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Camping is special
Every year in the summer holidays,. Central Barnet Woodcraft Folk holds a ten day camp.
In the past few years we have camped on beautiful sites in Dorset, the Lake District, Sussex and the Gower - all overlooking beautiful beaches.
We go swimming in the sea and to the beach, on hikes, and exciting 'Bivvies' where you sleep under the stars and cook all your own food on a little stove. We take part in simulation games, and many other adventures.
Every four years an International Camp is held in the UK. We host sister organisations from all over the world. International Camp is both an exciting and a great way to meet other young people from all over the globe.


  
Camping
We have a large Summer camp and occasional weekend camps at Moat Mount.
Moat mount Outdoor Centre & Campsite www.moatmount.co.uk/

We usually have our big camps on farmland. We run water pipes for drinking water and washing.
We prefer to use soil toilets on camp as they don't involve using loads of chemicals. Properly maintained they certainly smell a lot less than chemical toilets and the waste breaks down rapidly to enrich the farmer's land.
  
Camping photo's on Flickr
 
Youth Hostel Trips    
Occasionally the groups go on trips to Youth Hostels. The Hostels are usually reached by walking from train stations (and back a day or so later). We go self-catering as this not only reduces the cost but also means we all do the cooking and washing up. A novel experience for some.
Hostelling photo's on Flickr
 
Sustainability
'Tower of Power' is an ongoing project to discover what you can do on camp on a field to provide hot water and electricity using existing energy sources. We usually use a cooking fire at large camps to cook pasta and potatoes etc. With 100 people to feed and hot water needed for washing up afterwards a log fire is superb. Gravity-fed hot water systems have been in use for a long time, all that was needed was a way to replace the boiler - so a simple heat-exchanger was built. The rest of the system is mainly found items. The Eco Park is a project to convert a long-disused part of an allotment in to an area where young people can discover about growing things and also learning construction using locally grown or found materials.
  
Sustainability and Eco stuff photo's on Flickr



 

Our marquee

(note the recycled milk containers used at shin protectors and for visual warning on metal tent stakes)

  
 

We have recently replaced our marquee which was an ancient ex-MOD one.
(So old it could have seen service in the Crimea)

Our new one is made by Belle Tents and incorporates more modern technology.
The main departure is that the ridge poles have been replaced with heavy-duty webbing that is incorporated in to the tent panels.
The webbing also replaces a lot of the external guy ropes.

The changes also mean a change in how the marquee is erected.
Traditionally the old one was laid out flat on one side, panels laced together, ropes attatched and pulled up.
This meant not only a large number of people to pull it up and to hold it in place while the top guy ropes were pegged out but also the possibility of the whole thing acting like a giant kite.

The new marquee is laid out and laced up but the webbing is joined together using heavy shackles and D rings.
The webbing now takes mostof the load instead of ropes and eyelets, distributing the load over a wider area and reducing the chance of rips along lines of tension. The webbing also replaces the main guy ropes that ran frm the top of the marquee.
Now, instead of putting the top up first, the circumference of the marquee is set out and pegged out leaving the roof still on the ground. Now it only takes a couple of people to locate the main poles in the roof and set the poles to vertical. No top ropes are required and no hanging on to children as they bravely try to hold down huge a kite.

The marquee design is modular, sections can be added or take out to suit the number of people using it.

Instead of needing a lot of hands to erect the marquee it has been done with only four people. When it was delivered just two people set it up to demonstrate how simple it can be (once you know how it works).

for more info.