On Friday evening we met at the St Andrews Scout hall in Yeovil, fully packed and ready to go up to Gilwell Park for some media training. When I was elected as one of the Young Spokes people for our unit I felt honoured at the prospect of representing Scouting and the Unit in the media. I knew from the start that this role would challenge what I believe I could accomplish as a person, yet the fact that I would have the ability to change people’s minds for the better who will have only based ‘Scouting’ on their pre-judged beliefs would indeed humble me.
The upward journey was rather uneventful. Though towards the end of the Journey there was some amazing Lightning in the Sky and the sky itself was really dark considering the fact that that time of day (around 7/8:00pm) is still meant to be sunny.
We had a few laughs in the back of Rob (one of our contingent leader’s) car and even to this moment, Harvey, one of my fellow Young Spokes people is still bewildered by the hand drying machines in Fleet and feels unimaginable guilty about receiving a puff of milk rather than a McDonald’s quality milkshake and hence practically made one of the younger employees redundant of which to this day he can’t live with.
We made it to Gilwell at around 10 o’clock at night to be greeted by the formalities of the Gilwell house- the home headquarters of British Scouting. This was of course, contrary to our normal Scouting ways- to be greeted by a receptionist! We immediately unloaded the kit, the air had a buzzing and warm feeling to it, either being the weather or just the Gilwell atmosphere. We started to pitch the tents next to a unit from Lincolnshire. Rob immediately recognised one of their leaders and was in full swing conversation. It was great! It was like we as Scouts had been together for years, all because of a Necker. We quickly made a good bond with the unit after around 15 min after arriving and went for a walk around the site.
Since me and Harvey had never been to this place of prestigious place it was great to go around with fellow Scouts from a different unit and make good friends with them in such a fitting place. We were impressed with the variety of activities and scale of the accommodation and site itself. We then turned in for the night.
The next morning we enjoyed our cereal bars from Morrison’s before a few presentations on the ideology of Scouting and the ideas we are meant to convey which was all very valid, before the days jam-packed training began.
First up was the Radio interview- that heart pounding, unnerving thrill! It succeeded with me at first, but slowly we learnt new techniques and ideas such as the ABC technique to help regain control of the conversation and make sure that we talked about what we felt was important. We also learnt crucial aspects such as tone of voice, posture and smiling which can make a difference in voice!
Next was lunch, which was a crisp variety of refreshing food. But then after that it was straight onto the Print Interview. This was probably my favourite part of the weekend as this is a very important part of the training for myself as I live in a rural area and we (Dowlish Wake Festival Society) often write to the local paper about interesting stories and events so I felt key personal knowledge and confidence was gained from this base. The fact that the conversation isn’t live, I believe that it is a more enjoyable experience.
After a fully packed day we sat down to a delectable meal from Gilwell that I enjoyed before the frivolities of the Wild West Evening. The image in my head was one of Discos and flashing lights, but to my delight it was something more of tradition than appearance. In good old Scouting fashion a tent with a partial wooded floor greeted us to a welcoming evening of informal line dancing. A good time was had by all as the Sun set over Gilwell Park giving some terrific views of our capital- London itself.
The Sunday morning was contrast to Friday evening’s thundering weather. The Sun was out and a barmy 25 degrees Celsius was met before 9 o’clock. An English breakfast quenched any premature hunger before the days start. The TV interviews- the most daunting. Or so it was set out to be, I myself found it fascinating, though I struggled to maintain eye contact and did go off on a small ramble, but nevertheless a vital few hours of information sunk in. A quick lunch for filled the middle of the day before the close of the weekends learning. A three way presentation with my co-spokespeople of the Cow unit, Alex and Harvey. We all got along very well and we quickly started to fabricate a structured and organised presentation overhauling all of the learning points we had previously been over in the last couple of days. The Know, Feel, Do structure along with the 5 W’s (Who, What, When, Where, Why) worked brilliantly in the final piece and the presentation itself, with some guidance from the mentors became more chatty and involving with the audience fulfilling the last points of the brief we had set ourselves out.
Rob, our leader, also had been training and we did a few podcasts for him regarding the camp and info we learnt. During the end of the day we also did some badge trading/buying as for me this helps keep memories of the few hours we had spent together and I am sure more we shall spend in the future.
After a quick exchange of personal details (this is a deliberate exaggeration) with some of our new Scouting friends for life, we let down canvas and set of home back to Somerset. The Downward Journey was pretty uneventful except from the odd heavy downpour and then Sunny Spell all in frequency of around 10 min!
By Jamie Bignell, Aged 16
Young Spokes Person for the Cow Unit
The upward journey was rather uneventful. Though towards the end of the Journey there was some amazing Lightning in the Sky and the sky itself was really dark considering the fact that that time of day (around 7/8:00pm) is still meant to be sunny.
We had a few laughs in the back of Rob (one of our contingent leader’s) car and even to this moment, Harvey, one of my fellow Young Spokes people is still bewildered by the hand drying machines in Fleet and feels unimaginable guilty about receiving a puff of milk rather than a McDonald’s quality milkshake and hence practically made one of the younger employees redundant of which to this day he can’t live with.
We made it to Gilwell at around 10 o’clock at night to be greeted by the formalities of the Gilwell house- the home headquarters of British Scouting. This was of course, contrary to our normal Scouting ways- to be greeted by a receptionist! We immediately unloaded the kit, the air had a buzzing and warm feeling to it, either being the weather or just the Gilwell atmosphere. We started to pitch the tents next to a unit from Lincolnshire. Rob immediately recognised one of their leaders and was in full swing conversation. It was great! It was like we as Scouts had been together for years, all because of a Necker. We quickly made a good bond with the unit after around 15 min after arriving and went for a walk around the site.
Since me and Harvey had never been to this place of prestigious place it was great to go around with fellow Scouts from a different unit and make good friends with them in such a fitting place. We were impressed with the variety of activities and scale of the accommodation and site itself. We then turned in for the night.
The next morning we enjoyed our cereal bars from Morrison’s before a few presentations on the ideology of Scouting and the ideas we are meant to convey which was all very valid, before the days jam-packed training began.
First up was the Radio interview- that heart pounding, unnerving thrill! It succeeded with me at first, but slowly we learnt new techniques and ideas such as the ABC technique to help regain control of the conversation and make sure that we talked about what we felt was important. We also learnt crucial aspects such as tone of voice, posture and smiling which can make a difference in voice!
Next was lunch, which was a crisp variety of refreshing food. But then after that it was straight onto the Print Interview. This was probably my favourite part of the weekend as this is a very important part of the training for myself as I live in a rural area and we (Dowlish Wake Festival Society) often write to the local paper about interesting stories and events so I felt key personal knowledge and confidence was gained from this base. The fact that the conversation isn’t live, I believe that it is a more enjoyable experience.
After a fully packed day we sat down to a delectable meal from Gilwell that I enjoyed before the frivolities of the Wild West Evening. The image in my head was one of Discos and flashing lights, but to my delight it was something more of tradition than appearance. In good old Scouting fashion a tent with a partial wooded floor greeted us to a welcoming evening of informal line dancing. A good time was had by all as the Sun set over Gilwell Park giving some terrific views of our capital- London itself.
The Sunday morning was contrast to Friday evening’s thundering weather. The Sun was out and a barmy 25 degrees Celsius was met before 9 o’clock. An English breakfast quenched any premature hunger before the days start. The TV interviews- the most daunting. Or so it was set out to be, I myself found it fascinating, though I struggled to maintain eye contact and did go off on a small ramble, but nevertheless a vital few hours of information sunk in. A quick lunch for filled the middle of the day before the close of the weekends learning. A three way presentation with my co-spokespeople of the Cow unit, Alex and Harvey. We all got along very well and we quickly started to fabricate a structured and organised presentation overhauling all of the learning points we had previously been over in the last couple of days. The Know, Feel, Do structure along with the 5 W’s (Who, What, When, Where, Why) worked brilliantly in the final piece and the presentation itself, with some guidance from the mentors became more chatty and involving with the audience fulfilling the last points of the brief we had set ourselves out.
Rob, our leader, also had been training and we did a few podcasts for him regarding the camp and info we learnt. During the end of the day we also did some badge trading/buying as for me this helps keep memories of the few hours we had spent together and I am sure more we shall spend in the future.
After a quick exchange of personal details (this is a deliberate exaggeration) with some of our new Scouting friends for life, we let down canvas and set of home back to Somerset. The Downward Journey was pretty uneventful except from the odd heavy downpour and then Sunny Spell all in frequency of around 10 min!
By Jamie Bignell, Aged 16
Young Spokes Person for the Cow Unit