BP takes tea

At last the opening ceremony.

Working on Guest Services Felicity was part of the welcoming party for Prince William ... well, she was around in the Guest Services area when he arrived and would have welcomed him if had come round her way!

We met up in time for the start of the opening ceremony in the main arena as all 40,000 came together from 158 countries to celebrate the start of the centenary Jamboree! It was a great occasion.

What better way to unwind afterwards than in the English tea house with a good old traditional pot of English tea! We came to the end of our tea and Felicity went off to do her next duties, when someone came to our table to clear the dishes. I thanked her for a lovely cup of tea and three quarters of an hour later took my leave to head off towards the Listening Ear tent to see how things were going there.

It was a wonderful conversation that got right to the heart of what the Jamboree is all about!

It turned out that I was talking to Zita Pascoe whose idea the English Tea House had been. She had been disappointed to find at Eurojam a couple of years ago (the dry run they had at Hylands House to try out all the arrangements, bringing Scouts together from all over Europe) that there were food outlets from all over Europe but no traditional 'English' place. She determined to set that right.

Meeting up with a couple of others she shared her idea. Why not have a tea shop selling pots of tea in a really traditional kind of way. With sponsorship from Home Base and other companies she began to put her dream together. Mentioning the idea at a Bedfordshire County Scout event someone happened to say that they worked for Williamson Tea, a tea company in existence since 1869. Zita got in touch and they ran with the idea, providing all the tea! A fascinating company who have taken Fair Trade principles one step further in their quest for ethical trading. They support schools and hospital facilities on their plantations: just the kind of ethical stance that Zita thought would capture the spirit of the Jamboree.

She set to and purchased antique tea pots from car boot sales, not to mention table cloths, tables, chairs and the like!

The whole enterprise has been put together by volunteers, most of whom had not met before arriving on sight to set everything up earlier in the week.

The end product was the most wonderful tea shop right in front of Hylands House.

We weren't the only ones to avail ourselves of the tea on offer! Straight after the ceremony two of the guests also found their way to the English Tea House. Peter Duncan, the UK's Chief Scout and one time Blue Peter presenter was joined by Michael Baden Powell, Lord Baden Powell's grandson.

Our picture shows Hyland House in the background and Michael Baden Powell taking tea to the right! He's the one with the silver hair and distinguished look!

Other activities in the day included a fasincating discussion with some Muslim women Scouts from Cardiff who were staffing the stand on Islam and supper with a contingent of Sikh Scouts from Southall.

It's great to see a couple of comments from Lorraine - click on comments to read them!! Thanks, Lorraine - we'll look forward to some more comments in due course.

After two fine days, it's raining again and it's time for a cup of hot chocolate and then bed.

Thinking of you all at home: lots and lots of people are really concerned when we say we are from Cheltenham and Gloucestershire. What a shame we give them such cause for concern!

Have a good day tomorrow with Janet! It's good to know Janet is a one-time Guide and former Scout Chaplain.

Every blessing,

Felicity and Richard