Great news! We have a new District Commissioner and Deputy District Commissioner in Pentland!
I am very pleased to be able announce that Keith Bryce has agreed to become District Commissioner in Pentland with Martin Southern becoming Deputy District Commissioner. I know that they will do a great job of continuing to support the tradition of excellent Scouting in Pentland District and bring great enthusiasm to all that we do for young people. You can contact Keith on pentlanddc@gmail.com. I am sure that Keith and Martin will be great assets to Scouting in our Region and I look forward to working with them as part of the expanding Regional Leadership Team!
Good luck!
Margery Naylor
Regional Commissioner
Below Keith and Martin share their Scouting journeys so far…
Keith Bryce
As a fairly recent convert to Scouting (it having entirely passed me by as a youth), I have found following my children through their scouting careers a most exciting journey.
It is a far cry from my career as a programme manager in Lloyds Banking Group where I have spent most of my career working in IT. Scouting for me has become an opportunity to do something quite different. I view it as light stress relief after a day in the office.
As I moved through my scouting career as a Cub leader my background in IT development rather drew me toward the digital side of Scouting. So I joined the Compass project, as Regional champion supporting data cleansing, and deployment of the youth system. More excitingly I successfully promoted Online Scout Manager (OSM) as a tool for leaders, saw it adopted by Pentland District, and successfully taken up by all Groups/Units as a game changing tool to support leaders, and allow them to collaborate on multi-section events.
I have very much enjoyed being able to create more adventurous opportunities for young people. As I peaked above the parapet of my own Scout section, I was asked to help set up two new Cub packs for my Group 51st Balerno, and lead three District Cub camps including one for Cubs 100 which had 360 attendees. My sole regret was not taking the time to try out Spider Mountain before the kids arrived.
Highlight so far has been helping run a Cub Scout Pinewood Derby in Hawaii, but more on that another time.
Martin Southern
Martin writes, “I’ve been in Scouting for 13 years and held a number of different roles in that time, including 13 years as Scout leader for 108th Pentland, 5 years as ADC Scouts for Pentland District and most recently I have taken on the role as DDC, supporting Keith Bryce.
Our Scout troop is thriving with 50+ Scouts, and we camp a number of times each year in the UK. We are presently planning to go to the Netherlands in 2019. As ADC Scouts, I worked with a really strong team of Scout Leaders from across Pentland District. We ran a District Scout trip to Kandersteg in 2012 and a joint Scout and Explorer District trip to Haarlem in the Netherlands in 2015. Additionally, we ran the District Brass Monkey camp at Bonaly in February, held a District Flag around Easter and an autumn District camp every year. I’m pleased to say all these annual camps continue to this day, with the main District camps typically enjoyed by 120 to 180 Scouts.
I have 3 children who have all been through Scouting, with my youngest two still in Explorers. When not Scouting, I work in Finance in BT, spending typically 2 – 3 days a week in London. I only manage all of above because of the support of Jean, my wife.”