SSAGO News

On the weekend of the 28th of February SSAGO headed back to Tawd Vale for spring rally 2025. Team Pink Rally opted for an old but new style of rally, where we were primarily on site, offering ranges of workshops, talks, and panels, on top of some classic camp activities! It was a fun and fresh switch up from what current SSAGO knows as a rally. This on-site style of rally is how rallies used to be done, so it was good fun to bring back a blast from the past!

 

On Thursday evening, most of the committee arrived on site, ready and raring to go with the set up! Marquees were erected, brakes orders arrived, merch was organised and handed out, and lots of printing and laminating was done. Committee settled down in the evening to some sainsburys pizzas, and fell asleep dreaming of pink flamingos and tutus, excited for the weekend ahead. 

We awoke Friday morning, ready to get stuck in with the rest of the set up before arrivals began! Check in was ready to go, with badges, wristbands and directions to the campsite. As participants began to arrive, dinner was served - a lovely warming veggie chilli served with wraps, rice, cheese, salsa, guacamole, and soured cream. This was followed by some strawberry angel delight for dessert. James and Katie, rally chair and secretary lead a pink themed quiz with ranges of rounds from general knowledge, to song lyrics to entertain us on the chilly Friday evening. The campfire was lit too, with some classic SSAGO campfire songs to accompany it. As the quiz came to a close, and the campfire died out, we made it back to our tents ready for a restful night's sleep before Saturday morning. 

We woke up Saturday morning to a warming cooked breakfast, with some exceptionally crispy hash browns! It was a great start to the morning before the classic opening ceremony, and activities for the day. Ranges of activities were offered throughout the morning from panel talks from experts in running local events, or international scouting, to mini bus safety talks, and a session on advocacy in scouting and guiding. A merchandise design workshop even took place, which prompted Bee, rally merchandise organiser, and SSAGO Quartermaster to reopen the shop project! Lunch on Saturday was a perfectly warming jacket potato, with some more warming chilli and the same condiments as Friday nights dinner. Lunch marked the start of our afternoon, which meant afternoon activities! We had some people out on site doing site service, orienteering, onsite activity packs, or simply taking the afternoon off. We also had some SSAGOers offsite doing pub crawls, hikes, and day trips to Southport. Alongside the classic all day/morning/afternoon activities, TPR offered some additional activities that were possible to take part in all across the weekend. These included the special TPR challenge badge, Rainbows and Squirrels badge packs, and the TPR escape room. As the day drew on, dinner was served again from the activity barn. We chowed down on some sausages, mash, vegetables, and gravy, which was followed by a dessert of custard and (the unforgettable) pink jelly. Evening activities kicked off with the all so important Ceilidh session, called amazingly by Rose and Nathan! We danced into the night wearing our pink fancy dress doing left hand stars and dosey doh’s. Drinks were flowing from our lovely bar, sponsored by Love Lane Brewery and manned by an amazing team of volunteers, who were dishing out pints and cocktails all evening. After the Ceilidh, the Saturday night disco commenced which was run by Aber! We boogied the night away to some classic SSAGO disco songs before we tucked up into bed before Sunday, and sadly the time to strike camp. 

Sunday morning came around faster than expected! We kicked off the day with another warm breakfast and crispy hash browns. Reps set the tone for a morning of SSAGO business, which was followed by the AGM. There were hosts of events to choose from, and plenty of exec candidates too. Committee was especially pleased to see a few who chose to run from the floor too! After what felt like a long long AGM, we moved over to the closing ceremony - yet another SSAGO formality. A group photo was taken, and final goodbyes were said, as clubs departed from the site. Committee were on site until late, finishing packdown and also making sure any unused food went to local food banks (or hungry site team, if not appropriate to donate). We then shuttled back to James’ flat and tucked into a delicious and hearty chinese take away - much needed after a long but unforgettable weekend!

As a member of Team Pink, I would like to extend my thanks to a few groups, and a few people. Firstly to those regular rally go-ers who stepped up and helped at any point over the weekend, it’s the people like you that make SSAGO such a cheerful and unique environment, and we recognise your help and truly appreciate it! I would also like to give a special thanks to Emmeline, for running the amazing bar we had access to through the evenings. As a member of TPR committee, I would like to thank the rest of Team Pink for being their usual helpful selves and helping where needed over the weekend, one again the help doesn’t go unnoticed. Of course a massive thank you to everyone for attending the rally, it’s amazing that we hosted an event for 200 people! And finally I want to thank the rest of the TPR committee. James, Katie, Ben, Bee, Alex, and Will. You were all phenomenal over the weekend, and the lead up. I feel like I have built up some strong friendships from both the fun and stress that comes out of running a rally. It has been an honour to work with you all.