Arrived in Quito, Ecuador the second highest capital city in the world! It's an amazing city and buzzing with a really friendly atmosphere. We spent one day exploring the old town and visited the impressive Basilica there. In addition, we travelled up to the equator line where we stood in both hemispheres at the same time! Also we were shown the famous shrunken heads of Ecuador (where they shrink the heads of their enemies to wear as a necklace as a trophy-so gruesome). It was weird but really fun to learn about and we had a great time.

I have just completed one week (July 2014) of work experience with Datatrial, a clinical trials company based in Jesmond, and have really learnt a lot as well as having a great time getting to know the team. It's the first time I have ever done work experience before and it was a big learning curve for me. If you would like to read more about it here is a link to Datatrial's blog where I wrote a post about my week:
http://blog.datatrial.com/

Here are some new official photos of the patrol I'm in (Tyne Patrol) for the World scout Jamboree in 2015.

Yesterday (31 May 14) my family and I hosted our 'Biryani & Burgers BBQ' at our local scout hut as a fundraiser for my Japan World Scout Jamboree trip.

My awesome family really got stuck in and we made a great team. We wanted to make our BBQ slightly different from what you'd expect. Between us we made all the food! Mum did her family secret recipe veggie biryani - 4 big vats of it; Dad made 100 of his handmade ultimate burgers; then there was all the yummy extras you get at a BBQ. My fab sister, Aanya, made great cakes and loved running the candy floss machine - eating more than she sold, of course!

We also provided great entertainment like: air hockey, pool, table tennis,  raffle, penalty shoot out, and guess how many sweets are in the jar.

When everybody arrived, I thought it was going to be hectic at first because of all the things we had going on and the amount of people that turned up! But in the end, it was great fun and staggering that so many friends turned up to support us. Everyone was so generous getting involved with all the games and extras we put on. Most of all, the weather held up which really put a smile on all our faces!

A big thank you to all the generous people who kindly donated 'stuff'. These friends donated raffle prizes:

STAR PRIZE

ONE WEEK’S ACCOMMODATION IN BEAUTIFUL PUERTO BANUS, MARBELLA, SPAIN.

TOWN HOUSE IN 3-POOL COMPLEX; SLEEPS 6.

KINDLY DONATED BY NIGEL REEVES

FINANCIAL AUDIT – kindly donated by Nigel Reeves,

Director, Reeves Wealth Management

ONE TO ONE SQUASH/FITNESS TRAINING SESSION – kindly donated by Liam Gutcher,

Professional Squash Coach

INTERIM VEHICLE SERVICE WORTH £89 - kindly donated by Mike Buckle,

Director, Regent Autos (http://www.regentautos.co.uk/index.php/our-services)

CHIROPRACTIC ASSESSMENT WORTH £50 – kindly donated by Dr Jonathan O’Malley,

Director, Vitality Chiropractic

THE SAGE GATESHEAD – two tickets for ‘Abandoman – Moonrock Boombox’ Sat 7 June 8pm – kindly donated by The Sage

Cheryl at Rowntrees donated bags of sweets so I could do the 'guess the sweets in the jar' game. 

Scout HQ in Shiremoor let me borrow that brilliant candy floss machine that Aanya wants to keep!

Geoff Holiday gave a bottle of bubbly as a raffle prize.

Lovely Judy Jewitt, our neighbour made beautiful cakes to sell and raffle.

I CAN'T THANK YOU ALL ENOUGH FOR SUPPORTING ME!!!

Well done to lucky Nadiah, my clarinet teacher, who won the star prize and thank you everyone for coming because altogether I raised £825!!! Some will help other less fortunate scouts than me to get to Japan.

We were also really happy to take piles of left over food to the People's Kitchen on Sunday morning!

Here's a few pictures of the afternoon (thanks Caitlin for being great with the iPad:-)…

WHAT IS THE WORLD SCOUT JAMBOREE JAPAN ABOUT & WHY AM I RAISING FUNDS TO GO TO IT?

I am currently raising money for a trip to Japan in July 2015 as part of the World Scout Jamboree. But there is much more to it than that...

We will fly to Tokyo where we will do 2 days' activities of our choosing. Then we go to the main campground where 40 000 scouts from 192 countries will live for 10 days! There will be loads of activities and get-togethers with people from all over the world. The camp theme is 'peace' ('wa' in Japanese) so one of the main activities is a day trip to Hiroshima, as it is the 70th anniversary of the atrocious bombings. When we scouts from across the world meet and talk together we will work to break down cultural barriers and help us understand one another so events like the Hiroshima bombings  will never happen again. At the end of our trip, we will stay with a Japanese family for 3-4 days, which is a great privilege and will again help us understand people of another culture.

This camp has a much deeper meaning that we should not forget. Baden Powell, founder of the Boy Scouts, had a vision. He wanted all scouts, all over the world to meet together and learn new things and achieve a goal. This scout union became known as the World Scout Jamboree, held in different places, every four years, across the globe. One scout law tells us to be friendly and considerate - I'm fulfilling this by ensuring that a proportion of the money I raise will go to scouts that don't have the means or facilities to organise fundraising events for them to attend this amazing camp.

I hope I have given you a much better picture of what this Jamboree is all about, and I hope to encourage your support for the future.

Since being chosen to go to the World Scout Jamboree held in Japan in 2015, various fundraising activities have got under way and every Jamboree unit member has contributed in some way to raise money for this epic opportunity. As for me, I chose to busk outside Cotswold Camping along Northumberland Street in Newcastle City Centre. I performed twice, once with three other fellow Jamboree unit members and then once with my sister. We performed a variety of Christmas carols and songs and altogether raised about £112 from both busking sessions. I have also raffled a Christmas cake my dad and I made and that raised £100. In addition just last weekend, I hosted an Asian brunch where I made and served up (with the help of my family) a delicious dish called Chaat (healthy veggie street food with chickpeas, potatoes and a sweet and sour tamarind sauce plus loads of yummy toppings like onions, ginger, yoghurt and coriander) for my 60 hungry customers. It went down a storm and raised just under £400!
Here is a picture of me and my sister busking outside Cotswold Camping.

I have been in Scouting since I was eight and I have had lots of fun and made some great friends along the way. Recently, I have found out I'm going to Japan in 2015 as part of Northumberland's Jamboree Unit in the UK Contingent for the World Scout Jamboree! Yaaay!

We've got two years to prepare and raise funds for our trip. This means there's a lot of events and activities organised by the unit to build up our teamwork and organise ourselves. Last weekend, we had our first group camp at Hawkhirst, Kielder where everyone met properly for the first time.

I'm in two eight man teams, a tent team and an activity team. Everyone was really friendly and I've already made great friends with Scouts who were strangers to me before the first camp. We also did loads of activities like pioneering and shelter building which helped to break the ice and the banter in the tent groups was brilliant.

This first camp has given me a real taster of what's to come. Now I can't wait until 2015!