The BIGG Weekender

9th – 11th June 2023

What is The Bigg Weekender?
I’m glad you asked! A weekend of fun for all sections
(and leaders) within Biggleswade District to take part in.
Friday starts with the opening ceremony and fun, before
a good night’s sleep. Saturday is where The Bigg
Weekender pulls out all the stops, with a tonne of fun
activities including inflatables, Scouting classics, arts &
crafts, guests and more.
We will have a range of activities suitable from Squirrels
to Explorers, as well as Leaders who need 10 minutes!
The evening will have campfires, BINGO and more.
Sunday we will be having more excitement before the
closing ceremony, packing away and a much needed
nap!

When and where?
Boyd Memorial Campsite, Henlow on June 9th – 11th 2023
Your feedback is key:
Your feedback is crucial to making this event something we all will enjoy. Maybe you have an idea
of an activity we should look into booking, a suggestion about the planning and logistics or
something else to support leaders. We would like a range of feedback, which can be anyone:
Squirrel, Beaver, Cub, Scout, Explorer, Network, Leader or Parent/Carer.

Can you support?
At this stage, the team are looking at logistics, funding and activities to make The Bigg Weekender
a super event with thousands of memories. The event can only be successful with an awesome
support crew. Let us know if you can help in some capacity, this could be support for the event,
running an activity or maybe you have a contact that could make the weekend that little bit more
special. You might have the skills and talent we are looking for!

Keep in touch:
We want to keep leaders updated as much as possible on the preparations:
Follow us on Facebook, where we will make announcements of all the fun being organised.
Emails to leaders will come out like this when details are available, which will go out to all Leaders
within our District. If someone is not receiving these, please update your email within your
Compass record (or drop us an email).
Drop us an email and one of The Bigg Weekender team will get back to you ASAP:
TBW@BiggleswadeDistrictScouts.org.uk

What activities would you like to see?

Costs:
We have a tiered costs based on how long you want to spend with us.

Squirrels, Beavers, Cubs, Scouts and Explorers:
Full Weekender £30 Arrive: Friday early evening Depart: Sunday early afternoon
The Overnighter £27.50 Arrive: Saturday early morning Depart: Sunday early afternoon
The Day Visitor (No camping) £25 Arrive: Saturday early morning. Depart: Saturday evening
We will not have a Sunday day option


Network and Adults:
Free. Thank you for supporting our young people. We will ask you to ‘book’ in free spaces, so we know numbers and who is on site.


The cost includes all of the activities, facilities and camping for your stay. And a snazzy badge! We may ask for some paper and colour pens to be provided by yourselves. The cost doesn’t include local (group or section) costs, including food.

Weekend Plans:
This is dependent on numbers, but what we can say is the current plans:

Next Actions:

Can you support?
The event can only be successful with an awesome support crew. Let us know if you can help in some
capacity, this could be support for the event, running an activity or maybe you have a contact that could
make the weekend that little bit more special. You might have the skills and talent we are looking for!

Drop us an email and one of The Bigg Weekender team will get back to you ASAP:
TBW@BiggleswadeDistrictScouts.org.uk

APRIL 2023 UPDATE

Hello everyone

Hopefully you have been keeping up to date on our Bigg Weekender updates through the monthly sways.

With just under 2 months until The Bigg Weekender commences, we wanted to provide a proper update to all leaders in Biggleswade and District

Questions as always to our email:

TBW@BiggleswadeDistrictScouts.org.uk 

General updates:

  • Badge ‘swap’ – Dave and Gerry would like to have a ‘badge swap’ table, specifically designed for younger people to start their camp blanket (no actual swap needed). If you have spare badges that could support this, please let them know.
  • Jamboree Team – We are delighted to welcome the World Scout Jamboree team, who will be supporting the event.  They will also have some ‘Korea-themed activities’.
  • Activities – The team are keeping tight-lipped on the activities, where is the fun is spoiling the details! We mentioned in our last All District email  some of the types of activities booked and organised, such as inflatables, arts and crafts, Boyd on-site activities and external guests.

We have a range of suitable activities and workshops for all to get involved in. For some activities, we may implement a booking system to ensure you are not queuing too long.

  • Tuck Shop – There will be a tuck shop run by the District, including sweets and drinks, as well as small branded scouting merch.
  • Gateway – We will have a competition running for the best group ‘gateway’. Exact specs to follow in terms of sizing.
  • Permission Forms – We have 1 permission form needed should you wish to take part in air rifle shooting. We would recommend getting these signed even if you don’t take part. We will need physical copies handed in on arrival at the activity of anyone participating. No form = no shoot. You can find a copy of the shooting form here.
  • Car Parking – We will once again be using Millennium Field for parking, drop-offs and pickups over the weekend. There will be no access to the normal car park, excluding those with blue badges, which we will cover in a later update.
  • Food Donations – The District team will have an area for food not used after the weekend, which we will donate to food banks within our District. It would be great if we can encourage everyone to bring an item as well to make a huge difference
  • Communications – As we get closer to the event, we will ramp up communications;
    • We have a page with the latest updates on the District website.
    • Nominated TBW leaders, GSLs and Explorer leaders are sending through those people who need more regular updates from this point onwards.
    • We will also open up a Notification-only WhatsApp chat for all District Leaders to support (see timeline below). We remain active on our email address for questions etc. TBW@BiggleswadeDistrictScouts.org.uk

Timeline:

April:

  • Current – The planning team continue to book and the fun! We are specifically looking at the Sunday Taskmaster style event.
  • By April 30th – Nominated TBW leaders, GSLs and Explorer leaders have been previously updated and need to get numbers and deposit money into us by this date so we can progress.
  • If you are the leader looking at Bigg Weekender and do not have this email and the Excel to submit your numbers, contact us without delay.

May:

  • May 9th – Zoom for all Adults attending to go through plans and details above, answer any questions. 7pm, Link below. The session will be recorded.
  • May 11th – Full package of details send out to all nominated TBW leaders, GSLs and Explorer leaders to cascade down, including:
    • Zoom recording, timings for arrivals and departures, a rough plan and your questions answered.
  • May 26th – WhatsApp notification group opens to all Adults attending who wants to opt-in to receive updates

June:

  • June 7th and 8th – Boyd Field open in the evenings for early tent-setup
  • June 9th – 11th – The Bigg Weekender!

Contact us:

  • We are still looking for people who might be able to support us in anyway, please get in touch by replying to this email.
  • Your feedback is always appreciated on making this a great event. Again get in touch.

Finally, we want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has been supporting the event so far!

MAY 2023 UPDATE

With only 6 weeks away from TBW, communications will be bundled up and rolled out as needed, both on email and WhatsApp. We will also keep the website updated.

Zoom call – 9th May

  • We have our Zoom call for all District leaders on Tuesday 9th May from 19:00. 
  • Contact us if you would like to join and dont have the details
  • This will contain a detailed overview of the weekend plans
  • A recording will be distributed on the 11th, along with questions answered

WhatsApp Notifications

  • We are prepping the WhatsApp chat this weekend for those contacts agreeing to be part of the notification group. We will invite all leaders in the week leading up to TBW. 

Payments

  • We are chasing late/missing payments this weekend for deposits
  • Final payments to the same account details by midnight Friday 21st  May (3 weeks before the event)
    • Please support us by not needing to chase 🙂

Final Numbers

  • Additions can be made until midnight Friday 26th May. (2 weeks before the event)
    • As mentioned, we cannot take numbers off
    • These are small revisions to numbers, not a whole new section!
  • Please refill out the Excel form 
  • Your leader numbers can be firmed on the week, concentrate on young people
  • After this date, we will not accept any new young people