Yesterday was the opening ceremony of the 21st World Scout Jamboree. All 8000 members of the International Service Team left the adult sub-camp at 11am to join the queue of 40,000 other people on their way to the main arena. On the way people carried flags, danced and sang songs from their countries. I managed to find myself a place to sit right in the middle of the field, quite near to the back but I still had a good view of what was going on.

The ceremony started with HRH Duke of Kent and Prince William arriving, walking though the crowd and being cheered as they went. Then representatives of each country in the UK came in with massive helium baloons. Each of the countries represented at the Jamboree were then announced as their national flag was brought onto the stage, each country cheering loudly as their country was announced.

 Today I had my first real shift at work. I had to get up at 5.30 to get breakfast and be at the security station for when my shift started at 7. I spent the first few hours of my shift taking care of all arrivals through the main gate with two others, then went on patrol around the plaza area, which was really good as that is where most people went. Today was the first of the day visitors as well so there were extra people on the site asking for directions.

You can keep up to date with the latest Jamboree news at http://eng.thejamboree.org/

I arrived yesterday about 1.30 at North Weald airfield in Essex where I checked in, collected my jamboree neckerchief and ID card then got on a coach for the 20 minute ride to the Jamboree site. From the coach stop it was about a half hour walk to the IST subcamp, which is a bit difficult carrying all the stuff I had to carry! The site is pretty muddy in places, but the camping areas are generally ok at the moment. I imagine whent the participants arrive, 40,000 feet will destroy most of the grassy areas.

Been to some training thingies this afternoon for my job which starts tomorrow. I am part of the Stewarding team (basically security) which means I get to walk around the site seeing whats going on I have a meeting at 1400 tomorrow where I will get all the details of what I will be doing and my rota.

I’ve tried to upload some photos to my gallery, but it is a pain as usual and won’t let me. I’ll try another time when I can get more internet credit.

Just finishing the last bit of packing, trying to squeeze those last few things into my bag and throw out the things I wont need. I’ll be arriving at the North Weald check in centre around 1pm tomorrow afternoon, where I will register and be assigned to a working group. Then it’s onto the Jamboree site itself,  about 20 minutes drive away on the shuttle bus. On the Wednesday and Thursday there will be a number of training and orientation meetings I have to attend and generally help get the site ready for the arrival of the participants on Thursday and Friday.

I’m going to try to post here as often as I can to let people know what I’m up to and put some photos in my gallery, so check back regularly! There are several internet cafe’s on the site so that shouldn’t be a problem hopefully.

Just visited the website of the UK contingent for the Jamboree, and seen the job allocations have been posted. In about February this year I filled in a form with my preferences for Service Team jobs whilst at the Jamboree, ranging from catering to HR to health and security. Today I got my job allocation; if I remember correctly it was my first choice – Health and Welfare, which includes stewarding and security and emergency control. Should be a good excuse to wander round the site making sure everything is in order. I was actually dreading having a job such as catering or HR that meant I spent long periods of the Jamboree indoors away from all the action.

I depart for the Jamboree a week on Tuesday, 24th July (two days before the participants arrive on site). There will be a range of training sessions specific to roles and helping with any last minute set up before people start to arrive on the Thursday. I also got word last week that the only bar on site will be in the Adult Hub, right where I will be staying. Great!