Congratulations to Everyone
Cheshire Border was well represented
Girlguiding Centenary Lapland Winter Wonderland Adventure
Other news & events
Copenhagen.
Waiting to catch bus to camp.
Learning a useful skill on th first morning in camp.
24 hr "Camp in Camp"
Enjoying our food. - chicken stew with pasta.
A beautiful sunset.
Congleton West Rangers have been to an International Camp
We got back last Wednesday evening after a wonderful 2 weeks in Denmark and Sweden. All well, no mishaps and some fantastic memories and new friends. We even came back with some suntan - much better weather than in UK. The photo shows us amongst the 20 000 at the opening ceremony on Sunday 15 July with the Jiingi flags and country flags in the background.
Congleton West Rangers & Guides Australia to JIINGIJAMBORII
12th – 26th July 2007
We spent 2 days in Copenhagen, staying at the Danish Guide & Scout Centre in Holmen, close enough to the centre of the city to walk, but an easy bus ride. Basic, but comfortable and very good value, with own cooking facilities and thoroughly recommended. We enjoyed a boat tour around the city's main sights, a window shopping walk down Stroget, the pedestrianised shopping area, negotiating buses and trains and a great evening at Tivoli Gardens.
Saturday morning saw us boarding the train in Copenhagen's central station for the 2.5 hour journey to Kristianstad in Skone, southern Sweden. From Malmo onwards every station was crowded with Swedish Scout groups joining the train and although the compartments were very full it created a great atmosphere.
We arrived at the campsite and found our host scout group - Frivilligkaren from Helsingborg - who were wonderful hosts throughout the camp and for our final few days of home hospitality in Helsingborg.
A variety of best memories were recalled by the group as
- getting to know so many different people regardless of language barriers
- evenings at Rosen, the special area for 16+ Senior/Large scouts, especially the party on the last night
- going on rides at Tivoli and overlooking Copenhagen
- meeting another Manchester City fan who's Swedish
- having a proper Swedish sauna experience
- learning and laughing about axe-ing
- the genuine enjoyment of 18year old Rover scouts in making bead and safety pin badges of the Swedish flag
- singing the Jiingi song at the top of our voices and in Swedish at the closing ceremony with 20,000 others from over 35 counties
There were a few low points, including mosquito bites (lots), sunburn for one or two (unlikely to ignore those reminders again), eating reindeer (not as tasty as we'd hoped) and getting soaked waiting for the coach right at the end of the camp but none were long-lasting or really important.
One of the highlights was undoubtedly the "Camp in Camp" experience, when we went off-site for 24 hours with 2 other international patrols and a Swedish patrol to an area of lakes and forest about 40km away. We hiked, built bivvies, cooked fantastic tasty food over our own fire, slept under the stars (and the mosquitoes!), hiked again, paddled canoes 3 km down the lake and then finally hiked some more. We arrived back hot, tired and dirty but very satisfied with the achievements, including the use of the axeing skills learnt earlier in the week. Everyone in the group of 8 showed great teamwork and support for each other and grew in confidence as a result. The camp shower felt so wonderful that day!
So many more things we could tell and will happily share if any Guide or Senior Section group is interested in hearing more.
