information bout our melvin team straight from themselves, written by PL Claire McAroe
23RD ANTRIMS JOURNEY TO THE MELVIN!!!!


The team¦

The 23rd Antrim team consists has a total of 8 people (the maximum amount allowed in a team to enter the Melvin).
There is one girl and seven boys who are as follows¦
Claire McAroe,-Patrol Leader
Christopher Sisk,-Assistant Patrol Leader
Christopher Vernon,
Mark Craig,
Conor Flavin,
Michael Dobbin,
Simon Milligan,
David Martin.





The competition¦

We had to compete in a regional competition called The Columbanus Shield (this is for the Down and Connor region only). This competition took part over the 1st weekend in May, as it has done over the past years. It was held in Castlewellan forest park in county Down. Thankfully we were blessed with beautiful weather which helped to keep everyones hopes high and make them realise they were there mainly to have fun. However we cannot deny that without the staff and of course the well turned out venturer team (who helped the leaders throughout the whole weekend) the weekend would not have went on.
The competition was based mainly on the theme of fun, adventure and making new friends.
The ranking was close and the standard throughout every campsite could only be highly spoken of. The competition was tough and extremely close. 23rd Antrim did well and came 3rd overall in the competition.






Sheer luck¦

Traditionally 1st and 2nd place are put through to compete in the Melvin.
With 3rd place and just one point deciding it we decided to give the Melvin a shot, so we applied to be entered on a wild card. Luckily we were accepted and are ready to compete over the long weekend. We hope to find the camp to be an interesting experience and we plan to have fun also.


Our Melvin history¦

This is the 1st time that our unit has ever entered into the Melvin and we expect it to be one to remember. Although it is our 1st Melvin, but we are more prepared than ever to take on any and every obstacle that lies ahead throughout this weekend.