Log book entries from Glip's log
​
December 1984 Glenkin Christmas Camp
Leaders: Glip and Tommy Boag
Scouts: Craig Lapsley, Mark Sinclair, Stuart Dalrymple (Merry), Jonathan Ryan, Kevin Millar, Colin Beaton, Richard Barclay (Gandalf), Ross Gillespie (Rosco), Andrew Millar, Douglas MacCrorie (Jobby)
Report
Friday
As a break from tradition, the Christmas feast was thrown open to all Scouts interested, and was also to be held in Glen Kin instead of Ardentinny. The experiment was not successful and almost ended in tragedy.
We went over on the Friday and had a formal dinner in full Scout uniform, which I believe Kenny came over to cook for us. After the clear up, there was a selection of board games to play – Formula One, Risk, and Careers. So far so good.
Late on in the evening, we decided to play ‘Sardines’, where one Scout went to hide. The others would then seek him out then cram into the same hiding place with him until the last person person to find the hiding place was deemed the loser. This was proving a spectacular success until somebody decided to hide on the roof. There was a window leading to a fire escape and it was a simple matter to get onto the roof from there. Before long, a posse of Scouts started collecting on the roof. The leaders had just cottoned on to what was happening and were going up to the roof to call a halt when there was a loud sliding noise and a thump, followed by an alarmed cry of “Mark’s fallen!”
Mark ended up lying face down in a ditch, not moving, and it was necessary to move him sufficiently to tell if he was breathing. At that point, he came round, severely dazed. He was able to answer questions and he was checked over. Finding nothing obvious, we carried him carefully into the house while Tommy phoned for an ambulance.
Inside, Mark was checked again more carefully, and there was no obvious sign of injury. However, he was clearly suffering from concussion and could not remember anything. He kept asking the same questions over and over again, listening to the answers with a vacant expression and immediately forgetting them.
The ambulance people came in good time, checked Mark over again, then took him away. There was a sense of shock throughout the group and so we sent everyone off to bed. The talking went on quite late.
Saturday
While Tommy took everyone on a grass sledging expedition, Glip went into Dunoon to visit Mark and to see how he was. He was sitting up in bed looking OK but he still had no memory of what had happened or even of the games played that night. The hospital had decided to keep him in for the rest of the weekend for observation. Mrs Sinclair and Laura (Mark's sister) were also there and were very understanding about the accident.
Back at GlenKin, the feast and the party went ahead during Saturday evening, and everyone enjoyed themselves thoroughly.
​
Sunday
The clear up proved a bit of a trial, with some Scouts not really pulling their weight. On the other hand, Jonathan Ryan proved very good throughout the weekend. On the way home, we visited Mark to give him some tapes as a present to make up for his accident.
​
In hindsight, Glen Kin proved a bit too big with too many distractions. For example, it was difficult to keep everyone together at times as there was a barn and a cottage.
​