This weekend we had both units come to spend the weekend with each other at the Parkwood campsite near Hickstead. We also had the IST (International Service team) with us helping us – these are the people who do all the hard work behind the scenes to make the jamboree happen!
On arrival at the campgrounds the leaders split the two units up so there wasn’t too much rivalry. After waiting for our tent buddies and setting our tent up it was time to break the flag.
The sea scouts gave us a warm welcome of how they do their flag, which was a new and interesting experience for most of us!
After this we finished setting up our tents and we started by playing capture the flag. The Wasps (Unit 73) won by a mile! After half an hour of draining our energy it was time for cake time.
After some delicious cake we got put into our patrols and split up to do some activities. To do most of the sessions, we were working with a Unit 74 patrol as well to get to know them better too. My patrol’s first activity was to prepare for tonight’s dinner which was bibimbap. This is a dish of rice with many different toppings. After cutting the meat and veg we then started to cook kimchi for the side of our dinner.
After this it was lunch time – we had brought our own lunch to eat. Most of us had also brought camping chairs so as it was sunny, we set up in groups on the field next to the hut to eat our lunch in the sun! After eating lunch we got split back into our patrols and did some more activities, for example washing clothes, whittling and first aid.
After another cake break, we raced against a different patrol from unit 74 in an assault course. This included all sorts of obstacles including a tunnel we all had to crawl through! After this we had a bit more cake and some free time until we started to cook our dinner for us, a leader and an IST member.
After trying these delicious Korean style foods it was time to have our campfire. With help from Leo and Harry in 73 and Josh in 74 there were a lot of songs to sing around the campfire. This was really enjoyable, spending time with both full units, and it really built up the camaraderie between the units. After losing our voice we had some hot chocolate and went to bed.
On Sunday morning, we got up and started the day by shaking off the ice from our tents – it had been a very cold night! So cold in fact that our washing from the previous day had literally frozen into sheets! Soon after most of us were awake, we moved everything out of the hall into the sun where we got into pairs of patrols and made our breakfast. We had beans, sausages, bacon, eggs and veggie sausages in a wrap for breakfast; it was exactly what we needed to warm up!
After eating our fill, and washing up, we packed down our tents before we got set an orienteering challenge in our patrols. We had to go to the many different sites around the campsite and take a funny picture or video on a theme. For example, the Lion King, and Dirty Dancing! We ended this challenge with having to create the word Chingu (our UK Contingent mascot) from letters of signs around camp, although Dan and Charlie brilliantly took this to the next level and spelled it out using themselves!
After finishing this, and all the leftover cake, we finally split into our units again and had some time for reflection. We talked through what we liked and what we didn’t – mostly the cold! We then finished packing up and went home, tired but on a high from having had a great weekend!
We would like to say thank you to all leaders in both units and the IST for all their hard work to help us in our jamboree journey!
