Pretzel Baking

This November, 84s Universities Scouts and Guide Group (BUSAG) are co-hosting Oktoberfest rally for SSAGO. As such she decided that at the upcoming summer rally she would do some fundraising.

For this 84, decided that to keep on brand they shall make and sell pretzels so this afternoon she tested a recipe. I could not let 84 have all the fun so I decided to help her.

We decided to use the following recipe which can be found here and below is me helping her make them.

They were very tasty and I give them 4 out of 5 stars. I can’t wait for 84 to make them again so I can steal them to eat.

Oktoberfest Rally

Recently, me and some of my SSAGO friends have run a bid to host and run Oktoberfest rally next Autumn. As part of this we spoke in an EGM at Welsh Rally which I blogged about here!

Today we received the results and we won!!

The votes came down to 3 votes split between our winning bid and the following bid. I am looking forward to running this next year and will keep you updated with this event.

My First SSAGO Rally

After a kerfuffle with cancelled trains, I made it to Newport ready for my first ever national SSAGO camp. Luckily when I arrived on the campsite, our tents had been pre assembled due to the freshers arriving earlier with them. I unpacked before discovering dinner and then shortly the Quiz!!

En route to Rally ft. Blue the bear and Orinoco

Just as I settled into my tent, one of my tent buddies felt sick so we addressed this and got her to the first aid tent before heading to bed again. It was a very cold night and I was happy when I could wake up and grab a warm breakfast. However, luck was not on my side. When I reached the front of the queue, C and I got stopped as they needed to let those on the early coach through first (is it not there fault for waking up late?). When they finally let us go to the front of the queue they had ran out of beans and hashbrowns so we had a pity breakfast of bacon and eggs.

Saturday Morning Sunrise

After breakfast we grabbed our lunches before waiting for the coach. We nearly got a lift on a minibus to the coach however the minibuses clutch failed and we started rolling backwards. We then walked to the coaches to head into Cardiff.

During Saturday morning, I partook in the monopoly run. I was in a group with other SSAGO clubs and we ran around Cardiff. Cardiff was heaving with people due to the Tonga v. Wales rugby match happening later that day and we saw the Tonga coach arrive.

Orinoco in Cardiff

At lunch, we sat and I spoke to some of my Scouting friends from home which I did not know were in SSAGO. This was very nice to catch up with them and it included one of my Jamboree friends.

Amazing bread at St Fagans Outdoor Museum – 5/5 cheesy baps!!

After lunch, I booked onto the St Fagans Outdoor Museum. I fondly remember visiting here as a child and one of the houses had my nans old kitchen cupboards. I enjoyed exploring the museum and looking around the old buildings as well as hearing the stories behind them. As an afternoon snack, I bought a cheesy roll and it was gorgeous. I then visited a castle before catching the coach back to the campsite – I don’t remember this journey as I had a well deserved nap.

Blue the Bear in my Nans old kitchen

After arriving back at the campsite, we grabbed dinner before getting ready for the ceilidh (a highlight of any SSAGO camp). This was so so fun and the caller had been on Stacey and Gavin and worked with many cool clients. After the ceilidh, it was time for the silent disco before heading to bed after a midnight Welsh cake!

Sunday morning was a much better breakfast as I woke up early to head off to reps. Reps was full of all the SSAGO gossip news and election details. Following this was an EGM and I was running on behalf of the Oktoberfest rally committee. This would be held in Autumn 2023 and I had to speak and answer questions (see photo below of confident 84 in front of over 100 people!!).

Speaking in front of over 100 people (I am the one in grey!)

After EGM it was time to pack away before we caught the last minibus (due to 3 minibuses breaking down over the weekend) and headed back to Newport. Here we headed to spoons before catching the train back to Uni.

It was a really enjoyable first rally and I am already looking forward to Centenarally in March next year (hopefully we will have received our Rali Cymru merch before then though – edit 12.3.23 ‘we still have not received our Rali Cymru merch’).

I’m a SSAGOer get me out of here

This month, I have helped to plan and organise the Midlands Freshers Camp for SSAGO. On our small committee, I took on the role of being logistics and as such, I ensured we had enough equipment, helped here and there as well as create a timetable and ensured we kept to timings.

Friday evening rolled around and first I had to catch a train to Tile Hill with other BUSAG members – as I had a Friday late lecture 🙁 and would not be able to arrive early. As soon as we arrived, I got straight into helping, from annoying the kitchen staff to pitching tents to attending the quiz late to washing up. There was a small campfire before I headed to bed, ready for a long Saturday ahead + an early morning as I agreed to help make breakfast.

Sunrise on Saturday Morning

Saturday morning was an early rise, waking up at 6am, prepped to cook breakfast. After a well deserved cuppa (and watching the stunning sunrise), I started cracking eggs for eggy bread. Shortly, the campers started waking and breakfast was a go! It was one of the best camp breakfasts I have had in a long while.

After breakfast, I ran capture the flag. With a little bit of cheating here and there (I never said in the rules that I could not tell the opposing team where the other teams flag was hidden), we then stopped briefly for elevenses. Then, we had a mini firebuilding workshop before lunch.

Afternoon activities consisted of backwoods cooking or a rotation of an “eating challenge”, guess the object, free time and my base of the “elephant/monkey game”. It was a very fun afternoon before the rain came in. I then went on a campsite explore before heading back for a gorgeous dinner of dhal, rice and naan.

Dinner + Orinoco

After dinner, we had a campfire. Due to it raining, it started off quite small as we created two smaller fires before combining them together once more of the wood had dried. We sung songs before many retired to bed. I agreed to stay up and watch the campfire die out (which meant I did not have to be on breakfast cooking duty Sunday morning). A few other SSAGO member stayed with me watching the fire and it was nice chatting and making new friends. We talked into the early hours of Sunday morning before deciding that we would head off (as the campfire was just now embers and ensured they were cooler). As soon as we reached back to camp, it started raining again which was typical.

Saturday Evening Campfire

Sunday morning was a later start where I ate breakfast before, visiting the amazing campsite shop. It was then time to dismantle camp and tidy the hut we had been using. We had a lovely leftovers lunch before walking back to the train station to return back to Uni.

It was a very rewarding camp, and I thoroughly enjoyed being behind the scenes this one time.

New friend

Howdy Blue here,

Recently 84 has got a new mascot (don’t worry, I am not being replaced yet!!) from BUSAG (Birmingham Universities Scout and Guides). It’s called Orinoco, after the Wombles and 84 has him due to being on the 2022-23 committee as publicity officer. I hope to become good friends with Orinoco and I am planning on interviewing him soon.

See you soon, Blue