Gah! Flippin' DofE expedition!

[Horsemad]

Ds is doing his DofE Bronze practice exped this weekend. School gave out a kit list ages ago and said they could provide rucksacks; decided to use school rucksack as I don't anticipate him continuing this on past form and didn't want to spend out if no need to...

Asked last week at parent's evening about rucksack - 'yes, we have 50 rucksacks and 47 pupils so there are enough rucksacks for everyone.'

Ds goes to school today and gets told at the DofE meeting there are no rucksacks left!

So I now have to make a 50 mile round trip tomorrow on my day off to our nearest town to get one

Grrr!

Did anybody else (or their DCs) not do it through school? It wasn't offered at either of my high schools, I think only one in the local area offered it at the time

Everyone needs a decent big rucksack IMO, it'll be worth it when he goes gap year travelling or to festivals or on trains or is a student and has to cycle back from Asda with a week's shopping , heaven forbid he may even take up backpacking. Think positive

Grimma there are a few of them apparently who missed out on the rucksack distribution, so it's a good job the teacher leading it teaches Geography, as her Maths is woeful!!!

Ds said that the other Geog teacher brought her spare rucksack in for a pupil or there'd have been another one having to beg borrow or steal one in order to participate.

I speak as a D of E failure who has gone on to pursue numerous outdoor pursuits, voluntary work and hobbies in later life. The nightmare of trying to fill in that little book.

fossil - ha ha ha, can't imagine he'll ever take up backpacking and as for gap years - there's another rant just waiting to be let loose! Was only thinking about gap years this afernoon, funnily enough.

Anyway, I've decided if I have to buy this blimmin' thing, I'm going on a walking holiday next year, oh yes I am!

Absolutely - treat yourself!

i got DDs on ebay for £1.40. if you are in wilts he is welcome to borrow it but it is pale blue with flowers on.

Thank you Dame - we are nowhere near you sadly or I might take you up on your kind offer.

Ah - I am well used to hving to purchase random outdoor equipment for DS - and his 8 year involvement in Beavers/Cubs/Scouts. Luckily I have a rucksack which i used on my 2 month educational holiday (!?) in India many moons ago - so he still uses that. It has done well.

I tend to buy a lot of kit from places like Sports direct - and Go Outdoors- they are generally the most reasonably priced. The flippin hiking boots - can be quite pricey , but Go Outdoors boots usually come in at about £30 or less. which is fortunate as each trip requires a new pair due to feet growing.

You only need to spend a lot if you plan on using it many times - if you don't care about it falling tobits after a handful of uses then just get a cheap one.

p.s. I did my D of E - bronze award through the youth club ( in err.. 1982). I think it was worth the effort we put in. To be fair I think the organisers had more to do than the kids but hey.

lollopybear: I hadn't actually, I will have a look and see what there is locally with it, thanks :) As of next week I've only got two years left to get my gold done!

Good idea lolllopy see, I would have failed my DofE (if I'd ever done it!) due to lack of initiative

Contacted them, thanks lollopy :) Hopefully the local lot are good at getting back to people unlike the scout lot I only have two years to complete my gold!

Put out a polite request on freecycle/freegle (to borrow or rehome) and you may strike lucky. It seems a great waste to buy a new one if he probably won't continue and that's aside from the 50 mile journey.

massive x-post, I see lollopy suggested this hours ago

I'm really shocked at some of the messages on this thread! Has anyone every worked in a school before?
Having been a teacher and knowing the pressures they are put under, then to take on such huge projects such as the DoE (almost always without reward- financially or time). Yes your teacher messed up with a bag, but they are doing this whilst trying to get your D's through their exams because it's all driven by numbers and outcomes.

I appreciate that you may to have gone out of you way for a day into town, but that teacher has given up hours of their lunch breaks, after school sessions and weekends no doubt, not to mention the time to hang out the wet kit and complete their online assessor stuff.

ZOMBIE thread!

Did all my d of e with air cadets. Loved it but we did loads of outdoor stuff/treking weekends so everyone had kit.

BLOOMIN ZOMBIE