Today is the day of my goodbye social event for the world scout jamboree at 1st St Neots Scout HQ. It has crept up on me so quickly. I am overcome with so many different emotions. I admit I am feeling nervous about being in a whole different culture and society and also with massive time zone differences and a long away from the people I love the most. I am also excited and absolutely buzzing to meet new people and try so many cool things and push myself out of my comfort zone entirely. I hope to meet friends for life and stay in contact with them for years after the jamboree. When I come back the journey won’t be over: There will be unit meet ups and of course I am going to visit all scout sections along with the British Schools Trust who donated me funds to help me with fundraising to attend. I will come and share my journey and hopefully persuade some of your young people to sign up for the next World Scout Jamboree which is going to be held in Poland in 2027.

It is now time to go: I have my flight Tomorrow afternoon on the 26th of July at around 3pm The Journey will be around 17hrs in total by plane and there will be a stop off in Doha. All the waiting, all the raising money will finally count for the big event. I will be away for three weeks in total and coming back on the 15th of August.

Finally, I want to say a massive thanks to the amount of support that 1st Willingham scouts has given me; it has been incredible. This scout group has played a massive part of who I am and without their support I really wouldn’t be where I am now. Thanks for helping me grow and develop as a young person.

I’ve been very lucky that my school and scout group are supporting me to host a fundraising concert. On the Wednesday the 12th of October, starting at 6:30pm, we will be holding a concert at Cottenham Village College. In the concert there will be performances from GCSE students and some of my friends. The night will also include refreshments, raffle and lots of other fundraising opportunities. It’s been hard work to set up the programme and get everyone involved and I’ve learned a lot about how to manage a big event! Get your tickets at this link

On 19th June, I helped out at a stall at a rock festival with my WSJ unit where the more hours you worked the more you could earn for your fundraising. There were lots of things being sold including vinyl record mirrors, paracord bracelets, a campfire kit, try to find the lock to win a tenner, and way more.

My next fundraising opportunity arose only a few weeks later on the 3rd July at the Fen Gallop family running event and primary school summer fete. Here I ran a cave maze which was made up of small compartments connected by cave-shaped holes and the aim was to fit through the gaps. We didn’t think it would be very popular at all but we had people coming back for fifth sixth and even seventh goes! I managed to even get a go or two in myself.

I also had a stall selling paracord bracelets and keyrings which were a big seller. Also some more vinyl rock mirrors and some badges as well. I just want to say a special thanks to my Auntie Anna who helped out massively on the cave maze and did an amazing job.

On the 27th-29th of May this year, I had my second practice camp in the lead up to the jamboree. It was held in Yaxely in Peterborough and this time the camp was in tents.

Some main key updates from this camp included the colours of our four patrols for our units being decided. I am Hodgkin Patrol which has YELLOW as patrol colour, and my leader is Nessie. Also we met some of the UK contingent crew members, and we got our own chopsticks!

Some of the activities we did on this camp included a long walk, navigated in our patrol groups, which took up a lot of the first day. Followed the next day by paracord bracelet making, ideas for the next camp (Grafham water seemed to be a favorite here), and also first aid training. As well as all of this, there was plenty of time to play games and socialize with our group. For example, on the first night we all enjoyed Disney song bingo (lots of bopping about to our fav tunes!)

We enjoyed a Korean barbeque and mochi which was truly delicious

The one thing I liked most about the camp is how much I got to socialize with my fellow unit members and how welcome I now feel as part of the unit.

Recently my unit had a social event and we got given our UK Contingent Neckers, it was so exciting. This was the first opportunity for my parents to meet all my unit leaders. They held a meeting where any questions so far about the jamboree could get asked. I have got an upcoming camp with the unit in May and will do a blog post update after that.

On Saturday the 2nd of April, I held a bake sale in the scout hall to raise money for my Jamboree. I just wanted to say thanks for everyone who helped out I highly appreciate it. We managed to raise £100 pounds, which is good since every little bit helps. The rest of the money earned went to help some of the other young scouts in getting their funds for an upcoming canal boat trip in the summer holidays.

I have now officially made my first payment of £500. This is a great start and a big achievement. I just want to say a massive thank you to all the people who have supported me so far on my journey, I am so grateful. The next payment date is coming up in May for £580 and I have an upcoming sponsored 5k run to help with that. So, if you haven’t already checked out my previous blog post, take a look. Any donations will be highly appreciated.

I am participating in the Northstowe 5k run on 24th April, this will be a big challenge for me so I have already started my training plan. The 5k run is part of the half-marathon event here: https://northstowehalf.co.uk/ . Can you sponsor me for this event? Please go to my fundraising page to contribute: https://gofund.me/1e24b4f4