Edinburgh
Woodcraft Folk

Highlights of 2004

Scotmid support the Dumbryden Silver Swans with a gratefully received £500 donation. This group has been suported in the past through OOSHLA funding, but this grant finished at the end of February.

Edinburgh Woodcraft AGM was held at the Sheeps Heid on the 5th March from 7.15 pm to 8 pm. The Pioneers have a skittles tourney at 6 pm and the Venturesr, DFs and adults played at the end of the meeting. A successful and fun evening was had by all!

Another vist to Dunolly house is planned on the 26th March. This is now full fully booked.

Edinburgh Woodcraft submit application to John Watsons Trust to supplement their activities fund for the Silver Swans and were awarded a grant of £240

The Southside Pioneers and some parents went to Towford on the 28 th April. A good weekend was had by all!

Edinburgh Woodcraft Annual May Camp
Held over the traditional Victoria weekend on the 14th-17th May, the camp was blessed with 3 days of sun and fun. Set in the rolling hills of the Borders, Yair campsite is a forestry commission campsite open to youth organisations. It provides the basics for camping with the added bonus of a stream and some mixed woodland. This year, the seventh in a row, saw 16 Elfins, 6 Pioneers, 8 Venturers and 21 adults, enjoying walks on a Saturday, singing round the campfire, arts and crafts with a lot of water fun on the Sunday and wide games on the Monday. This was helped by the sun shining all weekend! The theme of the camp was Oceans to coincide with the World Environment Day "Wanted Seas and Oceans - Dead or Alive" (http://www.unep.org/wed/2004/) which is on the 5th June - the same day as the Meadows Festival. This theme shall be continued at the Woodcraft Tent at the Meadows Festival.
Many thanks to the adults and volunteers for providing the arts and crafts and helping to make this camp happen. From the feedback round the campfire circle on Sunday night it sounded as if the young people (and adults) had a fairly enjoyable time.

A BBQ for all the groups was held at Yellowcraigs on the 25th June and over 100 people came WOW!. A brief interlude of sunshine between the rain!

The Scottish Forum met at New Lanark on the weekend of 2nd - 4th July. International Co-op day was celebrated on the Sunday with crafts and games on the lawn. Unfortunately the heavy rain meant that it was a hard task breaking camp and getting all the gear back to Edinburgh to dry!

The DFs and Venturers went to Achmelvich near Lochinver in the far NW of Scotland to work on an organic farm for a week on the 15th July. Despite the variable weather they were able to try their hand at weeding, fishing and peat stacking as well as swimming and bivvying on the beach. Further information to follow!

Edinburgh Woodcraft Summer Camp was held at Middlefield Farm in Glen Clova from the 31st July to 7th August. Thanks to the sterling efforts of a small advance party the camp got off to a flying start with swimming in the river and games all day on the Sunday. Unfortunatley after that the mists came in and never left until Friday and because so much rain had fallen overnight there was no more swimming to be done in the river. However after a walk aling the ridge to the Airlie Memorial Tower the camp were all able to go swimming in Kirriemuir on the Wednesday. Thanks to the farmer who towed all our stuff up the hill on Saturday this made breaking camp a relatively easy task. The camp was as usual enjoyed by everyone who came nad thanks to the DFs and Venturers who ran the activities this year.