My sunny weekend

Due to the current lock down within the UK, I am currently at home camping in my garden. You may wonder why and I’m here to tell you. A couple of weekends ago I was due to attend another European Jamboree pre-camps with my unit however it got cancelled. Nevertheless, a few days later we saw this challenge set by Northumberland Scouts to camp out for the whole of April in order to gain 30 more nights away. I was quickly onto it.

Tonight, I am on night 5 and needless to say we have turned back garden camping into a luxury; with Wi-Fi, power, an air bed, pillows and millions of duvets we are very comfy. The last few nights have been clear and so I have been trialling night sky photography as well as spotting hedgehogs!

This weekend has been JOTI which is an online Jamboree across the world. World Scouting organised an extra JOTI this year (as it is usually held within October) to help postpone boredom. It has been very fun on the chat rooms talking to people from Australia, Lebanon, Germany, Mexico, the Philippines and even the hearty Scotland – and England!

Other than JOTI I have been enjoying the sun throughout this weekend enjoying sitting in the garden reading as well as learning how to make waffles. I also caught up on some TV seasons as well as creating my revision timetable. I’ve been keeping up with my school studies and in some evenings I’ve been attending online dance lessons via Zoom. I have also been going on walks in the evenings during sunset or later in the evening when the stars are out.

A weekend of (fun)draising

So since Friday I have been fundraising all weekend. I have officially decided that after 7 months of fundraising it is not fun anymore so I’m am changing the name. I shall now call it draising! – to take away the fun of it.

On a positive note, I have nearly raised half of my final total of £4,000. I am also going on two camps over the next two weekends with my county and Jamboree unit.

Whilst draising, I have been in the cold, the rain, the wind and the sun. I have been to my District’s AGM where I talked about my Jamboree journey so far, displayed some of my photos and sold some of my craft items. I managed to talk to some of the ISTs who had been selected and talked to them about the campsite.

I have also met the Dulux dog, Peppa Pig and someone whose father helped to organise the UK Scouts going to the 13th World Scout Jamboree in 1971 to Japan which got evacuated for two days because of a typhoon (hoping this won’t happen to me when I go to the 24th WSJ).

A massive ‘shout out’ to all those who have helped me so far – I really appreciate it.