XL Video supplied a 40-sq-m LED screen on a portable truck to the World Scout Jamboree’s Scout training in Chingford, Essex, England as part of the Scout Association’s centenary celebrations. The Scout Association has owned the site since 1919 and the screen was located in The Paddock area of the park, close to the site of the original Scout camp and near the famous Gilwell oak tree and White House.
Working closely with the Gilwell Park’s technical manager, Alex Woods, XL Video was contracted over a year in advance for this event. Al Green was project manager for XL Video and himself a keen Scout in his youth.
Each day of the 12 day Jamboree, up to 8,000 Scouts and support personnel were bussed in to Gilwell Park from the main Jamboree site at Hylands Park, Chelmsford. The LED screen was used interactively to relay information and organize people as they arrived. The site was split into four activity zones and guests were divided up and marshalled around according to different colored wristbands and the info being relayed on the screen.
The screen was also used for the special sunrise centenary celebration event on August 1, featuring a re-enactment of Robert Baden-Powell’s Kudu Horn blowing ceremony on Brownsea Island in Poole Harbor that launched the Scout movement in 1907. This was done by rigging the LED screen to receive live TV footage from the Brownsea ceremony via the community TV channel. XL Video also did onscreen messaging and texting-to-screen as well as outputting guests’ photos to the screen from multifarious sources.
XL Video supplied a small mixer and a variety of input machines including DVD, CD, and VT, plus CF and SD card readers so guests could upload pictures from their phones, cameras, and PCs for the occasion.
“It was a great experience,” says Green. “Apart from being involved in such a high profile and uplifting event enjoyed by so many people, I also unexpectedly bumped into a few people I knew from my scouting days. It added to the fun!”
XL Video coordinated with Square One from Leighton Buzzard to build a stage at the foot of the screen which hosted the Scout’s gang show.
