Unit Training Day

Saturday 15th February 2014; 7th Rugby Scout Headquarters; 31* of the best Scouts and Explorers in Warwickshire & Coventry; four excited Unit Leaders; one amazing Unit in training.

We started the day with some obligatory speed dating

Speed dating for 31 takes a while, so the leaders made some mischief

Air horns are fun

Yesterday we had our Unit together for a whole day, and it was brilliant. We started off with the obligatory round of speed dating and it turns out that using a really loud air horn is a Super Fun Way to mark the time to change over and also to make half the Unit jump several feet into the air every two minutes.

We tried to get the "serious stuff" done early on, so the Unit split off into groups to write their Code of Conduct to apply to all the training events and for the Jamboree itself. I had a minor disagreement with Jordan when he insisted that "No swearing (unless necessary)" ought to be a rule and he did not back down when I tried to argue that it's never necessary! My three favourite rules that made it into our official Unit Code of Conduct, in no particular order, are:

• Don't do anything your mother wouldn't want you to do
• No domestics
• No finding loopholes in the Code of Conduct

Banter points to the Unit for that. Bravo.

After lunch, everything descended into creative 'organised chaos' as they split into groups to write sketches using randomly assigned themes, characters and key words. The pictures below say it all, and I don't think any additional words can do them justice. Wigs are fun, some members of the Unit are incredibly creative, and some of them are downright odd.

The day ended with a question and answer session to settle any concerns the guys had had since the last time we met. We introduced the Speaking Dave (our minion mascot who each member had to hold to indicate that it was their turn to speak) and the Stupid Question Hat (because if you're going to ask a stupid question you deserve to have to wear a silly hat).

Team Jamboree had a brilliant day with the Unit and we can't wait to all get together again soon!

We like crazy photos of Mike

Even writing up the Code of Conduct was amusing with this Unit

Ethan makes a delightful Snow White and Mike is a terrifying 'dentist'

This group took a ride to Japan on a rocket

This brilliant story time sketch saw Hurricane John take over the Eiffel Tower

The Leaders couldn't resist the fancy dress bags

Unit 42 are 'Incredible'!

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* We do still have a Unit of 36 but some of them were off skiing on a school trip. Needless to say, Team Jamboree were very, very jealous and hope they had a fantastic time.

Fundraising: Tesco, Stratford

Mike bought me sushi for lunch. It was fishy. I didn't like it.

What kind of Scout Unit would we be if we didn't do a few sessions of good old supermarket bag packing? Today, we held our first session for the Unit. It was fantastic to speak to so many people in store about their past experiences with Scouting, and to share a bit of our adventure with them. The Unit members who came did a fabulous job, and loads of shoppers approached the leaders by the door on the way out to tell us how smart everyone looked and what a good job they did packing their shopping. Guys, you are fantastic, and we love you. Well done!

Jamboree love goes out to Ron and all the staff at Tesco in Stratford for letting us invade their store for the day. We had a brilliant time!

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.