463 days to go: Easter Weekend Meeting

Hello Everybody

This weekend was my second meeting with my Jamboree unit and once again I had a fantastic time, have made some amazing memories and new friends! The meeting was a weekend camp at the Quarries campsite in Milton Keynes and although most people already had, this was the first time I had camped with the unit.

Misjudging the time it would take to travel to the site, Jenny and I arrived at 8.30 on Saturday morning, half an hour before we were meant to. But soon everyone congregated, ready to move all the food, tents, equipment and personal kit to our site. It didn't take too long to set up the camp, with everyone getting stuck in and helping put up the mess tent that was supposedly similar to the ones available at the last Jamboree.

Our campsite

 

After a short break and arranging ourselves into 4 patrols, as we will have when we go to Japan, the day properly began. Arts and crafts was first on the agenda and we were given 3 creative projects to complete before lunch. My group began making dream catchers, and the fact I haven't done arts and crafts for about 5 years is evident when looking at my final creation, which looks more like a fish than a dream catcher. . .

My unfortunate looking dream catcher

Having embarrassed myself enough making the dream catcher, I moved on to origami. I was actually really impressed with my two paper models, a lotus flower and peace crane. If you remember from my first post, I mentioned my road kill goose version of the traditional crane, this time it was a lot lot better . The wings even flapped !

Origami lotus and peace crane

Despite my success making origami, it all went down hill when I attempted to make a wind chime. The less said about it the better.

It doesn't even chime 

After a cuppa soup for lunch, the unit was required to help out with some work on the site. We had to collect rocks to support the embankments in the car park, so formed a long chain and with beautiful renditions of Disney songs performed by Lydia and Chris, managed to move a decent sized pile of  rocks from one end of the site to the other.

Slave labour ?

I've always loved a bit of pioneering, so making and racing A-Frames was right up my street. At scouts, square lashings were my specialty, and I'd like to think that they were what helped my team win the highly competitive A- Frame race.

A-Frame Racing

A group then went to prepare and make dinner whilst the rest of us used the A-frames to construct a real sized version of the gateway we hope to make for our site in Japan. Turns out making a fortress with towers and walkways is a lot easier said than done but our finished version did the job and we had a laugh building it.

I'm on the frame at the back doing one of my famous square lashings 

After my very Japanese dinner of chilli con carne, we sat round the campfire while the girl guides sung and danced to multiple, very repetitive, but entertaining campfire songs. It made me realise how few I actually knew aside from "I love the flowers, I love the daffodils". Our leader, Stu , also received a late birthday present from the unit consisting of a lovely pair of girl guiding wellies !

 

In order to condition us to the routine of the Jamboree, we had to be up by 6.00 am on Sunday morning ready to start the day.  I was part of the cooking group and due to the vast amount of bacon and not very hot gas stoves it took us over an hour to get breakfast cooked. However, the combination of cold, tiredness and camp conditions meant the breakfast went down a storm with all the food disappearing.    

It tasted better than it looks !

Another craft activity was on the cards for Sunday morning but luckily it involved lashings and rope so the final product was not too bad !

My Crucifix creation

Having taken the tents down and disassembled the gateway, we began our Easter themed activities. The first of which was the egg toss. In pairs we had to pass an egg to each other unaware of whether it was hard boiled or not, until we dropped it. Ours landed on the grass after only a couple of passes , and the mystery was solved . . .

Evidently not hard boiled

 We finished the weekend off with an egg and scavenger hunt around the campsite with a Jamboree twist. Each of the chocolate eggs had a Japanese city name on and we had the challenge of matching them to the appropriate letter on a map of Japan. We also had to find something beginning with every letter of the alphabet from around the site and the woods by it. Using our excellent biology knowledge , we even found something beginning with X , the xylem of a plant ! We also had a quick game of Frisbee in which I managed to hit someone dead in the nose, sorry Adam but I've already had my face hit by flying objects . . . 

Frisbee time

  

As a unit, we decided on our final logo for our badge designs. We still haven't come up with a name but at least we've made progress on the identity front.

Our Badge design

So, with our pockets full of chocolate eggs and the smell of campfire smoke in our hair, the weekend ended. This weekend we have built a gateway , broken eggs and become even closer as a unit as well as having so much fun and working as a team. I can see us becoming even better friends when we are organised into patrols with PL's and APL's at our next meeting in June.

Unit 8 

Off topic now, but I'd like to say thank you to everyone who has read my blog and shown an interest in what I'm doing, I reached 500 views the other day which is really exciting as I thought no one would actually want to read it. If you have any questions or suggestions about what future blog posts should be about, feel free to leave a comment at the bottom, I'd love to hear from you ! 

Thanks for reading 

Lauren :)          

476 days to go: General Update

Hello Everybody

I know you have been eagerly awaiting my next exciting blog so here it is, a quick up date on a couple of things that have gone on lately. By a couple, I mean 3.

Firstly, in my 485 days to go post , I mentioned the allotment I'm working on to raise money for the Jamboree. Quite a few people have asked how far I've got so I have some photos to prove that I am actually making progress ! I've done about 4 hours at the plot so far and have weeded over half of it.

The Allotment Strawberry patch

Secondly, yesterday, I took my brother and friend to Yo Sushi to widen my cultural knowledge of Japanese food. I had the Chicken Katsu Curry- breaded chicken in a mild curry sauce with traditional sticky rice and red ginger. I have had it before and personally think it is one of the best hot dishes on the menu, the sauce is slightly spicy and with a bit of soy sauce mixed in with the rice, you can't go wrong. Along side this, I had the Salmon Maki, a fairly simple sushi dish with strips of salmon and wasabi.  This was very similar to the sushi we had on the last training weekend and once again I ended up finishing everyone else's lunch . . .  

Yo Sushi

Chicken Katsu Curry and Salmon Maki

Finally, some more about fund raising and how you can get involved. easyfundraising.org.uk is a website which allows charities, schools and groups to raise money by just shopping online. It works by installing a toolbar onto your browser, and when you buy something online, like from Amazon, ebay, M&S or New Look, the supporting company donates a small percentage to the charity without it costing you anything. You need to go onto the easyfundraising.org.uk website where it simply explains how you can set this up and select Chiltern North Jamboree Fund 2015 as your chosen charity, I would be really grateful if you could do this and help me raise money for our group - happy spending!

Thanks for reading

Lauren :)

  

484 days to go: 8 fun facts about Japan

Hello Everybody

I kept my promise so here's another post. I've decided to give you all a break from Jamboree talk so I've found some interesting facts about Japan to keep you entertained.

485 days to go: Update on fund raising

Hello Everybody

Just a quick post today as I have one planned for tomorrow as well.

This week has been very productive regarding fund raising for the Jamboree. I have almost reached the 1/4 way mark for my personal third of the cost and there is also quite a bit in the pipeline for the group's fundraising.

Firstly, I seem to have discovered my 'green fingers'. My family have some friends who own a plot at the allotment just down my road and for a donation towards my fund, they have asked if I could do some weeding and planting in my free time. To be honest, I know nothing about gardening but I seem to be getting the hang of weeding the strawberry patch- it doesn't look too bad. I've visited the allotment twice since last Sunday and I'm thinking of going up again today.

On Wednesday, I made some brownies and flapjacks for my mum to take into her office and give out for a donation. I  did this a couple of times when I was fundraising for my selection weekend and it went down pretty well. This time round, I made £24.19 despite only 18 of the cakes being taken, Thank you to the Milton Keynes office for being so generous !

That evening, I went to the official opening of the Holmer Green Scout Hut. Ever since I started at Holmer Green Scouts, they have been trying to raise enough money to extend and refurbish the hut. Having added 2 porta-cabins , a kitchen and AstroTurf flooring inside ( don't ask me why), the hut now provides a lot more space for the beavers , cubs and scouts to hold their meetings in. I did a quick speech about the jamboree to the 50ish people attending and handed out my leaflets to the parents and visitors. I met a collection of influential people in the local scouting organisations, including the district Chairman and his deputy as well as lots of ex leaders and chairmen. Hopefully I have got the word out a bit more about what I'm doing, there might even be more baby sitting in the future having spoken to a couple of parents with young children in cubs. I also received £20 worth of donations to add to my fund.

I recently posted some letters about the Jamboree and my involvement in it to the shops and businesses in Holmer Green. Surprisingly , I received a response letter and very generous donation from the Holmer Green Service Centre on Friday. I am very grateful towards everyone who has supported me so far !

Finally, I am thinking of setting up a Just Giving page to make it easier for people to donate to the unit . When I have it all sorted out , I will put the link up on here.

Thanks for reading

Lauren :)     

More Pretty Japanese Landscapes 

493 days to go: Stokenchurch Meeting

Hello Everybody

I've been so excited to write this post , not only because I've been overwhelmed with the number of views my blogs's received (183) and want to share more with you, but because it means I would have been on my first meeting with the rest of my Unit for the Jamboree, and I have, and it was great.

So , let me tell you what we got up to . . . 

Firstly , it wasn't too far way, in Stokenchurch, so it only took about 25 minutes to get there, but in my usual organised fashion I was up bright and early to make sure I had everything in my bag, including my freshly decorated chopsticks, and have hearty breakfast - I made myself a fancy poached egg. 

Jenny (one of the girls selected from my Explorer Unit) and I, arrived fairly early ,at first there was only about 10 people in the hall , so learning their names wasn't too hard. We then got ourselves into groups of 4 and were handed a roll of sellotape and a pile of newspapers , assuming we would have to build the tallest freestanding tower. We were wrong, we were given the task to build a structure which we could all get in, a house like newspaper creation was to be built.

Taking inspiration from my many scout camps requiring us, or me usually, to put up a Niger patrol tent , we made two 1.5 meter high tripods with a center pole to hang a large sheet of conjoined newspaper pages over. At first the structure looked pretty good, that was until we a) tried moving it and b) hung the cover over. Eventually we managed to squeeze underneath whilst secretly holding

up the cover, and needless to say, we didn't win. But we did learn there is no better way to get to know someone than huddling up, in very close proximity, underneath a newspaper tent. 

Moving on, we got into groups of 9 to do the next lot of activities, poor Hadley being the only boy in a group of us 8 girls. Two of of the groups started off doing the walk over the local fields while the others (our group included) remained at the hut. Our first activity was designing the gate post and entrance for our site when we get to the Jamboree. I must say, my creative juices were flowing that morning and I came up with a couple of very good ideas. The London skyline, a quaint English cottage and a medieval tower, were all sketched out but we decided on a fortress style castle to construct with the bamboo canes we were provided with. Building a basic version of the gateway gave us more and more ideas: it looks like a watch  tower and balcony are on the cards for the final construction.

Building the gatepost

Having done building for the last two hours, we were looking forward to a change, and Taiko drumming provided us with one. Taiko is a traditional Japanese art form using large drums and a combination of music and choreography. I have pretty much no sense of rhythm and was therefore hopeless at the drumming but the shouting and massive arm movements was quite funny and we all had a really good time.

Taiko Drumming

While we were waiting for the hike groups to get back , we headed out to the basketball court on the playing field next to the hut. Playing basketball probably wasn't the best idea , one thing led to another and I ended up getting a ball thrown at full pelt in my face. My nose still hurts.

Playtime

Lunchtime! I was starving by this point, my fancy poached egg obviously didn't provide me with quite enough energy to get me through to lunch. Unknown to me, one of our leaders , Stuart, is a chef and had prepared about  215 pieces of sushi for us to have. We had salmon, avocado, vegetable and beetroot sushi with wasabi peas, sushi ginger , soy sauce and sweet chili dip on the side. We were also given a cup of miso soup to drink/ eat. I have never really had Sushi before but was pleasantly surprised, I am quite open to new cuisines and actually really enjoyed all the food we were given, I really liked the salmon sushi with a little bit of soy sauce on top- perfect. The soup is an acquired taste, its looks like muddy water with bits floating in it. Turns out these 'bits' were a combination of brown noodles , mushrooms and tofu ( which has the texture of set custard and no taste whatsoever). But we will have to get used to it, on Jamboree, miso soup is breakfast. Everyday. 

Lunch

Salmon sushi

Miso Soup

After lunch we headed out on a walk in the nearby fields and woods. Stuarts dog , Charlie , came along too and kept trying to pick up fallen branches for us to throw for her.

Over the fields we go

Charlie the dog

To finish the day, we looked at ideas for badges and logos for the Unit. I was new to the process so was still trying to understand some of the ideas , such as the cartoon cow, which was a bit difficult. They're coming along nicely though and it shouldn't be too long until we have a solid unit identity ready for the Jamboree.

So , that was my first meeting. To be honest, I'm still recovering, learning 35 names ( sort of)  and doing so much in one day was challenging but I absolutely loved it . Despite not being at the last meeting, I still felt really welcome and everyone was very friendly towards me , apart from throwing a ball in my face .It's amazing to think that in 15 months time, this group of people will be my best friends , I'll be part of one big family !

Thanks for reading 

Lauren :)      

               

497 days to go: More on fund raising

Hello Everybody

In my last post, I only briefly mentioned the fundraising challenge I face in order to go to Japan , so I thought I would go into it in a bit more detail today. 

The cost for the Jamboree per person takes into consideration the GDP ( Gross Domestic Product) of the country they come from, basically, if you are from America you will pay a larger proportion than if you were from Kenya. The idea behind this is to allow as many participants from as many countries as possible to attend the Jamboree which personally I think makes a lot of sense ! This is proven by the fact that more countries are present at the World Scout Jamboree than at the Summer Olympics , bit of a surprise for any scout bashers hey. 

The cost varies from person to person , but my total participation fee is roughly £3200, a lot, I know , but for 19 days in Japan , I think it's worth it. This cost is broken down into 3 parts. I must raise one third myself, through personal fundraising methods like dog walking and cake making. 1 third is covered by my scout district , Chiltern North, who source this funding from charity donations and previous Jamboree fundraising. And finally in my small group of 5 people (the ones also selected at the selection weekend) we must raise the equivalent of £1000 each .Luckily I know this group quite well , so organising larger events won't be too difficult. When we get round to it , that is . . . .  

I was given a massive list of fundraising ideas from my Unit Leader a couple of weeks ago but I haven't really started looking at these in detail. I am in the process of producing an email or poster to advertise my availability as a babysitter , cake maker and 'errand runner'. If you have any ideas about how I can reach my target or wish to make a donation to my Unit, let me know.

Once I get started hopefully it wont be too hard to continue and put a dent in the final cost !

I dont really have a picture for this blog so a nice Japanese themed image for your visual satisfaction.

Thanks for reading

Lauren :)

       

499 days to go : My first Jamboree blog post

Hello Everybody

Lots of people seem to be doing these blogs so I thought I'd join in .

My name's Lauren, I'm 14. As you can see by the title, this blog is about my upcoming trip to Japan for the World Scout Jamboree. For those of you who don't know, the World Scout Jamboree is a huge meeting of Scouts and Guides from all over the world, and has been held roughly every 4 years (with the exception of the war years) since 1920. At this massive event, tens of thousands of Scouts and Guides celebrate the essence of scouting and participate in activities based around the theme of that particular jamboree. In 2007, the 21st WSJ was held in Essex, England and celebrated the centenary of scouting. The last jamboree , in 2011, was held in Sweden and was attended by over 40,000, and in just over a year the 23rd WSJ will be in Kirarahama , Japan.

 Let me take you back to how I first got involved in the World Scout Jamboree!

In July 2013, whilst at my weekly scout meeting, my troop received a visit from an intimidating looking man called Martin Everett . He asked our group of about 20 , who was born between 1997 and 2001, luckily my birthday fell between those two dates , so not really knowing what was going on, myself and about 8 others followed him out to the front of our hut. He told us all about the opportunity that was open to Scouts of our ages. To be honest I was skeptical at first, it seemed like a lot of money and effort for a week in a tent abroad, most the group shared my view and the topic was dropped for the rest of the evening. However , when I got home and told my Mum all about it , she was adamant that I should apply, as apparently attending a Jamboree is considered the highlight of a successful scouting career. I was also a lot more enthused when I checked out the WSJ website, it explained even more about what would happen in 2015. So over the summer, the idea grew in my mind, I wanted to go and would do anything to be selected.

In September last year, I received an e-mail with an application form attached. We had 250 words to explain why we would like to be part of the WSJ , not going to lie, I had a lot to say so reducing my reasons to the essence of why I should go was tough. From what I had heard over 50 people would be applying for the 5 places my Chiltern North district could send to Japan, the competition was on , I had a roughly 1 in 10 chance of getting in. The email explained that those with a suitable application form would be invited to attend a selection weekend in November 2013. It stated ' Here you will live together for a weekend doing activities and challenges to choose who you think would be the best Unit members.' I sent my form off and crossed my fingers, my parents said it would be unlikely I would get on , not to get my hopes up. So for about a month , I pestered my mum every afternoon ' Have you had an email?, am I going ?, have you heard anything? .....' it was endless. But , then the email arrived, 'Congratulations on completing the first step towards your potential attendance at the next World Scout Jamboree'. I was ecstatic to say the least, I had to raise £40 to cover the cost of the weekend that was coming up in less than a month. I made cakes, washed cars and baby sat and raised almost £70, so when the weekend arrived I was well prepared. The selection weekend was a combination of team building exercises, games and presentations. The highlight for me was the 'Come Dine With Me' lunch task, if I say so myself, my concoction of chicken , noodles, onions and chili powder was pretty impressive , or maybe it was the fact we had been stood outside in the rain for and hour and a half that made it so delicious. Anyway, the Sunday afternoon was rounded off with a 1:2 interview with 2 of the scout leaders involved with the selection. To be honest, the questions had nothing to do with scouting or the Jamboree, I was asked what book I last read (Harry Potter)  and  what my favourite TV program was (The Great British Bake Off). I had assumed that the final line up would not be announced for at least a couple of days, so when the phone rang at about 2.30 that afternoon, when I had arrived home , I was slightly surprised when Paul Wooding, the guy in charge of coordinating the weekend, asked me whether I would like to be part of the UK contingent attending the 23rd WSJ in Japan. What I can only describe as relief flooded through me. I had an inkling that I would be in with a chance of being considered to go, but to be told that they were very impressed with my application and they were pleased to offer me a place in the Unit, was probably one of the most satisfying and accomplishing moments of my life. 

So , that was about 4 months ago, the initial excitement has worn off slightly as the size of the challenge ahead of me dawns. I have about £2000 to raise through a combination of group and individual fund raising events , but it's going to be an epic adventure , I just need to get started.

The first meeting of Unit 8 Buckinghamshire was about 3 weeks ago, unfortunately I couldn't go as I was on holiday, but from all accounts it was a great weekend generally consisting of getting to know everyone and learning even more about the Jamboree. I had a private viewing of the presentation they received but it was at my house, which isn't quite the same. I got my first UK contingent scarf and woggle as well as being set the challenge to make an origami peace crane ( or a roadkill goose in my case), which was quite exciting. Next Saturday is the next meeting and will be the first time I get to meet everyone and hopefully learn over 30 new names, Japanese food tasting is on the itinerary and is something I'm particularly looking forward to!                       

 I want to keep a record of my adventure to show to people in the future and as a personal souvenir of my experience, what better way to do this than online- a blog will be perfect. In 2015 , I will be jetting off to Japan for almost 3 weeks to experience the once in a lifetime opportunity that is the World Scout Jamboree, if you want to keep up to date with how my fund raising, name learning and training is going , please revisit this blog. I should be writing a new post this time next week letting you know how my first meeting went and where I will go from there.

Thanks for reading 

Lauren :)