I had been selected to be part of a joint unit containing 9 from my county and a further 27 from another county.
I was dropped off early Saturday morning to drive for 1 1/2 hours up north. I quickly made friends with the other 7 (1 decided not to come as they had a previous commitment) on the journey.
1 1/2 hours later we arrived and ‘invaded’ the meeting containing the other 27 and their parents.
Once the meeting was finished, all 35 of us went into another room to learn each others names and learn a little bit about each other. We then got split into different groups and each drew a badge and necker design and came up with a team name.
Our team name won and so did some of our necker design. Our team name became Double Blue which somehow managed to rhyme with our unit number.
Before tea we burnt off our energy by playing ‘netball’ which when playing it with lots of boys became more of a contact sport. For tea, we cooked chicken tortillas in groups.
After tea they made us go on a short walk to watch the Christmas lights being turned on, in a nearby town, to find out that we missed them and had walked for 90 minutes to see them. We then got a chance to explore before it was time to walk back in the dark. We were rewarded for our efforts with cake and custard, a personal favourite of mine.
In the evening we were supposed to have watched a movie but the system was not working. So instead everyone decided it would be an ‘amazing’ idea to have a mini party.
Lights out were at midnight but you will not be surprised to hear that everyone was still awake long after this.