Last weekend, all the explorer units in Braintree district came together to celebrate Christmas with a sleepover at Belchamps Scout Activity Centre in Hockley. It was a very festive affair, with Christmas music playing and fun and laughter galore!

The leadership team arrived early to get the turkey in the oven and prep all the veg ready for our full Christmas dinner in the evening. The explorers then arrived at 5pm dressed to impress in their formal clothes and were greeted by a drinks reception before sitting down for a full Christmas dinner with all the trimmings. Pudding then followed with the option of either Christmas Pudding  or Yule Log.

After dinner finished, and everyone on hand to wash up and tidy up the hall we then all changed into some more comfortable clothes before the fun and games began. We had a secret santa present giving where the Explorers were randomly given playing cards which meant that they had the ability to switch gifts with other Explorers until eventually everyone had a present to unwrap and enjoy!

After the Christmas presents, the Explorers had free time to socialise and play games before eventually putting on a film (The Lego Batman Movie) and heading to bed at around 2am.

The next morning, with lots of tired Explorers, it most certainly wasn’t an early start – the Explorers eventually rose to have breakfast of a bacon roll in front of the fire before the tidying began. We got the kitchen cleaned, hall cleared and swept and dorm rooms cleared of rubbish, hoovered and cleaned before then being picked up by parents at midday.