Selection Weekend

In the cold but beautiful weather at the end of November we had our selection event to choose the participants for our Unit.

116 Scouts & Explorer Scouts from all over Coventry and Warwickshire came to Rough Close campsite over two days to take part in a series of challenges from which we hoped to be able to choose our perfect Unit. We didn't make it easy for them.We had them building pioneering projects and crawling through mud; we had them trying to communicate with people they'd only just met through the walls of a tent, and we put them on the spot to amuse us with long histories of random objects they picked out of a bag.

The patrols for the day got to know each other very quickly with our icebreakers

Every single Scout who came to the selection day was fantastic - it got to the point that I was considering refusing to choose only 36 and just trying to sneak an extra 80 people onto the plane in July 2015. How hard can it be?

Everyone really got into the spirit of the weekend and embraced Japanese culture to the extreme

We saw 116 amazing young people that weekend. Coventry & Warwickshire Scout Counties hold an incredible amount of potential and if we'd had more places we would have happily agreed to take everyone to Japan. 

Eventually, at half past ten on Sunday night and with the help of Dave and the rest of our selection staff (whom we love very, very much), Unit 42 was born. 116 had been painstakingly narrowed down to 36 who were then sorted and organised and stacked every which way we could think of to make sure that we had a perfect, balanced Unit. 

We'll be meeting as a Unit for the first time in January but, for the lucky 40 of us, the adventure starts now. 

To everyone who made it into the Unit: we can't wait to get this started with you.

To everyone who applied, but wasn't successful: don't give up. It was great to meet you and you made our decisions that weekend very difficult. There are so many other fantastic adventures to be had in the future. 

To our selection staff: thank you so, so much for giving up your weekend. We couldn't have done it without you. We owe you!

And finally, to Ben: the next time event shelters need putting up first thing in the morning, you're doing them all by yourself.