Welcome Parents!
If you've got this far, you're clearly interested in knowing what the Jamboree is all about. We're absolutely committed to keeping our parents and carers in touch with what the Jamboree Unit is up to, as well as advising you about important dates and other milestones.
What's a Jamboree?
First of all, let us introduce you to the whole Jamboree concept. Many countries send groups of young people to World Scout Jamborees (WSJ). These are Scouts and Guides from all over the world, and every single one of them will come back changed and enriched by the experience. The 2011 WSJ in Sweden is going to be home for about forty thousand people for almost two weeks - and that will take an awful lot of organisation! Check it out on www.worldscoutjamboree.se.
Who runs it?
The UK Contingent is run by the Scout Association. As such, the Association takes care of all the key worries. They organise travel, tents, uniform, logistics and provide a standardised base level for all the UK participants. Of course, this does mean that certain information is not released until the Association is ready to do so; consequently we do not yet know when, how and from where we will be travelling. As the information comes in, we will update the website so everyone can find out.
Two of the four-person Jamboree Leader Team, Louise and Neil, recently went to the first Unit Leaders' Meeting where they found out much more about the organisation of the event. The good news is that Gloucestershire is a long way ahead of some counties and we will get to know our young people sooner rather than later. We're also charging a lot less than some - at least one County is charging £2,500!
So what is Gloucestershire doing?
In Gloucestershire, the Jamboree participants were chosen following a selection weekend that took place at the end of October. Thirty-six young people were chosen from the eighty-one applicants, making a total of forty in the Gloucestershire Unit. After a couple of successful Unit events, the group is beginning to bond and the fundraising juggernaut has slowly begun to move. Looking ahead, there will be a lot of training events and even more fundraising events to help the young people raise the £1,900 required for the trip.
We're committed to making this a very special event, but we will be remembering that it's vital to keep parents firmly in the loop. Our primary means of communication will be via email, and we will copy all important emails to parents as well as young people. If you change your email address, please let us know so we can change our systems.
We'll also be adding parent questions to this section to make it much more comprehensive, so if you do have any questions, please let us know via team@glosjam.org.uk or the contact tab.