Jamboree is trip of a lifetime for Scouts
SCOUTING contingents from Dorset and Jersey have been in Guernsey this week, as all three groups took part in a training camp in preparation for this summer’s World Scout Jamboree in South Korea.
The jamboree is held every four years and is the largest regular event organised by the global scouting movement.
About 60,000 people are expected to attend the event in Saemangeum in South Korea over the course of 12 days at the start of August.
Guernsey unit leader Kaylee Robins said the local group had already successfully met its fundraising target to go on the trip.
‘There are 10 of us from Guernsey going, and the cost for each of us is about £4,000, so it was about £40,000 to raise in total. The only things that are provided for us out there are two-person tents and marquees – we have to bring everything else ourselves,’ she said.
Ms Robins added that her group was making its last payment for the trip next month.
The Scout groups from Dorset and Jersey arrived on Monday and are on the island until today.
Some of the activities held this week have included tent pitching and a monopoly run.
‘We have turned Guernsey into a monopoly board, and have given the visiting Scout groups a list of places that they have to find around the island. The first group that manages to find each location has the option to buy it on the board.’
A similar training camp was held in Dorset last year.
There will be another in Jersey in a few weeks’ time before the groups fly to South Korea for the start of the jamboree on 1 August.
This will be Ms Robins’ first and only jamboree, and she is looking forward to leading the Guernsey contingent.
‘You only get to do this trip once. Four years ago it was held in the USA, and the leader for that trip, Olly Brock, has helped me prepare for this one. It really is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,’ she said.
