The Queen Scout Award is the highest award you can achieve in
Scouting. I heard so much about the award over the years of being a Scout
and I promised myself that one day I would achieve the award myself. It is a
very difficult award to achieve and requires a lot of commitment and dedication.
Around 500 Scouts in the UK achieve their QSA and are invited to Windsor Castle
to celebrate their achievement. Working towards the award was very challenging
however the overall experience was very rewarding and I am very proud that I achieved
such a distinguished award.
Presented my QSA Award
Windsor Castle
There are a number of requirements of the QSA including the completion
of a number of activities, a minimum of 18 nights camping within Scouting and the
completion of 5 challenges. These challenges include a skill, physical
activity, service, expedition and residential. Personally I found the
completion of these challenges the most difficult part as it required a lot of
time and commitment, however it was very rewarding and was good fun. It even
kept me fit as I set myself regular challenges at the gym for a period of 12
months for my physical challenge. The challenge I found most enjoyable was the
expedition. For this, I completed a 5 day sailing trip with Ocean Youth Trust.
This was a fantastic experience as it allowed me to learn new skills and
develop my team working skills as I was working closely with others. We set
sail from Oban and originally planned to sail to Ireland, however the weather
wasn’t great so we just sailed around Scotland instead which was still
fantastic. We even stopped off at Tobermory for a few hours which was great to
see, it is possibly the prettiest port in Scotland with all its lovely
colourful houses. I was just so excited to say I have been to Balamory.
OYT Sailing Trip
I was so excited to head to Windsor to celebrate my achievement.
The parade was amazing and is an experience I will always remember. We marched
around into Windsor Castle, where we were met and greeted by the Duke of Kent,
Bear Grylls and Wayne Bullpit the UK Chief Commissioner. My time at Windsor was
even more special as my best friend Linzi and a few other friends from my group
and district had also achieved the award. This meant we were able to celebrate our
achievement together.
We
were finally here. I was so excited! I had expected the campsite to be big but
it was quite unbelievable. It was HUGE! When we arrived there weren’t many unit
campsites built up yet and it still felt massive. The campsite was split into 4
towns: Summer, Winter, Autumn and Spring. Within each town there was numerous
sub-camps which were named after cities, rivers and provinces in Sweden. My
unit were in Svedala sub-camp in Autumn town. Each town had their own big
attraction. For example, Winter actually had their own mini ice skating rink
and Autumn had a mini theme park built entirely from wood and timber, it was
amazing.
Once
we got over the complete shock and excitement, we were shown to our campsite and
started to set up camp. This was very important to us as this was going to be our
home for the next 10 nights- it had to be perfect. We also decided that we
wanted to have the tallest gateway in Autumn- not that I am biased or anything,
but we definitely did.
Our gateway
That
night we had the opening ceremony. All of the forty thousand scouts gathered together
in a big field to celebrate the start of the 22nd World Scout
Jamboree. The ceremony included the official handover from Great Britain to
Sweden. This was done because the 21st WSJ was held in the UK so it
was passed over to Sweden. The handover was very exciting as it involved Bear
Grylls abseiling down from the stage. The ceremony also included a performance
of the Jamboree song- “Changing the World.” Each Jamboree has its very own
song, and ours was very catchy. My favourite part of the night was the
procession of the flags. There was one flag representing each country present
at the Jamboree. It was amazing to see the amount of different places everyone
had travelled from, to be together for such a great event.
Opening ceremony- Procession of the flags
There
was always lots going on. There were planned activities almost every day and we
constantly had something to do. If I’m being totally honest, the activities
where never really that great but it didn’t matter. The best part was making
new friends and learning about different cultures. My favourite days were the
days we had our own free time. We would always spend these days just wandering
about, going to the many different cafes available and just talking to new
people.
There
was so many highlights of the Jamboree for me, I couldn’t pick just one. The
overall experience was just phenomenal. It was always really funny when we
walked about the camp in our kilts as lots of people would always stop us and
ask to take pictures with us. It was kind of like being a celebrity- I won’t
lie, we loved it! One Chinese Scout actually offered to trade me her whole
uniform and various other items for my kilt.
Happy Memories
This picture perfectly sums up the Jamboree experience for me. I was always laughing and having a great time.
Meeting Bear Grylls
Presenting Bear with our Neckie
Oh and did I mention Bear Grylls came to visit us at our campsite? Yes, that actually did happen :)!
One
day in particular that I really enjoyed was a day in which each unit would prepare
a stall with various foods and items which effectively portrayed their own countries’
culture. For this day my unit had lots of Scottish flags draped across our
campsite with all things tartan surrounding the table. Of course we had some Irn-bru
for people to sample because after all, what’s more Scottish than Irn-bru. On
this day, Linzi, Marie-Claire and I were roped into performing some traditional
Highland dancing- very embarrassing. We would take turns manning our Scottish
stall so when we had a break we had the opportunity to wander about and visit
different stalls. It was great to see what each unit had come up with. My
favourite stall was definitely one of the Italian stalls, purely because they
had pizza!
Highland Dancing
The
closing ceremony was another fantastic night. Although it was emotional because
it was our last night at the Jamboree, I had a great and memorable night. The
famous Rock band Europe performed live and the King of Sweden even joined us.
Overall,
the 22nd World Scout Jamboree was a fantastic experience which I will
remember for the rest of my life. It really was a once in a life time
opportunity and I am so thankful to have experienced it.
