evac camp - great success - 01-06-2010
Didcot Scouts get a taste of wartime life
SCOUTS took a trip back in time during a mock evacuation and weekend of wartime experiences.
About 75 Cubs, Scouts and Explorers from Didcot boarded a heritage train on the Cholsey & Wallingford Railway, as their parents waved goodbye.
The idea was to recreate a wartime evacuation, where the children, aged between eight and 16, experienced living with strict rations during the 1940s.
Accompanied by about 50 leaders, parents and veterans, they were taken to a campsite at Hithercroft Sports Park, in Wallingford.
Between Saturday and yesterday, the Scouts ate wartime-inspired meals, played old-fashioned games and sang around a campfire.
Di Chesterman, district camp co-ordinator, said: “We have tried to create a look and feel so that the whole campsite is a replica site.
“Anyone who makes a moan or a groan was met with the catchphrase of ‘there is a war on, you know’ and they came to accept that you do have to share.
“Hopefully they have learnt what the war was really like.
“Modern day children are quite spoilt and aren’t able to entertain themselves in the same way. There were no computer games on site. It was very much about making their own entertainment – telling jokes and playing board games.
“Hopefully this has set them in good stead for when they are at home.”
The campsite was made up of old-fashioned tents and had a memory lane area where the children could look at gas masks, medals and other wartime artefacts.
They met veterans from the Royal British Legion, along with former evacuees, and had a sing-along with residents of Westgate House Nursing Home, in Wallingford.
All meals were cooked over an open fire and children potted up plants for a vegetable patch.
They took part in activities such as bombing the Mohne Dam with bouncing bombs, sailing a flotilla of ramshackle boats, building 20 Anderson shelters and parachuting teddies behind enemy lines.
The Bank Holiday weekend culminated in a victory party.
Ms Chesterman added: “We felt this was historically a good time to do it.
“A lot of young people are interested in growing their own food and making do and mending.
“That’s not a new idea and what we wanted to do was to turn it on its head. During wartime they made do and mended and we linked the two together by carrying out the war activities.”
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