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Completing the Jamboree Diary - 11/09/2011
Day 10
I started work at 11pm last night, luckly the site is very quiet tonight, so we managed to get a couple of hours sleep at the Saftey Headquarters.
I managed to take a few photos of the jamboree site at dawn with the sun rising above the forest and the mist hovering just above the ground. (I'll get them uploaded very soon).
It was very peaceful at 5am, which allowed us time to explore the site and look at all the huge pioneering projects each contingent had built on their campsites. We were of cause working at this point, making sure the site was secure and that the random couple of people walking around the site had ID cards.
Today I also visited the Equator Scouts from Uganda, they had a stall in the GDV (Golbal Development Village), this is the Group that Gidd's who we met at Kandersteg last year is from. They were telling us about their Stop Malaria Project, supported by Kandersteg International Scout Centre.
I spent the evening taking photographs from around the site, including the lowering of the flags from every country attending the jamboree at around 8pm.
Day 11
Today is Cultural Festival Day! The campsite is very busy with every contingent displaying their own countires cultures and most of the contingents had food tasting, including the Irish who had Irish Stew, and one of the West Yorkshire contingents who had Yorkshire Mixtures! This truly was the world in a field!
We visited a few different contingents during the day before calling in at the Irish food house for a drink.
I started work at 3pm, it was really busy due to the Cultural Festival Day, we started on foot patrol (this allowed us to continue looking around all the different counties while working!). During our shift another member of the IST came running up to us and gave us a cinnamon bun, which was ace!
I was allocated to the west gate for the evening meaning i would miss the arena event, however as the west gate was the nearest gate to the arena we did manage to hear some of it. During the evening I managed to learn about Scouting in Sweden from a member of my patrol. At 11pm we were told to lock the gate and head back to the Saftey Tent, this was easier said than done! I didn't realise the gate was resting on an electic fence! OUCH!!!
Day 12
Today is my day off! so involved relaxing and some more exploring!
I headed to the tower again today, to take a few more photos of the jamboree site from above. (photos to follow).
During the evening I met with members from the North East IST and we headed down to the Food houses, at 9pm there was a fire breathing display which was very good!
Day 13
Another early start with work starting at 7am!
This shift was different! Everywhere we went we ended up eating! Watermellon, dutch pancakes and cinnamon buns, you could tell everyone was trying to use up all their food before leaving site tomorrow. This didnt help by being told we were to have lunch at 11.30am!
After lunch we were allocated the south gate, it wasn't as warm as the other day but the road was just starting to melt again. Luckly for us, the ice cream van stopped and gave us poor security team members an ice cream! Thanks Guys!
Today was the closing ceremony, 40,000 people all together for the end of what has been a great Jamboree. For the closing ceremony there had been a brand new stage built, this one was a square stage which allowed a 360 degree seating arrangement. It also allowed for fireworks to be set off from all around the arena!
Special guests at the arena included the King of Sweden. Performers included Kate Ryan, Daniel Lemma (The writer of the Jamboree song), The Jamboree house band, Sanna Nielsen and Europe (The Final Countdown).
Watch the Closing ceremony fireworks below:
Day 14
Today was the main departure day for all the participants at the Jamboree. Many units had already left during the early hours, but for everyone else it was the day to pack up.
I was working from 3pm till 11pm, we were an extra shift today due to the amount of movement on site, people and coaches.
This evening was the IST Party at the Spring Town Stage, this included a disco, a live band and ofcause the Jamboree House Band, singing the Jamboree Song for the last time.
Day 15
Today was the day all IST left the site, leaving only the take down team behind.
There was a bit of confusion with the transport arrangements for getting back to Copenhagen airport, some members of the North East IST who were all on the same flight left site between 6.30am and 11am for a flight at around 4pm. Luckly my coach transfer was at 10.30am so plenty of time to get packed up.
I'm not sure what the general public on our flight thought about having loads of IST members with them for the hour and a half, but after hearing 'Happy Birthday' twice before getting on the plane, I'm sure they had a good idea of what was to come.
The flight must have heard the Jamboree song, sang by members of the IST, at least a couple of times during the flight.
On Landing at Manchester we said our goodbyes, but I'm very sure we'll see each other while on County events or on meet ups in the near future.
