21st World Scout Jamboree 2007
On the 1st of August 1907 at 8am when Robert Baden-Powell blew his Kudu horn 3 times to open his experimental camp on Brownsea Island, I wonder if he had any idea of what his ideas would turn into. I certainly don’t think as a 6 year old Beaver I had any idea of what I was becoming a part of, how far it would take me, and how it would support me through life.
As the centenary year approached I was convinced to put my hand in my pocket and write a very large cheque to attend the one thing I had never managed to do as a Scout, Jamboree. And so with a cheque for £550 sent to the Scout Association I was a fully signed up member of the International Service Team at the 21st World Scout Jamboree at Hylands Park in Essex. Looking back most of the non scouting and some of the scouting friends I told that Ive just paid to live in a tent and work for 3 weeks and I’m only going to Essex thought I was mad. But then it was one of those chances that only come once every lifetime, to be at Jamboree on the the centenary of scouting to reaffirm my promise with 40,000 scouts from 154 countries. And hell or high water I was going, for this was the event the UK had been planning for 12 years, that singular moment that would make the regular population of the world sit up and take notice. But first I had to get there and survive.
I made a number of posts in the lead up to and during the Jamboree which can be found here I’m going to link the posts from the days at the Jamboree into each entry in this report. The photos I took during the event on my camera can be found in the photo gallery here.
Day -4 (Friday 20th July)
Tonight we should have been heading out to Blackwell Court to celebrate the birthday of one of our friends. However because the rain is coming down so hard the tents are swimming and travel is pretty much impossible. The plan is now to have a spaghetti dinner and some board games at the 144th Scout HQ and head over to Blackwell tomorrow. The extra time does give me a chance to check through my gear another time and satisify myself that I have everything.
The party itself was a good laugh and ended with a girls vs boys quiz game, needless to say the boys won.
Day -3 (Saturday 21st July)
Woke up reasonably late today and stumbled around the house, unfortunately I have absolutely nothing to eat as I wasn’t expecting to be here so breakfast consisted of a cup of tea and some slightly stale toast. I repacked my wash kit as I had to break it out in order to make myself clean and nice. By early afternoon I had received word from Fitz that we had secured the Manor house at Blackwell as the group of Brownies using it had had to return home due to their leaders house being underwater. A short while after speaking to Fitz, Steph called and suggested that I might travel with them as Fitz could be faffing around all afternoon in Worcester visiting his parents.
Once at Blackwell we picked our rooms and grabbed an altar fire to use for the BBQ we were going to have that evening. Quite a few people turned up and much hilarity ensued as most people stayed over in the empty rooms of the house. I bit of a poker game took place and ended fairly quickly as people struggled to concentrate with so much going on.
I was a nervous as ever at this point on what to expect when I arrived at the Jamboree site, still not knowing what job I had been allocated.
Day -2(Sunday 22nd July)
Invented a new game this morning, it is to be called Blackwell balloon ball. It came about when myself and Andrew bored and looking for something to do started batting a ballon around trying to keep it off the floor. All it took was for one of us to tap it through the middle of the light fitting and we ended up trying to score goals against each other. Everyone else seemed to be happy reading Harry Potter.
Laura arrived this morning ready for the journey up to the Jamboree tomorrow and didn’t seem that impressed by the new game we had invented however she did have a copy of the last Harry Potter book. By early afternoon most people had left including Fitz and Steph who had sloped off to some ceremony for the Explorer Scouts attending the Jamboree. Just left at Blackwell was me, Laura, Mat, Becky, and Beth. So some of us headed down to the closest supermarket to grab a bit of food before we started eating the cubs camping close by.
Beth left for work and Mat and Becky headed home leaving myself and Laura all alone. Of course being a gentleman I sat around looking bored until I decided to have a nap instead. Later on the others returned and we mucked about outside the house ending in a Poi session that caused to many injuries and some tasty pizza provided by Steph.
Day -1 (Monday 23rd July)
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Today we head out to Essex for the Jamboree, or at least to Billericay where Fitz has some family who have offered to let us camp in their garden so we can get to check in Nice and Early. We had some breakfast and Fitz got a haircut, and we found out what we would be doing for the next 3 weeks, I was allocated to food and trading a prospect that didn’t exactly fill me with joy I tell you now. But it was all to late and by 11am we had loaded the car and where pulling away from Blackwell, with a last shout of Essex or bust from me we were off.
The journey was fairly straightforward apart from the fact we were heading via my parents house. Tewkesbury where my parents live was flooded, although mum and dad were OK and their house wasn’t underwater I just wanted to say hi and see how they were before heading off to the Jamboree. I navigated our way off the M25 in such a fashion as to drive past the check in centre at North Weald airport and the main Jamboree site at Hylands park. It was however raining so I had no intention of getting out to take any pictures. We headed to Billericay where we were staying the night and a hot meal was waiting.
Fitz’s relatives treated us really well and provided a cracking evening meal several cups of tea, a barn to escape the bad weather in and biscuits in the morning. We couldn’t have asked for more really. We got shown their millennium stone which I imagined as a small marker about the size of a tombstone, but when we arrived it was in fact a 12 ton piece of pink granite neatly propped up on a slight bank with engraving marking the turn of the millennium. We all decided to take some pictures, an act spoilt by the fact we had all left them in the car. after a trip to the car and back we had our pictures.
The evening was finished off with a pint in the local public house and then to bed for we had an early start.