Home Hospitality

The Greater London North Jamboree Unit wish everyone a very Merry Christmas.

We are now only seven months away from the Jamboree and still have quite a lot of preparation to do.

Last week we received a gift from the UK Contingent Team;
our Home Hospitality (Ho Ho) destination for after the Jamboree.
We will be going to Finland for a couple of days. We arrive in Helsinki but will not know our final Ho Ho destination until later.

The Unit Leaders also received more information, instructions and things to do so January will be very busy. We are issuing a revised programme of Unit commitments as a few changes have had to be made.

Looking forward to an exciting 2011
Happy New Year!

Debi

November Update

The GLN Jamboree Unit have been receiving their UK Contingent scarves and badges in the last month, along with the Unit badges. Quite a few of the blue Unit supporters' badges have been sold already and we also have 75 limited edition packs of all three: GLN Unit, IST and supporters' badges for sale (£10 each).

The Unit have undertaken some individual fundraising activities selling badges and cake, the 22nd Southgate kindly hosted a Race Night on Friday, 12th November which raised over £700 and on Saturday, 13th November the Unit packed bags at Waitrose in North Finchley earning another £581.88.

Three of the Unit: Emily, Helen and Nathaniel, attended the UK Jamboree Contingent 'Scouts Speak Up' training weekend and have already taken part in some media opportunities. The rest of the Unit will receive a mini version of this in the New Year to enable them to present themselves well and speak confidently about their Jamboree experience.

The UK Contingent have also received their Options Catalogue full of exciting UK Contingent branded clothing and kit. Trying to select items from this without breaking the bank is tough as the design team have been quite imaginative. It would be possible to wear only UK contingent branded clothing for the whole of the Jamboree. I will have to be careful as the Unit already think that my entire wardrobe is Jamboree branded since I went a little mad in 2007.

4th Unit Training Weekend

Sunday 10th October 2010

We woke up this morning excited about the day ahead as we were all off to London's Olympia not only the site of the first Jamboree but also the host of a Scandinavian show. We arrived at the show where we found ourselves in a mixture of traditional dressed Vikings and smartly dressed business people. Tasting foods from Sweden, Norway and many other places we not only left with a fantastic idea of what is in store for us next year but also with a knowledge of the culture and traditions of the fantastic country we will be in less than a year. Coming home with bags full of goodies we felt satisfied with our days hard graft. This weekend has taught us all a lot about what to expect when we go to Sweden for this once in a life time event.

Helen Putt

Saturday 9 October 2010

After a debatably comfortable night’s sleep, we woke up early this morning to begin our highly anticipated tour around London’s major sights and attractions, to discover more of the history and background surrounding it. Guided by our knowledgeable and experienced leaders, we learned about and saw many different parts of Central London, including Buckingham Palace, the Monument, the Museum of London, Guildhall, Chinatown, Leicester Square and Trafalgar Square. Walking throughout the whole day gave us a realistic idea of how exhausted we will be at the Jamboree, and it was interesting to see how we coped, while preparing us for next year. Only 289 days to go!

Emily Au

Friday 8 October 2010

Once everybody had arrived, kit had been put away, shopping had been bought and a light dinner of sandwiches had been eaten we were introduced to our dance instructor Jo. Then we got under way in learning our unit performance. As soon as we found out we were dancing to JLS the club is alive a huge groan when up in the hall. But as the rehearsals went on people started to get the hang of it and the dancing queens or should I say Kings emerged as Jake, Louis and David. But by the end of the session everyone got the hang of it and we looked like a proper dance troop and I think we would give any Unit a run for their money.

Nathaniel Sampson

Quiz and Curry Night

Thank you to everyone who supported the Jamboree Unit's Quiz and Curry event on Saturday 2nd October 2010.

Stephen Way, his family, the rest of our fundraising committee and the fantastic catering team from the 22nd Southgate worked really hard to put the event together. The 21 Unit members present helped it run efficiently by hosting at tables, selling merchandise and scoring. They look like a unit now in their blue polo shirts and worked like one on the night.

Everyone rose to a challenge that was beyond expectation and which raised a surprising income of approximately £2000 for the Jamboree Unit fund.

We are on target with our fundraising but must not sit back and relax yet. We need to push on with the next events.

If your Group/Unit/District is organising anything to support your Jamboree participants please do let us know so that we can advertise it on the Jamboree Unit Website.

London Region International Showcase

Eight of the GLN Jamboree Unit attended the London Region International Showcase at Baden Powell House today. We listened to Bear Grylls and Scouts from across the region giving talks about expeditions that they have recently undertaken.

Our Unit Polo shirts were admired by lots of people, especially the skyline.

One of our Unit members, Nathan, gave an excellent presentation on his trip to Finland this summer with the 1st City of London.

Next year it will be our chance to enthuse about the fantastic experiences we will have had.

Jamboree Family Fun Day - 12th September 2010

The sun shone on our Family Fun Day on Sunday 12th September, which was lucky for those of us who had buckets of water poured over us for large donations paid into Jamboree funds. The Unit members ran stalls and entertained our guests by dancing. Parents, siblings and supporters also came along to help and spend money. The Skip2Bfit challenges made all who joined in smile and there were yummy blueberries given away to eat as well as toy, bouncing, blueberries.

Although we are yet to declare a final figure for takings, the Fun Day raised £1600 in sponsorship from Foxtons and Skip2Bfit so the final figure should be over £2000.

Bag Packing - Saturday 11 September 2010

The Unit did really well today, bag packing in both Marks and Spencer and Sainsburys at Colney Heath.

We took

£777.93

€9.06

US$ 11c

and an old 10p

I'm really looking forward to tomorrow's Fun Day!

Debi

It's the Family Funday tomorrow!

Make sure you leave early to get to the Fabulous Jamboree Family Fun Day at Scout Park tomorrow - there's so much to do!


http://www.gln-jamboree.org.uk/unitpages/funday.html

Download the event map to see the activities -

http://www.gln-jamboree.org.uk/downloads/A5Family%20Fun%20Day%20Handout01.pdf

GLN Unit Launch Scout Association Entrepreneur Award

From Fozzy:

Dear All

You may be aware that five members of the GLN Jamboree Unit were used as a case study when The Scout Association launched its new entrepreneur award yesterday, see http://www.scouts.org.uk/news/315/enterprise-and-adventure-with-the-entrepreneur-challenge

This news story captured the attention and imagination of a huge number of national, regional and local media outlets yesterday. There was one memorable moment when the story was going out on Five Live at 0845 hrs whilst at the same time, my colleague Simon Carter and Grace were doing a live interview on Radio 4. Meanwhile, Xander was pushing a similar Jamboree fundraising message on a variety of other radio outlets, and he then took part in an in-depth interview with a Daily Telegraph journalist which ended up with a really positive piece in today’s paper, see http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/industry/7905173/Scouts-take-lead-from-Dragons-Den-Apprentice-with-entrepreneur-badge.html

Also, at the same time, Harry, Emily and Izzy were meeting up with Chris Evans at Broadcasting House where they presented him with The Scout Association’s first ever entrepreneur award. Chris was genuinely interested in wanting to know all about their Jamboree story.

A short while later, all five were whisked back to Gilwell Park to meet a broadcaster from BBC World Service who did a pre-recorded interview with them all. As far as I am aware, this has not been broadcast yet.

I have forwarded below the list of the various media outlets where the story was picked up, which started as a front page story in the Financial Times. As we have been fanning the flames to keep the story going, I have no doubt that the weekend papers will be featuring the story as well. I have been working with the Daily Express today and I am hopeful that something will appear tomorrow.

Thank you, GLN Jamboree Unit Leaders for working fast to identify, and allowing me to train up and work with some of your participants. They were all brilliant to work with, and they clearly demonstrated how proud they were to be part of the Jamboree Team. They eloquently spoke about their entrepreneurial spirit to help with all the fundraising activities that are being planned and taking place. Please pass on my thanks to the other parents and Leaders who were involved.

The past two days have been memorable for me and totally exhausting at the same time.

Kind regards

Fozzy

Only 365 Days until the 22nd World Scout Jamboree

In 365 days we will arrive at the 22nd World Scout Jamboree in Sweden.
This is an exciting and terrifying thing to know.
We think that our Unit are ready to go but can we maintain this?
Will we raise enough money?
Will everyone have everything that they need in terms of equipment?
Will our journey be uneventful?
Who will we be camped next to?
Will the sun shine?

There is one question that I already know the answer to:

Will we all have an amazing experience that will affect us for ever?
YES!

Hear our Grace on the Today programme

Grace was interviewed on Radio 4's prestigious Today programme this morning - hear the clip here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8844000/8844204.stm

Support the Jamboree Contingent with EasyFundraising.com

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Thanks!

Unit 29s 3rd Training Weekend - reviewed

What an amazing weekend!
We have been fed, watered and thoroughly entertained by our fantastic Jamboree Unit.

We had what looked like a gruelling schedule of the usual camp chores interspersed with sessions on Pioneering, Health and Hygiene, Entrepreneurial skills, Cultural Awareness, Internet safety, Camp Cooking, Instant Activities, Unit Image, How to Pack, What we know now about the Jamboree following the Unit Leaders' weekend, Archery and Climbing.

The Unit rose to the challenge and managed to remain on (or sometimes, ahead) of schedule all weekend, as well as supplying much needed drinks to our guests during the hottest weekend of the year.

We were visited by several of their DCs and Susie, our CST Rep, among others.

They also led an excellent campfire last night and a poignant Scouts' Own this morning, after taking their tents down at lightning speed when rain threatened, fleetingly.

We can all be very proud of them.

During the weekend the Unit acknowledged the fantastic contributions made by
Daniel Hewitt and Chris Nagle to the Jamboree journey so far. We publicly thank them for all that they have done for the Unit. We also announced the two new Assistant Unit Leaders: Samantha Putt, from Barnet Borough Scout District, and Helen Sinclair, from Camden, City and Islington Scout District.

Time for a well earned rest now.

Unit 29s 3rd Training Weekend

Preparing for camp is always rather stressful in my house as I fill the hall with 'useful' items. This weekend we have so much to discuss and to show the Unit following our Unit Leader's briefing weekend last month that I am worried something will be forgotten.

In the background I am also trying to field queries, enter all the Unit details onto the Scout database and make sure that our Fundraising committee are supported.

We have also been interviewing for two new Unit Leaders. We have appointed one, who will be introduced to the Unit this weekend but we still need to secure number two.

Unfortunately, I also have to work and this is the busiest time of year for Harley Street Practices such as the one that I manage.

Fortunately, the support that has been given by other Leaders and parents at this busy time has been fantastic and we are looking forward to another fun packed weekend with our super Greater London North Jamboree Unit. If I forget something I am sure we will cope.

Watch the Promotional Video

Promotional video from Worldscoutjamboree 2011 on Vimeo.

Thank You, Arriva!

Welcome

Here we will update you on all the latest news from the Jamboree Unit and tell you all about our activitiies