Jamboree site takes shape

Press, 24 December 1986, Page 3

Jamboree site takes shape

By

GRANT BRADLEY

Preparations are well under way at the Rangiora Showgrounds for the expected 7500 scouts and leaders who will be based at the site for the eleventh New Zealand jamboree.

Marquees are being erected for special activities, and ablution blocks, providing 500 wash basins and 230 toilets, and a trading post, which houses four banks, have been built. The scouts will be based at the 13.5 ha site for nine days during the triennial jamboree which opens on December 31. The scouts and leaders will munch their way through 1% tonnes of sliced bacon which will be complemented by 13.6 tonnes or four truckloads of potatoes. About 414 tonnes of butter or enough to keep a family of four supplied for about 45 years will be spread on many thousand loaves of bread. A healthy supply of vitamin C will be provided by eight tonnes of oranges. Post Office technicians have been busy installing 100 telephones. A 3km network of water mains has been installed and power lines to buildings and marquees are in place.

The jamboree committee formed its own 15man construction team, supplemented by specialist tradesmen, to do most of the work. Forty buses will be used to carry the scouts to off-site activities, which range from flying to jet boating on the Waimakariri River. Daily cleaning will be done with 36 toilet brushes, scrubbing brushes and mops in each of the six subcamps. Eight overseas contingents will join 124 New Zealand contingents at the jamboree. Australia will have the biggest overseas contingent with 175, while the United States will have the smallest with eight, including one who will fly from the Antarctic for the jamboree. The youth programme director, Mr B. E. King, said it was hard to believe that three years of planning and three months of work at the site was about to come to an end. Most of the buildings and equipment especially constructed for the jamboree will be dismantled within three days. The cost of staging the jamboree has been put at SI.SM, allowing for cost recoveries from the sale of salvaged materials.