Well thar ye go me heartys. Another weekend o’er – ‘t sailed’ so fast! ‘t be great t’ be seein’ sea dogs an’ land lubbers again an’ I hope ye all had a great gentleman o’ fortuney time.

OK – enough of the pirate talk for now, but forgive me because there’s a pretty good reason! One of the first things our unit had to decide was a name – and lo and behold, in case you haven’t guessed by now, they chose “Pirates”!

To be even more accurate,  if you saw our earlier post here you will have known our unit number (our unique UK unit identifier) is the number 8 – combine that with our unit name and you suddenly get the PIR8S!

Well, from Kubb to Cube, Water fights to lakeside splashing, the purpose of the weekend was for everyone to get to know each other better and I think we achieved that very well. We are now split into our sub groups of 9 or 10, we have our name (PIR8S!) and we also have a fantastic unit badge, designed by unit member John Utting (photo to follow).

Here are a selection of pics taken over the course of the weekend – many more will be placed on our facebook page.

Dining shelters: Shady

Travelling: Skippy

Water: Refreshing

The Macarena: Ridiculous

Chris: Comfy

Swings: Relaxing

4 base pyramid: Easy

6 base pyramid: Hard

Kubb: Fun

Good times…

By the way, if you want to talk like a pirate, check this out…

There has been some additions to the Q&A sheet from the parents evening on the 21st. The same link can be used to get the revised document so please visit the original post here: http://www.cycjamboree.org.uk/?p=139

Hi all – more info, from HQ this time, regarding Passports.

In order to get the very best deal on travel it is desired that all unit members get Passports ASAP if they do not have one. Remember to check the expiry date on any existing passports and consider applying for a new one if the expiry date is any time within 2010 or 2011.

Here is more from the HQ team (on the FAQ pages from www.ukcontingent.org.uk/faq):

I don’t have a passort yet, is that ok?

Our travel provider will require passport numbers well in advance of April 2011 and ideally by June this year. This will ensure that they can get the best deal on flights and we can avoid incurring extra costs. By doing this we will also avoid a late scramble for passports in the weeks before the Jamboree.

Planning in advance is the key message, you need to apply for a passport as soon as possible, even if this means you are still under 16.

The following advice from the UK Passport Authority provides a useful clarification of the type of passport you will need:

“If your child is under 16 they need a child passport to travel abroad. They can use this passport until it expires. For example, a 15-year-old who needs a passport must apply for a five-year child passport. They can use this passport until it runs out, in this case when the ‘child’ is 20.

“When a child reaches 16, the next passport they apply for once their current passport runs out should be a ten-year adult passport renewal.

“Young people aged 16 or over, applying for a passport for the first time, should apply for an adult passport.”

Further information is available here: www.ukpa.gov.uk.

Hi everyone. Apologies for the delay – here is the Q&A sheet from the parents evening, plus the Info sheet which needs your attention.

Parents evening Q&A Sheet

Parents evening – Info Sheet

As ever, if you have any further questions, please contact us at cycjamboree@googlemail.com.

Hi all – here is the Camp One permission form you need to have filled in and sent back with payment (£25) to Paul by May 7th.

Camp One Permission form

Here is the Kit List for the camp.

Standard Jamboree Kit List

Directions to Hesley Woods, for those that haven’t been before, can be found here: http://bit.ly/directions_to_hesley

As ever, any questions let us know.