Away from home: Catriona’s #MyNCS24 diary
Written by Catriona (she/her), who went on an NCS Live It away from home experience in July 2024.
6 min read
From the moment I arrived at the pick up point, I was greeted by smiling volunteers who made me feel instantly comfortable. I plucked up the courage to talk to some of the other young people around, introducing ourselves and discussing holidays and interests on the journey to Cauldecotte.
Day one
At the camp, after being sorted into a group and tent, I sat and relaxed in the shade with my newly introduced tent companions, then at three o’clock, the fun began!
We were led over to the lake for raft building and I had the opportunity to act as group leader and guide my group in constructing a float from plastic barrels, wooden logs and rope. At the end, we all jumped off the small pier and ended up drenched through!.
After a soggy walk back and quick dry off, we headed over to the huge climbing structure to attempt the "Jacob's Ladder". It was brilliant fun! Although we didn't make it to the top, it was a wonderful ice breaker as it plunged us into helping one another up the obstacle, — sometimes, literally pulling each other up!
At the end, we snapped a group photo in the sun to commemorate the moment ☀️
Group bonding activities
After the afternoon's busy activities, I was hungry for dinner (chicken burritos and apple crumble 😋), which I ate up on the hill overlooking the tents with my friends from the coach.
It was lovely to have made such good friends so quickly as I had come alone and didn't know anyone before the camp. We played piggy in the middle as the sun began to set, and then, the bouncy castles were inflated! It was fantastic to be able to run about like a small child, racing along the inflatable obstacle course, rolling around in the orb and laughing until my sides ached and I couldn't get up off the floor.
At 10pm, everyone headed to bed, washing quickly in the chilly showers and brushing our teeth in small clusters of people. I was glad to fall into my warm sleeping bag, fill in my diary and drop off quickly, full of excitement for the next day.
Day two
The sun shone in through the tent, waking us gently on Tuesday morning. After eating breakfast up on the hill, my team met at our first activity of the day: the leap of faith.
I went first, feeling like a red panda as I clambered up the tall post. At the top, the wind made the tower shake but I took a deep breath and grabbed the bar before dropping down to the floor.
Next, climbing; I loved scaling the wall and I climbed as quickly as I could, keeping in the shade because the weather was so hot.
Lunch (tomato pasta, fruit, and a chocolate bar) was a welcome break in the day and an additional chance to socialise.
How to work as a team
Our final activities of the day were team building canoeing, during which we were supposed to locate tags around the lake (but were largely unsuccessfully), therefore we had fun, standing up to row and battling our group's other boat with our splashing! I jumped in the lake again and swam back to the shore, which was awesome 😎
Team building was a series of group puzzles, which challenged us significantly and were a somewhat tough end to the day but we powered through.
To conclude the afternoon, we had "team time"- a period for group reflection and praise to recognise the contributions of others and brief for the following day.
I ate dinner on the hill again, catching up with my coach friends (in different groups) and finished the evening with more orbing and as much bouncing as I could before slipping into bed for another night 🌃
Day three
By Wednesday I began to feel fully at home on NCS. The morning began with smoothie making, an exercise aiming to teach us the basics of marketing and healthy eating. My group devised a smoothie with the selling point of being "banana free" and having a tropical island feel; I worked on the written planning for our final presentation, while the more artistic members of our group designed the colourful poster 🍹
Life skills for teens
Following that, we had the talk "democracy matters" educating us on the purpose of voting and structure of parliament, which I found fascinating after the recent election. We were encouraged to complete tasks like deciding where we thought the government ranked various issues including the environment, diversity, transport, and economy among other things. And then we had to decide where we ranked them for ourselves and consider our personal priorities.
After lunch which was first aid, which was incredibly useful and something I had been interested in increasing my knowledge of for a while, so I was very glad to learn it. We were shown CPR, outlining the DR ABC method, and how to take over CPR from someone else before working in small groups to talk over various medical scenarios, act them out and decide how we would deal with each situation if we were to face it.
Team building and free time
The final activity of the day was team building. We played:
- Musical chairs,
- Fruit salad, and
- A game which involved moving between numbered lines, a bit like Simon says.
During team time, we nominated one another to receive an award and our team leader Erina made the final decision on who should receive it 🏅
In our evening free time, I took a walk around the camp in a small shaded forest area and called my brother to catch up. I decided to make use of my time in the dinner queue too, making notes of everyone's dietary requirements and preferences in preparation for the cooking challenge the following day.
Game play
After dinner, we played "wave games" - all eight teams competing in Olympic based activities like:
- Football, and
- A speed under-over race with a beach ball
My group came third!
Before curfew, I learnt a new card game called "Rummy", which I was pretty terrible at so no beginner’s luck 😅
Finally, I returned to my tent after a quick wash and settled down to write my diary before snuggling cosily into my sleeping bag 😴
Day four
The lake on Thursday morning was absolutely stunning! 🌅 I wokeup early and headed to the main marquee to play cards with some new Rummy friends and we played Old Maid, Sevens, and Pontoon.
The day's activities began by planning our menu for the cooking challenge, followed by a walk to the shops by the lake, and a hasty cooking session in order to have the food ready for lunch. Unfortunately, I found the challenge...challenging.
The cooking challenge
Despite my careful attempt to plan, we didn't manage to budget properly and the recipes were somewhat uncoordinated, — and all deep-fried. Sadly, our starter (mozzarella sticks) melted as they weren't frozen before cooking, but our main course was decent.
My vegetarian meat tasted quite rubbery and many of the noodles went to waste as they weren't properly portioned before cooking. Our doughnuts (which I helped to cook) were dense, while the chocolate covered strawberries didn't set as the chocolate wasn't tempered. I tried to make a peach ice cream with some leftover vanilla ice cream and tinned peaches but it didn't set and was also left unwanted. It was a bit of a disappointment but a good lesson to us all about planning and communication.
The importance of mental health
In the afternoon, we received a mental health talk and each person was given a fidget chain to fiddle with and keep afterwards. Mine was yellow and brown, - like a giraffe, - and I love it! The talk taught me so much about taking care of myself and my wellbeing and I liked that we had the opportunity to ask more personal questions privately at the end of the session.
Making fashion out of rubbish
That evening was the bin bag fashion show! Each group was given a bin bag per member and came up with a performance concept. Our group decided on a mock reality TV show to find the "father" of a baby.
Our group was first on the catwalk: the "mother" walked out; the "host" joined them and then one by one the "fathers" walked on and introduced themselves (some super tall sitting on each other’s shoulders, some road men).
I was dressed in a bin bag suit and said "evidence shows there is a 99.9% chance that the child is mine".
Then, the "mother" went into labour and out rolled two "babies" in bin bag nappies and the father was revealed. It was all very silly and I had a great time participating as well as watching other people's performances.
To wrap up the evening, we were allowed a later bedtime by half an hour and the marquee was set up for a disco. Many of us headed up onto the hill and rolled down a final time until we were thoroughly dizzy. I sat and talked with all my friends until it was time to get ready for bed. It was the perfect end to a wonderful week. I slept well that night 🌃
Day five
Parting is such sweet sorrow. On Friday morning, I packed up my bag and said goodbye to my tent buddies, friends, and fellow team members, playing some final card games before heading off. I took some final photos: with friends and of the little crab claw I found at the lake and had to leave for someone else to find.
Luggage was sorted into piles for individual coaches and pick up points, then I attended a talk for those living in Oxford about further NCS opportunities. Then, I said my thank yous and goodbyes before grabbing some lunch and catching a taxi to the station.
Looking back on the way back
I reflected on my week:
- How I had challenged myself to try new things,
- Met some amazing new friends, and
- How sad I was to be leaving.
But I know now that the end of the week does not have to be the end of the NCS journey.
I was thankful to have had such an exciting opportunity and something to talk about when I go back to school in September — it was a truly wonderful experience and I can't recommend it enough. Thank you, NCS!
Find out more about NCS experiences
Catriona is right, just because you’ve done an away from home experience, it doesn’t mean your NCS journey has to end! We have loads of different ways to keep growing your strengths, meeting new people, and boosting your confidence; in your local community and online. Check them out and see what’s right for you today!
