I have also tried to ensure that young people have the opportunity to feed into Regional decision making. The picture above shows a recent meeting that Mike Treanor, Deputy RC, and I had with Niamh and Ewan, Scout’s Scotland’s Members of the Scottish Youth Parliament, who have been elected by young people involved in Scouting across Scotland to represent them. We had a brilliant discussion where Niamh and Ewan provided feedback on the proposed future strategy for South East Scotland Region, how we can improve our youth involvement and also provided important input which will directly affect how Regional funds are spent in the coming year. 

You can find out more about Niamh and Ewan’s work as MSYPs here.

February was a very sad month for South East Scotland Scouts as we came to terms with the death of Margery Naylor, Regional Commissioner from 2017 to 2020. Like many across the Region I was incredibly saddened to hear of Margery’s death. Having served as her deputy during most of her term as RC I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to work closely with her and see first hand the dedication and enthusiasm that she brought to the role. 

As we reflect on the challenging times that we have just come through with COVID, the fact that the Region has come through it so strongly reflects the strong foundations that Margery put in place for the Region, not least creating the Scouting Support Officer role which has provided crucial support to many Groups and Districts across South East Scotland.  The impact that she had was also clear from the many messages which appeared across our social media channels and by the many members, both young people and adult volunteers who joined the Guard of Honour at her memorial service. 

Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with Margery’s husband John and her family and friends at this difficult time and we will be looking at how we can pay tribute to Margery’s Scouting legacy in the month’s ahead. 

2022 Census

The strong foundation Margery laid was clear in the 2022 Census which took place at the start of the year and from which we have some initial data. This shows that we have number of young people is starting to recover after COVID with all districts registering an increase in young people compared to the 2021 Census and whilst are not yet back at the record number of young people we registered in 2020, this shows that we are well on the path to recovery. My thanks to all those who worked hard to complete the census, allowing us to submit the Region’s return on time again this year. The Regional leadership team will be reviewing the detailed data when available to identify key trends that will feed into our planning for 2022 and beyond.