Akela

In those days Barry Smith was Akela. Your current Akela (Nick Layt) was Bagheera and we were joined at camp by Dawn Morgan whose son Lee was Second in Grey Six at the time.

Home Sweet Home

We had the first field at Cranham and decided to pitch the tents near the track at the bottom of the hill. As it was just a weekend we didn't take much equipment and used the permanent cooking shelter at the top of the hill as our kitchen area.

A row of soggy tents

Unusually for one of our camps the weather was not kind to us. Despite being held in mid-June you will see that most of the photos have people dressed in coats. There was quite a bit of rain which meant that the Cubs had to spend some time in their tents

Morning Exercises

The mornings were a bit chilly and damp so it was a good idea to do some exercises before breakfast. Daniel looks as if he is about to take off!

Time for a drink

All that exercise was thirsty work so there was time for a drink before breakfast.

Breakfast

Akela warms up the frying pan

All gone

The Cub's appetites were as good as ever. Neil Coles shows off his empty cereal bowl

Spoon on nose

While waiting between courses there was a bit of a competition to see who could balance a spoon on their nose

Uphill struggle

Gary and Jonathan discovered that being on a slope can be hard work when you are trying to carry a full water carrier (we didn't have the roll-alongs that we have today).

Downhill chase

Sometimes you can use the hill to your advantage. The Cubs found some old cable drums which rolled very well downhill

View of Village

Cranham is a lovely site and there are clear views across the valley to the main part of the village and the common

Fire lighting

The weather was a bit cool and so we thought it would be nice to have a fire. Akela soon got to work and got it going.

Camp fire's burning

Before long there was a very nice fire burning

Muddy Agar

With all the rain, some of the tracks through the woods had become quite muddy. In any pack there is always one boy who you can trust to make the most of the mud. In ours it was Andrew Agar