Celebrating some of our adult volunteers

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Recognising the achievements of our volunteers for their contribution to Scouts at some recent District AGMs.

PENTLAND SCOUT DISTRICT AGM:

The Region was proud to be part of the Pentland Scouts AGM, Team meeting and BBQ in August at the Bonaly Scout Centre. What a great group. Their refreshing approach to some of the formalities of an AGM made it fun, relevant and great use of leaders’ time. Thank you to District Commissioner Keith Bryce for all your hard work and your powerhouse of parents, carers, and helpers from across the Pentland District. Too many to list! We look forward to PentJam23 and all the other exciting plans you have.

Celebrating achievements is a key part of scouting. And we’d like to give 4 shout-outs presented at the AGM. Congratulations to:

* Niall Phillips, Group Scout Leader at the 9th Pentland (Ratho) on your exceptional 25 years of service award

* Lindsay Brown aka Scooby, Scout Leader at the 108th Pentland (Colinton) and the lady behind a lot of their great video work on your 5 years of service award

* Tom Crow, Assistant Section Leader at the Tormain Explorer Unit on achieving your Wood Badge

* Sigrid Bolik, Scout Leader at the 19th Pentland (Edinburgh) on achieving your Wood Badge too

The Wood Badge is the internationally recognised Scouting training insignia awarded to adults by Headquarters on completion of the training required for their role.

To you, and all the other recent awardees unable to attend the AGM in person, thank you for all you do, and more! We value your contribution and commitment. Watch this space for more Pentland Scouts District news. And if you like the sound of all of this and you’d like to join in some of their Scouting adventures – directly with young people or behind the scenes – then now is your chance. They have opportunities. All you need to do is get in touch to chat about the flexible, friendly and fun ways to get involved. Pass the word on!

CRAIGALMOND SCOUT DISTRICT AGM:

On Tuesday 21st September the Craigalmond Scout District team got together for their AGM. What an amazing evening of celebration looking back at their successes, and achievements from the launch of Squirrels at the 21st Craigalmond (South Queensferry) through to the Pink Panthers recent Explorers trip to Finland and the Finnish Jamboree. Thank you to District Commissioner Mark Hesketh for all your support.

While there is good news to shout out about, we are firmly aware the demand by young people to join Scouting in the area outweighs the new number of adult volunteers to make this happen. Couple this with the many new housing developments going up in the area means the need for new adult volunteers to join is stronger now more than ever to enable more young people to enjoy Scouting.

While we pause to celebrate success, we wish to share our congratulations to those who received Awards on the night. What a team – your contribution to Scouting knows no boundaries. Craigalmond is a strong District because of the backbone of amazing volunteers – each and everyone, thank you. Congratulations to:

* John Naylor, Craigalmond Scout District Executive Member, South East Scotland Scouts Appointments Committee, Craigalmond Advisory Committee and Active Support Member received a Chief Scout’s Commendation for Good Service (photographed with Mark Hesketh, District Commissioner of Craigalmond)

* Diane Ross MBE, Group President of 23rd Craigalmond (St Columba’s) Scout Group Executive Committee and Craigalmond Scout District Appointments Advisory Committee Member received the Bar to the Silver Acorn for her distinguished service (photographed with Mark Hesketh, District Commissioner of Craigalmond)

* David Newton, DESC at Craigalmond Scout District, received the Commissioner’s Commendation from Regional Commissioner Martin Elliot for going above and beyond for his excellent work establishing and leading South East Explorer Expeditions (SEEE)

* Kathleen Pullen, Craigalmond Scout District Training Advisor and District Section Leader – Cubs, Corstorphine Active Support Member and Gang Show Active Support Member received her 20 year Long Service Award to Scouts (the presentation was slightly delayed due to COVID) (photographed with Mark Hesketh, District Commissioner of Craigalmond)

* Iain MacBride, Craigalmond Scout District Training Adviser & Assistant District Commissioner – Cubs who also received his 20-year Long Service Award (photographed with Mark Hesketh, District Commissioner of Craigalmond)

Special mention: Robert Young, Gang Show Active Support Member (Marketing Team), Corstorphine Active Support Member and District Executive Member was awarded his 50-year Long Service Award (photographed with Mark Hesketh, District Commissioner of Craigalmond). What an achievement. Thank you Robert!

BRAID SCOUT DISTRICT AGM:

On Tuesday 27th September, we celebrated yet another fantastic year of scouting. This time at the Braid Scout District AGM in the prestigious Priestfield Church home of the 35th Braid Scout Group. This evening should have been called a Celebration Night & AGM as it was packed full of scouting successes, adventure stories and activity highlights. Did you know 8 from Braid are going to the World Scout Jamboree in 2023? We look forward to reading about their progress. This year is an extra special year for the Braid District as they celebrate their 10th Anniversary – watch this space for more about this. Thank you to District Commissioner Judith Wood for your commitment to the District.

While the District, the largest in the South East Scotland Scouts Region, is growing we should point out the growth is primarily in the youth membership area. We have a youth membership waiting list and we’d really like to open this up. To do so we need more volunteers to support more young people to enjoy scouting locally. Have you ever thought about volunteering? Know someone who may be keen? We have many roles from local Group Execs (2 hours a month!) and admin to Beaver, Cub and Scout volunteers. Flexible roles to suit every background and need. Why not get involved today and make some rewarding memories.

As well as the usual elements of the AGM, bringing together the Scout Council to agree the annual reports and nominate members of the executive, the District also celebrated quite a few awards, as shown in the ’roll of honour’ below. All of our fantastic leaders, including those not listed below, and supporters do outstanding work supporting our key pillars of Growth, Inclusivity, Community Impact, and Youth Shaped Scouting.

District Commissioner for the Braid Scout District, Judith Wood made the presentations. And it was great to see the local Explorer Units helping. They were on hand to help with formalities on the evening as co-hosts, powerpoint and Award presentations.

Congratulations to:
* Jonny Tait, Section Leader – Scouts at the 75th Braid Scout Group, on his Wood badge Award (photographed with District Commissioner Judith Wood)* * William Ivory, Group Scout Leader at the 85th Braid Scout Group, on his 10-year Good Service Award (photographed with District Commissioner Judith Wood)
* Gordon Carruthers, Assistant Section Leader – Scouts at the 4th Braid Scout Group on his Chief Scout’s Commendation for Good Service Award (photographed with District Commissioner Judith Wood)
* Elaine Jones, Section Leader – Explorers, Greenbank Unit in Braid, on her Award for Merit (photographed with District Commissioner Judith Wood)
* Scott Walker, Assistant Section Leader – Scouts at the 75th Braid Scout Group on his Award for Merit (photographed with District Commissioner Judith Wood)
* Carole Stiff, Group Secretary at the 35th Braid Scout Group on her Chief Scout’s Commendation for Good Service Award (photographed with District Commissioner Judith Wood)
* Stanley Tait, Group Scout Leader at the 75th Braid Scout Group on his Award for Merit (photographed with District Commissioner Judith Wood)

PLUS: May Burrows Award which was also presented to Elaine Jones. This is a special Award in honour of May and was given to Elaine for her enthusiasm and commitment. And for going that extra mile.

Congratulations to all the Braid Scout District awardees on your well-deserved successes. What you do is awesome, and without you, scouting just wouldn’t happen.