Rummaging through some boxes I happened upon an old 9×4 manilla envelope, and there inside a box of slides.

May 1983 Rocklands Slide Show is scrawled in my handwriting. It’s an old tatty envelope that includes, not only the box of slides, but a cassette tape, some homemade slides and a running sheet.

I remember when we packed up a bunch of young cubs and headed to the Rocklands Reservoir for a 4-day camp – a Pack Holiday. It was the first time the leaders had embarked upon such a long adventure.

I don’t recall anything specific about these 4 days. The venue we used was a regular place for many camps over the years. Fairly rustic, but functional, not too far from home and plenty of natural bushland around.

The real find, however, was the cassette tape. I played that and listened to my own voice narrating the story of the pack holiday.

It’s dreadful!

Nevertheless, I need to share it with you.

We would gather the parents together for a slide night on a cold, dark winters night, a few weeks after the event, as we have to send the film off to be developed. We’d probably show the slides at the end of the regular cub meeting, followed by a cup of tea and a biscuit.

Everyone would sit politely, the cubs would be sitting on the floor and the parents on some chairs.

Lights off, slides on. The show runs just over 15 minutes, and there is no escape.

I have no idea about the timing of the slide show itself. We spend ages looking at some images, and barely 30 seconds looking at others. I added some sound effects here and there, and some trashy music.

There’s only about 30 photos, and they’re not that great. One of the parents took them. I think they were the pick of the bunch. Of course, unlike the digital wizardry of today, you’d probably only snap one, maybe two photos, you can’t just keep taking shots – film is expensive. You just hope that they will turn out ok.

I’d also gone to the trouble of creating some of my own slides to augment the show. I imagine I spent hours putting them together. They’re pretty bad, but at the time, I no doubt thought they were wonderful.

This slide ‘The End’ was typed on my old Olivetti typewriter, then I would photocopy it onto a piece of plastic for an overhead projector, cut it out and stick it into the slide. Never mind that it just looks rubbish. No colour copies in the 80’s. I would have to wait until the boss was out for lunch and then make the copies. Sometimes the acetate sheet would get stuck in the copier and I’d spend ages trying to extract it without having to call the repair man.

The ‘YIK’ slide I even coloured by hand, and wait until you see the final slide that’s so wonderfully presented.

Now, the challenge for today, is to watch the 15 minute video, pretend you’re in a cold Scout Hall. I’ve included the slide projector sound for your enjoyment. There’s no way to swipe to the next image, you can’t enlarge it to see more detail, you can’t tag a friend, and you can’t report it to a social media company to have it taken down.

You’ve also got to hang around at the end. You’ll need to have a cup of luke warm tea, that’s probably either to strong or to weak, and a biscuit out of the Arnotts Family Pack – go for an Arrowroot, all the chocolate ones will be gone.