Page 106 - IT'S A RUM LIFE BOOK TWO "BOSTON 1960 TO 1970"

The leaders located to one side and the tent Ruth and I were to
use was even further away, close to the First aid tent.
The site we had chosen was South facing and completely
surrounded by woodland. Our tent was down hill of all the
others on a field with a quite acute slope. This became a
distinct disadvantage on the second day of camp when the rain
started.
Each Patrol had their own camp area and individual
cooking arrangements using open wood fires.
The “duty patrol” each day worked the main cooking area
and provided the leaders with their food using a larger
traditional open wood fire incorporating the usual hand-made
camp gadgets. The boys rather liked having a lady in camp and
“fought” for the honour of taking Ruth breakfast in bed!
Their culinary aptitude was most varied, some days she
had wood omelette perhaps on another day it would be smoky
flavoured bacon and egg.
The rain began on Monday; unpleasant and persistent and
sometimes really heavy. The main fire had a cooking shelter
but even so, due to the distance the food had to come down the
field to our tent; each morning, Ruth’s breakfast was virtually
afloat.
On Tuesday, the second day of the rain, the first aid tent
sank, its poles slowly tilting and the main canvas folding over
drunkenly on to its side. Fortunately, no one was ill and in
residence, but this did not give Ruth or myself much
confidence in our own location.
When planning the camp we had decided to keep the bus
with us to use for two excursions. Whatever happened to the
driver or where he slept I just cannot remember.
As it turned out, as the rain continued to pour relentlessly
each day, we went on more excursions than originally planned.
We could not have the boys sat in soaking tents on soaking
groundsheets all day. It was their holiday as well as ours and
they had saved up all year for this major annual event.

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