LONDON, UK (Team Geared Up) - A film crew joined us at EC2K7 last April to film a promotional video for Scouting Ireland’s 2008 Jamboree.

I was asked to get their camera women up a very big tree and rig her & the camera up there ~ 25m high! They then did takes of some of the Scouts climbing, myself tying them in, and a bit of chat too. The whole video is actually excellent and I suggest you watch at least the first few mins of it to get a great idea of what outdoor adventure in Ireland means to youngsters. It is very professionally made.

I’ve embedded the video below, but to watch yours truly waffle about the challenge of scaling a 25m giant tree using the bark as handholds you should jump to 7m 57s (click).

You can watch the full Scouting Ireland Jamboree 2008 video here. Thanks to ex-TGU blogger Darran for arranging the online version.

-Robin-

(Video Credit: Scouting Ireland)

LONDON, UK (Team Geared Up) - RTE News have a great photo from NASA of the forest fires on the Canary Islands from space. So they’re pretty big then!

More than 12,000 people on the two islands have had to leave their homes as hundreds of firefighters, backed up by helicopters and water planes, have been fighting the fires on 86,000 acres of land.

The Department of Foreign Affairs is warning Irish citizens to avoid areas of Gran Canaria and Tenerife in the Canary Islands where forest fires are burning.

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Scouting celebrates its 100th year since the first ever Scout Camp today. Over 450 Irish kids have travelled to London to celebrate at the World Jamboree.

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The Irish Navy are diving for a stash of Cocaine Bales found off the west coast of Ireland. A fishing boat pulled them up in their nets. It’s thought the stash was from 10 years ago when a drugs haul ship sank in the area.

-Robin-

(Image Credit: NASA via RTE.ie)