Two officers from 2nd Ahoghill Company Section earned their Camp Craft certificates after attending a training course in Halesowen.
With the newly opened BBNI headquarters in Newport not yet offering the course, we travelled to the West Midlands to receive our training.
After an early flight into Birmingham Airport, and a short car journey we arrived at Carters Lane Baptist Church where we were greeted by course organiser Sue Hoddinott.
Interestingly, this wasn’t Sue’s first encounter with 2nd Ahoghill company. She fondly recounted meeting Stanley Gordon, our founding captain, during an officer’s training course in 1976.
Sue began our own day of training with some opening devotions before handing over to Jamie Haden-Walker, who would cover the theory aspect of our training. Jamie talked about the various types and sizes of canvas marquees, before moving on to discuss marquee lighting and furniture.
We then moved outside to meet the instructors from the West Midland District Camping Centre Team, who would talk us through the various steps of handling, pitching and a striking a canvas marquee.
After a short break for lunch, we shifted our focus to canvas ridge tents. Again, Jamie covered the theory side before handing over to the outdoor team to supervise as we practiced what we had learned.
We finished the day with a discussion about the logistics of organising a canvas camp. We looked at the various considerations for planning a camp, the risk assessment involved and how to safeguard the boys who would be attending.
Having completed our training complete, we thanked the instructors and began our journey back to more familiar surroundings.
With Jonnie and Tommy now holding their Camp Craft certificates, 2nd Ahoghill Company Section will be able to organise and run our own canvas camps.
