MAD Weekend

This weekend just gone saw MAD 2010 take place at Kingston Ridge. It was the second time that we have hosted MAD and this time was just as much fun as the first. The weather was fantastic and our new and improved facilities were well received.

We were ready just in time for the mass arrival on Friday evening when some 250 Network bodies turned up. The weather was hot and sunny which meant that we could get on with uninterrupted fun.

For background info, check out the MAD website at http://mad.essexscouts.org.uk. In due course they will have pictures and all that stuff available. In the meantime, here are a few  pictures that I took. I will add more as I get them.

On behalf of the Service Crew I would like to thank MAD organisers and attendees for a really good weekend. Very tiring but loads of fun.

The climbing tower in action. Note the clear blue sky behind - it was so hot on both days that many people were simply frazzled.

Note the new feature on the front of the tower.

Loads of stuff all going on at the same time.

It is a mean overhang but it can be done.

MAD lads making use of our new archery range.

Fencing in the Sports field. This was a very popular activity.

Lots of activities for people to take part in.

I was told the name of this activity but promptly forgot it. A game of tag, very popular in India I am told.

Mikey getting ready for a go on our new zip wire.

Mikey being helped up the ladder by Luke.

Please click here to see a short movie of the zip wire in action. About 1.3Mb download.

Geronimo - a leap to certain death and a really exciting ride down the wire.

Shooting and Archery Range Development.

Work has continued with the installation of the new fences around the re-arranged ranges. The posts and rails have been installed and we expect to have the fence boards installed sometime over the next few days.

Digging the holes for the fence posts has been hard work. Many of the holes were adjacent to trees with the result that roots were in the way and had to be cut away.

There is still a lot of work to do but we expect to have the ranges in a serviceable condition in time for our District Camp.

posted 6/5/10

New Zip Wire.

The new zip wire is now ready for service. It was tried out by a Group from Southend camping at Kingston Ridge last weekend.

We had several reasons for wanting to change the old setup. This was largely due to the difficulty we had with setting up and putting away. It took a lot of manpower and time. The new setup should be a lot quicker and easier.

From the users perspective, we have a permanent launch platform that is higher, bigger and more stable than the one we used before. The length of the run has been increased. All of this makes for a more exciting experience for the zipper.

As usual, pictures will be available in due course.

posted 6/5/10

Battle at Kinsgston Ridge Campsite.

Britannia Re-enactment Society recently held a practice weekend at our campsite. Dramatic battle scenes were witnessed on our Sports Field. However, we are pleased to advise that hardly anyone was killed.

posted 20/4/10

New Gates

The new gates at the second entrance to the campsite have now been installed.

Andy, Colin and Clive did the bulk of the work installing the new gates with some assistance from Dave the Explorer and myself.

Although to be brutally honest, I am not sure that they would have done so well without my expert advice and guidance.

Andy welding on the locking mechanism.

Colin and Clive closing the finished gates.

They just need to be painted. The gates, not Colin and Clive.

posted 20/4/10

2010 season preparations.

The refurbishment of the 'old' toilet block is almost completed. It has been cleaned up and repainted. New storage cupboards for cleaning materials etc have been built. Cables have been installed for electric hand dryers, shaver points and extractor fans. Now that the painting is finished, these items will be installed very soon.

A new gents urinal is planned for the 'new' toilet block. Similar to the existing arrangement.

Progress on the development of the ranges has been slower than hoped, primarily due to the soggy weather over the winter. We have contingency plans to enable the activities to continue whatever the state of  progress with the development.


New chestnut paling fencing has been installed along the front boundary of the campsite and the new gates for the 2nd entrance have been delivered but not yet installed. So for the time being, the main entrance is the only functional entrance. Before the new gates are fitted we have to deal with the drainage pipe that the ditch flows through under the bridge to the 2nd entrance. It has partially collapsed.

Planting of trees and shrubs around the boundary continues with the plants kindly provided by the Woodland Trust. This work will be finished later this month as part of the activities at the campsite as a part of the St George's Day celebrations.

The new zip wire platform is installed, although the handrail and access facilities are not. The new anchor point for the wire is ready. So we still expect this facility to be ready in time for the camping season.

As soon as Spring is properly here, I will update all of the pictures of the campsite to reflect the improvements that we have made since last summer.

Don't forget that we have a users comments page for anyone that wishes to make any comments or suggestions for Kingston Ridge.

posted 7/4/10

New Developments Continued

A lot of work has continued despite the wet and cold weather.

The new platform, that will form the relocated start point for the mega zip wire, is virtually finished. It is planned that this will also be the start of the high wire treetop walk in due course. Like the climbing tower, this is a monster of a zip wire, not for the faint hearted! However, for those of a more nervous disposition, we have a mini zip wire so no-one need be left out of the zip wire experience.

Work progresses on the re-arrangement of the shooting ranges. We needed a longer range for the archery and the simplest way to achieve this was to swap the shooting and archery ranges over, but this still entails a lot of work. The undergrowth has been cleared to make space for the longer archery range and relocated waiting area.

All of the above should be ready for the new season.

The new area for the woodpile is ready for service, although the screening trees have not yet grown to the operational size.

Plans are well advanced for a nursery area for young trees prior to replanting around the site when big enough. Trees and shrubs have been ordered to be planted along the hedge lines to restore those hedges that have declined over recent years. This will improve both the appearance and security of the site.

Finally, as promised, here are some pictures of the new entrance track.

New Track from main gate into main field

New track from main gate into the family field

New track into family field

posted 4/1/10

New Developments.

During the last extended work weekend (Wednesday - Sunday for some of the crew) saw a lot of work being done.

The major project completed was to get the new track installed from the main gate around to the drive up from the second gate with extensions up to both the main and family field gates. We hired in a man with a digger to do most of the heavy work of digging out the track and then filling it with crushed concrete. Colin and Judith then spent a fair bit of time driving the roller backwards and forwards flattening it out. For some reason the roller seemed more effective when Colin was in the driving seat.
Be that as it may, it is now possible to get onto the site without getting bogged down in wet weather. As a bonus, the spoil dug out from the track now forms a new 12' mountain that doubtless will prove popular with the users of the site.

Our site maintenance store was cleared out and refitted at long last. One of those jobs that has been on the list for years but never got done. We chucked out a pile of redundant and broken stuff, sorted out racks and shelves. Put up new storage facilities and installed a work bench and some lights. This should make the working conditions for the wardens a lot more comfortable.

The new activity equipment store is also very near to completion.

Work also started on the new platform for the repositioned zip wire start. This is quite a structure and when complete will provide a start  point for the zip wire and also our  planned high wire activity. The new ground anchor point for the zip wire was also installed. Over the coming weeks this will be progressed and we fully expect it to be ready for the 2010 season.

Refurbishment work on the 'old' toilet block continues, almost ready for a new coat of paint.

Summer Holidays at Kingston Ridge.

A small group of the Service Crew decided, for various reasons, to spend as much of the summer holidays as possible camping at Kingston Ridge. In fact we achieved what I believe to be the longest session of camping ever for the site. We had, if I got this right, 42 days of occupancy. My family and I, along with Clive, JC and Judith were there for most of that time with other members of the crew dropping in from time to time. In fact Clive is our most camped member this year having clocked up some 98 nights so far this year. He will probably hit 100 nights before the end of September.

One of the benefits of spending such a long time at the campsite was that we had time to get into tune with the place. Usually we go there for a specific purpose, attend to whatever it is we have to do and then leave again. So we were able to witness a young Robin growing up - he was so bold that he would hop around amongst our feet as we sat in the sunshine. We also saw the breeding pair of Green Woodpeckers bringing up their youngster.

Watching the night sky one evening, we noticed a faint object tracking across overhead. Enquiries with Russell, our tame Astronomer, proved this to be a satellite of some description. We were able to watch this and others on a number of occasions. There was also the oportunity to observe Jupiter in the southern sky and with a telescope or binoculars we could see the 4 major moons orbiting the planet. That was the first time that I have knowingly seen our astromonical next door neighbour but one. In the early morning we could also clearly see Venus in the East. It also became a bit of a competition as to who could see the most shooting stars - Steph won that one.

During the holidays we had visits from two groups (West Horndon and Stanford) you will have to excuse the hazy details here as I was working nights over that weekend.

A first for us was a sleepover for 1st Laindon Guides. The girls tried their hands at Archery and took advantage of our newly guide-qualified climbing instructors and spent a morning climbing and abseiling on our tower.

We also had a visit from a Scout Leader from Cumbria.

Whilst we had some rain - mostly at the beginning of the holiday, and some cold days - towards the end of the holiday. For the most part the weather was lovely. When the time came to pack up and leave - for all of us it was with an air of regret at having to leave.

posted 3/9/09

Picture Problems.

Please accept our apology if you have experienced difficulty with some of the pictures posted on the News and Facilities pages of this website in recent days.

This was, I believe, caused when we experienced a glitch during the publish process whilst updating the website. However, the problem appears to have been resolved now and all of the pictures displayed correctly when tested recently.

Thanks to all of my readers for your patience and understanding.

posted 17/7/09

Virtual Tour.

For those wanting to take a walk around the site without having to go to the trouble of going there, this page will enable them to do just that. Be warned that it includes a lot of pictures so if you have a slow internet connection you could be in for a hard time. However, for everyone else, I hope that it is informative and useful.

Remember that we have a users comments page for anyone who feels that they wish to make any observations or suggestions. We prefer good comments but if there are any problems or errors then we want to hear about those too.

Posted 30/6/09

MAD weekend.

Recently MAD weekend took  place at Kingston Ridge. With some 260 campers on site engaging in some fairly manic activities along with some quality time chatting and chilling out, it was a fantastic weekend. The weather was somewhat iffy to start with on Friday but the rest of the weekend was great.

 I will expand this report when I get a few minutes spare... Watch this space.

When I get hold of the pics and flicks taken over the weekend I will post some here, meantime follow this link to see the pictures posted on the Essex Scout Network website:

http://www.essexscouts.org.uk/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=104308

Shooting Range and boundary fence.

At our last workday the prime focus was to extend the security fencing past the shooting range which then allows us to complete the safety screen behind the targets. This extension is just to protect against stray shots and is to provide belt and braces protection. However, we feel that it is necessary to do this and we apologise to our regulars who found the range out of service on that day. We were able to offer archery by setting up a temporary range on the Sports Field.

Grass cutting and other general maintenance work also undertaken to keep the standard of appearance of the site at a high level.

Instructor Training

Climbing. Our climbing instructors have been undergoing extra training recently to enable them to upgrade their qualifications for the supervision of activities on the climbing tower. They have also received training to accommodate the requirements of the Guide Association. Therefore, we are delighted to announce that we have more instructors fully equipped to supervise all aspects of tower usage for the Scouts and also that they are now able to do the same for the Guides.

So come on girls, come and try our climbing tower!

Shooting.  We have also undergone a training and assessment session for air rifle shooting and are happy to announce that we have significantly increased the number of shooting instructors that we have available to us. This will take some of the load off of our 'old' instructors.

posted 2/6/09

St Georges Day.

This year the St Georges day event and promise renewal for Basildon Scouts took place at Kingston Ridge Campsite. All sections marched to the site from gathering points in either Laindon or Basildon.

It was a lovely, warm sunny day. Perfect for the occasion. After the ceremony our DC introduced the re-enactment society who in turn gave a short talk on the history of St George and his significance to the English and the sort of weapons and fight tactics employed during his time. It was then the turn of the traditional dance group to provide a demonstration of the dance that the kids would be attempting later.

The kids were then invited to take part in the various activities provided. The re-enactment group gave demonstrations and let the kids try on various items of armour. The dance group took group of kids and led them through the dance, there was the opportunity to make helmets and shields, jousting techniques to practice, sword fighting and lots more besides. Everyone had a really good time.

Please check our new pictures page for more pictures of the event.

Users Comments Page.

We have added a Users Comments page to this website. If you want to provide some feedback, say how wonderful the campsite and the service crew is or have a grumble about something, this is the place to do it. Very easy to use, just select the page and click on the 'sign our guestbook' link.

Virtual Tour.

Watch out for the virtual tour page. Via a series of pictures and related commentary, this will take you on a virtual tour of the Campsite. It is planned to show some of the flora and fauna to be found locally on this page.

New developments.

We have made some changes to the Adventure Playground. Last year the trees that supported the scramble net activity had to be felled and so we have moved that activity to another adjacent location. Currently it has a dare-devils only status but we will be adding and easy-peasy option.

Also moved is the mini-zip wire. This now fits in better with the general layout and is a little longer than previously.

New is a 6' scramble wall (about 1.8m). This is a vertical wall that you have to negotiate.

Also new is our wobbly bridge. Two spans of wobbly poles to cross. So far this seems to be a big hit with those that have tried it. A few finishing touches to these new items before they are fully ready but we expect that this will be attended to very soon.

See facilities page for pictures.

The shooting range has had a make-over. The old safety nets have been removed and a solid timber wall has been installed.

We have similar plans for the archery range but it will be a little while before that gets done. We had been promised a donation of timber that was to be used for this purpose but unfortunately that fell through.

The lower bridge across the ditch between the main and family fields is now virtually complete - it is usable.

The minor problem that developed with the generator last year has now been resolved.

Our grass cutter has been fitted with a tow bar and has been pressed into service as a tractor pulling the site trailer and that has made a lot of the heavy work a lot easier. You have no idea how hard it is shoving a wheelbarrow full of concrete up that slope.

Archery at Kingston Ridge

We now have a team of fully qualified archery instructors at Kingston Ridge. Whilst we have some very basic archery equipment available for use now, we expect to take delivery of some new equipment in the very near future. Watch this space.

Ladies Day 2009

Our Ladies day event is scheduled for the 6th of June this year.

The event will raise money for equipment and facilities at the campsite. It will be a lot of fun for all the family. The ticket price includes your evening meal and refreshments but please bring your own beer or wine.

To download a word document copy of the advertising flyer please click here and for the food order sheet please click here, meantime if you want to see how last years event worked, please click here for a short video of the occasion.

To order tickets or for any queries about the event, please call Colin on 07801 785 052.

Developments continued.

Work on the campsite continues despite the weather.

In the run-up to Christmas a lot of new trees were planted. Some to provide screening and some to create new hedges/boundaries.

Work on the lower bridge into the family field has been put on hold during the freezing weather but this will be completed in time for the 09 season.

What started as an exercise to create a bit of storage space expanded to create a new path between fields and ended up creating a new camping/activity area out of an overgrown area. We are quite excited by this as it will be (when we have finished) a great patrol/backwoods area. Picture available on facilities page.

We have a new storage container, donated by 9th Basildon. Now in its final position and work progresses with repairs to make it weather tight.

During the autumn we had the good fortune to receive a number of donations aligned with the opportunity to purchase a grass cutting machine. This means that we will now be able to cut the grass when we need it cut rather than when we could afford to have it cut, which was often the case in the not too recent past. This means that the quality of the camping areas will be improved this year.

Sword of the Kings

This was a night event extraveganza. A trilogy spread over 3 years, with the final installment last weekend, finishing at Kingston Ridge.

Please see the BEAST page for more details and pictures.

Developments at the Campsite.

Quite a lot has been going on since my last news posting. I will give you a quick summary now and will pop some pics in when I get them organised.

Our main gate has been replaced. We had a problem with the old gate in that it was difficult for larger vehicles to negotiate the tight turn at the entrance. The gates have been set back a little from the lane and are wider. This gives the bigger vehicles a better angle to get onto the site. We hope that we can complete the fence replacement program along our boundary with the lane very soon.

Still in progress is the replacement of the lower bridge across the ditch into the family field. This bridge suffered somewhat with delivery trucks crossing it and so we have completely removed the old bridge. The ditch has been excavated to be somewhat deeper to accommodate the new pipe to go under the bridge and most of the bridge foundation work has been excavated. The next big push on this will be our next workday.

Our new containers have been positioned in their final locations and have been pressed into service already. Some refurbishment and adaptation work is still to be completed.

The car park area at the second site entrance is now in a usable state.

A lot of this work has been made possible, with grateful thanks, due to several significant donations that we have received from various organisations.

Leaders Day - a chance for Leaders to use the equipment.

We have noticed that the Leaders never seem to get the chance to use the equipment and facilities when Scout Camps are in progress. So to remedy that we thought that we would have an open house for Leaders only (plus their families) so that they can have a go.

Last weekend we set up the climbing tower (and crate stacking), the shooting and archery ranges, the zip wire and backwoods cooking. Those Leaders that could arrived on Friday evening whilst the rest arrived on Saturday. Whilst we had a little rain on Saturday morning the rest of the day was really nice, sunny without being too hot.

To download a movie clip of the above activities click on the above links.

	Climbing the tower.
	Crate Stacking.
	This was our highest stack at the weekend. Can you do better?
	At the shooting range.
	Preparing the BBQ.

Ladies Day - A day at the Races!

'Horses' at Kingston Ridge for our annual Ladies Day event. This is our version of the Ascot Races!

Given the unfavourable weather that we have been experiencing lately we were somewhat concerned that we would be washed out but fortune smiled upon us and the day stayed dry and fine. We had a good crowd of people turn out for the day, all dressed to the nines in their finery.

We all had a really good time and we raised a fair bit of money towards the development of the campsite. With a few lucky individuals walking away with bulging pockets.

Basildon District Camp at Kingston Ridge.

Another great event with a lot of fun had by all. Well done to the organisers. As usual, the weather could have been better but despite the cool conditions is was mostly dry and did not stop us from doing any of the planned activities.

Here are a selection of pictures taken at the weekend. Click on the link for a full sized version of the picture if you want to see any of them in more detail.

	Crawling under the scramble net.
	Climbing over the wall.
	Pioneering.
	Using one of the pioneering projects.
	Rope ladder crawl.
	And finally, here is the BEAST chairman, Steve, hard at it after a long day.

4th Billericay  aloft -  investing at a high level.

Aerial Investitures - 4th Billericay Scout Group spent the Bank Holiday weekend with us and two of their Scouts were invested on our leap of faith platform at sunset on the climbing tower. This is becoming a very popular and exciting way to be invested.

We have a short movie clip of this investiture. HOWEVER, please note that I recorded this on my phone and held it at the wrong angle and the film transferred onto the pc sideways. I have not been able to find the means to flip it upright - if anyone has any bright ideas about how I might achieve this, please let me know. The file size is around 5.4Mb. Click here to view it.

Campers endure Arctic conditions.

Over the winter months we have been busy working on the site to prepare it for the coming season. It has been hard work, but we are now seeing the benefits.

We decided a while back that it might be fun - given the mild weather recently - to spend a long weekend to continue working on some of the bigger jobs and to have fun. Well, as you might have guessed, the weather changed and whilst we had a bit of fun, the work was somewhat hampered by the weather.

Here are a few pics taken during the weekend...

Our mid-winter camp at Easter

The climbing tower, stowed and covered in snow.

A view across the family field

Building an igloo

the igloo nearing completion

some of the service crew taking shelter in the crew kitchen

We all survived sleeping out during the coldest night of the year and the youngsters really enjoyed the snow whilst it lasted.

Centenery Camp - hundreds of children at Kingston Ridge.

Our most recent event was our Centenary Camp. The number of visitors to the site varied day by day but on our busiest day it was approaching 200.

We had Scouts from our local district there for the whole week, Cubs for 4 days and day visits from our Beavers.

Amongst the activities laid on for the youngsters was the use of the climbing tower, our zip wire, adventure playground, backwoods cooking and camping, 'it's a knockout', sailing and rafting and the craft tent. One of the star activities for the weekend was the giant jigsaw picture of BP. Every scout present had the opportunity to paint one 'piece' of the puzzle. At the end of the week it was assembled and left on display. A seriously impressive piece of artwork. Watch out for a picture soon.

Although the weather was not very kind to us it was mostly dry and we all had a great time. Well done to the organisers for a really good job.

International Camping Weekend at Kingston Ridge.

We recently had the enormous pleasure of hosting a party of Scouts from Czechoslovakia, Poland and Italy. They stayed at our site for a couple of days and have already booked for a longer stay in the future. Those of the crew that were able to camp with them had a great time. We will publish more details and photos in the near future.

The movie clip, filmed by our Clive, is of the International Campfire and shows the Polish Scouts tradition of respect for the campfire. Click here to see the movie. File size is 2.3Mb.

Another of Clive's movies - this is a brief glimpse of the Ankle Tap Dance. Click here to see the movie.

Click here to see Clive's movie of the 'manic watusi dance' as performed by our Canadian visitor.

Development of Kingston Ridge infrastructure and facilities.

Work is progressing on the site infrastructure. The climbing tower is now all but finished. It is now fully functional and has been deployed at our recent Centenary camp. It has also had a boom added to facilitate extra activities such as Jacob's ladder and rope ladder climbing. The service crew have been trained and assessed in their role as climbing instructors.

The new showers have been used for the first time, albeit with temporary partitions. It is great to be able to have a hot shower at the end of a long hard day.

Work progresses on the second toilet block. We are also considering the provision of a laundry cubicle.

Climbing tower being hoisted into position.