Thousands attend 'magical' Scouts and Guides event
BBCA dad who has been attending an international event for Scouts and Guides since 1993 says his "circle is now complete" after bringing his young son for the first time.
WINGS Jamboree is a gathering of 3,000 young people aged 10-18, along with 1,000 volunteers, at Windsor Great Park from 25 July until 2 August.
This year's event, jointly hosted by Berkshire Scouts and Royal Berkshire Guiding, is the first since 2014, following its cancellation in 2020 due to the Covid pandemic.
James's son Matthew, 11, said the event was "very special, magical and very exciting".
James has been to every WINGS event since he was a 14-year-old Scout and is now a leader.
He said: "My circle is now complete because I've got my son here in the 2026 one and it's special that I can share the amazing time I've had here with him.
"Yesterday was one of my magical moments of this one. We had to dress up as heroes and I went as Gandalf and my son went as Legolas and it was just amazing to experience all the family and the friendship of scouting together as we walked around."
Brienna, who is normally based in Calgary, Alberta, in Canada, said it was an "honour to be here".
"It took a while to find all the fundraising and planning to head over to the UK, and I'm glad we could actually make it," she said.
The 13-year-old said the event was a "good way to get more used to our European neighbours".
Laura, who has been a scout for eight years, said the event has been "really fun".
"We've met a lot of the Canadians and we've spoken to all of them and we've also just been speaking to lots of people on site when we're doing activities or just walking around," she said.
The 14-year-old said the lesson she has learned from WINGS is that "your friends are always going to be there for you for everything".
