We had our opening ceremony on Saturday and you will have seen the pictures of HRH Prince William in the press. My job, first thing that morning, was to find and organise 500 young people from all over the world to take part in activities we’d arranged for the Prince to see. As our international…
This morning Sarah Kennedy mentioned the Jamboree on Radio 2. I reminded her that not only is she listened to in far flung places like Australia and Singapore, we’re also listening in a field in Essex! She has agreed to read out this blog on her morning programme whenever I can update it, so what…
Well, it certainly rained yesterday. The site changed from being a pleasant country park to near Glastonbury-like muddy slush. It got colder and colder and we began to worry about whether we’d be able to get things ready in time. Late at night, 77 Saudi Arabians arrived without tents or sleeping bags. The wind was…
I arrived this morning and, despite the rain in other parts of the country, am now a delightful shade of lobster red. The Jamboree site is truly enormous. It takes about an hour to walk from one side to the other. The staff restaurant, designed to feed 8,000, is the largest structure of its kind…
So, I’ve set the ‘out of office’ email, found the tent, mown the lawn and bought a new sleeping bag. No, not to prepare myself for the Harry Potter queue, but because from Sunday I’ll be helping to run the 21st World Scout Jamboree. But on the Harry Potter question. I’m working on the premise…
An early morning start today to catch the first Easyjet flight out of Stansted to Belfast. Then a quick run in a hire car up over the mountains to Derry, where Ruth and I met the Principal of the North West Institute of Further and Higher Education. He wants to start a Career Academy, which…
It was the first day of Wimbledon today, so we should have expected it. The rain lashed down. Parts of Birmingham and Gloucestershire were under water. In London, the forecasted showers were more like a monsoon, with the added excitement of wind to move the rain from vertical to horizontal. And today was the day…
Someone in the FT wrote recently that there’s no middle ground on rollerblades. Apparently, you either leap to your feet and zoom about confidently like a Starlight Express chorus-girl or you stand jerkily like a newborn foal and roll awkwardly away with arms flailing, like a cartoon character on a banana skin-strewn pavement. Actually, I…
This weekend was spent at the Youth Hostel in Cheshunt, working with my team on our plans for the World Scout Jamboree. We now know that our immediate staff team will number about 120; we have some idea of who’ll be doing what and when; and we think we know how we’re going to support…
New York last week, Great Yarmouth today. I’ve never been to Yarmouth before. It’s a really lovely town. I tend to think of British seaside resorts as being rather sad, diliapidated places. The one I know best, Weston-super-Mare, certainly is. But Yarmouth was very busy with holidaymakers, making the most of a beautiful day. I…
