Goose Camp 2004 was different for me than for many of the other Scouts. Six weeks before it started, I fell and broke my left wrist, and ended up in plaster for the next five weeks. I then was told by the doctor that I had to avoid contact sports, or anything involving strain on that arm for at least another three or four weeks and after showing him the list of camp activities, he told me I would not be able to do many of them. This would cause problems for me as my choices had included climbing and canoeing, both of which were definitely unsuitable, as was the quad biking and rafting. I really wanted to go, but didn’t look forward to the possibility of being given activities I could not do, leaving me stuck at my tent for half the time.

I could not decide what to do, I wanted to go and do the things I could, enjoy the atmosphere, meet friends from other Troops as well as making new friends and, when I could, help the Troop and Leaders, but I didn't want to end up feeling I had spent a week of my summer holidays doing nothing. However, I decided to give it a go.

Once I arrived and received, my activity sheets I realised it would not be so bad; I had been given a lot of activities I could do, apart from canoeing, rafting and abseiling (which would put strain on my arm as I paddled). I had also met some people from some other Troops already.

The week's activities started with Global Development, which was informative and interesting, as we learnt about coping with disabilities, and the global Scout network. In the afternoon, I could not do much as power boating was unsuitable for my arm, as I would have to hold on very tight as we were going along. However, my Leader sent me back to Global Development, this time to help Michelle who was running it. I spent time helping out at some of the stands, then went to the drop-in zone, where I spent a while using the Diablo and playing various games, like pool, with Rupert, a Scout from a group near Winchester, who was also at drop-in that afternoon.

Most evenings, there was disco and I spent some time wandering around with the others from my Troop. Then we returned to our Troop’s area at about 9 o'clock and sat in our chairs. If the sky was clear, we lay back and watched the sky, there were a lot of meteors around, we saw five or six in the half hour or so we sat out each evening, whilst drinking hot chocolate and eating biscuits. We would then head to bed at about 10 and try to sleep.

Tuesday had looked like the worst day of the week, I had abseiling, then canoeing followed by rafting and archery, none of which I could do.

I went along to Abseiling to tell the instructor I couldn’t take part. However hearing why, he told me to stay and watch the first few people coming down. As I was right handed, that hand would do all the holding of the rope, I would just keep my left arm by my side. Not wanting to put my arm at any risk, I was not sure until I saw the first few coming down and realised that the only time I would need my left arm would be getting the harness on. I then had a try and after the first time, when I started off quite nervous, I remembered how easy it was, from four or five year ago with my old Cub Pack. I went down three times before my time was up. I then went to Canoeing and told the instructors that I could not take part and also told the Rafting Leader, who was right next to them that I would not be there later, to save me repeating the walk from the other end of the site. However, I stayed around for a little while to take a few pictures of Luke, another member of my Troop, rafting, with the camera he had brought. I returned to my tent and talked with the other Scouts who were waiting between activities. Later I helped the Leaders to prepare lunch, then checked all the pegs were secured and storm-lashed the tents, as the wind was expected to pick up over the next few hours.

The next day was one of the best of the camp; I had Sailing, which I had really looked forward to. We set off in the minibus, which was driven by our District Commissioner, Mike Downton, but to those from Ferndown Middle School, Mars Bar Man, as he would always give out mars bars when he visited the school as a governor. We arrived at Sandbanks and waited on the beach while the first six people went out. We played volleyball on the beach in the warm morning sun and when our turn came, we waded out to the little 8ft or so long catamarans and set off. I was lying at the front right of the boat, another was doing the same on the right, a third sat in the middle and the instructor sat at the back, steering the rudders. We began slowly but soon picked up speed in the strong wind, adding extra power with the jib sail. As we flew away from the shore, we skimmed over the waves; the bow would lift before diving down into the trough of the next wave, sending salty spray over all of us. We then turned across Poole Bay, switching the jib as we turned to catch the best wind, before heading back towards the shore. Then we did another circuit and swept parallel to the shore a few more times, passing the safety boat just a few metres away and watching orange buoys disappear beneath us as they slipped between the two hulls. When we finally returned to the shore, I knew I had done the right thing going to the camp, I had caught the sailing bug, and would love to sail again.

Following that, I had Clay Pigeon Shooting and Drop-in. At Drop-in, I made a mask of my face and a clay model as well as printing the Goose logo onto my Goose tee shirt. I enjoyed clay pigeon shooting and found that I was actually quite good at it, as it was my first go, scoring second highest in my group.

On Thursday, I had Mountain Biking, which again I had to miss, so I spent the morning helping to build the Bronze Age Roundhouse, adding wattle and daub to the walls of woven branches. That lunchtime George Purdy, the Chief Scout, turned up and we all went to the main field where he talked to us. Then I had the Camp Challenge in the afternoon. I enjoyed the activities, such as trying to guide a ball through a tube maze in the shortest time, although I had to give a few a miss.

The final morning was spent at the Drop-in, as I could not do Quad Biking, then in the afternoon I went walking near Tyneham, in the Purbecks. We started off from the car park, straight up a huge hill before a long, flat stretch along the ridge. I was walking with Rupert and we discussed what we had done on camp and what we had enjoyed. We were in the first bunch of people, and the Leader with us set off down a large hill, with us all close behind. As we reached the bottom the rest of the group came into sight at the top, we then had to struggle back up as the other Leader had decide to take a photo of us all on the ridge at Flower Barrow, as it was the last walk they would be doing. We then set off back down again, exhausted after climbing the hill. Finally, we reached the bottom, sat down on the rocks at the edge of the bay and watched the waves for a while before heading back to camp.

That evening was different to normal as we had a farewell speech from the Leaders in the evening, followed by a fireworks display and a disco.

We spent Saturday packing up the tent before going home. Thankfully, the sun was shining, it had been changeable all week with bright sun, enough to burn one of the younger Scouts in the Troop, followed by sudden burst of heavy rain, with thunder on one night.

Although to begin with, the odds of me getting activities I could do seemed stacked against me, but I decided to at least give it a try and I am now thankful I did as I thoroughly enjoyed myself and made several new friendships. Going with my arm as it was did limit the activities I could do but there were also others I learnt I could do which I would not have done otherwise, like helping with the roundhouse.