KIJ 2013

12 Scouts, 2 Explorers, 2 Jambo Juniors, 5 Leaders & 2 IST descended on The County Show Ground for KIJ2013

We arrived Saturday morning and set up camp in our allotted space (they’re not what you would call generous with the amount of space they give you) but we managed to squeeze everyone in with room to spare without squashing too many in each tent.

There was not a cloud in the sky or a breath of wind all day. That was until the opening ceremony was about to start. Mother Nature then decided to throw everything she had at Detling for a few hours, thunder, lightning, torrential rain and howling winds. With no Opening Ceremony the Scouts decided to put their onesie’s on. Point 5 then led a 30 minute version of Old MacDonalds Farm going through the various outfits they were wearing. A slight pause as we got to Sam as his onesie wasn’t an animal, soon carried on when it was decided he was a Chav, with a ‘innt’ here and a ‘innt, innt’ there. Not content with getting the Opening Ceremony postponed until Sunday the wind carried on through the night but everything she threw at 14th stood firm …….. well apart from the flag pole that Gadget was untangling from Lucy’s tent at 2 o’clock in the morning. Gadget was out again a 6 0’clock helping the site next door recover it’s kitchen and cook tents. One had gone and the other was at an angle that a tent should really not be at.

Sunday the Scouts started their activities with a morning in the Science Zone trying various experiments before an afternoon doing the Team Building Challenge. Not exactly sure what it involved as the Leaders were not there but we guess at some point it must have involved rolling one of your Scouts in a muddy puddle as Olivia returned to camp covered in it. We then headed off to the rearranged Opening Ceremony. 6500 people in front of the stage in their subcamp colours (14th’s Leaders in Orange Afro wigs!!!) watching a few numbers from Maidstone Gang Show before dancing the night away to a DJ.

On Monday the Scouts went to Barton Point Coastal Park for a morning of kayak’s and sailing as the wind made conditions to rough at Whitstable. The afternoon was taken up at the Big Top, highlight of which was a Clown trying to catch a potato on a fork for 10 minutes !! After the show the Scouts had a Circus skills workshop where they attempted to juggle, hula hoop, plate spin etc (no catching potatoes on forks)

Tuesday was an activity day where the Scouts took part in the many activities around site  like shooting, sub aqua, climbing, 4 x 4, etc, etc. We have a few pictures but we don’t follow the Scouts around all day so it’s not that easy.

Wednesday was our day out in London. Up at 5:30 as coach left at 7:00!! Point 5 & Radar still managed to cook 40 boiled eggs for breakfast. We were in car park at 6:50 just in time to see coach 15 (the one on the slip that we had been given) drive out of the car park. Seems that someone had got on the wrong coach and rather than move them just left us waiting for a coach to turn up. We were dropped on the Embankment, not the Victoria Embankment with everyone else, but the Embankment on the south side of Lambeth Bridge which meant we had a bit of a longer walk but we think it woke the Scouts up a bit. We then took tube to the Science Museum where we spent the morning before moving on to Covent Garden for the afternoon. It was then back home for fish & chips and ice cream.

Thursday the Scouts had another day of activities only this time the weather a lot better than Tuesday, in fact it was too hot!! Point 5 decided it was time to get the Paracord out and made a nice display of bracelets, woggles & key rings to sell. We had a steady trickle of customers until Ryan ‘Sugar’ was left in charge when Point 5 & Gadget had to retreat to some shade. The trickle turned into a torrent, not only did he add orders taken but added custom colours and sizes available. It’s was 1:30 AM when Point 5 and Gadget finally retired for the night suffering with a severe case of Paracord Finger with only 13 woggles and 3 bracelets left to make before it all starts again!!

Friday was Festival day. There was various activities going on with other members of our sub camp  followed by an afternoon of other activities on an Hawaiian theme. 2nd Aintree Village from Resolve Sub Camp loved the Paracord Bracelets and Woggles so much they invited Gadget for afternoon tea (If 2nd Aintree Village read this, a massive thank you from Gadget). Friday evening was Part 1 of the closing ceremony. A few numbers by the show cast followed by a band. The band were called The Talent and played their Rock set. If you bought a CD of tracks by Rock legends it would be their set (or Gadget reliving his youth set!). We rocked the night away and just when we thought it was over we all prayed to the God of Rock for one last song and he granted us a final Bon Jovi! We then had some fireworks before heading back for our last nights sleep. Little did we know what was to come. We had put the Scouts tents down and moved them all into the Marquee for the night (less to do Saturday morning) and we all settled down. The storm we had had earlier in the week was nothing compared to what was to come. Heavy rain, howling wind, thunder and lightning the like we’ve never seen. Point 5 and Akela’s tent couldn’t take it and a pole snapped before tearing through the canvas. Point 5 headed for the marquee to check on the Scouts. Not a single one was stirring, the end of the world was happening outside (the only thing missing was Zombies!) and not a single Scout heard it !!!!

Saturday we packed up before heading off for the second part of the closing ceremony. The KIJ shuffle followed by a special appearance from our UK Chief Scout Bear Grylls and one of our Scouting Ambassadors David Walliams. We saw the scarf handed over to Dean Harding who will lead KIJ 2017 before the flags were lowered and it all came to an end. We loaded the trailer and headed home. It took 70 minutes to get across the car park and 45 minutes to get to Broadstairs!

A huge well done to all the Scouts that took part. Some of them haven’t been with us that long and to be thrown into an International Jamboree as your first camp can be a bit daunting but they all took up the challenge and threw themselves into it head first. They all made new friends from around the world and we’re sure they are friendships that they’ll never forget.

On behalf of all the Leaders, a massive thank you to all the Scouts, Explorers and Jambo Juniors for making it a great week.

Below are some pictures (still have a couple of camera’s to get back). You may notice some that are not our Scouts, these are some of the friends they made during the week, we let the Scouts loose with a camera. Scouts if you want any of the pictures, speak to Gadget.