Rally
Ben Reed (B.T.D.Reed1@LOUGHBOROUGH.AC.UK)
Tue, 30 Nov 1993 16:50:05 GMT
Right, here it is at last, THE RALLY REPORT.
For those of you unaware of the goings on in the Student Scout and Guide
Organisation (SSAGO) in the UK, here's a taste of what you're missing.
12th - 14th of March was this term's SSAGO Rally, organised jointly by
Nottingham and Loughborough Scout and Guide clubs (NOGSS & SCOGUI).
It all began 2 terms ago when we were considering bidding for a rally in 1994,
when we both had letters from Pooh (SSAGO Chair at the time), telling us that
one of the Scottish Clubs had folded and thus they couldn't manage to run the
Autumn '93 Rally and could we help.
We both replied with nervous yes', unaware of exactly what we were letting
ourselves in for. We decided upon a campsite (Walesby Forest) near Worksop,
where, a couple of weeks later, NOGSS and SCOGUI met up to start the planning.
We decided that NOGSS would organise the cooking and the general admin (like
telling people where the rally was nice and early!!) and the wide game, while
SCOGUI would do the weekend activities, including Saturday afternoon, barn
dance and silly games. We went our seperate ways and got on with our individual
bits.
All went well for the remainder of the university year, apart from messages
being left here there and everywhere and never actually getting to the people
we were trying to contact.
Autumn term started, week 1 passed quietly and then the phone rang, and then it
rang again and again, in fact it didn't stop ringing for the next 5 weeks, day
or night, no matter what else was happening, someone, somewhere was slowly
going mad whilst trying to get in touch with the rest of the organisers who
were usually trying to get in touch with them.
But, despite the sweatshirts not being ordered until one week before the event,
despite the odd problems with cashflow (all fowed out before it flowed in!),
despite the continual hours spent on the phone to Nottingham, Birmingham,
Sandhurst, Walesby and countless other places, somehow the weekend arrived with
most of the committee still retaining the shreds of sanity.
The day before the rally, and a few people each from NOGSS and SCOGUI arrive at
the site to start the preparations for the following day. Up went the 1st
marquee (at the 3rd attempt, having tried to pull it up with a tractor which
failed miserably and ended with Andy buried under the marquee somewhere). Up
went the frame for the booking in tent (which wasn't even used in the end
because Martin said it was too cold!!).
Friday arrived, Andy and Ben and James had stayed at the site and were ready to
make an early start (Well 10am is early enough isn't it, we only had another
marquee to put up, the cover for the frame tent, road signs to put out,
lighting to put into the marquee(s), people to pick up from Loughborough as well
as more kit, and people wouldn't start arriving until 7.30pm, all should be fine
by then, or so we thought)
We finished the frame tent and then Andy went off to put the road signs up.
3 hours later Andy returned having done the job but also having been accused
of stealing the minibus and of kerb crawling by the police. Meanwhile there
wasn't nuch that could be done as we needed more people to finish the tents.
Time went by, we waited for Ruth to arrive from NOGSS with the food, more time
went by. Some more of the crew arrived and we started on the marquee, putting
it up by the light of 3 Tilley lamps. Andy arrived back from doing the signs and
was sent out again to pick someone up from Nottingham station because the NOGSS
bus still hadn't arrived with the food. Ruth finally arrived with the food and
things began to settle back down, panic was over, at leastthe weather was good,
we'd had sunshine all day.
7.30pm, the first people begin to arrive, and, the heavens opened. It absolutely
tipped it down from here on in. People arrived, a few at a time for several
hours and were sent to the bar (because the badge machine hadn't arrived yet).
Brum turned up with said machine and registration began with about 60
people at a time going to the storm hut to be registered by Martin and Martin
(Yes that did get confusing). Everyone arrived eventually, met old friends,
drank large volumes of alcohol and went to the camp fire before returning to the
bar for more beer etc. The last of the crew finally got to bed at 4.15am on
Saturday morning, ready for the 8am start (6am for those who were cooking).
235 people had arrived in total from as far afield as Glasgow an Exeter.
Saturday morning, wide game, organised by NOGSS. It was explained to me at one
stage but I didn't understand a word of it. It generally revolved around orgasms
and piglets from what I can remember. Several people returned afterwards with
huge smiles on their faces having given out in excess of 100 orgasms in about 2
hours. (For further explanation ask Mike at Nottingham 'cos I haven't got a clue
). Saturday lunchtime, make your own sandwiches and prepare for your afternoon
activities. The afternoon activities available were: Caving, Swimming, Fencing,
Juggling, Hiking, Horse riding, Archery, Rifle/pistol shooting, Town trail and
a few others.
Having finally got rid of everyone on some sort of activities (despite some
large cock-ups with the transport), all those who weren't cooking sat down for
a brief break from it all, whilst those who were cooking started to prepare
Chilli for 235 people and that's a LOT of chilli. The afternoon activities
went well although various bits of lost property are still sat in my room so if
anyone has lost anything at the rally or if anyone has found anything not
belonging to them, please contact me, my address and details will be at the end
of this posting.
Back to the Rally. Saturday night was the Barn Dance, a rally tradition and
featuring the traditional barn dance band The Old Triumph Band, at Cresswell
Social Centre (The only place big enough near Walesby to accomodate 235 people)
A superb night, I think everyone who was there will agree, with some very
'interesting' costumes. I should point out here that every rally has a theme.
We could not decide whether to have Robin Hood or Rocky Horror, so we had the
Rocky Hood rally, a sort or weird combination of the two which provided some
very imaginative costumes. After the barn dance we all returned to the camp site
for a camp fire, unfortunately it was once again throwing it down so this turned
into a sing song in one of the marquees instead (or so I am informed, I was
still at the barn dance venue waiting ot be picked up!). All in all a
brilliant evening.
Sunday was rememberance Sunday, giving Scout & Guide's own much more
significance.
Sunday afternoon was the obligatory Silly Games, mix porridge with your head,
slide down tables holding a cup of water, do the time warp whilst in a human
pyramid, have pillow fights, throw and catch jelly from plate to plate. These
are just a few of the things people did in an attempt to prove themselves the
silliest team on the rally.
A great time was had by all, organisers and visitors alike, meeting old friends
and making new ones. We all look forward to meeting again in Bristol next term.
I would also like to say a HUGE thank you to all those involved in organising
and running the weekend, Ruth and the kitchen staff(sorry, I can't
remember everyone's name), Martin, Martin, Mike, Neil, Heather, Simon, Andy,
Rose, Nigel, Lisa, Moose and all the others who helped.
That's all for now, and was a lot longer than I intended,
Ben Reed,
B.T.D.Reed1@student.lut.ac.uk or scogui@lut.ac.uk
Ben Reed
34 Gracedieu Road
Loughborough
Leicestershire
LE11 0QG
Tel: 0509 234494
Mike, Neili
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