IW Virtual Summer Camp

The Great Indoors Weekender: All invited to take part

It’s The Great Indoors Weekender on 11–12 July, the UK’s biggest digital summer camp!

With surprise celebrity guests, cooking, crafts, music and more, young people will get the chance to camp out and have fun, while learning skills for life – all from home.

If you’d like to get involved individually or as a family, take a look at the programme and sign up via the Scouts Website.

The Great Indoor Weekender Festival
Hundreds of Scouts from the Isle of Wight, their families and friends will be taking part in camps in their gardens and living rooms on 10th and 11th July as part of The Great Indoors Weekender #TGIWeekender

IW Virtual Summer Camp

The virtual camp is designed to help young people stay connected and overcome the mental health challenges that many face as thousands of summer camps and holidays are cancelled

The Event will be supported by celebrities, astronauts and explorers such as Bear Grylls, Ed Stafford, Tim Peake, JB Gill, Dwayne Fields and Megan Hine.

IW Virtual Summer Camp

Making the most of the situation
Over the last few months the whole world may have slowed down and people have been staying at home social distancing, but that hasn’t stopped Isle of Wight Scouts. Even though we’ve had to cancel meetings, hikes, camps and other events and activities we’ve been making the most of the situation.

IW Virtual Summer Camp

Our Scouts have been enjoying weekly online Meetings, keeping safe – we ask for parents of under-13s to be in the room when they go online. But that’s only the start of it.

Virtual activities for our Young People
We have also run quite a range of Virtual activities for our Young People. Nationally, Scouts have come together to celebrate our Promise Day on St George’s Day and VE day. We’ve joined Scout challenges to set a national record for camping at home and to hike to the moon, raising funds for Children In Need.  

Here on the Isle of Wight we’ve held virtual weekend camps for all of our Scout sections, Beavers, Cubs and Scouts.

IW Virtual Summer Camp

We’ve held virtual campfire sessions. We’ve carried on learning #SkillsforLife. And we’ve even had some virtual VIPs visit our camps – IW Zoo streamed live cameras from their Tiger enclosures to our campers.

Adventures at home
Even though we are Scouting via the Internet, our Scouts are having so much fun and adventure that they’re getting their friends to join in too. And since their adventures are happening at home Sisters, Brothers, Mums, Dads and other friends and family members are joining in as well.

IW Virtual Summer Camp

Over the last few months we’ve not only been recruiting new Scouts but we’ve recruited some new adult leaders and helpers too.

IW Virtual Summer Camp

Everyone is invited
Have you missed out on our Virtual Scouting Experiences? Well, here’s your chance: next weekend we’ll be having another virtual camping weekend.

And EVERYONE is invited to join in the fun. We don’t just mean Young People on the Isle of Wight, Scouts will be joining in from all over the country, and all over the world.

Does that sound like a brilliant way to spend your weekend? 

How to join in
What do you have to do to join in? The first thing is to sleep somewhere other than your own bed. Ideas include sleeping under the kitchen table, in the garden, on the sofa or even in the bath. Then connect with us online and you’re all set for a great weekend.

IW Virtual Summer Camp

The weekend will include the opportunity for young people to take part in celebrity led online sessions and the world’s biggest virtual campfire.

IW Virtual Summer Camp

Speaking about the event Chief Scout Bear Grylls said:

“Life is about supporting each other and this is now more important than ever. The #TGIWeekender is about helping scouts stay connected with their existing friends and make new ones from across the UK and from around the world. It’s an amazing opportunity for young people to reconnect with friends, have fun, and learn skills for life.

“We are putting on a programme for all ages with a number of online sessions designed for everyone so they can dip into and out of it. We hope that Scouts and non-Scouts will join us in this adventure, feel more connected with each other and learn some new skills.”

IW Virtual Summer Camp

And keep watching for information on our next Scouting activity, the weekend after #TGIWeekender.

Find out more
If you’d like to join hundreds of Isle of Wight Scouts, and an estimated 250,000 of our 40 million members worldwide in The Great Indoor Weekender – search the Internet for “TGI weekender” or find out more about the weekend or Isle of Wight Scouts from our Website or from our Facebook page.

IW Virtual Summer Camp

The Great Indoors Weekender:

  • #TGIWeekender – is a national event run by UK Scouts and open to every young person aged 6-18 in the UK (and around the world). Everyone’s invited and everyone has a part to play.
  • We’re inviting all young people, including every Scout, to take part in the UK’s biggest summer camp. But this will be a camp like no other. Every single person taking will be based in their own home of garden, while taking part in a brilliant programme.
  • There’ll be activities for all age range 6-18 to gain news skills, plus big moments to get together, including the UK’s biggest campfire on Saturday evening. 
  • Find a place a new place to sleep in your house or garden.
  • Whether young people build a den, camp under the stairs or under the stars (or even stay awake all night) that’s entirely up to each young person taking part.
  • Programme Saturday
  • Programme Sunday
  • If you’ve got things planned for the weekend, dip in and out of our programme as much as you like, or you could even add your own activities to complement the programme.

News shared by Malcolm on behalf of Isle of Wight Scouts. Ed