Kent County Show
Mud, mud, glorious mud! the theme of the Kent County Show for 2012. Kent Scouts were once again in Murrain Wood with a fantastic array of activities showcasing the very best that Scouting has to offer young people and adults. The popular climbing tower complete with prussicking and crate stacking always creates a lot of interest and the clash of the crates stops everyone in their tracks!
St. Luke's Troop from Maidstone East District were once again great ambassadors for young people encouraging children along the intrepid monkey bridge. For many such a huge adventure and the looks of delight on faces once completed were a joy to see.
The Explorer Team were great too - managing all the Olympic challenges on offer: space hopper racing, giant olympic ring hoopla and a string trail. They coped brilliantly with the wet and very challenging weather.
Kathy and her magnificent team of face painters endured the pouring rain to create masterpieces on faces! On Saturday it was extremely difficult with the rain literally pouring off everyone!
The team managing the hospitality and recruitment spoke to and served over 1000 cups of tea and coffee to interested people - some we already knew as friends of scouting and others who wanted to find out more!
The Hullabaloo roadshow kept everyone entertained and the wobble board was a huge success with lots of wobbling and fits of the giggles from many!
We took good advantage of the PR opportunities too - young people were interviewed by Pat Marsh on BBC Radio Kent. Pat was keen to hear all about Chris Bury, due to be a torch bearer on day 63. We also had an advert on the massive screen so Scouting was seen by all who visited the show - about 50,0000 this year. Down on past years due to the weather!
Thanks to everyone behind the scenes who helped to make it all happen too - the fantastic catering team led by Shirley and Dennis Wilson and the Kent Scout committee for their planning. A big thank you to those who helped set up - particularly Ken, Bunty, Jim, Zoe, Chris B and Ali and to those who cleared up - we couldn't have done it without you!
Here's to next year and fingers crossed for sunshine!
Beccy Martin
