Sheaf District Day 2023
Sheaf District held their first full district activity day on 23rd August 2023, which was attended by over 320 members and 60 adult volunteers. The day ran from 09:00 – 17:00 with an hour break for lunch in the middle so it was a very action-packed day where the members were able to undertake activities ranging from zip lining to climbing, assault courses to go carts, thanks largely to the generous contribution from the Brian Sellars fund.
We had some fantastic feedback from families:
“THANK YOU SO MUCH AS ALWAYS, STANLEY’S FULL OF VERY EXCITED STORIES. HE LOVED THE CUBE (DARK MAZE)”.
“THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HELPED ORGANIZE & ATTENDED TODAY. JOSEPH SAID HE HAD A GREAT TIME & ESPECIALLY LIKED THE CAVING”.
The day started with the members using all modes of transport to get to site. We had some groups opting to turn the one-day activity into a full weekend event by camping at Hesley for the weekend, some also arrived by train, with a fleet of minibuses from multiple groups pulling together and ferrying them the short distance from Chapeltown train station to Hesley.
Some were lucky enough to be taken the full way from home to Hesley in minibuses and there was a huge queue of parents, carers and family friends dropping members off in their cars too, which quickly cleared thnks to the excellent traffic management by the Hesley site staff. As soon as 09:00 struck Hesley wood had a real feel of excitement and anticipation as sheaf district was descending on the site.
With all the members on site, there was a rush to distribute the activity wristbands to all the groups and get them attached to every member’s wrists to enable us to identify the members of sheaf district. This was only made possible by the dedicated work of the supporters, handling the mountain of paperwork required by the site, as well as the rifle shooting forms to ensure that all members can undertake their activities legally and safely.
As soon as the members had their wristbands, the adventure began, the site was alive with members of Sheaf District running to complete their mornings activities, catching up with old friends and making new ones. Go karting was an instant hit, alongside archery and the inflatables. I spent most of the morning speaking to the members and the leaders who were attending the event, everyone was overwhelmed by the number of activities that were running, and the sheer quantity of young people who have attended the event – this is by far the best attended event run by Sheaf district in a long time, not even district camp reaches the number of members that were achieved.
The members spent all morning running round, completing activities often multiple times and it was soon time for the lunch break. Most members ate on the main field we were using with the inflatables on, and it was amazing to see a sea of young people all sat resting after a busy morning and consuming the packed lunch that they had brought with them. The rest didn’t last long though and they were all soon back up entertaining themselves while they are waiting for the activities to resume for the afternoon. Before the afternoon’s activities started, we got everyone in the district together for a photo of everyone together!
The afternoon saw a different set of activities start up, to allow the members to have as much variety as possible. The inflatables remained available, but the afternoon saw the zip line, abseiling and Air rifle shooting opening. The afternoon was a shorter session and 5 o’clock saw the return of the fleet of cars and minibuses to return a very tired sheaf district back home. All that was left was for me to pack up the event centre marquee, gather up the lost property and head home.
District day 2023 was a ground-breaking event for Sheaf District, having not run anything like this is years, and this would simply not have been possible without the support of the Brian Sellars fund. We would like to extend my thanks to all the members of the committee for their support in the event, and hope that Sheaf District will continue to be supported to enable new and exciting adventures to the young people of the district.
