Seven Scouts and Explorer Scouts from the Dartford District have recently been selected to attend the 24th World Scout Jamboree, North America 2019.
CJ, Conor, Jonathan, Katrina, Megan, Tessa and Tom will be representing Dartford and Kent Scouts along with 3,600 other Scouts (and almost 1,200 adult leaders) from across the country forming the UK Contingent. The participants are aged between 12½ and 15 years old at the moment are all looking forward to the Jamboree and excited at the opportunitities which it will offer them.
Over the next 18 months, these young people will be embarking and a journey of personal development as they prepare for this once in a lifetime trip as participants attend the largest event in the World Scouting calendar.
Following their initial application and an intensive selection weekend, each successful young person chosen, now needs to fundraise £3,945 to attend the event. This will be through a series fundraising events and donations; over the coming months they have already organised a Valentines Disco, Karaoke night, Quiz nights along with a Royal wedding and FA Cup Final garden party. The group is also approaching local companies, hoping that they would also help support them in their efforts.
Sara Ancill (Parent of Thomas and Executive Committee Member of Stone Scouts) said “We are immensely proud of the WSJ Super Seven who will represent the Dartford district and Kent at the World Jamboree. With such strong competition, securing a place is an achievement in itself and it is a privilege for the young people to be offered this once in a life time opportunity.
The selection process is only the beginning and the hard task of fund-raising now begins.
We have been overwhelmed by the support in the community so far and hope this will continue throughout their efforts to realise the Scout Jamboree ambition.”
Their first fund-raiser took place at Stone Bowls Club on Friday 9th February. The Valentine themed, family disco, included side shows, such as: glitter tattoos, face-painting, jewellery and gifts (made by the young people) along with a photo booth and of course, the obligatory raffle
Attended by Deputy Mayor, Cllr David Mote, who as a scout actually attended the 14th World Scout Jamboree in Norway, said “We are all very proud of the super seven Scouts representing Dartford at the Jamboree and the Council is supporting their fund raising activities. We know this will be a life changing event for these young people and hope businesses around Dartford will also join us to help them realise this once in a lifetime opportunity.”
About Dartford Scouts
Dartford District Scout Council covers and area from Princes Road in Dartford to Swanscombe and the Bridge Estate to Sutton-at-Hone and has approximately 1300 members aged 6 years and above in 11 Scout groups and 7 Explorer Scout Units. The Jamboree participants represent 6 groups/units.
The 7 representatives of Dartford Scouts were selected at wet weekend camp in November 2017 after completing activities where they were observed for teamwork and personal attitude amongst other skills.
Dartford Scouts are also privileged to have 2 adult members as a part of the Jamboree, Emily Burland who was selected as a part of the Kent Unit leadership team and Leigh Villiers who is a member of the UK Contingent Management Team.
About the UK Contingent
The UK Contingent is formed of 100 Units, each Unit is formed of 4 Adult Leaders and 36 Young People who will be aged between 14 and 18 during the dates of the Jamboree. There is also a further 750 International Service Team who are all Adults members volunteering to work at the event and finally 50 Contingent Management and Support Team. The Jamboree will be the largest UK contingent to attend a overseas event.
More information about the UK contingent can be found on https://www.ukcontingent.co.uk/Jamboree-2019/
About the 24th World Scout Jamboree
The Jamboree will be held at the Summit Bechtel Reserve in West Virginia, USA between 22 July and 2 August 2019 and will be attended by Scouts from up to 160 countries.
More information can be found on https://www.2019wsj.org