Project 819 began on Sunday 17th August and we welcomed Explorers from across the country, from as near as South London and Suffolk and from far afield as Liverpool, Cardiff and Leeds. The leaders visited the four sites that we would be working on over the coming week. Back on site, after tea, we got busy acquainting ourselves whilst undertaking some top secret Action Man challenges.

On Monday morning work began in earnest on the four site in the forest: Blue Team visited Bulrush Pond; Yellow Team started work on the wheel chair accessible path at the Epping Forest Field Studies Centre; Green Team got to work cutting down sycamores at Warren Hill; and Red Team started at Long Running.

On Day 3 the teams rotated and visited a new work site. The planned evening activity "Silly Olympics" was postponed due to bad weather, and instead of testing our physical abilities, we tested our mental abilities in a classic 'pub style' quiz.

On Day 4 came our day of rest and we descended upon London all dressed in Orange. The morning was spent taking in the sights of the South Bank and SW1, whilst in the afternoon we catered to diverse tastes at locations such as Covent Gardens, Camden Town and the Imperial War Museum. In the evening we entertained ourselves with a series of African themed challenges.

It was back to work on Thursday after our day off - and by the end of it the sites had substantially improved. In the evening the weather was good enough to hold our postponed silly Olympics. There was plenty of running, throwing, pulling and tugging, and we even managed to get the new boy dressed up in the sumo ballerina outfit.

All work was completed on Friday and we were visited by local dignitaries who came to see our handiwork over the past week. A considerable amount of Bulrush Pond, Long Running and Warren Hill were cleared, and the wheelchair accessible path was completed and went further than was expected. The week was capped off with a roaring campfire and much merry making.

Saturday morning seemed to come too soon, surely a whole week hadn't passed by so quickly? It was time to break camp and say our farewells. Book your place now for Project 820, because if 819 is anythinging to go by it is sure to be a great camp!