Team England Planning Meeting

Well we went into this planning meeting intending to link the Irish and English pre-trips into one option that would be offered up along with the combined Switzerland/Germany option, but things definitely did not go according to plan.  Turns out that even if we don’t leave southern England, there is still so very much to do!  Gilwell Park for example, is not just a significant historical site for World Scouting, it is also a full-fledged adventure camp!  We’ll need at least a full day taking in Gilwell, then another couple days (at least) to take in London, and don’t forget our pilgrimage to Brownsea Island!

Given the timing of the meeting being right before exam week for our senior youth, and right after a Scout Camp we had nothing in the ways of formal presentations so I don’t have a pile of links to share with you.  That said, we all sat around and discussed our options, Googled some awesome things to do in London, and quickly came to the realization that it’s Ireland OR England, not both.  So Team Ireland, you are back to being on your own!

Our very, very rough plan of an England pre-trip would look like this:

  • Sunday – Arrive, settle in at Gilwell Park
  • Monday – Explore London
  • Tuesday – Travel to Brownsea Island (location of the first ever Scout camp)
  • Wednesday – Explore London
  • Thursday – Take the ferry to Dunkirk, France.  Soak up the history in Dunkirk and travel by train to Ghent, Belgium to spend the night at a Scout Camp.
  • Friday – Experience Ghent, then travel to Ypres in the afternoon to participate in the Menin Gate ceremony.  Return to camp in Ghent for the night
  • Saturday – (early) Take the train to Haarlem, the Netherlands to begin the Haarlem Jamborette!


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Team Germany Planning Meeting

Germany is MUCH bigger than Ireland or Switzerland, so even before the meeting our team really had their work cut out for them!  How can we get the Germany experience in only a few short days on a limited budget?  Well once again we had youth really step up to the challenge with a great presentation by Riley, and another one by Lex & Scouter Erica.  Armed with a detailed map of Germany and a map of the Europe Rail lines it was my job to figure out where everything is and how to work it in to our rail travel.  All in all a busy night with a lot of exciting ideas.

We started off with Baveria’s fairy tale castle, Neuschwanstein.  Neuschwanstein was the inspiration behind Disney’s fairy tale castles in Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella, and is truly a must see!  Not far from Neuschwanstein, Riley and Lex’s presentation took us to Münich, the capital of the stunning Bavarian province.  Highlights in the capital include Linderhof Palace, the Museum Mensch und Natur, some incredible sights and amazing buildings!  A highlight for sure is the Deutsches Museum, which is the largest science and technology museum in the world!

Riley took us north to explore Berlin, the very famous capital city of Germany.  Highlights in Berlin included the Reichstag building and area, and “Zoo Berlin“, which is Germany’s oldest zoological garden and home to the world’s largest variety of species. Almost 20,000 animals of around 1,400 species live in the 33-hectare zoo. They include elephants, giraffes, gorillas, and Germany’s only giant pandas.

Both Riley and Lex discovered the wonders of Europa Park, which is an incredible theme park meant to give visitors the experience of the entire European continent in one place.  This is a short video to give you an idea, but if you are in to amusement parks, spend some quality time here for more details!  Europa Park is located in Rust along the famous Reine River, and is directly on the way from Kandersteg to the Netherlands.

Lex took us up a mountain to Hitler’s Tea House, Kehlsteinhaus – also known as the Eagle’s Nest.  To access the summit you need to use what was a secret cave into the base of the mountain and then ride an elevator INSIDE the mountain to the summit.  At an altitude of 1,834m the Kehlsteinhaus offers a truly stunning view.

Last stop on our German tour was to Frankfurt, a very popular tourist destination in Western Germany.  Here is a great video that sums up the Frankfurt experience nicely 🙂  Frankfurt is right on the way to the Netherlands, so very convenient for any German pre-camp.

Despite all the incredible things to do in Germany, by the end of the meeting the team was looking more towards a combined Switzerland/Germany experience, whereas we would start our adventure in Kandersteg, Switzerland, and then have the option to leave early and take in some sights in Germany.  The Münich area, Europa Park, and Frankfurt are all accessible from Switzerland “on the way” to the Netherlands (well Münich is not on the way, but it’s only 2-3hrs out of the way).

While thinking of this option, it occured to us that the Ireland, England and Lowlands teams could come up with a similar joined pre-camp on the West.  We’ll see how things go with Team England this weekend, but right now we are thinking it might be cool to offer two possible pre-camps – Italy/Switzerland/Germany to the Netherlands and Ireland/UK/France/Belgium to the Netherlands.

 


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Team Switzerland Planning Meeting

So tonight our Team Switzerland met for a great planning meeting discussing our opportunities in and around the Kandersteg International Scout Centre.  Special thanks to Josie, Charlie and Lex for doing all the research, and also to the full team for letting Scouter Gerry and I toss in a few ideas of our own 😉  First of all our research determined that Switzerland is a very, very expensive place to visit, so the only way for us to have it as a viable pre-camp is if we stay at the Kandersteg International Scout Centre (KISC).  This is not at all a downside though as Kandersteg is home to the never-ending Jamboree!!  There is literally a Jamboree at the KISC every single day all year!  The attractions at KISC are really too numerous to list, so you should just check out their program guide.  We looked at some amazing adventures in Bern, Geneva, Interlaken, Thun and of course Kandersteg.   Best way to sum up the meeting is with the Scouts’ YouTube playlist – enjoy!

So it was Baden-Powell’s dream to establish a neverending permenant Scout Jamboree, and this is it!  Truly a tough pre-trip to beat!

If Switzerland wasn’t enough, Scouter Gerry has figured out a very cool pre-pre-camp in ROME, Italy!  Basically we fly to rome, see Rome in a day (actually can be done!), and then take the night train to Kandersteg!  Hard to believe this amazing pre-trip can stay on budget, but it looks like we can make it happen!

So how do we get to the Haarlem Jamborette?  Well we take the train through the Swiss Alps, into the stunning scenery in Austria, and then accross most of Germany before arriving in the Netherlands.  For those of you keeping track, that’s five countries on this pre-camp! (Italy, Vatican City, Switzerland, Austria and Germany)

Can’t wait to see what else the team comes up with!!


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Team Ireland Planning Meeting

So last Sunday Team Ireland got together to start planning an Ireland pre-trip in the days before our arrival at the Haarlem Jamborette.  Thanks to Lex, Liam, Josie and Maiya we learned about some amazing adventure in both Ireland and Northern Ireland, so we decided to expand the scope of the trip to include time in Northern Ireland as well.  Some of the incredible adventures in Ireland included a visit to the island featured in Star Wars 8 that Luke Skywalker calls home; cool attractions in Dublin including the Dublin Zoo, Aquazone, the old Dublin jail and the 5,000 year old Newgrange monument; elsewhere in Ireland we looked at the Cliffs of Moher, Blarney Castle & Gardens (home of the Blarney Stone), Ross Castle, and more!

Moving to Northern Ireland there was a TONNE to do in Belfast especially if you enjoy the history of seacraft!  From the Titanic Museum, to various ships turned into museums like the HMS Caroline or the Nomadic.  Elsewhere in Northern Ireland we have the Giant’s Causeway, and the Ulster American Folk Park.

Josie’s quest for fairies led us to an actual muli-day fairy tour which introduced even more great sights to see!

Turns out transportation in Ireland shouldn’t be an issue as they have an excellent transit system like everywhere else in Europe.  In order to make this a viable pre-trip, the team’s next task is to sort our some accomodation and food options while keeping the trip affordable.  We are likely looking at 2 nights in Belfast (or area) and 2-4 nights in Dublin (or area).  Two nights if we decide to visit Brownsea Island in England before hopping over to Ireland, 4 nights in Dublin if we skip Brownsea Island.

Looking forward to what the team comes up with!


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Say HI to Buddy Wasisname!

Based on our 2015 experience at the Haarlem Jamborette we are all expecting a mascot of some kind to come down the pipes.  Last time we had our egg (affectionately named “Eggbert” by our Scouts) that we took with us to all of our pre-camp adventures.  Our egg grew into an avatar, and that avatar nearly took first place at camp (short only 100 DQS or so from first place… and our Scouts may or may not have been carrying more than 200 DQs on them when we left camp early…. oops!)… ANYWAY, in the interim before we get our official mascot we have invested Buddy Wasisname the Moose into the 4th Grand Falls Scout Group!  Buddy is going to be traveling with us on all our misadventures leading up to camp.

When we do get our official mascot from our RED subcamp team we are going to send Buddy to go hang out with some other Canadian troops who are preparing to attend the 2019 Jamborette, and then eventually we’ll have him shipped to go hang out with our subcamp team in the Nethlerlands to await our arrival.  Hopefully Buddy can set up a tent because it would be REALLY handy to have those up before we arrive! (keep in mind that in 2015 we brought with us the worst summer storm the Netherlands had experienced in a century!).

So welcome Buddy Wasisname the Moose! Hope you enjoy your time with us 😀


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Running Your Own Fundraiser

Woah!  Pretty scary title!  Seriously though, it’s not at all as scary as it may seem!  The absolute best way to help your youth get to the 2019 World Jamboree or to Europe is by planning and running your own fundraiser.  First off, if you are running it, you know you’ll participate, so there is that 😉  In addition though, we would like to offer you a little more incentive…

If you completely plan and administer a new fundraiser (one we haven’t done in at least two years) you will keep 5% of the total proceeds for your youths trip fundraising!  

So whatever we raise, minus the cost of the fundrasier gives us the profit.  5% of the profit will be donated to the youths’ section for program delivery, 5% will go directly to your youths’ trip fundraising, and the remaining 90% will go to the youths who actually raise the money.  If your fundraiser profits $2,000, you will earn a minimum of $100 PLUS whatever your youth raises on their own!  Really adds up quick!

So how do you run your own fundraiser?  Well it’s surprisingly easy!

  1. Send me a quick email or speak to me about your fundraiser with as many details as you have so far.  I will work with you to determine costs, timing, etc and get the neccesary approval.
  2. You come up with order forms (if needed) and post details about your fundraiser on our group fundraising page.  You will also need to send me an email that I can forward off to all the parents.
  3. You collect and count the money, and ensure all the money and receipts make it to me as soon as possible after you receive it.  If it makes more sence, participants can pay me directly providing it can be done at regular Scout or Cub meetings.
  4. I will update the youths accounts with their share.

That’s it!  So what are you waiting for??  If every parent does one fundraiser, we’re up to close to THIRTY fundraisers!  We’ll get all our kids to Europe or WJ no problem!

Happy fundraising 😀


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Sub Sale!

There is really nothing better than having a fresh sub sandwich delivered to your work (or home) in time for lunch!  Spread some joy to members of our community by signing them up to receive a delicious sub as part of our sub sale!  For just $5.00 they can have their own epic sub sandwich delivered!  Truly unbeatable deal, so sell with confidence!

All you need to do is…

  1. Track your orders on this order sheet (Download PDF sheet from DropBox)  (Download WORD sheet from DropBox)
  2. Make sure you have your order submitted to Coralee Mitchell (Brandy & Shanlee’s Mom) by March 10th at the latest
  3. Help make all the subs on the evening of March 15th
  4. Deliver your subs by lunch time on March 16th

90% of the total profits for each sub you sell will go directly to your youth’s trip fundraising for either Europe 2019 or WJ’19!  5% will be donated to your section to help us build an even better program, and the balance split between Group Committee and our Camping Equipment Fund, so win win!

You can expect a profit of more than $2.00/sub!!

If you really want to make a PILE from this fundraiser make sure you contact businesses!  Each business will get you a BUNCH of orders and they will be THRILLED for the opportunity of a delivered lunch!  To claim a business make sure you first check Coralee’s Facebook post on our fundraising group to make sure no one else has already contacted them.  If Coralee confirms that it’s free, go ahead and good luck!

Happy selling everyone!!


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Recycling Blizzard… I mean Blitz…

“So how badly do you want to go to Europe?”  – I can tell you the youth we had out this weekend recycling REALLY want to go to Europe/WJ’19!!  At times the weather was only mind numbingly freezing cold while the rest of the time it was a blizzard!  Some of the most extreme weather we have ever seen on a blitz and also some of the best numbers!  Like I said, we have some kids who REALLY want to go! There were times over the weekend watching the kids literally lean in to the wind to push through then losing sight of them in the snow – I thought we would call it quits early, but then the youth would come back to the van laughing and chatting about what they are most looking forward to in Europe and it quickly made it all worth it!  Our Scouts understand that the only way to succeed is through hard work and they are NOT affraid of hard work!

From our recycling king Scouter Mark: “Great job this weekend all, we canvased many areas that haven’t had visits in a while and it showed. In addition to the 369.5 dozen of bottles already cashed in and donations, and a full trailer of recyclables we also have 11 extra tote sacs full. It won’t be a record breaker, but it’s a great story for those travelling in 2019 and a great kick off for the 2018 recycling campaign. We will be out again in about three months, likely the first weekend in April. I will post to the calendar when the trailer is confirmed…”

Great job everyone!


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New Adventure, New Blog!

Well we had the very best of intentions with our Expedition Europe 2015 blog, but to be honest we simply had too much fun in Europe to keep up with the posting!  Really a shame though as it would be super great to be able to look back on our posts now considering how AMAZING a trip it was!

We learned a few things since then, and one is to make sure we schedule in the time for pictures, videos and trip reports 🙂  Scouter Shanlee did an AMAZING job documenting our Expedition Ontario 2015 trip through Facebook, and we want to build on her success as we look ahead to our 2019 return to Europe and of course the World Jamboree!

So consider this the transition post saying goodbye to our very much incomplete 2015 blog, and opening up a brand new adventure to look forward to!

#bringontheadventure


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