Athlone Scouts host successful camp at Portlick
Forty young people, scouts and venture scouts plus ten leaders from Athlone’s 2nd Westmeath (St Mary’s) Scout Group had a very successful camp at a major Jamboree for Scouts and Venture Scouts held in Portlick Scout Campsite last weekend.
The camp, titled Province Camp North East 24 brought 400 young people and 100 adults together to experience camping and fun programme activities for three days in lovely weather. It was the first Jamboree for Scouts and Venture Scouts since before Covid run by the Scout Province North East and all were evidently keen to get camping together again.
The camp was formally opened by the Westmeath Rose of Tralee, the talented Grace O’Connor from Killucan. Escorted on to the stage by two scouts in uniform from Athlone, Poorvika Vimal Raj and Natalia Debastos, Grace was a scout and venture scout in her own group, 5th Westmeath, and her kind words and thoughts went down well with all the campers.
The theme of the camp was Hollywood Movies and the 400 scouts were divided into four sub camps each of 100 scouts or venture scouts and each sub camp was named after a film. Activities on camp were building rockets and firing them using compressed air, Pioneering, which is building gadgets like catapults and bridges using poles and rope, Water activities including kayaking, Orienteering and fun events.
Evenings were also packed with activities like disco, musical show and camp site quizzes. Sean Mimnagh, the Group Leader for 2nd Westmeath Scout Group said all the young people he encountered over the three day event were in great spirits and enjoyed meeting up with other young people of their age, sharing knowledge and experiences of scouting.
Many friendships were made and lots of neckerchief swapping, which is a tradition in scouting when groups meet up.
Sean would like to thank Declan Heaney and the Camp North East Team for organising the camp and John Butler and the management team for Portlick Scout Campsite for all their efforts in making people feel welcome.