Information for pre-event 1

Thank you for your patience as we’ve finalised details for next weekend. As promised, here they are! With a week to go, we hope your young person is as excited as we are – it’ll be the first time that we’re all together in one space, working as we will when we’re in Switzerland, next year.

Arrivals – when dropping off at Hamlet Wood, please access the site from Coxheath, rather than Tovil, approaching the site, with it on your left – this will help us to manage the flow of traffic, and decrease the likelihood of you having to reverse for miles up a country lane. Please car share where you can. When dropping off, please remain in your vehicle, and follow the instructions from the team. We do not have a big car park to play with, so we’re asking you to ‘drop and dash’ – for anyone who this doesn’t work for, please let us know by email, so we can arrange an alternative plan.

We are staggering arrivals between 9-10am on Saturday – please aim to arrive within your window, and not before. We have staggered the times by grouping your current Scout Group/Explorer Unit with others – where you’re dropping off more than one young person, from different Groups/Units, you can drop them in one slot, and do not need to make two trips in. Please arrive at the time below:

09:00 - 1st St Mary's Platt, 1st Snodland, Blacklands, 1st Borough Green, 1st Aylesford, 1st Ditton, 1st Larkfield, Others

09:20 - 1st Leybourne, 1st West Malling, Mereworth & Kings Hill, 1st Ightham

09:40 - Malling Explorers

Departures – when picking up on Sunday, please access the site in the same way as you did upon arrival, from the Coxheath direction, rather than from the Tovil side. We’ll be running the same style of operation, with staggered collection times, and a ‘grab and go’ approach, so please remain in your car, and let us help load your young person’s bag into the car (if needed), so that you can drive off as soon as they’ve got into the car. Where you’re picking up more than one young person, from different Groups/Units, please agree with them which time slot you’ll be picking them up in. Please aim to arrive no earlier than the start of your time slot, as the young people you’re collecting may not be ready and by the pick-up zone for you.

12:00 - 1st St Mary's Platt, 1st Snodland, Blacklands, 1st Borough Green, 1st Aylesford, 1st Ditton, 1st Larkfield, Others

12:20 - 1st Leybourne, 1st West Malling, Mereworth & Kings Hill, 1st Ightham

12:40 - Malling Explorers

Packed Lunch – as mentioned on the call, last Wednesday, please send your young person with a packed lunch for Saturday lunch time. We’ll be providing Saturday dinner, Sunday breakfast, and snacks and drinks throughout the whole weekend (so no need to bring your own!). We are a 100% nut and peanut free contingent, so please do not send your young person with nuts or peanuts in their packed lunch – they will not be allowed to eat them, and they will be binned, to keep everyone safe. Everyone should also have a water bottle, as per the kit list that can be filled with water/squash throughout the day.

Medication – on arrival, young people will check-in at one of the buildings on-site, where they’ll be asked to hand in their medication. Please ensure that all medication is recorded on the registration portal, and that the dosage, and frequency of use is also included. Please provide their medication in a named bag/container, so that we can easily identify it as theirs. If making changes to the registration portal, please complete these as soon as possible, ideally by the end of this weekend, so that we are not missing any information, as we pull data next week.

Tents – please see our previous email about tents. When we go to Kandersteg, we’ll be providing tents, but for this pre-event, we’ve asked you to sort your own, including providing the tent. Young people are to be in tents of no more than five – where you’ve not been able to sort tents with others from your group, please let us know using the form we shared.

InTouch – we covered off what our InTouch Process looks like on the call last week, and said that we’d share more. Please visit our website to read the guidance in full. Please do not contact individual adult volunteers – if you need to contact us, please contact our Home Contact(s) number (+44 1732 247 417).

Kit List – as we mentioned on the call last week, we’re issuing a kit list now, that will hopefully take us through to the event – we’re saying what you need on the pre-events, what you need on the main event, and where to pack it. You can see this, and our packing tips, on the website.

We hope this email answers any questions you had. A reminder that we have FAQs on the website, if you’ve still got a question. If that doesn’t help, email us. 

Many thanks,

The Kandersteg ’24 Team