Camps, Activities & Kit

As often as possible!  We try to make sure that everyone has the option to attend at least one “nights away” event per year, and we aim to run more events if we can.  As you move up through the sections you will get the chance to go on more and longer camps!

The cost of camp varies as it depends on where we’re going and what we’re doing.  We’ll be sure to let you know the cost well in advance.

If you’d like to come on camp but you’re concerned about the cost, then please speak to your leader in confidence – we don’t want the cost of activities to be barrier to people taking part.
We have enjoyed many international camps over the years including trips to Denmark, Sweden and Holland for exchange camps or International Jamborees. These are more expensive, but we do try to drive the cost down through a number of fundraising activities.

Some examples of the fundraising activities and how you can offer assistance with these can be seen on our fundraising page.

We go to a number of different places for camps and activities, most places are only accessible by car.  If needed we’ll provide directions as part of the activity information.  However, when able, we will use a coach or minibuses.

Specific forms and letters can be downloaded from your section’s page in the ‘section information’ area of the website.  General permission forms and kit lists can be downloaded from https://www.2ndrenfrewtrinityscoutgroup.org.uk/useful-information

This’ll depend on what we’re doing, and when and where we’re doing it!  We’ll let you know what you need for a specific camp or activity in plenty of time before we go. If you’re looking for a general guide there are generic kit lists for camping, walking and water activities available from the Useful Information page.

Please don’t bring your latest designer clothes and shoes for camps or activities, your parents won’t appreciate them coming back covered in mud or full of holes from the camp fire!

If you’re a Scout who likes getting wet and muddy then please bring extra changes of clothes on top of the kit list!

Short answer – yes!  Our kit lists are based on many years of experience of running activities and camps. We know that warm, dry Scouts tend to be happy Scouts who’ll enjoy their activities and get the most out of their adventure, and our kit lists are based on this!
If you have questions about specific items of kit or the amount of kit required in general, then please speak to the leader in charge of the activity.

Generally we, or the activity organiser will provide any specialist or safety equipment needed for an activity (for example helmets for climbing activities). If you need to bring anything other than personal clothing – we’ll tell you.

If you’re thinking about buying new kit, please speak to your leaders – we’re always happy to give you advice based on our experiences (and we’d much rather you asked than buy something that isn’t going to do the job).

We’re working on some handy guides to choosing (and looking after) the most important bits of kit that you’ll need as a Scout, and we’ll hopefully have them uploaded to the website soon!

Any good outdoors shop should be able to help kit you out.  Make sure you ask the staff for help and advice, particularly with buying things like boots.

Some retail outlets offer a discount for uniformed youth organisations. It’s worth asking about discounts for Scouts wherever you go, but these shops will definitely give discount on full-price items if you take your Group neckie with you:

• Go Outdoors
• Scout Shop
• Decathlon

Unfortunately not – The Scout Association does not provide insurance for personal effects, equipment or clothing.

In general we don’t allow electronic gadgets at Scouting activities – we hope you’ll be too busy having fun to want to use them! (Plus, wet/muddy Scouting activities tend to be bad news for expensive technology and we don’t provide insurance for personal items.)

That said, if you want to bring a camera to capture some of the excitement that’s normally OK – but please remember to look after it and have some personal details on it.

If you’re a Beaver or a Cub then we’re sorry but the answer’s no!  (But we might bring knives for you to use under supervision if it’s appropriate.)

For Scouts, if we have trained you how to use knives safely then you may bring a pen knife. We recommend a good quality Swiss Army style knife or a fixed-blade sheath knife, though remember shorter blades are generally more useful. If in doubt about the suitability of the knife please ask.

Your knife should be packed in your main kit bag for travelling and it should stay in your kit bag unless you’ve been told you can use it.  There may be some camps where we ask you not to bring knives or to hand them to a leader for safekeeping – please follow these instructions.

Warning: Bringing your own knife to camp and using it is a privilege. We trust you to be sensible with knives and to use them in the way we teach you.  Knives will be banned from camp if Scouts break the rules we set or start to misuse their knives.

If you have more specific questions, ask a Leader.

We will tell you what food you need to bring – if any.

For a one-day activity you will normally need to bring a packed lunch, drink, and possibly some snacks.  On camps, we normally provide all of your meals.  (Although, we might ask you to bring a packed lunch or tea so you’ve got something to eat on the first day whilst we’re travelling or setting up camp.)

Camp food is good, it might not be Michelin Star cooking but its normally pretty tasty and there’s plenty of it.  The menu varies from camp to camp but a typical menu for a weekend camp might look like this:

If you have particular dietary requirements (allergies, vegetarians, religious requirements) – please talk to your leader.  In some cases we might ask your parents to help us identify products that you can eat or, potentially, to provide an alternative meal.

If you’re sometimes a slightly fussy eater – don’t panic – a lot of our Scouts have found that the magic of camp cooking turns a food they thought they didn’t like into something they really enjoy!  You’ll also come across some things on our menus that you might not have had before (e.g. eggy bread or camp doughnuts) – give them a go, you’ll probably find you like them!

However, if there is something that you know you really, really, really can’t/won’t eat – please ask your parents to talk to your leader beforehand.

There’re three main reasons for this rule (it isn’t because we’re trying to be mean):

Firstly, we promise we’ll feed you! So by the time you go to bed you shouldn’t be hungry, and once you’re in bed we want you to go to sleep so you’re ready for the next day – not stay up and make yourself sick eating sweets and crisps.

Secondly, accidents happen – food and drink gets spilled (or people can eat too much and …) and it’s not nice if it’s your sleeping bag that gets soaked in sticky coke at bed time. (Plus left-over food and drink might attract some unwelcome tent-mates in the night!)

Finally – we try to look after our equipment so it’s in good condition ready for our next camp, in the past we’ve had to throw tents away because spilt sweets and crisps weren’t cleaned up and turned the tent mouldy in storage.

We’ll have to discuss this with you and your adults, but in general we can work with most medical conditions.  There may be some higher risk activities where you might be limited in what you can do, but we’ll try to make sure that you can do as much as possible.

No!  We’re used to managing regular medication on camps and at activities. From insulin injections to antibiotics, and from pain killers to inhalers we’ve seen most things, but please talk to us before camp about your medication and what we need to do. We can deal with medication that has to be stored cold.

When you come on camp, please make sure your medication has your name on it and is handed to a leader at the start of camp with instructions for administration (when, how and how much).

Don’t worry – you’re not alone, however we generally find that once you get to camp there’s so much going on that you won’t have time to get homesick!

Occasionally some Scouts do get homesick (and they’re in good company, some of our leaders were homesick when they were Scouts), normally keeping busy and then a good night’s sleep is all you need and you’ll be rearing to go the next morning.

We try to discourage phoning home as this normally makes the homesickness worse.  For similar reasons, parents, please don’t try to ring the camp or drop-in unless it’s a real emergency – enjoy the peace and quiet while it lasts!

This can be a concern but it doesn’t mean that you can’t come on camp.  Please speak to your leader before camp; if necessary we can make sure there’s somewhere private you can get changed if there is an accident, and we can look after a spare sleeping bag for you.  We’d also recommend packing some extra pyjamas or changes of clothes.

Yes!  We’d love you to come and help.

However, all adults present at an overnight event must have completed a Disclosure PVG check for  Scouting – please look at the Safety & child protection pages for more information.