On a sunny afternoon at the end of May 8 Young People, accompanied by three committee members and one parent, gathered at Burrs Park Activity Centre in Bury for what turned out to be a very full afternoon. The plan was for everybody to do three activities; Archery, Kayaking and Orienteering. For the first two activities, Archery and Kayaking we split into two groups and went our separate ways. After a thorough safety briefing and an explanation on how to handle the bows and arrows (although some of the Young People were already well acquainted with this) Surprisingly the group I was with were not at all competitive and instead concentrated on improving their technique!
Taking Aim
The Archery and Kayaking groups then swapped places, again the staff were very meticulous in briefing the Young People and making sure they had all the right equipment – then it was into the pond. For those of us looking on in the hot sunshine the cool water looked very inviting, I’m not sure the participants would totally agree. After being shown the basics of paddling and turning the Kayaks, reinforced by a waterborne game of ‘hare and hounds,’ they were also shown the best way to splash each other. These latter skills were practiced with gusto.
The Launch
Row Row Row your Boat
Splish Splash
You don’t have to fall in to get soaked …………
………….but it helps
After this even more exotic skills were demonstrated such as standing in the kayak, walking across linked kayaks and ‘kissing’ the front.
Just paddling about is too easy
Everybody then changed into dry clothes (although there was still some squelching going on) for the final activity, Orienteering. Having been given a brief lesson on how to orientate the map and how to read it we set of to find the various way-points, however it being a warm afternoon and being surrounded by the beauty of Burrs Park it soon turned into a stroll around the grounds for most of us so when everyone met back at the rendezvous point not many of the teams had anywhere near the full complement of symbols. However everyone seemed to enjoy the change of pace from the more strenuous activities of earlier in the day. After thanking the instructors and saying goodbye, a process completely disrupted by the appearance of a puppy which claimed nearly everyone’s attention, we then ambled over to the nearby Brown Cow for dinner. As usual the Young People were impeccably behaved and after some excellent ‘pub grub’ it was time to say farewell and go our separate ways.
Special thanks should go to Karen who stepped in and sorted everything out enabling the day to go ahead and Tina at the Brown Cow who was so accommodating.
