Rally Through Time
Elina Giles (Scouts and Girl Guides York)
Saturday 13th of April 2024
Over the weekend of the 8-10th March, Rally Through Time (RTT) took place at Snowball Plantation, just outside York. Over 200 people attended from clubs all across the country.
Friday night started with all the SSAGO clubs arriving and setting up on their respective campsites, which were named after historical events and time periods related to York. A campfire was started in hopes of beating the North Yorkshire weather.
Saturday morning started with the unfortunate wakeup call of the site’s fire alarms going off, due to steam from the baked beans. With that dealt with and with everyone swiftly loaded onto their respective transport methods, most people headed into York city centre, where the imposing sight of the Minster greeted everyone. People went about their morning activities and started to explore York. For lunch, we gathered into Temple Hall at York St John’s and had a nice break. Then it was time for afternoon activities; train enthusiasts headed to the National Railway Museum, while others made their way around the City Walls and to their other activities. Others chose to do an all-day activity and went on a hike in the North York Moors, with the easy hike starting and ending in Pickering, and the challenging hike heading to Rosedale Abbey.
Once everyone was back onsite, we had a break before the spaghetti bolognese ("Supernatural Spag Bol") was served. Not long after food was served, the ceilidh began, with Sam from Caledonian Soc calling and Folk Soc providing the music. The ceilidh was split in two, so while half were dancing, the other half were at the campfire or relaxing and catching up with friends. At the end of the ceilidh, we all joined up on the arena to do a slightly muddy version of Auld Lang Syne.
Sunday began calmly without anymore fire alarms, to the relief of the RTT committee. Reps had a meeting in the Cabin while the rest of SSAGO were waking up and getting breakfast. Once everyone had had breakfast, the AGM started in the Centenary building, with various clubs pitching to host events and individuals pitching to join Team Pink.
The AGM was followed by the closing ceremony, which officially meant that Rally Through Time had closed. SSAGO awards were handed out, and the committee thanked everyone for coming after all their hard work. As minibuses ferried clubs to the train station, the committee started to pack away all the equipment, including those kindly borrowed from local scout groups. Finally, to end the night, the committee treated themselves with a chippy tea and Rally Through Time was complete.
