National Survival Weekend Sept 01.
After a long bus journey from Dublin, the groups from Rush, Clontarf,
Swords, Knocklyon and Porterstown met up with the others from Leitrim,
Enniskillen, Clare, Tallaght, and others. The rain poured down as we all
assembled in the Claddagh Glen Scout Centre, Fermanagh, for a survival
briefing from Tony Smith. We got our first taste of what Tony had to offer
us during the weekend when he ate a moth off the projector screen: He gave
us Quail eggs, Spam, Animal Food, Raw Tomatoes and the cheapest Corned Beef
you’re ever likely to come across in your life for Breakfast; Fish and Crow
for Lunch, and Rabbit (very smelly animals) and Chicken for Dinner.
Scrumptious.
Friday Night started with a vicious nightline through thorn bushes, rivers,
up and down gullies, etc, followed by the teams selection and a grid ref.
Treasure hunt until 4.30 a.m. We then got about 2½ hours sleep before we
were awoken once again with none other than a banger beside our ears.
After
our breakfast of quail eggs (each about the size of your thumb, we were
given about two each) and half a cup of tea, we divided our teams into two –
one to build the main shelter for the weekend and the other half to get a
fire going. Weird though it may seem, the staff had their soft points and
various materials were left in the area to help us built our shelters.
There
was even enough canvas to completely build two of the four shelters. The
rest of us had to make do with sheets of corrugated iron.
At 10.30 we started the bases: Fire, Water, Food and Communications. The
food base was an experience we will never forget, as we learned how to kill
and gut rabbits, fish and chickens. Those who drew the short straw had the
honour of killing the chicken – not an easy task – some chickens simply
refused to die and the headless bodies of others had to be chased down
before they could be plucked and gutted.
After dinner that evening we did team challenges such as the spiders web,
water problems and other well-known team exercises. We had a campfire after
that and some us had enough energy in us to take a walk to the local
graveyard for some spine-chilling tales from Tony and ridiculous attempts to
scare us from Ray McMenamin. (Sorry Ray).
On Sunday we awoke after a very heavy spell of rain (we were all soaked
already anyway) and we were all weak from lack of food. However, the thought
that we would be getting our stew within a few hours made us all carry on as
we did the final team challenges. Then we had to nominate two people from
each tribe to represent us in the “ultimate survivor” contest, involving
eating beetles and worms, lying in a freezing cold waterfall and answering
multiple choice questions on survival.
Aaron King from Rush was the ultimate
winner (receiving the fertility statue prize) and James Usher from Knocklyon
was the runner-up (receiving a serious kicking from his tribe members!).
After that we all savoured Papa’s Irish stew and cleaned ourselves up in the
shower.
The weekend was a great opportunity to test your limits and to learn some
proper survival techniques. It is a fantastic idea and every Venturer group
should try and incorporate one into their programme. Many thanks to Tony
Smith and others, who put a huge amount of effort into running the course
and making sure it all went smoothly. We’ll look forward to another one next
year…
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