Canterbury scouts at N.Z. jamboree

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32810, 10 January 1972, Page 10

Canterbury scouts at N.Z. jamboree

Scouting in Christchurch and nearby districts was represented at the sixth national scout jamboree in Pukekohe last week by nearly 150 scouts and leaders, in two contingents.

Contingents from the area were in sub-camps, each distinctively identified by decorative gateways which are the traditional entry to a scout jamboree contingent’s campsite.

The Rata contingent, the leader of which was Mr F. Jowett, comprised 38 boys and five leaders, with two Indonesian scouts who were adopted by the contingent during the jamboree. The deputy leader was Mr A. Dirkes, with Steve Crewe, Radwan Hassein (a Malaysian King’s Scout and a student at Lincoln College), and Andy Cowe assisting. Radwin proved an especially valuable assistant in helping to communicate with the two Indonesian scouts. Rata scouts met the two Indonesians while on their way to Pukekohe, and realising that a language difficulty existed for them, took them under the wing of the contingent.

For most of the boys with Rata it was their first jamboree, but their involvement beforehand included a competition from which was chosen the contingent’s gate design and camp shirt patch.

The Amuri, Matai, Hurunui, and Ashley districts combined to form one of the larger contingents at Pukekohe. Their group comprised 96 scouts, 10 leaders, and a number of Venturers in subcamp Barratt-Boyes. This contingent was led by Mr J. Stickley, assisted by Robin Sterling, Joe Loffhagen, Neil Cook, lan Dunbar, Denis Honeybone, Ray Young, Ross McKenzie, Bruce Yates, and Bob Newburn. The three troop leaders were Barry Vryenhoek, Charles McAnuly, and David Ward. The contingent’s gateway was a large painted canvas with the trunk of a matai tree as a figurative doorway flanked by a scout camp image symbolising Kaiapoi, red posts indicating Culverden, a large moa denoting Hurunui, and a snowy-peaked background representing the Southern Alps. Badge-swapping was an absorbing pastime among the 6500 scouts from New Zealand, Australia, Western Samoa, the Cook Islands, Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan, and the United States. Contingents found a ready trade for their badge collections.