World Scout Jamboree Team
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Thank you!
11th August 2019
Than you!
The Medway 5 are home from our amazing jamboree experience and there are only a few words we can say other than wow - Thank you!
A huge thank you goes to all the IST, CMT, CMST, JPT and unit leaders for making this a fantastic jamboree and amazing life changing experience. However we have to say a big thank you to everyone who supported us along this journey of fundraising and travel adventures - our families, friends, troops and everyone who donated all deserve a big thank you!
Come fly with me!
9th August 2019
Come fly with me!
Houston we've landed. We're officially back in the uk after an 8 hour flight. I even got to sit in the cockpit of the aircraft. We drove back to Sutton valence school and our units said our goodbyes and we now look forward for our reunion in October.
Life is a highway!
8th August 2019
Life is a highway!
Today we woke up at 4 am however my tent woke up at 4:30 to pack the last of our belongings and get ready to go. We collected our breakfast and lunch and boarded the coach with a long journey ahead of us from maple in Ontario to jfk airport in New York. On route we stopped at Niagara Falls and got lots of group pictures etc then continued driving till we arrived at a Walmart for everyone to buy more food to survive the rest of the journey. We're currently at the airport waiting to board our plane with approximately an 8 hour night flight ahead of us and there are lots of tired scouts waiting to get home to there beds to sleep.
One last time!
7th August 2019
One last time!
We woke up and set up our jamboree tents to dry them. Once they were all up and we had had breakfast we all headed in separate ways. Some went to the shopping outlet and others went to a theme park. I went to the shopping outlet to get a few souvenirs and we spent most the day walking around and looking at weird things. We walked back to our hoho home and put down the tents as they had dried during the day then we packed up most of our belongings for tomorrow when we leave. In the evening our hosts had prepared a barbecue for us and invited a few Canadian scouts to come as well. Then we said our thank yous and gave them some gifts and badges. And a few of us girls decided to do a mini spa and had face and eye masks. Whilst some of the boys tested out their massage skills.
I'm in Toronto and I got this view!
6th August 2019
I'm in Toronto and I got this view!
We woke up in our tents in our HoHo hosts garden and boarded the coach at 10 and started to make our way into toronto from maple. Once in Toronto we walked to the city hall where the famous Toronto sign sits and had group pictures outside there. While we waited for other scouts, some of us bought some lunch and tried poutine. We then headed over to some shelter where uk and German scout units staying with Canadian hoho hosts gathered for a picture. We then walked up to the new city hall where I was lucky enough to be chosen to raise the world scouting flag with a Canadian scout. Then everyone headed off for lunch and did some shopping and sight seeing. It was also someone's 16th birthday so our hosts bought some ice cream cakes ( ice cream shaped like a birthday cake) which were delicious.
Oh Canada!
5th August 2019
Oh Canada!
Today we packed up our kit in the university and headed for another uni breakfast. After we waited outside for our coach to arrive. The day then consisted on a 13 hour drive from Maryland to maple in Canada. We successfully made it across the Canadian boarder and headed to our HoHo which we found out was at someone's house. Kindly enough the scout leaders who owned the house had already set up tents for us in the back garden. They made us some subs for dinner then we headed to bed.
Take me out to the ball game!
4th August 2019
Take me out to the ball game!
Today we got up early and walked across to the university dining hall. We then got ready and walked across campus to get on a school bus to Baltimore. Once in Baltimore we walked to the stadium and received a free Baltimore orioles baseball hat and took to our seats. There was 4000 scouts in the stadium creating an amazing atmosphere. We had great seats as we weren't too high but could still see everything. For lunch uk contingent had arranged it and we got a soda, water, hot dog, crisps and souvenir cup. UK contingent even handed out foam hands for us all. With our lunch it felt like we were living the true American cultures at a baseball game. At their home stadium, the Baltimore orioles were victorious against the Toronto blue jays. Once we left we headed back to Maryland university to dump our stuff and catch a bus to the train station, where we headed to pentagon city for some quick shopping in Macy's then headed to the matchbox restaurant for our dinner. Where I had a spicy meatball and pork pizza with a strawberry lemonade and chips. Everyone had eaten the most amount of food since we arrived in the US. it was also one of our unit members birthday so was very special for her to celebrate it with us at a nice restaurant.
Welcome to D.C!
3rd August 2019
Welcome to D.C!
We woke up and headed down for breakfast with the rest of the uk units sharing dorms with us. Then we headed down to catch a bus then a subway in to Washington DC. Once in Washington DC we arrived at the archives station and walked to the United States capitol. We had a unit picture outside the capitol and saw an american football team also getting a team picture. We then headed down to the Washington memorial and also had a unit picture. We decided to head down to the White House however the view isn't that clear as there was a barrier a distance away from the fence and supposedly some renovations occurring. Our unit then split into groups of our choice so my group headed down to the Lincoln memorial and recreated the captain America scene around the national mall whilst also visiting the Vietnam veterans memorial. We headed back to a station and headed to pentagon city to look at some shops and get some lunch. And spent our afternoon shopping. Once we had headed back to the uni we had dinner and got ready for the uk contingent party. I bought a cheap American flag tie die t shirt for the party earlier. We walked to the party which was on campus but still a trek as the campus was huge. They had stuff from USA, Mexico and Canada and was known as a tri national party. You could have a photo shoot, caricature, hold some animals, play carnival stalls games, practise baseball etc. There was even a replica capitol building, Washington monument and Lincoln memorial. As the party continue more music began to be played till nearly everyone was sweating and dancing. We also received a free ground sheet with the tea bear one to sit on or take back and our leaders collected our #uk24wsjbingo badges that we completed in New York and Washington DC.
2nd August 2019
I�m on my way!
Today was departure day and we were meant to get up at 5am however no one got up on time. We had to quickly pack up our sleeping stuff into our holdall then to pack down all our tents and shelters. We made our way up the hill to our coach and loaded it up. Once on the coach I ended up falling asleep for the entirety of the journey till we were in Washington. We arrived at Maryland university and were allocated our rooms and had quick showers. We then split off into groups and walked around the huge campus. I went to the uni's football stadium, baseball stadium and athletic stadium along with the food shops and stores on campus. The Americans campus' are huge and have so many things to do. We then headed to the university dinning area which was like an American dinner.
Time to say goodbye!
1st August 2019
Time to say goodbye!
Today was our last day at the jamboree. I woke up and my aim was to trade my daybag for an American one. So this meant I walked all over subcamp C4 and c3 and c2 and then finally c1. I stopped at the other Kent unit; the bohemian raspberries in c1 for a while then on the way back to camp I found an American troop and managed to get the swap and some badges and hat as well. At 1 o'clock my whole unit had to make their way back to camp so we can put down the unit kit and also our personal kit however this took a while. Afterwards we started to prepare and made our way down to the summit stadium for the closing ceremony. It started off with an American marching band and a speech from the Secretary General of the world scout organisation. There was also a reflection of our jamboree experience then the co hosts handed the jamboree over to the next hosts, Korea - as the 25th world scout jamboree is in South Korea in 2023. This lead to our entertainment for the night which started off with a performance from Pentatonix who are an a Capella group singing lots of covers and medleys. Afterwards there was a dance performance from Light Balance who were contestants on America's got talent and performed dances synchronised to lights on their costume. Finally we had a very long, impressive fireworks, lasers and fire display which lasted about 15 mins long. And the medway 5 even managed to get a photo together for the first time since we left for America over a week ago.
Bright lights bigger city!
31st July 2019
Bright lights bigger city!
Today I woke up and went with some of my unit for a backstage tour of the jamboree main stage where we learnt about the equipment and financial requirement for the performances they deliver. I then headed off to the sustainability treehouse and made an engraved metal tag and learnt about recycling. Then I went to the global development village and took part in an activity by WAGGS about inequality and sustainable lifestyle where living conditions would change and the family would have to continue to produce bracelets to sell. I also made a bee house with the Irish scouts and earned a badge for scouts against killer robots. Afterwards I went to the faith and beliefs zone and was introduced to the Punajbi alphabet, wrote my name in Hebrew on a bookmark, learnt about the history of the hijab. I then headed out to trade once I was back at camp and traded neckers, uniforms, t shirts and badges. The trading there was crazy and is huge with the Americans. For dinner about 15 of our unit went and had dinner with some Oman scouts. We started off by playing some games for us to bond and even tried on some traditional Oman clothing. For dinner was wraps, rice, noodles, prawn dish in sauce with fruit on the side. We then stood around and sang Oman songs and english songs then the rain and lightning began but we continued our singing and had a great night with lots of laughter even though we didn’t speak Arabic.
Mountain Bike Madness
31st July 2019
Ooops! Said Harvey......
Yesterday we went mountain biking which was filled with many great tracks that varied in difficulty. I got more and more confident as the day went on to find out that I had pushed my self to far and managed to skid on my head for about 2m while digging up the track.
Radiostar!
30th July 2019
Radiostar!
Today I took a day off from all the adventurous activities and when round world point. I went into the better world tent and completed the earth tribal alliance badge and the scouts go solar badge. I went to the Canadian NSO tent and looked around there and learnt about Canadian scouts by a leader who happened to be located in the council that we are staying at in Canada. I also went into the Dutch NSO tent and learnt about some Dutch artists and investors and practising my speed skating skills. However the heavens opened and lightning striked so we got locked inside the Canadian tent till it became safer. I then had a burger and a blue raspberry and lemon and lime shaved ice (snow cone in a cup but like a slushy). I then met up with my leader and an IST and went to the living in the 21st century area and went in the build a computer area and the geo game but didn't fully do the activities. We then headed to some other tents and went to the NA1WJ tent. I spoke to two scouts on a camp in Ohio who were both Boy Scouts from America. I spoke to them using an amateur radio system with someone who worked the logistics of the radio systems. It was so much fun and interesting without even having to physically work the radio just speech to people. We then headed to the comms tent and had a tour round a museum in America that had 'the bombe' which was a machine that cracked the enigma code, however this was made by the Americans when enigma began to be made with more rotors. The tour was possible through the use of a robot that a man programmed and directed through a keyboard mouse and had a camera attached to it to allow us to see there. We had a go at deciphering some codes ourselves with a handheld machine like the engine machine with three rotors.
Ain't no mountain high enough!
29th July 2019
Ain't no mountain high enough!
Today my unit woke up early in order to prepare for our basecamp to hike up to mount jack. We had to walk from camp C4 to the bottom up of the mount jack trail which was in camp A ( that is quite far away if you've seen the summit map). Our hike up the mountain was long and tiring and took us a good hour or so, many felt like it was never ending. Once up at the top we ventured off to try activities; there was many activities but there was one specific one, the spartan race. Technically it was classified as spartan kids as it was 1 or 2 mile course however some of the obstacles where adult ones, and with the heat and terrain it definitely felt hard enough. I took part in the team one and started off with the 2 mile race however like many others I couldn't get over some of the walls and our leaders had to help lots of us over the walls. The obstacles included; rope climb, monkey bar rings, log carry, bag flip and the walls to climb or jump over. Once we did this one, a few of us decided to do the one mile race afterwards, however once doing it we turned it into another 2 mile race. After that we were dead and extremely tired. We received a spartan scout challenge at the jamboree dog tag medal and as we completed the race twice we received an jamboree award badge. Then we had to head back down the mountain which was just as bad and long as the way up mostly due to our sore and tired feet. This took up our day except form having dinner and hanging out in the evening.
Fly with me!
28th July 2019
Fly with me!
Today we had a lie in as activities didn't start till 12 due to 'scouts own', however I woke up late and missed it. Later a few of us went to do the main canopy zip line however it was full so we did the smaller one however it was still good. We had to control our speed through the use of our hands as a brake. This took up most of the day as we had to trek to the two sites and then queue for a while. In the afternoon we went to the world point and went to the uk pavilion and did some activities.
Down by the river!
27th July 2019
Down by the river!
Today we woke up and headed straight down to water reality which is a big inflatable water team course. My team took 10 mins whereas the leaders were 3:30 mins. We didn't even finish the course like many others as we couldn't haul ourselves over the obstacles. We then headed over to do stand up paddle boarding which was hilarious as everyone fell off and we tried to jump and turn on the board but we all just fell off. In the evening we headed to our base camp bash which was country themed tonight then went and had some pizza with some Finnish scouts.
All around the world!
26th July 2019
All around the world!
Today was culture day and we set up our camp site ready for visitors. We were doing armpit fudge, pin the tail on the donkey, hook a duck, ring toss, volleyball, badminton, English tea and wonky donkeys cut out paces pictures. We too turns in travelling across site to explore other cultures. We went all around our subcamp eating some poffertjes (Dutch mini pancakes) , guarana juice form brazil and some iced tea from some other uk scouts. Later in the evening I attended a duke of Edinburgh international award ceremony where people could be presented or represented their dofe award. There was about 100 scouts getting their awards presented which was a huge improvement from the last jamboree. As a thank you we received a dofe international award jamboree badge, sticker and a dofe jamboree certificate. In fact over 150 nations currently run the dofe award scheme which originated in the uk. In the evening there was the unity show which kicked off with some culture displays form Mexico with a mariachi band and dancers and talks from a tribal american and religious scouts worldwide talking about their beliefs alongside a UN representative. Then the show spiced up with performances from some previous broadway actors who sang Disney songs which everyone loved including lion king and frozen.
We're soaring, flying!
25th July 2019
We're soaring, flying!
Today a few of us were determined to take on the big zip. However due to its popularity queue time were very long. So we woke up at 5:30 and walked down to the tent to wait to get a wristband with our time slot. We ended up waiting 2 hours till we could get our wristband as people camped out during the early hours of the morning to get tickets. We got a 9 am slot and had exactly an hour to run across to the entire other side of camp to grab our bags and cameras. They increased the minimum weight to 150 lb instead of 50 so people carried lots of bottles and water- some varied rocks. By the time we arrived at the zip itself after a long hike up the mountain to it and then waiting and a debrief then gear up we didn't finish till 1:30. However everyone including me thought it was amazing and definitely worth the wait. We then entered to the Italian food house and ate their pizza then walked back to camp to prepare for our American guests- we switched half our unit for theirs for our dinner. Since then they never left our site however they're always at our site because we're so amazing. But honestly everyone has heard of the wonky donkeys probably because we're load and crazy.
Surfin' USA
24th July 2019
Surfin' USA
I woke up at 5:30 but it was freezing and showering was not as option as it was freezing- that was a job for later. Went into the world scout tent in the global development village and completed the humanitarian action (this involved our ever changing world which will reduce in size to cope with an expanding population), messengers of peace (the steps taken to create and perform an action to improve the local community), safe from harm (realising hazards, dangers and regulations within scouts), and kandersteg activities/ awards (completing some expert recycling and a taster into the kandersteg activities). After lunch a few of us were randomly chosen to go white water rafting offsite which was amazing. The waters weren't that aggressive but our group made the experience as our guide let us jump and dive into the river and swim for a while.
Party in the USA!
23rd July 2019
Party in the USA!
I woke up and went to the booths by the summit stadium and went into the South Korea jamboree tent where I was introduced to the concept and its theme. I also made a uv sensitive bead paracord bracelet with the Americans. Then in the afternoon our whole unit glittered up with it in our hair and face. Some even wore face paints. I chose to wear flags in my hair and a uk flag cap like many others. We chanted our way to the stadium with 45,000 other scouts excited for our night to come. It started off with an introduction from our host countries and the royal mounted Canadian police and some highlanders from Canada and to start off a rendition of the lion king song. We had an abseil entrance from Bear Grylls who gave a motivational speech and a performance from the band recycled percussion. Every countries or association who attended were represented by a flag bearer which emphasised the size of the camp as it went on for a long time as each individual countries was announced. To finish the show off there was an amazing programmed drone display which displayed the jamboree logos it was a great night that had a fantastic atmosphere and showed off the true size of the jamboree and the jamboree spirit for adventure.
To the place I belong, West Virginia!
22nd July 2019
To the place I belong, West Virginia!
We arrived at West Virginia uni in the early morning and most of us didn't fall asleep till about 2 am, after we all showered. We only managed to get about 5 hours sleep but it was enough. We had a hot, cold or anything you want breakfast with lots of other uk units and the contingent team in the uni. Then had about a 2 hour journey to the summit, however we got redirected at every point and ended up having a 3 hour tour of the summit and West Virginia trying to find the correct entrance. Once we arrived at the correct base and sub camp we had to set up our tents, however it was pouring it down and we were rushed to set them up. But luckily we had help from our Norwegian, American and Indian neighbours to help get the job done. Then our American neighbours introduced us to 'ga ga ball' game where you have to hit the ball at peoples feet like elephant football however much more aggressive but our whole unit enjoyed playing it. We also received our wsj neckers, badge and novus wristband (connect with people and earn digital badges).
New York
22nd July 2019
Our day in New York started at around 8:00. We had to be up early and out of our rooms by 6:30. New York was big and filled with many different buildings that towered over the city. The 9/11 monument was amazing and it was really heartening to see the place in which so many people lost their lives.
Empire State of mind!
21st July 2019
Empire State of mind!
Today all the Kent units travelled from our university accommodation to New York City where we completed the Kent monopoly run / uk bingo. My patrol started in Times Square travelling all around the city sightseeing the big tourist attractions like Empire State Building, Madison square park, world trade centre, 5th Avenue. And payed our respects at the 9/11 memorial. After slowly walking around New York in nearly 40 degrees heat, we boarded a ferry to New Jersey so we can travel to West Virginia university for the night before we make our final journey to the jamboree.
There's nothing you can't do, now your in New York!
21st July 2019
There's nothing you can't do, now your in New York!
My unit woke up early to be ready for 6:30am which was hard for some as we got to Hofstra uni for 11pm the night before. Whilst lugging our luggage around we then went and queued for our breakfast 'to go' given to us by the UK contingent. There was definitely some sweaty bettys and everyone was suffering from the heat. We're currently in McDonald's in New York drowning ourselves in cold drinks to escape the heat whilst trying to complete the UK and Kent contingent monopoly run/ bingo.
We're the kids in America!
20th July 2019
We're the kids in America!
Just arrived at jfk airport after a 7 hour flight. We encountered an unexpected delay but that didn't stop our excitement. We're just awaiting our coach to travel to Hofstra university for the night before we embark on New York tomorrow.
Today's the day, the journey begins!
20th July 2019
Today's the day, the journey begins!
The day has finally come to say goodbye to our families and fly to America. The medway 5 all met today as part of our jamboree units, the bohemian raspberries and the wonky donkeys. And some of us had some last minute sewing to complete. But I bet our parents can't wait to ship us of to america for 3 weeks. America here we come!
19th July 2019
It's the final countdown!
With less than 24 hours to go, the bags are all packed and ready to. My bag may be heavy now but just think of what it will be on the way home with all the souvenirs and swaps. Tomorrow's the day we've all been waiting for; we've had nearly two years of preparation and it has already been amazing. I would like to take this chance to thank everyone who's supported us with our fundraising whether it's donating raffle prizes, attending our events or purchasing sweets and food from our stand. Also a huge thanks goes to the medway towns district who donated a large proportion of our cost. Without their generous donation we may not have finished fundraising in time. Now it's off to bed to get some sleep to prepare us for the big day head. West Virginia here we come!
Watch this space for lots of exciting things that will be happening and we hope to share our experience with you.
