National Water Kamp
NaWaKa '89
NaWaKa '89
Dutch Sea Scout Jamboree
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NaWaKa '89 |
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Here is your ticket to a new adventure: NAWAKA 1989! A ten-day camp which will be beyond any doubt "Surprisingly Adventurous". Over 5,000 participants will be there to experience this event with you! With 800 foreign participants coming from 15 different countries, it is obvious tha NAWAKA is not just meant for Dutch scouts. It is the perfect occasion for meeting scouts from abroad. And of course you will be sure of making lots of new friends.
As it is a huge camp, we strongly advise you to keep things nice, and to stick to the rules.
By the way, NAWAKA will also be the location for the Scouting movie "That's Life!"
Now, cross the border and enter Nawaka 1989.
Have a lot of (water) fun!
Gert-Jan Bijning,
Camp Leader
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Left is a map of the site. We were camped in Sub-camp "Sloependek".
The Sub-camps were named as follows:
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Monday 24th July
From 10am Arrival and building up of camp
From 4pm Delivery first food packages
6.30 - 7.15pm Leaders meeting
Tuesday 25th July
From 10.50am Departure for Roermond (Junior Sea Scouts)
From 1pm Departure for Roermond (Senior Sea Scouts)
2.20 - 2.45pm Participants at Market Place
3 - 3.45pm Opening Ceremony NAWAKA '89
7.30 - 9pm Introductory night
Wednesday 26th July
From 8am Departure (Junior Sea Scouts)
10 - 12.30pm International Market (Senior Sea Scouts)
2.30 - 5pm Games with international character (Senior Sea Scouts)
6.30 - 7.15pm Leaders meeting
7.30 - 9.30pm Recreative Market
7.30 - 9.30pm Treasure Hunt (Senior Sea Scouts)
Thursday 27th July
From 8am Departure (Junior Sea Scouts)
From 1pm Departure (Junior Sea Scouts)
From 1pm Departure for Roermond (Senior Sea Scouts)
7.30 - 9.30pm Recreative Market
Friday 28th July
From 8.30am Departure for Various Competitions (Junior Sea Scouts)
9.30am - rowing
10am - sailing
11.30am - triathlon
All day long -"Nautical Activities" at the Zuidplas (South Pond)
8.30am - 4pm Activities taking place at camp site and Zuidplas (Senior Sea Scouts)
6.30 - 7.15pm Leaders meeting
8pm Prize-giving ceremonies at the Sun Deck (Junior Sea Scouts)
Saturday 29th July
10am - 4pm Parents' Day
From 5pm Barbeque (Junior Sea Scouts)
From 7pm Barbeque (Senior Sea Scouts)
From 7.30pm NAWAKA Festivities (to be published in "Allemansendje)
From ??.?? "Splashing Show"
Sunday 30th July
7am - 10pm Day's rest from NAWAKA
10 - 11am Oecumenical Service
11am - 4pm NAWAKA "On View"
1 - 4pm Open Day for Roermond youth
1.30 - 5.30pm Recreative Market
From 1.30pm Hike (Senior Sea Scouts)
Monday 31st July
12am - 9pm Hike (Junior Sea Scouts)
From 8am Departure (Junior Sea Scouts)
1.30 - 5.30pm Recreative Market
6.30 - 7.15 Leaders meeting
Tuesday 1st August
From 8am Departure (Junior Sea Scouts)
10am - 5pm Various Copmetitions (Senior Sea Scouts)
From 4pm - attempt on the record on the Meuse river
7.30 - 9.30pm Recreative Market
Wednesday 2nd August
10am - 12pm Preperations for Naval review and Gondola Flotilla
12.30pm Departure for different sections (read Allemansendje)
2 - 4pm NAWAKA 1989 Naval Review
5.15 - 6pm Leaders meeting
9pm Rowing trip to starting point for Gondola Flotilla beyond
the Maasbrug (bridge on the Meuse river) in Roermond
9 - 11pm Gondola Flotilla
11pm Closing ceremonies NAWAKA 1989
Thursday 3rd August
From 7am Evacuation and departure (moving out)
| MORNING | AFTERNOON | EVENING | |
| Tue 25th | Departure/Opening | Opening | Meeting |
| Wed 26th | Preliminary rounds sailing competition | Preliminary rounds sailing competition | |
| Thu 27th | Activit. Jun. S.S. Excursion for foreign participants |
Excursion for foreign participants | |
| Fri 28th | Var. Compet. day Excursion for foreign participants |
Var. Compet. day Excursion for foreign participants |
Game Fair |
| Sat 29th | Parent's Day | Parent's Day | NAWAKA festivities |
| Sun 30th | Oecumenical service | NAWAKA "On View" | |
| Mon 31st | Activit. Jun. S.S. | Activit. Jun. S.S. | Camp fire |
| Tue 1st | Sub Camp activities | Sub Camp activities | Recreative game in the Jolly Boats |
| Wed 2nd | Naval Review | Gondola Flotilla |
Subcamp Staff: L. Freijser, H. Starrenburg, S. van Hulsen, H. Scholte
| Arrowe Norvicusgroep Wiol en Willem Barendsz Pr. Bernhard Altena |
Cay-Noya Suanablake Bellatable Stella Maris 1st and 72nd Reading Katwijkse Zeeverk |
British Scouts/Guides at Nawaka
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List of attendees from 1st/72nd Reading
On the left you can see an ariel photograph of the site. This was taken during the camp and then a copy
distributed to everyone present. I have marked the location of 1st & 72nd Reading
Sea Scouts. This was the first jamboree that I had attended and although it was not that large by international
standards I was awed and impressed by the huge scale of things - especially the Dutch Scouts' boats! I was
also impressed by the friendliness of everyone there considering the number of different nationalities and
faiths that were present.
We left Reading at 7.30pm on Sunday 23th July 1989 in two minibuses taking the 11.30pm ferry from Ramsgate to Calais and then driving along the coast road into Belgium. We passed through Brussels and then Eindhoven before arriving in Roermond at about 7.30am although it took us until 9.00am to find the campsite! On arrival we found we had to leave the minibuses about ¼ mile from the site and transfer all our equipment using hand carts. Then we started to set up our site; as it was a very hot day most of us wore t-shirts or went topless. Although we used warned the Scouts about the sun and used sunscreen some got mild sunburn and Donald Clyne's back in particular peeled like a sheet of clingfilm a few days later...
As tradition dictated, once we'd finished setting up the site, we had to try and erect the highest flag
pole on our subcamp and quickly set about lashing a huge construction in place. A bit later a nearby troop
put up one fractionally taller than ours so we had to send 'Maggot' up to lash a hike tent pole with a
Nawaka Penant on it to the top, thus restoring the title to us.
That evening the Ventures went out exploring the site and making new friends. We sussed out where the other English Venture Scouts were, teamed up with some of them and continued exploring together. We found the Venture Unit from Anna Paulowna at the opposite end of the site who had traditional bell tents.
The next afternoon saw the Opening Ceremony which started with each subcamp raising the national flags of those troops present after which the whole jamboree moved onto the water in hundreds of boats to make a fairly short trip before marching into Roermond town square. The thousands of Scouts and Ventures watched a fairly lengthy ceremony which received local newspaper and TV coverage. First 'King Neptune' arrived in a procession and gave a greeting to everyone in all the languages necessary. Then a cannon was fired (very loud) and a representative from every country present came to the stand and gave a short welcoming speech. The rest of the day was spent making friends and swimming in the immense gravel pit. The camp crew had set up a diving board on the side of a huge gravel barge and we made sure that it got plenty of use.
Very early the next day, we were woken up by the sounds of 'King Neptune' setting up his 'court' in our subcamp. Apparently it is a Dutch Scout tradition for King Neptune to call all Scouts on their first jamboree to his court to be 'initiated' which involves being rolled in mud, baptised with cold water 'shot' in the head with mud and made to drink his 'special drink'... The Dutch Troop initiated quite a few 'virgin' campers including three of our own: Stephen "Maggot" Mason, Anthony "Sad" Holmes, and Peter "The Pain" Swain.
Pretty early on we (the Venture Scouts) discovered that the Amstel Brewery was within a feasible walking distance and we set up a kitty with the leaders and took it in turns to collect crates of beer. For some reason, I guess it seemed like a good idea at the time, everytime we drank a bottle of beer we threaded the top onto a length of string. By the end of the camp most of us had a bottle-top 'cosh' about 12 inches long...
We made many friends on the camp and one group in particular were especially kind to us, letting us
borrow their rowing boats, as obviously we hadn't been able to bring any over from the UK. The
picture shows some of the Scouts in that troop - "Suanablake" named after "Blake's 7", a British
space sci-fi TV show from the 80's, that their leader was a fan of.
One day we went on a day trip to Maastricht which meant a very early start and a long trip by
boat up the river Meuse. It was also the start of a two day expedition by many of the older
Dutch Scouts so they were also on the water in their 'flattens' (sailing dinghies). We travelled
with Suanablake on their troop boat: a 142 ton torpedo tender for submarines on loan from the
Dutch Navy. As we were all going in the same direction for a while the crews of the unpowered
flattens hitched a lift on the back of ours and others' boats. At one point we were towing 46
boats, some of which you can see in the photo.
We passed through 2 locks on the journey and the second one had a rise and fall of over 12 metres.
When we arrived at the first lock it seemed rather full with all the boats of the Scouts on
their expedition, as well as routine river traffic, as you can see in the photo. The skipper of
our boat was in radio contact with the lock-keeper and he assured us that there was room and so
we carried on in. It took nearly half an hour to get all the boats in, 15 minutes for the lock
to fill up, and another 15 or 20 minutes for everyone to get out. The Scouts on their expedition then
went off into Belgium while we continued on to Maastricht. We took a bus into town and had a
look around. In the afternoon we went on a tour around some limestone caves which had some
wonderful carvings and pictures on the walls.
One day we had an international theme and all the 'foreign' troops had to offer something to all the others to represent their respective countries. Bob decided that we should serve 'tea and scones' which we did providing hundreds of cups of tea and scones with jam and cream to all those who visited our site.
Towards the end of Nawaka, Anthony Holmes, who we had constantly warned about playing on the flag pole, fell backwards off it from about 2ft and put his hands out behind him to break his fall and dislocated his wrist. I ran to get a paramedic and brought him back to our site. Bob went with Anthony to hospital where they plastered his wrist and gave him some tablets for the pain and swelling.
On the last day everyone attended the closing ceremony which included a 'sail past' with every Scout on the camp on the water in over 700 boats. We all saluted as we filed past a selection of dignitaries aboard a yacht. The ceremony culminated in a huge firework display and we joined in by lighting over a hundred night-light candles in glass jars, that we had been collecting over the camp, and suspending them from our flag pole.
On 3rd August, when Nawaka was finally over, we said our goodbyes, packed up and headed North
to Anna Paulowna where we had arranged to spend three days in the Scout Hut of a troop who were
also at the jamboree. One of the days we went on a trip to Harlingen and travelled across the
"Afsluitdijk" - a 20 mile dyke seperating the Ijsselmeer from the North Sea which was very
impressive. In the photo, the sea is on the left - higher than the inland Ijsselmeer. It
was taken from the bridge at the site where the dam was closed (on 28th May 1932) where we
stopped to view the display explaining how it was built with pictures showing various stages of
the construction including the final closure. Another day we went to Medemblik and spent
the day at the beach where some of the boys went swimming. Most of the Scouts were amused at
the fact that the beach turned out to be partly nudist!
Sadly, all good things came to an end, and we had to make the long journey back home. So we packed up the minibuses and drove back via the ferry finally arriving back in Reading at about 9.00pm. All in all, a fantastic camp!
"Hi!" to Lynne Pritchard from Belfast,
Anita Pearse from Canvey Island, and
Helen Moonen from The Netherlands.
If you were on this camp, perhaps you'd like to send me a message and I'll add your name to this page:
oliver-hunter@supanet.com
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