best news of the week when he told us to stay
in our tents, eat something hot and wait for
teachers to come and help us pack up. The
morning exercises were cancelled because of
flooding, and with a sigh of relief we ate a hot
ration pack breakfast, or at least, the ones brave
enough to cook in the rain did; some people
preferred the drier option of hot chocolate and
biscuits in their sleeping bags!The trip to
Minehead was very much a treat for us weary
Chindits; hot showers, swimming at Butlins,
and then a very gratefully received trip to
MacDonald's! Going back to base camp was
mildly depressing, but then the night exercise
was cancelled, and we spent a very enjoyable
evening competing in a quiz, in which the NCOs
were soundly beaten by Yellow section!
After the 24-hour exercise, base camp felt very
luxurious, and so we all felt much more
optimistic, especially as it stopped raining! We
spent a morning drying out and doing a treasure
hunt, which meant I ran to Hawkridge and back
to find out who built the village hall, and
everybody else did equally interesting tasks! In
the afternoon we saved the life of a parachutist,
who we had to find on the moor, and then got
back to camp unseen by the enemy. That night
we did the eagerly anticipated Night Fright,
which was in pitch darkness. Some of the
sneakier Chindits managed to evade the awaiting
NCOs in the woods, but many of us were caught
with a lot screams ringing out in the night.
Utterly exhausted we went back to camp for hot
chocolate and a good night's sleep.
The weather meant that the next 24-hour
exercise was cancelled, but we did some
stalking with camouflage, ambushed Mr
Griffiths' minibus, and had a great time 'failing'
various initiative tests in the afternoon.
On the last morning we attacked the NCOs
defending Old Barrow Plantation, and used all
the skills we had learnt about stalking and
camouflage to earn some vital team points. In
the afternoon some daring Chindits went
swimming at Landacre, whereas those left
behind helped pack up. That night we had a
delicious BBQ and then each section did some
hilarious sketches, although the less said about
some, the better! That was followed by
prizegiving, but unfortunately Yellow section
didn't win! We all thanked Mr and Mrs Cole
and the other staff and NCOs for organising a
brilliant week of fun!
The next day we knocked down all the tents,
cleaned everything to get rid of the mud, and
did a litter sweep, organised by the NCOs.
After that we left the field empty, except for the
mud, leaving no sign of what had been the
wettest and most fun Chindit Camp ever!
Aluredian
27
… the wettest
and most fun
Chindit
Camp ever!