#cubjam 2016

[kellyhaycock]

It’s kind of a shame I couldn’t get more photos for him, would have been awesome to have had a big photo diary but never mind.

Bagheera liked climbing up the jamboree signpost which gives directions and distances from Gilwell to some of the world jamboree locations.

He wanted to pose with the Lord Baden-Powell statue but refused to sit nicely and kept jumping off. So for the first attempt we had to get him to sit under his arms.

We finally managed to get him to sit on his shoulder long enough for a photo but he jumped straight off afterwards.

Bagheera came into London with us and was quite excited to see the Tower of London.

As it is the centenary of Cubs this year, they made a ginormous Lego cake which Bagheera had fun sitting on. And yes, it is Lego pieces all the way through and was made in four slices so it could be cut.

And sorry for the blurry photo, I didn’t realise it hadn’t taken properly, but Bagheera made some friends when we took some biscuits for the leaders running the craft tent to say thank you for their hardwork. The leaders’ cuddly friends all came to pose and they made Bagheera a headdress too

[kellyhaycock]

This is Bagheer, my pet toy panther. He came with me to Cubjam because my leader name is Bagheera and the kids loved him so we started taking photos when we could. I only managed to get 14 of him in the end, not like the 540 I shared for the parents to see!

So, from the top:

Bagheera on the coach as we leave our home town, bound for Cubjam. It ended up about a four hour coach journey from Hampshire to Chingford (Essex) in the end.

We stopped at Fleet services for our lunch and Bagheera guarded their food.

All moved in and tents pitched, Bagheera makes himself at home on my sleeping bag and onesie.

They wouldn’t let Bagheera climb the revolving wall so he climbed onto the Cubs’ helmets instead.

But they did let him have a ride down the hill in a grass sledge!

Bagheera enjoys snuggles, this was with a Cub on the way to the campfire.

And at the campfire, Bagheera didnt want to get too close (all the animals in the jungle fear the Red Flower! Lol)

After we got back, Bagheera liked sitting on the table with all the brightly coloured lights (the Cubs had glowsticks - which we then used to light the path through our site by sticking them into the ground by their tents)

[kellyhaycock]

Thursday’s VIP was Steve Backshall of Deadly 60 fame. He made his way up through the Scouting sections and now he is the Cubs100 ambassador!

[kellyhaycock]

We had a Lego birthday cake which was cut by Thursday’s VIP (I missed that happening) and the Cubs helped to create the ‘icing’, and a lot of the rest are more interesting sights around site. The buffalo that was presented in honour of the unknown Scout who assisted a lost American in London who in turn, on learning about how the boy couldn’t accept a tip on account of being a Scout doing his daily good turn, took Scouting For Boys back to America and started the Boys Scouts of America movement and the section of London Bridge which has been installed at Gilwell since 1831.

[kellyhaycock]

I particularly like the fact that there is a Faith Walk at Gilwell Park. I didn’t manage to follow all of it as I was walking it with an easily distracted Cub, but I managed to see the open air church, the mosque, the synagogue and the sala.

There was also the Leopard Gates which I liked too.

[kellyhaycock]

I can’t not take photos of flowers. I just can’t. And the sign post directs you from Gilwell in the direction of several of the World Scout Jamborees and the distances to them, as well as a statue of Lord Baden-Powell wearing our group necker. I know, probably been done a million times but hey!

[kellyhaycock]

Campfire’s burning! The singing was fun until the bandits broke in and started to interrupt proceedings by squirting all of us with huge water cannons! Luckily at this point it was still relatively warm! The rest of the week, not so much! A few more randoms as well including the Cavebus which is a real bus with all the seats removed and special levels installed so they can literally go caving inside a bus! There’s the story time and badge swap teepee and the radio van broadcasting CubjamFM

[kellyhaycock]

Some more generics from Cubjam, including a couple of me that one of my Cubs took while using my camera. Oh and the theme for the camp was the Wild West though I’ve yet to work out the random Explorer Scout with a wolf’s head. Perhaps they were trying to disguise themselves as a Cub!