Southern Region Jamboree Weblog

All Good Things……..
Even the utopia that is a jamboree eventually must end and the past 14 days have flown by like a leaf in the jetstream. One more day and the centenary jamboree is at an end. But even a hurricane Katrina can not blow away our great memories.

The high reported yesterday was 84 deg F and that’s a scorcher for this part of England. Today the forecast was for no rain (again) and mid 70s. There was a nice breeze all day and the temp was as predicted, much better for all of us. The number of new “jambo-ritis” cases amongst our guys seems to be less and those who got it early seem to be improving.

Larry, Charles and I were out early this morning to make our rounds. Greg was off on a tour of Gilwell and joined us midday at HQ. During our visits we presented each of our unit leaders with a very nice So Region jamboree belt buckle that Jennifer Bevis had designed. Each one is numbered and the leaders were warned that if one shows up on eBay we will know where it came from. I doubt that will be a problem. All of our leaders have definitely gone “above and beyond” in their service to their youth and I can honestly say that every Scout and Venturer has been given the opportunity for a top quality jamboree experience. Whether or not they had a top quality jamboree experience is up to each of them. Time will tell.

The Plateau subcamp was off-site today at Gilwell. All of the others were on site. Being the last day of program we are always concerned that the program areas start shutting down early and denying Scouts the chance to do those activities. A special “thanks” to the staff of our BSA exhibit areas that remained open and operating until the very end. That being said, many of our kids are getting very tired and a goodly number decided to hang around camp this afternoon and recharge themselves for the carnivals in each subcamp this evening. I wish that I could have been there to see it but our contingent staff leaders hosted a dinner for all of us off-site this evening so….but it was a nice event and our entertainment was provided by one of our SR scouts in troop 217 – Hughs Sumeral – from Greenville SC. He did a splendid job.

After our morning rounds I spent a little time mid-day at the “D.O.T.” (Remember that is an acronym for “Den of Thieves” and refers to the patch trading area.) As the jamboree comes to a close more and more participants and staff are interested in making a few swops to get souvenirs for their memory box. So things were hopping over there with hundreds of folks haggling and negotiating for the “best stuff.” Greg put a few pictures of this melee up last night.

I gave away the last of my USA flag patches and pins today to the visitor scouts. All total I think that I have given out about 3000 pieces. Each and every gift encounter has been fun and I know that many other of our Scouts and leaders have given away similar items as well. The last day of jamborees tend to be frantic with trading and friendship gifts in the subcamps and this one should be no exception.

Okay….I know that all of you have been anticipating what our daily designation for today would be. Yesterday was Hispanic in focus so today it was only fair to swing the pendulum back towards our host country. Therefore………today was……..(drum roll, please)…..

JAM-BRILLIANT!!!

We caught up with most of our “off-site” troops on an afternoon visit before leaving the jamboree site for our contingent dinner. Our primary instruction to everyone we saw this afternoon was not to worry about packing or campsite break-down today. Just enjoy the program and there will be plenty of time for packing up tomorrow.

Our new instructions for leaving on Wednesday has troops getting on their bus in order of airline departures beginning at 245AM. The last troop gets on a bus about 800AM. This helps the airport handle the large numbers of Scouts going out of country that day and also makes our logistics a bit easier.

I actually saved this comment as an ending for tonight’s blog even though it occurred earlier in the week. Our troop 203 from Dallas is camped adjacent to scouts from Germany. As I walked by their camps a couple of nights ago I overheard some scouts from our troop who were preparing to go to sleep call out to their neighbors…”Good night Germany. We love you.” And the girls and guys from the German camp responded…”Good night USA. We love you too but you have said it 5 times now. Enough, go to sleep!” Very cool that scouts from two countries whose historical relationships have not always been the best can sleep safely side by side in peace and love and friendship. One World. One Promise.

There may be my last blog. Tomorrow will be a hectic day for all of us. We will meet with our unit leaders early in the morning and then do a walk-about midday. After that we will need to pack up ourselves and prepare for the evening closing ceremony and after-party. Theoretically our jamboree will end at about 1100PM and then we begin mobilizing for our buses. There may not be any opportunity to post a report before I join them on the bus. I know that tomorrow – especially tomorrow night – will be a magic carpet ride. In fact, there is no other possible word for our final day than JAMBO-DACIOUS!!!!!
Eventually I will make a final posting. Perhaps like the young man I mentioned yesterday I will need to “sort if all out” before doing so. I know that I speak for Larry, Greg, and Charles when I say that it has been an honor to serve your sons and daughters on this adventure. In fact, it’s now 1130PM and as I blog we are all still up and sorting through our exit plans. Our other motto for the jamboree is….”we never close.”

I know that all of you are looking forward to seeing your young person. Expect to see a different young person than the one that you put on the plane. Let’s stay in touch!

Merci! Gracias! Thanks!