Easter Camp

Oh yes, I was going to write about Easter Camp.  This was the annual camp organised by the Red Ravens, in fact it was the Ravens' 10th anniversary - well done chaps. The venue for the camp was the Makahika Outdoor Centre near Levin. It has a large hall with bunkrooms off the sides, and all the usual kitchen and ablution facilities that one tends to expect at the these places, and a big mostly-flat grass area that provided plenty of room for both a combat arena and tents.  Not being equipped for camping, Sarah and I slept in one of the bunkrooms - warm and comfortable but annoyingly close to both the late-night and early-morning conversations that take place in the hall (and that's my worst criticism of the whole weekend). The rest of my friends set up a "period" encampment near the entrance to the hall, complete with fire pit for cooking.  Colin made some very successful bread, Janine cooked assorted other things, and (Graeme?) made some rather nice Ippocras. We met some people from the Broken Barrow Inn including Paul, Danny and Wade who cooked the feast for Sunday night, and Ginny who made the subtleties.  I helped out in the kitchen, which was my very first experience of a feast from the other side of the operation, and I have to say I rather enjoyed the experience. Many fun and amusing things happened, most of which come into the category of "you had to be there".