14th November saw the Beavers of Hampshire descend upon Paultons Park to see a very special visitor indeed! Yes, Father Christmas had taken a day off from getting ready for his busiest night of the year and came to the park to hear what the Beavers were putting into their letters for him.
Here are the reports and pictures from the 1st and the 4th.
1st Eastleigh
By 10:00 everyone had arrived, we had our tickets and entered the Park for a full day of fun! At this stage the weather was dry but quite windy, so we decided to make our way towards the big rides – Cobra and The Edge at the far side of the park. However, firstly our Beavers made their way to the aviaries to look at the birds, then we arrived at the smaller rides such as Magic Carpet, the Ladybird mini rollercoaster, the Dragon Ride, then the Digger Ride and Seal Falls which all proved too much of a temptation even though The Cobra could be seen above the hedges. And then it started to rain a little bit. Not deterred, most beavers wanted to try the new Sky Swinger. Those who were 7 years old were able to go on by themselves and Andy and Rachel took two younger beavers, although this ride was very popular and there was a large queue. By the time Rachel got on the rain was quite heavy: by the time Andy had his turn the rain was very, very heavy and it was very windy too. We he got off (very wet) we agreed we should make our way towards the Romany Experience in the other direction as our appointment with Santa was at 12:15pm and then the beavers wanted their lunch. It was still raining but not so heavily at this point.
The Winter Wonderland was beautiful and as the passageway led us from room to room there were so many different scenes to see from a scene of a child’s bedroom on the night before Christmas, to Rudolph in his stall waiting to be hitched up to Santa’s sleigh.
From the Wonderland it was straight in to see Santa who was very jolly and asked all the beavers if they had been good. When assured they had been, he have them a big sack of presents to be shared out later.
Then followed our packed lunches inside the temporary refreshment barn and when we came outside again it had stopped raining and the sun was trying to shine, although it was still very windy. The remainder of the afternoon saw us go on The Stinger, Teacup ride, Jumping Jack and his little brother, Jumping Bean, the Pirate swinging boat (my favourite), Trekking Tractors and the Pirate swinging boat again. We also managed a visit to the penguins and watched them being fed and were able to ask their keeper lots of questions!
We finally began to make our way to the exit to meet the parents and distribute Santa’s presents. Yes, we got wet during the morning, but it didn’t spoil our fun and the aftenoon was dry. A very busy but enjoyable day even though we never had time to go back to The Edge and Cobra rides. Perhaps next year!
4th Eastleigh
On Saturday 14th November the Beaver Scouts from 1st and 4th Eastleigh went for a Christmassy day at Paultons Park. The day started with a ride on the Sky Swinger. We then had an appointment to keep with Father Christmas so we went to look round the Winter Wonderland which was a magical place with white tigers and fluffy dragons while the elves made the toys and the baby polar bears slept. We then went to see Father Christmas who asked if the Beavers had been good all year, they promised that they had been. The Beavers then got their presents and couldn’t wait to open them. Hopefully they had a nice day.
