stay overnight in the museum.

While we were there, Jessica Martin was presented with her chief scout’s gold award.

The sleepover was a very interesting and enjoyable experience for the 14 members of the group.

The night in our hangar was the culmination of a year-long special “Dragon award challenge” in which they slept out monthly under canvas in farms, parks, school grounds and other interesting locations.

They saved the best until last with the museum sleepover in which half the group slept in a Sea King helicopter and the other half in a Boeing 737.

They enjoyed a hangar tour and a delicious evening meal of spaghetti bolognaise followed by apple crumble cooked by the musuem café staff.

They were then locked in for the night and prepared their sleeping bags and floor mats for the night.

The cold temperatures were of no concern to the scouts and the lack of wind overnight meant the hangar was quiet.

The café staff returned early the next morning to provide breakfast and then the scouts had a celebration ceremony to receive their dragon awards from Robert Redmond, South Wales scout commissioner, and special SWAM “Night at the Museum” certificates.

They posed for group photographs before heading home.

Ernie Povey