Saturday 5th August saw us assembling with three
thousand other Guides and Scouts at Ardingly Agricultural Showgrounds for WS
2017. We camped with 12 Guides from Haywards Heath and four Guiders in a small
campsite which was part of the Hufflepuff Subcamp
The theme was Harry Potter
and at the opening ceremony a Hogwarts Express train steamed out of a special
enclosure to the central assembly area (Diagon Alley.) We were part of the
opening parade and had the honour of raising the South African flag in the Diagon
Alley.
Every day the Guides got to do two groups of exciting activities from the
following categories:
Lake and Boathouse – our group got to do rafting
Performing arts – including stilt walking, circus skills,
music, drama, dance
Craft and science
Tower of Hogwarts (High adventure) including wall climbing,
bungi trampoline, zip line, caving
Wheels and motors
It’s a knockout
Country persuits including falconry, archery, clay pigeon
shooting, brick laying, branding, whittling, making dampers and blacksmithery.
Sport and International.
On the Tuesday evening was International night where each
visiting country performed some entertainment from their country. We did a
series of dances, two Volkspele and two Zulu dances. We also had to provide a
taste of South African food and we went for rusks dipped in coffee.
On the Wednesday was the Muggles Charity fair where each
unit had to run a stall for visiting brownies, cubs and younger members.
Unfortunately it rained heavily that day and the whole fair had to be run in a
huge agricultural hall. It was a geat success however and over nine thousand
pounds was raised for charity.
All too soon closing ceremony arrived and the following day
we had to say goodbye to all our new friends and dismantle the camp. However, those seven days of WS
2017 will remain in our memories forever and will become stories we tell about
when the Waverley Guides went to WS 2017
.
