Day 1 re-cap, the storm

On the first day of our Trip to the Haarlem Jamborette, we encountered a delay at the airport, This was due to a Storm in Holland which struck at about 1pm, and didnt finaly abate until 5pm.
 Due to the Storm Amsterdam Schiphol was effectivly closed for a short while, and being stuck at Birmingham Airport was probably the best place to be, as opposed to being on a very wet and extremely windy campsite - surrounded by Trees.
 Eccleshall Scouts had their own interesting journey with the group being split in two due to an overbooking on the aircraft, one group from Eccleshall was on an aircraft that made an aborted landing at Schiphol, after being nearly blown off the runway during landing  the aircraft then aborted the landing and diverted to Brussels, where it remained for a short while before heading out to Amsterdam Schiphol.

Meanwhile at the Haarlem Jamborette, groups that had already arrived at the airport before the storm ( and soon after ) were held at Schiphol airport, those on busses on the way were held at a coach park, and those on site were taken to safe areas in marquees.
 From what I understand the organisers of the camp were very close to enacting one the emergency plans which would have meant the first night would have been spent in local school halls, and sports arenas.

 Fortunately when the storm hit, there weren't that many groups on site, however those that were on site suffered damaged tents and equipment.
 As most of the participants were en-route they were either held at Schiphol Airport, on the buses ( if they were on the way to the camp ) or stuck in delays ( like Melbourne ) at their local airports in their home country's.

The Campsite area at Spaarnwoude is best described as open grass areas, surrounded by trees, and as a result of the storm some of these large trees had come down, not only did the important camp infrastructure need checking to make sure it was safe  such as large marquees, the big video screens, internet/wifi masts etc, the surrounding woodland also needed to be checked for any dangerous trees, which also had to be felled and cleared.

As a result of all these delays, and the fact that the well planned bus system from the Airport to the campsite was rendered inoperable due to the backlog of people stuck at Schiphol, we, like may other groups were very late arriving on site.

The ingredients for the first meal would have usualy been provided by the camp, for the groups to cook, however for those who arrived late, had damaged equipment, or equipment that hadn't arrived the Haarlem Jamborette opened up the Staff catering tent/canteen and provided a hot meal to the Scouts/Guides/Leaders etc

Needless to say the Volunteer staff at the campsite did an amazing job in getting everything up and running again, and making sure that everything was safe for the participants that were due in on the Saturday, Some of those due on Saturday didnt in effect get there until the Early hours on Sunday, and a  by Sunday evening most of the 4,000 had arrived

 Below a video of some of the damage that the storm caused in the surrounding area ( this is not at the campsite )

Above video of storm damage in the surrounding area

Below interview ( in Dutch ) with the camp leader, Robin Midel. use the CC ( subtitle button ) for English subtitles if you cant see them

Also Check your e-mail for the Subcamp Redington' Harbour Song