Last weekend the lovely ladies and gentlemen of Sutton Salvation Army, and their families, took to the bush and spent the weekend on retreat at the Carroty Wood Outdoor Education Centre.
What an excellent time we had too! I drove down on Friday night after school, confronted by some absolutely diabolical traffic through New Cross and Peckham, so I arrived a little late - but still in time for dinner (most important! especially liked the dessert.... trifle...yum!). We registered and then were assigned to the various dorms etc - and I was put in with Laura, Michelle and Rachel. What a fab group of girls! We had heaps of fun, chatting late into the night (well, late-ish... ok, I'll admit it - only until about midnight but hey, I'm a grand old dame of 35 so I need my beauty sleep...) about meaningless things - the fact that the blanket on your bed is called a DOONA as opposed to a DUVET (go figure?)...
Leisurely awoke on the Saturday and had breakfast, then it was time to meet your team (I was in Darryn's team) for a bit of orienteering. This was pretty good, it was lovely to walk through the woods there (although I'm really pleased I didn't bring my new Blundies because my old Blundies took a caning with the mud!). Spot of lunch, more team building activities - including bizarre things like getting a foreign friend in a foreign country to call in at the designated time and say 'Carroty Wood sounds like a really great place' in a foreign language (we won that one, thank you Aga!), taking your photo with a complete stranger who wasn't a part of the Salvo group, memorising an article in the Evening Standard, climbing trees... oh and finding the longest 'twig'. Now can I just say on this one, I was wrongly accused of nicking Steve's group's twig - get this - because they HID IT IN THE BUSH! You're kidding, right? Oh I hid that stick in the bush, you can't take it! Don't be a sore loser, Steve Allcock! If a stick is unattended in the bush, then it's fair game. (Actually they got their own back, and found a bigger stick, alas!)
Fortunately though, we won this bizarre competition, thank you very much. Then it was time for a spot of swimming, then the evening meal (yummo again) and finally we sat around the campfire roasting marshmallows. Dean brought out his guitar and entertained all with his interesting renditions of old Beatles songs...
Sunday was actually a bit more of the same, quick church service followed by a spot of swimming (or group table tennis, with books for bats) - then a gorgeous Sunday roast - triple yummo! Alas then it was over all too soon, and time to head off back to London... But everyone agreed that a really fab time had been had!
Anyway, here are some pics:
Team Leader Darryn
Hm - don't know why I look like such a spazz in this one...
It was a very muddy weekend...
Steve and Foxy go looking for another stick - or else they're just orienteering...
Campfire's burning...
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