Wintac is open for staff bookings. If you're over 18 and would like to come and join the team to deliver Essex’s biggest Explorer Scout event, then please read on. Wintac is organised on behalf of the County Explorer Scout team. The majority of the staff at the event are active leaders within Essex however we do need additional people and teams to keep things running smoothly.

What sort of things could I be asked to do?
We need people for all sorts of teams and during the event you could be involved in car parking, supervising games and activities, crafts, selling drinks and snacks or general site services. Whatever your skills, we will find a job for you!

Before the event we also need help, and this could involve putting up tents, fences, signs and other normal event set-up activities, and obviously afterwards your help would be appreciated if you can stay to help pack up!

If you would like to help but are planning on bringing Explorers to Wintac, then it’s not a problem. We would welcome as much support during the weekend as possible so even offering a couple of hours will make a big difference. All that we ask is that your Explorer Scouts are not neglected for the sake of being a staff member as they should be the priority.

When are staff needed?
The weekend before we are ideally looking for a small team of staff to help get the site ready for the event and start getting things out. There are a number of other people using the site in the preceding week and we have to work around them. There will be lots of things that need to be collected or setup so if you are able to pop over for even just an afternoon or evening it would be appreciated.

Friday Day / Night
During Friday we expect some participants to arrive early plus the majority of our staff. The majority of participants will arrive from 5pm. We need staff to assist with a limited amount of car parking, marshalling the check-in, and pointing people in the right direction. Participants will be camping on one of two subcamps (with limited vehicular access) and there are may be groups arriving who might appreciate a bit more help setting up. There is also additional help required to setup some of the activities ready for an early start on Saturday morning. We will also be holding our opening ceremony (not to be missed!) so we would appreciate as much support possible to enable everyone to be able to join in safely.

Saturday Morning / Day
Some of our activity staff may arrive early on Saturday morning and they will need to be car parked, checked in and pointed in the right direction for a 9am start. Activities will need to be staffed and site services will need to be maintained. We will always need to be one step ahead of the participants getting the next set of activities ready. A separate (and most important) team will be needed to keep our outdoor staff filled up with hot drinks!

Saturday Night
In the evening there will be many activities and attractions which continue to run and need help, including crafts, sports competitions, and team games. The cinema needs manning and the entertainments marquee may need some support to help with a little bit of supervision. Our main attraction will be the Ents Marquee which we anticipate large numbers of people attending. And then there's the job of encouraging people back to their campsites safely at the end.

Sunday Morning
Activities will continue on Sunday morning including sports competitions. These will continue until lunchtime and the event will close at roughly 2.30pm -3pm, when we will have a lot of tired people to get off site and a lot of clear up to finish. The site will hopefully be clear of participants by 4pm.

Sunday Afternoon
We really need to get people back in for 2pm on Sunday to do a mass clearance on the site. The more people we have the easier it will be on everybody. All of the fields will need to be swept for activities and rubbish and the site needs to be put back to a normal state before leaving ready for Monday morning for other groups who will start to use the site.

What should I wear?

We are suggesting that wherever possible all staff should wear their team’s Essex Jamboree colours. Failing that, suitable warm clothing and footwear for potentially physical activity outside in winter would be a good idea. If you know the area you are going to be working in then other clothing may be appropriate (eg. Climbing / Archery teams).

If you have any further questions please contact the organising team by email at wintac@essexscouts.org.uk.