OxCAW11

1,000+ of us joined together in a wonderful weekend of activities camping at the World Heritage site of Blenheim Palace on the weekend of 13^th - 15^th May. Our backdrop was the Palace itself and those camping at the northern end of the site had that view to wake up to in the morning. It was spectacular.

The camp was based around the Challenge badges with the hope that many Cubs would be able to complete a variety of the activities and return to their leaders to have badge work confirmed. The Districts each took an area of the world and loosely based their activities on those areas. Each Cub had a "passport" that was marked to say they had

completed a particular part of a Challenge. The variety of challenges stretched from 1^st Aid with a Transylvanian theme to climbing a mountain. His Grace, The Duke of Marlborough, visited the camp on the Saturday morning and was very impressed by the activities the Cubs were taking part in.

"Free" time was built into the weekend as we were allowed to go anywhere on the estate with the exception of the Palace itself. Many Packs went to the Pleasure Gardens to try the various mazes and adventure playground and, so I've been told, to warm up in the Butterfly House.

On the Sunday the Cubs took part in a Shelterbox Challenge. The morning started with a Bring & Buy Sale and then the challenge began. The Cubs were seen racing around to find the boxes and work out the clues despite the fact that there was no sound heard until after 07.00 in the morning due to how tired they were from the Saturday activities. We have raised enough money to purchase 1 box and have money to put towards another one.

In the afternoon the Districts laid on entertainment relative to their area of the globe which resulted in Wallingford doing a Haka and Didcot Maypole dancing.

My thanks go to everyone involved with the weekend. Listening to the Cubs it seems to have been a great success.