Hi, my name is Catherine and I am a member of Misfits (a unit made up of 27 Lincolnshire Scouts/Explorers and 9 Midlands Guides/Senior Section for the 23rd World Scout Jamboree in Yamaguchi, Japan in 2015). I am one of the 9 Girlguiding members, a Ranger based in Derbyshire. This blog was created with the intention of allowing people to see my progress with my fundraising and the experiences I have during my stay in Japan.
In the spring of 2013, I attended a selection day for Midlands Guides' international opportunities. About 40 girls were present, all with the aim of being chosen for one of six trips: the World Scout Jamboree Japan; reading to orphans in Malawi; community work in Sri Lanka; canoeing in the Czech Republic; a European tour planned by the unit or a Jamboree in Norfolk. We were given the chance to rank these trips based on how much we wanted to attend (I ranked mine as above, with Japan first) so that we had a better chance of attending the one we most wanted. The day consisted of team activities that showed our leaders whether we could get along with people and work together with them (traits that are of upmost importance if you want to create a successful unit). We also had to look after an egg for the whole day as it represented a passport.
2 people from that day were picked to go to Japan, including me.
By the summer holidays, my place for the Jamboree had been confirmed and I could start fundraising the money needed to attend; £2,995! It may sound a lot, but I had two years in which to raise this amount and the cost is staggered (£500 should be sent off every few months). I started my fundraising my writing letters to important Guiding figures in my community and raised £700! Thank you very much to my County and Division Commissioners, the local Guide shop and my Guide and Ranger unit leaders for your generous contributions.
I have also started a monthly challenged devised and sponsored by my uncle, in which I have to film myself eating a slice of toast with thickly spread Marmite every month until I go to Japan. Yuck! However, his sponsorship of £10 for each month I do this is a great help. Month #1 (January 2014) was uploaded to Facebook and raised £30 rather than the £10 expected due to people feeling sorry for me and donating.
In late 2013, I met the 8 other girls that make up the Guides in Misfits and we spent a day together in order to get to know each other. We also met 3 of our 4 unit leaders. During the day, we worked together doing activities like orienteering, cooking and pioneering.
The Lincolnshire Scouts were selected shortly after.
Last weekend (the 14th-16th February), the whole unit finally had the chance to meet up. We arrived on a very windy Friday evening, pitched our tents and were given our neckers (to be worn all the time at every training weekend and during the Jamboree). We were then given a quiz about some of the members of the unit that encouraged us to talk to people to find out the answers, as well as some interesting facts about each other. We were then told to take our bags to our tent, but in order to do this had to complete a practice drill for getting onto the bullet train in Japan. The doors of the bullet train are only open for 2 minutes before the train leaves so in order to simulate this, we had to get every Guide and Scout in the room out of one door with all of their bags within 2 minutes. We succeeded, however the leaders made us repeat it with them acting as passengers. Unfortunately, we were not so skillful at maneuvering around passengers and they were all frequently hit with bags. After sorting our stuff, we played one more game and found out who was in each patrol for the weekend before heading to bed.
The night was ridiculously windy and the tent I was sharing with 3 other Guides struggled to stay up as it was the biggest tent on the camp and was pitched directly in the line of the wind. At 5am, I woke up to a collapsed bedroom on my face and realised that the outer part of our tent had been blown off and was only attached by the two back pegs. We rushed all of our bags into the hut in case it rained and then went back to sleep in our collapsed bedroom.
In the morning we sorted our tent and bags and got on with our patrol duties. My patrol was in charge of general camp maintenance so we spent the time before breakfast cleaning and doing odd jobs. During our breakfast of sausage cob we were shown a presentation with all the information about the Jamboree that has currently been disclosed to our leaders. We were also given a talk by the Lincolnshire County Commissioner.
We then stayed in our patrols to do 4 activities. My patrol's first activity was writing a 'Code of Conduct' in which we had to think about what behaviour was unacceptable and how the culprit will be punished as well as discussing how we expect the leaders to act. Our second activity involved planning the layout of our camp, taking into account slope and wind direction. We also suggested items to be put into a meter cubed crate that each unit can fill with stuff to take to the Jamboree.
After the second activity our patrol leader was given instructions on how to make Japanese stir fry which we all had to cook together for our patrol and assigned leader. The stir fry was very tasty, although eating with chopsticks caused frustration for some.
In our third activity we learned about hygiene. This included a short quiz about food hygiene and learning how to wash our hands and clothes properly when on camp. Our last activity involved brainstorming ideas for a unit name and designing a unit logo which were then decided through a vote later on that day. The unit name that was chosen was 'Misfits'.
Later in the afternoon we had a 'bin bag fashion show' in which we had to design outfits for 4 specifications (swimwear, winter wear, casual wear and special occasion wear) and make them out of different colour bin bags. Our model was the leader assigned to our patrol so of course the comedy value was particularly obvious in the outfits for the two male leaders, Steven and Kev. After all the outfits had been made there was a catwalk with commentary from one member of the patrol. Our luxury bikini was up first, followed by a mankini and mermaid outfit in the swimsuit section. The winter wear featured a kimono and a very short skirt with the slogan 'it's not classy, it's trashy'. Casual wear saw a run down Cinderella outfit from one patrol which contrasted with their Cinderella ball gown for the special occasion wear section. Overall this activity was a lot of fun for us and probably very embarrassing for the leaders. Perfect!
After some free time and a few intense games of 'Speed', a barbecue dinner was ready for us. Everyone ate together on two very packed tables full of conversation. Even though it had only been a day since we all met, the bonds of friendship that had been created between all of us were very strong. After eating we headed to the campfire to enjoy an evening of entertainment and s'mores. We sang and played games together until we had no energy left.
Sunday morning saw us packing our bags ready to go home. A breakfast of eggy bread and alphabet spaghetti was consumed in a rush before we packed our lunch for the day. Bagpacking was the whole schedule for the day, so we set off at about 9:30am to the local Morrisons. From 10 til 4 we packed bags and greeted customers with a break for lunch at midday. Our lunch was a taster of the midday meals we'll get in Japan that are tailored to replenishing the nutrients we've lost. Cake, fruit, fruit juice and more cake. A very sweet meal that I'm not sure I could ever get used to. A few of us were taken back to camp early in order to pack everything away to go home before the rest of the unit arrived back from Morrisons. All that was left was to take down our tents and say our goodbyes. We all went our separate ways, happy knowing that we'll see each other again soon. Facebook friend requests were rife over the next couple of days as we all sought to keep in touch until our next training camp in April.
The next day, the grand total of money raised in Morrisons was announced. £1,421.10 - a huge amount of money that I never expected to raise in just one trip! The money will be split between everyone who participated.
And now we have reached today; 524 days until the start of the Jamboree. I am so excited!
2 people from that day were picked to go to Japan, including me.
By the summer holidays, my place for the Jamboree had been confirmed and I could start fundraising the money needed to attend; £2,995! It may sound a lot, but I had two years in which to raise this amount and the cost is staggered (£500 should be sent off every few months). I started my fundraising my writing letters to important Guiding figures in my community and raised £700! Thank you very much to my County and Division Commissioners, the local Guide shop and my Guide and Ranger unit leaders for your generous contributions.
I have also started a monthly challenged devised and sponsored by my uncle, in which I have to film myself eating a slice of toast with thickly spread Marmite every month until I go to Japan. Yuck! However, his sponsorship of £10 for each month I do this is a great help. Month #1 (January 2014) was uploaded to Facebook and raised £30 rather than the £10 expected due to people feeling sorry for me and donating.
In late 2013, I met the 8 other girls that make up the Guides in Misfits and we spent a day together in order to get to know each other. We also met 3 of our 4 unit leaders. During the day, we worked together doing activities like orienteering, cooking and pioneering.
The Lincolnshire Scouts were selected shortly after.
Last weekend (the 14th-16th February), the whole unit finally had the chance to meet up. We arrived on a very windy Friday evening, pitched our tents and were given our neckers (to be worn all the time at every training weekend and during the Jamboree). We were then given a quiz about some of the members of the unit that encouraged us to talk to people to find out the answers, as well as some interesting facts about each other. We were then told to take our bags to our tent, but in order to do this had to complete a practice drill for getting onto the bullet train in Japan. The doors of the bullet train are only open for 2 minutes before the train leaves so in order to simulate this, we had to get every Guide and Scout in the room out of one door with all of their bags within 2 minutes. We succeeded, however the leaders made us repeat it with them acting as passengers. Unfortunately, we were not so skillful at maneuvering around passengers and they were all frequently hit with bags. After sorting our stuff, we played one more game and found out who was in each patrol for the weekend before heading to bed.
The night was ridiculously windy and the tent I was sharing with 3 other Guides struggled to stay up as it was the biggest tent on the camp and was pitched directly in the line of the wind. At 5am, I woke up to a collapsed bedroom on my face and realised that the outer part of our tent had been blown off and was only attached by the two back pegs. We rushed all of our bags into the hut in case it rained and then went back to sleep in our collapsed bedroom.
In the morning we sorted our tent and bags and got on with our patrol duties. My patrol was in charge of general camp maintenance so we spent the time before breakfast cleaning and doing odd jobs. During our breakfast of sausage cob we were shown a presentation with all the information about the Jamboree that has currently been disclosed to our leaders. We were also given a talk by the Lincolnshire County Commissioner.
We then stayed in our patrols to do 4 activities. My patrol's first activity was writing a 'Code of Conduct' in which we had to think about what behaviour was unacceptable and how the culprit will be punished as well as discussing how we expect the leaders to act. Our second activity involved planning the layout of our camp, taking into account slope and wind direction. We also suggested items to be put into a meter cubed crate that each unit can fill with stuff to take to the Jamboree.
After the second activity our patrol leader was given instructions on how to make Japanese stir fry which we all had to cook together for our patrol and assigned leader. The stir fry was very tasty, although eating with chopsticks caused frustration for some.
In our third activity we learned about hygiene. This included a short quiz about food hygiene and learning how to wash our hands and clothes properly when on camp. Our last activity involved brainstorming ideas for a unit name and designing a unit logo which were then decided through a vote later on that day. The unit name that was chosen was 'Misfits'.
Later in the afternoon we had a 'bin bag fashion show' in which we had to design outfits for 4 specifications (swimwear, winter wear, casual wear and special occasion wear) and make them out of different colour bin bags. Our model was the leader assigned to our patrol so of course the comedy value was particularly obvious in the outfits for the two male leaders, Steven and Kev. After all the outfits had been made there was a catwalk with commentary from one member of the patrol. Our luxury bikini was up first, followed by a mankini and mermaid outfit in the swimsuit section. The winter wear featured a kimono and a very short skirt with the slogan 'it's not classy, it's trashy'. Casual wear saw a run down Cinderella outfit from one patrol which contrasted with their Cinderella ball gown for the special occasion wear section. Overall this activity was a lot of fun for us and probably very embarrassing for the leaders. Perfect!
After some free time and a few intense games of 'Speed', a barbecue dinner was ready for us. Everyone ate together on two very packed tables full of conversation. Even though it had only been a day since we all met, the bonds of friendship that had been created between all of us were very strong. After eating we headed to the campfire to enjoy an evening of entertainment and s'mores. We sang and played games together until we had no energy left.
Sunday morning saw us packing our bags ready to go home. A breakfast of eggy bread and alphabet spaghetti was consumed in a rush before we packed our lunch for the day. Bagpacking was the whole schedule for the day, so we set off at about 9:30am to the local Morrisons. From 10 til 4 we packed bags and greeted customers with a break for lunch at midday. Our lunch was a taster of the midday meals we'll get in Japan that are tailored to replenishing the nutrients we've lost. Cake, fruit, fruit juice and more cake. A very sweet meal that I'm not sure I could ever get used to. A few of us were taken back to camp early in order to pack everything away to go home before the rest of the unit arrived back from Morrisons. All that was left was to take down our tents and say our goodbyes. We all went our separate ways, happy knowing that we'll see each other again soon. Facebook friend requests were rife over the next couple of days as we all sought to keep in touch until our next training camp in April.
The next day, the grand total of money raised in Morrisons was announced. £1,421.10 - a huge amount of money that I never expected to raise in just one trip! The money will be split between everyone who participated.
And now we have reached today; 524 days until the start of the Jamboree. I am so excited!
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