We are proud to present... Unit 42!

This evening, the Unit were together for the first time for an information evening with their parents. Check out how fantastic they are!

We love you already; it's going to be a fantastic year-and-a-half.

BBC Radio Coventry & Warwickshire

Listen here!

Steph, Katie, Skye and Dom in the studio

Skye, Katie and Dom have done a fantastic job shouting about Scouting on BBC Radio Coventry & Warwickshire this afternoon. On air with Vic, they told everyone listening in Coventry and Warwickshire about the Jamboree and the adventure they are embarking on between now and July 2015.

Huge amounts of respect to the guys for being so calm and collected, and for putting such a great image of local Scouting out there for everyone to hear. Special credit goes to Skye for her notebook full of every possible question we could be asked and her eloquent, 'on-brand' answers!

Lots of Jamboree love and hugs to Luke, Warwickshire's media chief, for giving up his Sunday afternoon to give us all a run-through, and to Nigel, our regional media support, for getting us the on-air slot. Even bigger thanks to the guys and their parents for getting to the studio on time while I was getting lost on Coventry Ring Road and running full-pelt through the city centre in my uniform to get there in time to be on the air.

Cotswold Outdoor Weekend

Taking over the shop floor at Cotswold Outdoor

We spent this weekend with Cotswold Outdoor in Coventry, who are one of Scouting's corporate fundraising partners. They kindly let us take over their store to run a Christmas stall for the Unit funds and to do some Unit bonding.

The Unit came in waves across the weekend to spend some time together for the first time since they found out they made it into the Unit. We took some paracord and the guys did a brilliant job of making bracelets and keyrings to sell alongside the cakes that some seriously talented parents made specially for the weekend.

It took serious self-control to not eat these ourselves

Big Jamboree love to Cotswold Outdoor and Leekes for housing us for the weekend, and to all the parents for supporting us. It was great to see the guys from the Unit and we can't wait until we get you all together properly again!

Welcome to Unit 42

Welcome to the world, Unit 42!

Massive congratulations, excitement and general Jamboree loveliness to Aiko, Aisling, Ben, Celestine, Charlie, Dan, Dillan, Dom, Dylan, Ellie, Ethan, Geena, Grace, Hannah, Harriet, Helen, Holly, Iona, Jaiker, James, John, Jordan, Katie, Lily, Lois, Matt, Matt, Mattie, Matty (whose silly idea was that?), Mike, Niamh, Ollie, Becca, Skye, Tristan and Zoe.

We'll be calling you all Dave until we've learned all your names.

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.

What path will you take?

Will your path take you to #japan2015? There are only ten days to go until you find out!

Our first Unit Leader Training weekend!

Networking lunch with other ULs and the CST

The UL team before our first briefing session

This weekend Mike, Ben, Shaun & I had our first Unit Leader (UL) training weekend at Warwick University. We had everything from Q&A sessions with the Contingent Management Team (CMT) and Contingent Support Team (CST) to workshop sessions about programme ideas for Sections in the run-up to the Jamboree.

The four of us met for a breakfast meeting on the campus to talk a little more about selection weekend and other bits and bobs. Then we headed over to the conference centre for lunch. We had a chat to some of the CST and some other ULs - it's really interesting to hear how other Units are running their selection processes and to compare progress. After lunch we had an introductory session where we heard about the progress the UK Contingent have made so far, and we met the Management Team. We heard some inspirational stories about how previous Jamborees had changed the lives of the young people who went to Thailand and Sweden (no pressure, Team!), and we also caught up on some admin stuff.

We had a much-needed coffee break after all this: the enormity of the work we have to do over the next twenty months was starting to sink in! The atmosphere was buzzing.

Each of us then split off to go to different workshop sessions. They covered everything from communications to a crash-course in Japanese culture, and health & the climate. We definitely won't be short of things to do at the training weekends and there is an awful lot for our Unit to take in.

We had some really useful Q&A sessions with the CMT and CST. Look out for the introduction of the 'stupid question paddle' at meetings and training from now on - it was a personal favourite of mine.

There was a formal dinner in uniform in the evening. Special thanks to the CST members who spent their whole training weekend making origami peace cranes for the tables. We were also given some EXCITING PRESENTS:

Who wants one?!

Chatting to other Unit Leaders and CST was fantastic and we picked up some great tips and news. It was so much fun that we didn't get to bed until nearly 5am (shout out to Lincolnshire and CST member Jon).

'Strictly Come Camping'

On Sunday we had the anticipated Unit kit demonstrated to us by a semi-naked Byron Chatburn (the UK Contingent Leader, no less), a giraffe (Pikachu wasn't available apparently), a sumo wrestler and the hi-viz highlander. Kit does include a sweaty neck towel (seriously, it's going to be THAT HOT) but we're not sure about the Union Jack undies.

We've been given an awful lot of information this weekend and the CMT & CST did a cracking job of putting it all together for us. Thankfully, it's all been put together in my most favouritest present of all: the Unit handbook.

The Unit handbook!

It's going to be my bedtime reading for the next two weeks so that, by selection weekend, I'll be a fountain of knowledge on everything we know so far about the Jamboree.