The end of March saw the second of our Jurte delivery and training sessions (It should have been the 
third but things went a tad wrong with the 6th Ashton – more on that later). We were in sunny – yes sunny! – Northumberland doing a delivery to the incredibly nice 1st Whittingham Baden Powell Scout Group. It’s a long way North and not that far from the Scottish border which we ended up going to visit thanks to Gina.
We were delivering a nice new 8m Jurte and the sun shone down on an excellent turn out of scouts and leaders to be given their training on a nearby field. It did feel a bit like breaking in when we had to climb over the gate having forgotten the key to the padlock. The scouts were pretty attentive even if we were on a playing field and the sun was shining and soon got the hang of putting up the roof on its side poles and practising their knot skills on the guy ropes. It was the sort of training I enjoy – one where I do very little other than boss people about!
With the roof up on the side poles we moved on to lashing the centre tripod and getting the roof up properly. This went, I am glad to say, wrong. We like it when things go wrong as you can learn so much more. The tripod went in, the roof went up and it sagged horribly (my fault as I told them to lash the tripod in the wrong place – hee hee. One relashing later it went up again and was great. So we took it down again as we hadn’t put the cap on (again deliberate – it’s hard to see what is happening with the roof and chain and tripod when the cap is on and blocking the light). Down and Up again – after 5 minutes of failing to get the cap guys to go over the roof edge and it was perfect. unfortunately not. We had introduced a chain mistake which was fixed in the time honoured way byhoisting a scout up through
the roof so it could be fixed. Ta da! One roof, all up and looking pretty good. All was made perfect by tensioning the main guys and the roof snapped into place – taut but not tight. Now, usually at this point we are exceptionally cruel and make everyone button the sides on but, as the sun was shining, we just played around practising with a couple of panels so everyone knew both the right technique and the pain of buttoned panels above your head. Then it all came down and got neatly packed away before we headed back for a barbeque. In March. In Northumberland. Which was great.
All in all a great training session and another wonderful enthusiastic scout group who I know will make good use of their beautiful 8m Jurte (eat your heart out Julie @ Wigton, it’s bigger than yours! 
)
which proved to be no match for the 15th Middlesborough and soon it was sitting proudly in the weak sunshine wanting for nothing except maybe a nice fire to dry out the ground and warm the tent up. Luckily they’d also bought a 
Well, now he’s finished ‘complaining’ I shall give you my side of the story and trip! I’ve hurt my neck! and he STILL made me go on a trip around the UK despite being ILL!! Git! So when I saw the mud at the site (which is a lovely place btw and a great base for Scout groups) and the size of the mole hills – about 50 times bigger than normal which means moles 50 times bigger and moles like to eat Giraffes! – there was no way I was getting out of the car. Plus the wind was freezing! I expected snow any minute and Giraffes don’t do snow. Ever. I was, as you can tell, not in a very good mood, and maybe I was a bit stroppy but I am a girl Giraffe and I am (still) ill with a very bad neck – if you think humans get bad neckache, try being a Giraffe! Hopefully I’ll be sorted out soon and back on my feet ready for the next trip where I will be more friendly. Promise. Gina xxx
for the 
With the sides added the tent showed what a fantastic space it is for pretty much any activity. It sat extremely well in the formal surroundings of the park and should make a great focal point whenever and wherever it is used. Cup of tea over and slightly drier we decided to attach a couple of sides. This turned into a full attach sides and take more photo’s which allowed the guys to see and experience the full impact of being inside an 
In West Coker. Which is near Yeovil and only a short drive from Marks’ home ground of Blandford in Dorset. Quite why they decided to do a delivery and training in the winter I do not know – and I’m not impressed. We Giraffe’s don’t really like cold, damp weather. We made it to the scout hut vaguely on time (google maps let us down a bit or maybe it was Mark’s driving…I’m starting to think that a Sat Nav might be a good investment. Hint Hint) to be greeted by a nice turnout of scouts and leaders. It’s always a good sign when lots of people turn up to learn how to erect a Jurte. We met West Coker at the Gilwell Scout Reunion earlier in the year and they’re lovely people. The normal way the training goes is to show a few people but that’s because quite often there’s only a few people. Inga took charge of the scouts (she likes bossing teenagers about!) and soon had them hard at work learning how to erect the tent. The scout leaders took this opportunity to have a cup of tea and offer words of encouragement from the sidelines which seemed to involve quite a bit of laughing. With so many scouts at hand the roof could be set up and pulled out in all directions at once which was a novelty to see. One moment it was on the floor, the next it was in the air and being pegged down. Fantastic
The next bit was to lash the centre poles and, as you can see, that was no challenge to these scouts! Good to see scouts who know how to lash poles together properly and don’t need teaching. With the lashing done Mark explained how to finish the roof while Inga had her tea. Within a few minutes the cap was on, and the legs were pushed in – and then back out again. The lashing was too high! A quick re-lash and the roof was up and sitting pretty (not as pretty as me, obviously, but not bad for a tent). The sides went on which turned out to be the worst bit of the tent for the scouts but they’ll no doubt learn and get better with practice. The finished tent got the seal of approval from everyone which meant it then had to come down and get packed away neatly. Folding practice! the side panels are easy (remember that the buttons always go on the inside when you fold the panel) and the scouts quickly grasped folding the roof so it slipped back into its bag. And then it all went into the store to wait for its first proper outing!
