NI-Wild Forum Day.

We had a great day with the good people from the NI-Wild Outdoors forum who came along to Carnfunnock for a Bushcraft day.
our thyme for the day was "Fire"
Firstly Paul and Andy took them for a walk around Carnfunnock's extensive grounds to identify good sources of tinder and kindling, explaining the importance of good preparation.
 After that, it was back to camp and everyone had a go at lighting their fire with only 1 match.
After a demo of good match lighting technique (yes, there is such a thing) there were plenty of successes  at the "One Match Challenge"
(I'll refer to everyone in the pictures by their NI-Wild forum names)

Samm gets the fire going with her single match

Next on the "To Do" list was to make Feather Sticks and then get them lit using only a "Fire Steel"

Suspect Monkey carving his feathers.

We demoed Fire using a battery and Steel wool, Potassium Permanganate and Glycerol, and traditional Flint and steel.

Grace lights her "Char Cloth" using flint and steel.

Finally, we had the Bow Drill fire by friction

 Andy from the NIBA shows how to blow a Bow Drill ember to flame.

Oisin tries the Bow drill

Kat showed great perseverance to finally, after  much trying, get her ember.

Suspect Monkey blows his ember to flame

A hearty Lunch was enjoyed.

Everyone got involved in the day's events, and she did have a go at the bow drill. It was tiring work!

Thanks from all of us at the NIBA  goes to NI-Wild forum for such a fun day.

Hopefully we'll all get together again soon.

GM

A few more photos from the day