It’s been a hot minute since we last hosted a national training day for Royal Ranger leaders, so that’s exactly what we decided to do. We put out the call to outposts across the UK and waited for the sign ups to come flooding in. While they signed up, we planned and prepared the programme ready for the day.
The big day arrived, and we could not have wished for better weather. It was a beautiful spring morning when we made our way to the site. It was chilly but sunny and the weather warmed up as the day progressed. As the participant’s arrived from different Outposts, they were greeted with a warm welcome and a cup of England’s finest tea (because are we even British if we don’t offer our guests a cup of tea?).
After a cup of tea and some sugary snacks to give us the energy we needed, we threw ourselves into the schedule with gusto. New leaders from the outposts settled down into the classroom with Andy to partake in our Basic Leaders Training (BLT), while outside our existing leaders got to with work on getting the fire going and cooking up a storm for lunch. Denise and Patrick planned our food for the day and provided us with a hearty warm lunch cooked by ladies from Ulverston (Outpost 1 ) and Southport (Outpost 1)
Once lunch was ready, we all gathered around the campfire to enjoy our food and fellowship and enjoyed some pancakes too. Now, while most people would need a rest to allow lunch to settle, unfortunately for us, there wasn’t the time. So off we went. Again, Andy took the new leaders for some practical training. While the rest of us stayed outside to work on our tool skills. Some making feather sticks, others making mallets and I demonstrated the new kindling cutter for people to have a try of.
Once Andy was finished indoors, I took the rest of the group inside to play a game, because no matter how old we get, you’re never too old to play games. Now when I tell you it got competitive, my goodness, it really did.
But, like all good things, our day had to come to an end. As we started the clean-up, the rain started to settle in (I mean we are in Britain, so we should have expected it really). However, we managed to get most things packed into our vehicles before the rain came down too hard. I think it’s safe to say that we each learned some new skill’s that day, which is always the aim when we plan these kinds of events. We said our goodbyes to friends, new and old, with plans for an NTC/JLTC for the summer, it won’t be too long until we meet again.
We would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who came along to partake in the training. We thank you for your continued sacrifice of your time and skills as you feed into the lives of our Royal Rangers, to show them the heart of Jesus in everything you do. In addition to this, a big thank you to Patrick and Denise for helping us plan the event and sharing the burden of running this national ministry from week to week! We are so blessed to have so many leaders to share our heart for this ministry, who give of themselves week after week.
Until next time, stay safe and be blessed.
Leann Downes
Assistant National Leader