Training weekend #1

Last weekend everyone who is going to Japan from Wiltshire went to Potterne for an indoor camp. When we arrived we set up our sleeping area and then played some icebreakers, in which we got to know each other a bit better. After we had played several of these games we made some chocolate cakes in oranges??? We hollowed out our oranges and put the batter into them, covered them with tin foil and put them into the oven. When we got to eat them they were surprisingly tasty, and very messy as the oranges were soggy. Eewww! Everyone was given hot chocolate and told that we, as a unit, are going to try and make 1000 paper cranes. The Japanese believe that if you make 1000 of these paper cranes before you die, you will be granted a wish. (Personally I think that our wish should be for someone to give us 100,000 pounds for our trip!)

Origami Cranes

The next day we were put into 3 teams according to the colour on our woggles; blue, pink and a weird shade of orange. I was in the orange team. For the first half of the day we were team building with exercises in our teams. These included building a big catapult with bamboo canes and rubber bands which we used these fire paper balls across the length of the hall. Once we had done these activities we were told that there was going to be a Japanese cooking challenge. We had to make a Japanese styled meal. We had a range of vegetables and meats to chose from and the 3 teams all made similar kinds of stir fry. Once that had happened we were given some guidance on what will be expected of us in our fundraising efforts, and some tips for what to do and we had a unit photo taken.

23rd World Scout Jamboree - Japan 2015 - Wiltshire Unit

The wide game for this evening was a game that I have never played before. It involved fighter planes (people with an 'F' marked on their hands) and bombers (people with 'B's' marked on their hands). Our mission was to seek and destroy the other teams hangers (a section of the ground marked by rope). To do this a bomber must get inside another teams hanger with a bomb (piece of paper) without being caught by a fighter. If you get caught by a fighter then you lose your life and have to go back to your hanger to get another one. Only fighters can attack other planes and bombers can't attack. If 2 fighters came together then you played a quick game of top trumps with one card whoever lost, lost their life. As well as attacking you also had to defend your own base so it was down to your strategy in how many bombers and fighters you had.

On the final day we had some more seminars on what to expect for fundraising and how to do it, then our parents arrived for a Q and A session. In this everyone was told what will happen in Japan. After, we were separated into fundraising groups, people living near to each other. In these groups we are expected to come up with fundraising ideas and to execute them in the real world to make the money needed to go to this educational and amazing trip.

More details on the fund raising ideas as we develop them.  Thank you to everyone who is collecting stamps for me as it all adds up.  Donations can be made on mydonate page.

Be prepared,


Jacob