Hi Guys and Gals
I’ve just received the attached from our intrepid reporter on site at Hylands Park.
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Facinating experience, having now been here nearly 24 hours.
The site is on a huge scale. There are already quite a lot of large Marquees up, including a massive one near where we are camped which is 175m long and 48m wide, steel framed with raised wooden floor being put up by professional contractors. Volunteers are putting up 100s of small - medium light weight Fiesta Marquees.
There we 480 volunteers on the rota today and more expected tomorrow. At least a third are from outside the Uk, with large teams from the Netherlands and from Belgium. But many countries have one or two, for example from South America there are individuals from Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Bolivia. Some have relevant professional skills such as plumbing, electricians, etc but many like me are just general helpers. Quite a few Explorer Scouts here. Many volunteers are here for 1 - 3 weeks, many others like me just for the weekend.
Another example of the scale of things: last week faced with a lack of Fork Lift Truck drivers they apparently brought in a professional trainer and a tester and put 8 long stay volunteers through an intensive training course, qualifying them as certified Fork Lift Truck drivers in a couple of days. We are now all keeping a careful eye out when they are anywhere near us!! (And we all wear high visibility yellow jackets and hard hats where relevant).
Indeed there is a whole fleet of various sizes of Fork Lift trucks (many very large), vans, lorries and even a full size articulated lorry on site. Plus those delivering things.
At 7.50 this morning I set of in a lorry with a retired CID officer who used to specialise nationally in vehicle identification intelligence (the driver) and an electrician (not using his skills today) to collect 500 dining tables from nearby Gilwell Park with a second similar team of three. I think this is about 10 per cent of all the dining tables (as most are being delivered brand new and off loaded from articulated lorries by fork lift).
This afternoon a large team of us have been building entrance archways, which are scaffold structures assembled from lots of pre cut steel tubes and joints using allum screws. Like large mecano. We built 6 of the 34 entrance archway towers this afternnon.
Other teams over 1 - 3 weeks are doing things like:
- erecting 8 miles of metal perimeter fence from metal fabricated sctions
- putting up 100s of medium sized Fiesta lightweight marquees
- laying many miles of drinking water and sewage plastic pipes and assembling shower and toilet blocks, etc
The A roads around the site (including two dual carriageways) have large yellow advance warning signs up saying there will be a special lower speed limit for the dates of the jamboree. A policeman with permission has been taking ariel pictures this afternoon from a police helicopter. The water authority will have someone here throughout the Jamboree monitoring water pressure, etc, etc. There are even a few hundred special edition Raleigh bikes painted in Jamboree colours and logo. Like many other items these are for sale second hand afterwards (80 for a bike, I think about 50 for a FIesta tent Marquee, being sold on line in advance for collection afterwards).
Everyone very friendly and quite an event even now. Like me lots have simply put there name down on-line, turned up with tent and sleeping bag and are then fed and assigned tasks as needed.
Hope you are all well and that I have not bored you too much!!
Nick
