Scouts Speak Up.... Hoe-downs, Happiness and a Whole lot of Tea.

The weekend just passed I went to a Scouts Speak Up course up at Gilwell park in north east London. This is the home of scouting in the UK, and as the website says, 'It’s our biggest centre and boasts excellent facilities that rival any activity centre.' It really is a very cool camp site, and was a perfect choice for the course! The course itself was a media and communications course, trying to train people who were going to the Jamboree how to talk to the media in the press, on TV and on the radio. This meant a lot of practical stuff, like using a portable radio mike to record interviews (in which I managed to forget where curry came from!) and then listening to them back. It was strange how weird your voice sounds on the radio!

We also did some interviews with a video camera, which I found much easier. This was probably because it was just like having a conversation with someone, it was very relaxed. There was also a press activity, and a main project on campaigning, which was A LOT of fun. I was in the Hot Pink group (woo!) and our topic was anti-social youths, which was a lot harder than you might imagine! We came second over all, which I think we were all really chuffed about! 

On Saturday night, we were told we were going to have a 'cowboy themed party', but I don't think any of us were expecting what was to come! There were hay bales everywhere, cactuses, palm trees (okay?), decorations, and all the leaders were properly dressed up! We all had an amazing night (well, I certainly did!) with all of us rocking out most of the time to the top hoe-down hits. We did have some 'normal' music at the end, but there was nothing more enjoyable than watching people slip sliding around trying to dance like a cowboy. With my AMAZING partner and a whole bunch of new friends, I had the best time ever.

All of this was split up with cups of tea (8, count 'em people! A world record, I'm thinking) and getting to know other people. I made some great new friends, and learnt a lot! I really hope I can keep in touch with them, and see them again at the Jamboree, which I am more excited about than ever!

H x

First isn't always the worst

The first time all 36 of us met as a unit was on March 7th at Lees wood. All of us knew one, maybe two people, but all that I knew was that I was in a room full of strangers (minus Kirsty and Chloe, the two other girls who were at my selection day!), who would turn out to be some of the best people I know, and that I would be spending some of the best times of my life with them.

We started with the typical getting-to-know-you exercises, where we got to find out a little more about everyone, including some of the leaders. The day that followed was a mix of activities like fire lighting, games, and putting up a tent blind-folded (which, as you can probably guess, was VERY interesting, and also VERY funny!) There was also a fair bit of tea making, house keeping and name learning. We got to have a proper chat with some more people over lunch, and I made some good friends just on that first day. It was all a bit crazy, and there was a lot of info to take in, but it was defiantly so much fun.

I will post some pictures up when I can.


H

Let's start at the very beginning.

Okay, so I'm very new to the whole blog thing, but here we go.

On the 21st of Feburary I was chosen to go to the 22nd world scout Jamboree in Rinkaby, Sweden. I am in the 44th hertfordshire unit, Spitfire. This was a name we came up with together, and will feature on everything we do. So far we have had two over night camps, 3 days together, and one year to go BBQ. All of these have been amazing, the weather has been, well, varied, and the activities have been so much fun! But I will share some more about that later...

The Jamboree is held every four years, each year in a different country. Last year it was here in the UK, and I was lucky enough to go along for the day, which was mind blowing. there was about 42,000 people there, and the size and scale and general vibe there was glorious. This was one of the main reasons I signed up for the Jamboree, and I'm so glad I did.


That's all for now, I will keep everything up to date each week.