Become a volunteerBeyond the UK
Poacher Jamboree 2022 – the adventure of a lifetime!!
In July last year I went on my first ever proper guiding camp to Poacher International Jamboree at Lincolnshire Showground and had an amazing time.
When I was younger I was a Rainbow and Brownie but unfortunately didn’t do Guides, then re-joined a few years later as a young leader for my Brownie unit. I was always shy and timid and was always too afraid to go on Brownie pack holidays and so going on my first Guide camp at 20 was a bizarre feeling. I was still a little nervous, even at my age, but it turned out to really be one of my favourite ever weeks.
I volunteered as a staff member as part of the craft team, and so I turned up not knowing who I
was going to be working in a team with. This aspect did make me quite nervous but also had an element of excitement to it as I was looking forward to meeting new people. On the first day of the job I met Sally, Debbie, Millie and Scarlett who were all fabulous and made a wonderful team to work with. We really enjoyed working together and made a wonderful group of new friends together. Our craft was beeswax candles of which all the participants made some really marvelous candles and said that they enjoyed our craft tent – we had quite a few young members who would make a daily visit to our tent which was wonderful to see.
One of my favourite memories was explaining how to do our craft to a little girl who didn’t seem to understand what I meant which confused me initially but then after spotting a French flag on her scout uniform I tried an effort at pronouncing ‘Bonjour’ causing her face to light up. It was such a warming moment for her to feel understood as we managed to translate our instructions to make her feel included. This really emphasised to me how the international event brings all scouts and guides together no matter where from.
As well as enjoying my volunteering position we also had great fun in the evenings in the big top tent, especially with the fancy dress!! After working we had the great
chance of taking part in some activities (thanks to Penny, our creative activities manager) such as trampolining, water zorbing, experiencing a F1 simulator and trying some crafts. We also had the great experience of enjoying watching the England Lionesses win the Euros whilst at Poacher which created an amazing atmosphere!!
Enjoying it as much as I did and especially loving making amazing new friends and spending so much time with people I had never met before made me wish I had pushed myself more when I was younger as I now know I would’ve loved all the experiences offered. I think this impacts my approach as a leader now, encouraging girls to try new things whilst reassuring that there are always options to make them feel more comfortable and confident.
