Leader Skills Weekend
Despite an overcast morning sky, leaders from all over Essex were up early in preparation for the first day of the 2025 Leader Skills Weekend, which promised volunteers young and old the opportunity to learn new skills.
With bases including basic/advanced backwards cooking, hammocks, small pioneering and axe-throwing, there was plenty to get involved with. Advanced backwards cooking saw leaders prepare wild game, with the aim to bring these newly learnt skills back to their own Scout troops, as Tom Cameron from 1st Wivenhoe explained.
Scouts Leaders learning pioneering and knotting skills.
“We’re doing advanced backwards [cooking], which involves the preparation of wild game to try and encourage leaders to bring wild game and the idea of survival skills and using ethical foods […] to their Scout unit, so that they can see where their food comes from.
“I’ve done this quite a long time, both with kids in Wivenhoe and many others, and we find it something that kids are really fascinated by, to go all the way from the field to the plate, or the river to the plate.”
For those with weaker stomachs, there was plenty else to be getting on with. Small pioneering gave leaders opportunity to learn essential knots and their application in different circumstances, and the hammock base taught groups the merits of open-air camping and how to carry out hammock camps in their own Scout units.
All interests were catered for, with axe-throwing another base leaders could hone their skills on. Whilst not an official course, it acted as a taster for leaders looking to gain certification for axe-throwing in the future, as Becky Chaplin of 1st Rayleigh Target Sports team articulated.
Learning Tomahawk throwing in a safe environment.
“We’re giving the participants of the course this weekend an opportunity to try Angel and Norse hawk throwing.
“I think this, what we’re doing here, gives them the opportunity to see how a range is set up, how to actually throw and if they like it, then they can come and do one of the proper development courses, and then they can run the activity themselves.”
Most importantly though, as Becky explained, ‘participants seem to be enjoying it very much!’
Backwoods cooking food preparation
That enjoyment entwined with the development of new and existing skills is what makes the annual Leader Skills Weekend so valuable for new and old leaders alike. As well as a great camp for development of your role as a volunteer in Scouting, it is a great place to meet old friends and make new ones – and let’s be honest, who doesn’t love a stonking great fire like we had on Saturday night?!