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SClub Fun Day Out at Longrove 2026
On 2nd May we held our fun afternoon at Longrove Scout Campsite, in nearby Studham. For me, the day began with picking up two children from their mum in Boyes carpark. As we drove up over Dunstable Downs, they were amazed at the views across the Vale of Aylesbury, and I thought to myself, “They will really enjoy themselves today.” As G.K. Chesterton once wrote, “The world will never starve for want of wonders; but only for want of wonder,” and I could see that these two young children were full of wonder. It made my heart glad.
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After a short drive, we turned into Longrove campsite. Some of the leaders were already there, attempting to put up the enormous gazebo that Chris had borrowed. As the children arrived they were given some laminated sheets with pictures of trees and flowers and they were able to roam around the site to see what they could find, e.g. they were able to find and identify many leaves from the various trees on the site. Those with phones were encouraged to take photos of the things they found, so that Chris could put them into a slideshow later on. Longrove is a beautiful woodland area, hidden away just off a country lane. At this time of year, large areas of the woodland floor are carpeted with Bluebells. There are also grassy clearings for those who want to camp. It was lovely to see the young people, from the youngest to the oldest, wandering round and exploring the wood.
My job was to cook the BBQ food, so I left putting up the gazebo, and exploring the woodland, to others and got the fire going. The campsite has a variety of old BBQs for visitors to use, and we had already picked one out on our earlier site visit. I soon had Abel and Armand giving me advice – most boys like a good fire in my experience and most men are still small boys at heart! Anyway, as you know, there is a lot of waiting until you get nice embers for cooking on, so we had lots of time to chat together, which we don’t often get on a Sunday at church. Eventually the food was cooked and we had a lovely lunch of burgers and sausages in rolls, with onions and ketchup, and Sharon did a marvellous job serving the food to everyone.
After lunch there was shelter building, using poles, string and tarpaulins. Two teams competed to make the best shelter, and then they joined forces to make one big shelter which they could all sit in. Armand enjoyed pouring water over the shelter to see if it was waterproof, and someone did get a little bit wet! There was also a craft activity and the chance to do some tracking, following a trail of stick-arrows through the wood. One of the last activities we did was to toast marshmallows over a fire I had lit in one of the campfire circles in the wood. Everyone enjoyed that and no one was burnt. As we sat round the fire at the end we said a prayer together, and everyone, young and old, said how much they had enjoyed themselves and that they would like to come again. 
It might sound as though we were busy the whole time, but the children had plenty of opportunity to spend time relaxing together. I also forgot to mention the fitness activities in one area of the site. We had 7 leaders and 8 children comprising 6 different nationalities, Debbie and Carole organized the activities, but everyone helped out. God blessed us with beautiful sunshine and as one of our youngest children repeatedly said, “We’ve had a lovely day!”
Ivor J. Mitchelmore
12/5/2026