Our first training weekend was at Blacklands Farm in West Sussex.  We all arrived on a wet and windy night right at the beginning of the New Year excited to see each other again and ready to get planning. 

Our first dinner of the weekend was pizza followed by some games and activities before bed.  The next morning we were up bright and early ready for our busy day, we got right ahead with the planning and discussions, working out our badge design, and beginning to decide challenges for our challenge badge.

  

After lunch we decided to take part in one of the activities Blacklands offered – Archery. We all had great fun firing the arrows at the target and playing some amusing games. Soon however, it was time to get back to doing some work, we agreed a team charter and decided who would take on the team roles such as photographer, uniform, or culture, to name a few.

Dinner that evening was a delicious African stew with irio (mashed potato, peas and sweetcorn) and a plantain dish. This was scrumptious and went down very well with the whole team, which is a good sign.

The following day we further discussed the challenge badge, and looked into uniform and kit. We even had time to test out some of our challenges – carrying cups of water on our heads from one end of the room to the other, and making musical instruments from paper plates. 

 

The rest of the day was spent completing our very own Pre-Kenyan Challenge which was great fun. We were sent off round the centre with the task of taking photos of a list of items. These included a duck, something silver, a safari animal, a new friend and a Kenyan flag made from natural materials. 

Soon, it was time to reflect on how the weekend had gone and talk about what would happen at our next training weekend. This weekend definitely flew by and lots of progress was made for our trip preparations. We all had great fun and are certainly looking forward to what the next weekend holds later in the year.