SSAGO - Witan 2024

What is Witan?

The next Witan (National SSAGO International Trip) will be at Burg Rieneck Scout and Guide Castle in Germany from 1st - 8th September 2024. The trip will be run as a collaboration between SSAGO and PfAU, the German VCP equivalent of SSAGO. Witans are a tradtional part of SSAGO and were restarted in 2012, unfortunately the 2020 Witan was cancelled so this is the first one since 2016.

This Witan will be extra special as it is being jointly organised and run with PfAU. Expect to spend your whole week getting to know our German friends and we will all be mixed together in accommodation and when doing activities.

Accommodation

We will be staying at Burg Rieneck Scout and Guide Castle in north-western Bavaria. Built around 1150, Burg Rieneck has been owned by Verband Christlicher Pfadfinderinnen und Pfadfinder (Association of Christian Guides and Scouts) for over 60 years. Everybody who attends Witan will get a bed and you won't need to bring camping gear. Bedrooms are available in rooms of 2 - 6 and you will be able to choose some bedroom buddies in the future. All the rooms are within the castle and many offer lovely views over the village of Rieneck and surrounding countryside. Witan will be fully catered for by the Castle staff, offering a selection of local and traditional foods.

As a bonus we hope to offer the option of spending a night in a traditional German scout tent as part of your stay!

Transport

Our plan is to travel via coach to Germany. You will need to get yourself to a meeting location in the UK to be picked up and of course more details will be passed on when we know them. The coach(es) will allow us to travel around Rieneck with ease, getting you to the most exciting activities in the area. We are aiming to get nice coaches, so don't expect to be on a sweaty coach all the way there. Exactly when and where we will be departing from we do not know yet as we are still in discussion with coach companies. But rest assured we will endeavour to pass on any information as soon as we know it and getting this confirmed is currently one of our highest priorities.

Some people may want to extend their Witan trip and not use our transport. The option to attend Witan with your own transport at a reduced fee may be available, please get in touch if this is something you're considering.

Activities

The most important part of the week we're sure! You'll be doing lots of activities at Witan, from dawn till dusk. For the most part you'll be doing activities from your chosen key theme (more about that further along the booking process), but there are several headline activities that everybody will be offered. We'll also have evening activities on site, like challenges, a disco and campfires and we're also planning to host a special anglo-german festival in the castle courtyard one afternoon.

Merchandise

All Witan attendees will receive a badge, Witan event necker and t-shirt. The final designs for these are yet to be confirmed. There will be the option to purchase additional merchandise nearer the time as well as confirm sizes etc. Other items we may offer include hoodies, jumpers and hats but we'd love to hear from you about what else you might like. You can also purchase a special Witan 2024 SSAGO International Necker and hopefully a German international Scout necker as well.

Insurance

Insurance will be covered by Unity, the UK Scout insurer. More details of what this covers can be provided when the insurance is confimed.