It’s always interesting to get the opportunity to work somewhere new, and today I had the chance to spend the day at The Great Escape. This is a company based in south Shropshire which offers a range of activities on it’s site at Bicton (near Clun) in and around woodland and nearby water features.
Today they had a group from Prestfelde School in Shrewsbury visiting for the day. Having done various bits of work with Prestfelde in the past, it was nice to see a few familiar faces. There were two main focuses to the day. One was to get the children working together through a series of team challenges and, perhaps more importantly, to give the the chance to enjoy being outdoors and have fun doing some of the things that many kids don’t seem to experience these days.
Having collected a big pile of fire wood to keep the camp fire going for the day, we split into three groups to tackle a few team tasks. For the benefit of those that might have the chance to enjoy The Great Escape for themselves, I wouldn’t want to give too much away. However, my group got off to a slow start on the Tyre Gap, before starting to pull together for the Spider’s Web. The Gutter and Ball exercise was nearly ‘in the bag’, when a slight slip in concentration sent us back to the start, but the guys stuck at it and triumphant in the end.
Next came a fire building exercise. With time specifically given for collecting fire wood, my team did ever so well to gather three substantial piles of different sided bits of fuel for the fire as well as some awesome tinder. This effort served us well as our fire outperformed the other teams, much to the delight of the group.
The lunch break included an opportunity for the kids to explore the woods and attempt to dam the stream. However, the water of the stream proved too tempting for some that simply couldn’t resist the urge for a quick dip. Great fun, but a bit chilly!
Having dries off a bit, it was time for another couple of team tasks. The Den Building was always going to be a popular option for 10 year old kids. The only drawback was that they would probably have preferred to spend longer to build a complete fort! My team were amazing in the Mine Field where, once again, they outclassed the other groups. Unfortunately, the River Crossing wasn’t such a success. Too much talking and not enough listening slowed us down, but everyone managed to make it safely to the far side in the end.
Having been feeding the camp fire with fuel all day, it seemed only right to make good use of it. So out came the Marshmallows for an fantastic way to end the day. I certainly had a lot of fun today at The Great Escape, and I’m pretty sure the kids did too by the smiling faces.
