May Day started with light rain and was dull and overcast for most of the morning. Would it rain or not we wondered?  Would the event be called off?  Of course not!  Scouts are not put off by a bit of rain.

We arrived around 1p.m. and drove to our allotted pitch by the cricket nets at Mickleover Sports Ground.  A great spot and perfect for our stalls.  The Skittles were easily set up and the Lucky Dip just needed its stand but Nigel was right – the Smash-a-plate frame was vicious, taking no prisoners with its never-ending splinters… I must remember to paint it before our own Field Day on 10th June.

By 2p.m. the skies had begun to brighten and as people began to arrive for the 124th Derby Scout’s Field Day we had the quintessential English Spring afternoon with warm sunshine.  At the back of the field, we had a slow trickle of folk to start with… littlies diving into the Lucky Dip to see what they could find… kids and adults alike chancing their arm at Skittles and trying to get the best score… all accompanied by the crash of the wooden blocks hitting the plates on the Smash-a-plate and rending the air with the shocks-waves of splintering crockery.

The sound of breaking china carried all over the field and soon we had a queue building up as the word went around.  Imagine, all of your life your parents tell you to be careful and not to break anything and then the 63rd turns up and says, “Smash as much as you can – smash it all!”  We had families, we had groups of young teenagers and then the older teenagers came by too, all wanting to show their prowess at targeting particular pieces of crockery – the guzunder, the tea pot and the teeny, tiny egg-cup which eluded them all until the end of the afternoon.  Well done that man – a fast bowler we suspect – he struck it with his very last block!

We were so busy having fun, we forgot to take any photographs.  If you came along and have any, please forward them to us at 63rdderbyscoutshall@gmail.com.

Our final total was a staggering £185.53 towards the Scout Hall Fund.  We couldn’t have done it without all our helpers, so thank you one and all (you know who you are)! 

Thank you too to Adrian at A&G Clearance for providing us with lots of crockery to smash.  Finally, massive thanks to Dorothy Asquith of the 124th Derby and to the Cricket Club at Mickleover for their generosity allowing us to bring our stalls to raise money for our own Scout Hall Fund.  We had a smashing day!