0911 - Ventures - Casino Weekend
Venture Ballyhornan Weekend Nov 09
At the end of November, 9 ventures descended on Ballyhornan for the first county weekend of the scouting year. As with previous years everyone was split up into different groups so that they could interact with ventures from outside our own groups. The Friday night started with a games show night using game shows such as Catch Phrase, Family Fortunes, Never Mind the Buzzcocks and a mini ‘Night at the Races’ which proved to be very successful and kept us entertained long into the night.
Early on Saturday, everyone woke early so we could eat a hearty breakfast and make the most of the day for the main challenge of the weekend. The weather was fantastic, if a little cold, but the sun shone all day. The challenge was made out as a mini explorer belt style with a walk to and back from Ardglass with a range of tasks for the ventures to do along their trek to Ardglass and a set of tasks to do around Ardglass itself. The challenges ranged from finding out information on Ardglass, to completing a series of novelty tasks. Once we returned to Ballyhornan we had to make up a project and a slideshow on our day which was presented to everyone else before dinner.
That evening after dinner we had the main event of the weekend, the JamesBondCasino night. This proved to be the most entertaining part of the weekend for everyone. Throughout the night the leaders ran different casino games such as blackjack, taxes hold’m, roulette and other card games. The teams were given money based on how many points they had gained throughout the whole weekend. Around 1.00 the night finished and we hit the pillows hard.
The clean-up began on Sunday morning and after that everyone came together for a Venture forum. During the Forum a range of subjects were talked about, such ideas for events, ideal price ranges, national events, and feedback on the weekend. All of the ventures present expressed their views and it was a great exercise for both the ventures and the leaders. It was also agreed that two ventures from every group in the county will come together to discuss issues and upcoming events with a meeting early in the New Year, this will hopefully encourage ventures to take an active part in the running of county events . After this we had a mini presentation ceremony for the winning team which was Team Seb, just before we had lunch which consisted of roast beef and ham sandwiches.
Conclusion
Overall it was a great weekend despite and despite only 9 turning out from CARRYDUFF, those who turned up made new friends and had a good time. From the reactions of everyone else who was present, it would seem that the weekend was a great success.
A CARRYDUFF Venture Scout.