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Here are some reports from events in 2001 - 2004:

2001

Summer Camp (August 2001)
We had an excellent Summer Camp at Braggars Wood Campsite on the edge of the New Forest. Read some excepts from the camp reports

Green Beret Competition: (November 2001) (Seniors)
This is a County competition involving an assault course, orienteering exercise, challenge incidents and a night exercise, and took place at Tolmers. This was the first time we had entered a team for a number of years, and the six Scouts who took part thoroughly enjoyed it, and all did very well, coming 50th out of 104.

Welwyn District Night Incident Hike: (December 2001) (Seniors)
For the first time this year, a team entered the competition unaccompanied. Not only did they come third in the unaccompanied visitors competition, they also completed the course in the fastest time! Read more...

2002

Gilwell Winter Camp (January 2002) (Seniors)
We joined 1700 other Scouts and Leaders at Gilwell Park Campsite, for a weekend full of activities, from laser clay pigeon shooting to a revolving climbing wall.

Harpenden Gang Show (January 2002)
Five Scouts from the Troop took part in the very successful Harpenden Gang Show in January 2002. They put in a lot of hard work and produced an excellent show!
Here's what some of them had to say about it...
Seniors Camp (February 2002) (Seniors)
Two of the senior Scouts organised a weekend camp in February for the rest of the Seniors - they apparently all had a fantastic time (I suspect mostly because there were no leaders there to watch over them...).

Master at Arms Course (March 2002) (Seniors)
In March, 7 Scouts and one leader attended a two day Master at Arms Course in Air Rifle shooting. They all did extremely well - with one gaining the highest score from all the courses the instructor had run, with 192 out of 210.
[If only they weren't so busy enjoying themselves they might have time to write about it for the web site... - Ed]

Incident Hike (March 2002)
At the end of March, a joint event was held with the older Cubs in the form of an incident hike around Harpenden. Three patrols competed by completing a number of incidents ranging from writing the patrol name using as many natural materials as possible, to rescuing an injured person from a building. Read the full report here.

Seniors' Training Weekend (April 2002) (Seniors)
In April, we held a weekend at the hut to provide some leadership training for our PLs and APLs. This involved a number of activities designed to introduce them to various aspects of leadership, as well as teaching them about some of the camping equipment they hdn't used before as younger Scouts. It also provided them with an opportunity to repaint their Patrol boxes in new and interesting colours (although I'm sure this is just a ploy to confuse the leaders). In the evening they watched videos and then slept over at the hut.

Spring Camp (May 2002)
The first proper camp of the year took place at the beginning of May, at Boyd Campsite in Henlow. This was the first Scout camp for many of the younger Scouts, but both they and the more experienced ones had a great time. Activities included climbing, abseiling, rifle shooting, archery, and rafting, as well as all the normal camping activities like campfire and wide games.

Juniors' Camp (June 2002) (Juniors)
Juniors' Camp took place in June at Tolmers. 15 of the Junior Scouts camped for the weekend in hike tents, and took part in rifle shooting, canoeing, and an orienteering course around the site. They cooked all their own meals and had an impromptu campfire.

Group 40th Anniversary Camp (June 2002)
Around 15 Scouts joined forces with the two Cub packs to celebrate the Group's 40th Anniversary. On the Saturday, they were also joined by the Beavers, and they all took part in a range of activities from rifle shooting and climbing to clay modelling and pedal karts. This was followed by Trading Post: teams were formed each with Scouts, Cubs and Beavers, and they had to complete a number of challenges. There was birthday party food for dinner, and a campfire in the evening.

Summer Camp (July/August 2002)
15 Scouts travelled to Lydney in the Forest of Dean for an excellent Summer Camp. Here are some extracts from the camp reports
Cycling weekend (October 2002)
Around 15 Scouts and their bikes returned to Ferny Crofts on the New Forest for a weekend of off-road cycling. The weather was good - in fact when we arrived it was too good: many of the fords we normally like to cycle through had dried up! We still managed to find plenty of mud and water on the Sunday morning though, so everyone enjoyed themselves!

Green Beret (Seniors) (November 2002)
A team of 6 Seniors entered the County's Green Beret competition again this year, and although they weren't officially placed due to being too old, they did very well coming around 40th overall. The highlight was the huge assault course (which takes around two hours to complete!)

Welwyn Garden City Night Exercise (Seniors) (December 2002)
From two teams of 4, a combination of illness and injury reduced us to one team of three - but those who did make it enjoyed the night hiking around the Hertfordshire countryside, completing incidents from string trails to combination locks.

2003

Gilwell Winter Camp (Seniors) (January 2003)
Five Senior Scouts, along with over 1000 from other Troops, braved the sub-zero conditions at this years Gilwell Winter Camp, where they took part in activities such as a flight simulator, climbing, abseiling, laser clay pigeon shooting, and particularly, giant pushball. In spite of the cold, everyone had a good time - and at least the freezing weather kept the usual Gilwell mud away!

Harpenden Gang Show (January 2003)
Four Scouts from the Troop were involved in this year's Gang Show, which lived up to its usual high standard - here is what one of them had to say about it.

Night Hike (March 2003)
A Group of Scouts took part in a night hike one Saturday night in March. Fortunately, the weather stayed dry, although there was plenty of mud underfoot! We did about 13km, starting and ending at the hut.

Spring Camp (May 2003)
The first proper camp of the year took place at Gilwell Park Campsite, the home of Scouting. 18 Scouts took part in activities including climbing, rifle shooting, archery and giant pushball, as well as wide games, a campfire, and some Scouting challenges. Full report...

Juniors' Camp (June 2003) (Juniors)
Juniors camp took place at Phasels Wood Campsite. Almost all the Junior Scouts in the Troop came, so it was a busy time for the leaders! Activities included climbing, archery, and the highlight, potholing, as well as games, orienteering, a campfire, and of course visits to the camp shop.

Summer Camp (July 2003)
Summer Camp this year took place at Peter Watson Campsite, Gradbach, in the Peak District. Although it rained every day of the camp, the 15 Scouts and the leaders still had a great time!

Seniors' Walking Trip (September 2003)
In September, three Scouts and two of our Young Leaders went to the Black Mountains in Wales for a weekend's walking. During the weekend, they climbed to the highest point in Herefordshire (which is on the border with Wales), as part of the District's Everest Gold Challenge.

Cycling Weekend (October 2003)
We again returned to Ferny Crofts in the New Forest for our cycling weekend. Unfortunately due to the dry Summer, the oportunities for getting wet and muddy were few, but everyone enjoyed themselves all the same, and we even had to extend our normal route on the Sunday.

Green Beret (November 2003)
Hertfordshire Scouts Green Beret competition was this year held at Phasels Wood. We entered a team of six Seniors, who took part is the Assault Course and the orienteering, as well as lots of the day and night challenges.

2004

Gilwell Winter Camp (January 2004)
Six of the Seniors and our three Young Leaders braved the weather at Gilwell Winter Camp this year. It wasn't as cold as last year, which was a mixed blessing as it meant it was much muddier. The activities on offer were excellent as usual, with dodgems and other fairground rides in addition to the usual selection of pushball, rifles, archery, simulator, laser games, climbing, computer games, crafts, and of course a disco and films in the evening.

Harpenden Gang Show (January 2004)
Six Scouts from 10th Harpenden joined Cubs, Scouts and Explorers from across the district for the 55th Harpenden Gang Show. This year's show was the best I have seen - and several other people who've seen a few more than me agreed! Well done to all those who took part.

PL's Training (March 2004)
In March, four of the PLs and APLs spent an afternoon learning some leadership skills to help them run their patrols, both on a Wednesday evening and on camp. Afterwards, they watched a video and slept over at the hut.

Spring Camp (May 2004)
The camping season proper started with Spring Camp. this year held at Chalfont Heights Scout Camp. Activities included climbing, archery, rifle shooting, pedal cycles, potholing, campfire, wide games, and challenges. The rain even stayed away - right until the final morning when we had to strike camp.

Seniors' Camp (May 2004)
A group of the Senior Scouts spent a weekend at Tolmers on their own, which they organised entirely themselves. They all seemed to enjoy themselves, although they were eating their dinner with kitchen utensils when I visitted them, having failed to take any cutlery!

Juniors' Camp (June 2004)
Tolmers was also the venue for Juniors' Camp, which was attended by almost all the Junior Scouts in the Troop! Activities included archery, rifle shooting and climbing as well as a chance to learn - and put to use - some camping skills.

Summer Camp (July 2004)
This year's Summer Camp took place at Buddens Campsite, near Wareham in Dorset. This was an excellent site, and activities included rafting, archery, rifle shooting on site, as well as climbing on the cliffs at Swanage, and a hike along the Purbeck coast. We also went swimming, had a beach party, and visited Swanage, in addition to wide games, sports, MasterChef and a campfire on site. Read the Camp reports here

Cycling Weekend (October 2004)
We returned to Ferny Crofts for our annual off-road cycling trip, staying in the excellent indoor accomodation there. After a wet Summer, there was plenty of water in the fords to play in, and we even seemed to escape with fewer punctures than in previous years.

Green Beret (November 2004)
A team of 5 Scouts took part in Hertfordshire Scouts annual Green Beret competition - which comprises a huge assault course, orienteering course, day and night challenges - and this year a fantastic fireworks display, in honour of the 21st anniversary of the event. Although the team wasn't highly placed, they greatly enjoyed it and are determined to compete again next year.