Shirley at camp with the Girl Guides

Shirley at camp with the Girl Guides

Our Patrol- Shirley and Ann first row on left
What a motley crew!!

In England, when I was young, one of the activities you could join was the Girl Guides , I think it's called the Girl Scouts in the USA. It was a fun thing to do. You got to play games , wear a uniform, learn to do all sorts of things that you didn't get taught in school and if there were some kind adults available, have a chance at going to camp sometime in the summer holiday.

Going to camp was not like going to camp as the kids do today.

You really went to basic camp. You had to pack your own kit, pitch your own ( huge) tent which you share with your patrol,and cook your own meals over a fire . Add to that you were only allowed to start the fire by collecting wood from the nearby land and then only allowed 2 matches to get the fire going. I still remember how to do this.

I remember a very special camping trip when we went to a place for about a week. Most of the week it rained. It was England after all. The tent pitchers were not well trained and the tent spent a lot of the time being blown down, leaking water and being repitched.( not sure if that's a word).

My best friend Ann and I were given the job of cooking a huge pot of cabbage. When we went to drain it over a waste area, the whole pot spilledand the cabbage fell into the pit. We got a fit of the giggles and ended up scooping the fallen cabbage back into the pot.What a mess! We daren't tell anyone. We felt sure we would be sent home in disgrace. We were certain someone would be ill from eating the cabbage.But it all ended okay. No one was worse the wear from eating the cabbage . Both Ann and I didn't choose to eat cabbage that night.

It still makes me smile just thinking about it.

Ah those were the days....