Cumbria Scouts Development Officer

Cumbria Scout Development project is now in its sixth year. The first three years were fully funded by the National Lottery Charities Board with Nichola Carter as the Development Officer. Nichola has since moved jobs and I (Adam Dickinson) was appointed in 2003. the rest of this paragraph can be deleted please.

My main tasks as the Development Officer are to support and help sustain current Scout Groups and to create new Groups to ensure Scouting continues to grow in this area. Due to the logistics of Cumbria it would be inefficient to try to cover the entire County, therefore the two Districts of Eden and Reivers (Carlisle and surrounding areas) were chosen for the project. In the first three years, Nichola was able to increase Scouting numbers in these areas by up to 95% and since then, this growth trend has been sustained.

Currently, there are only six countries in the world which do not have some form of Scouting, this makes it the largest co-educational youth organisation in the world. In the UK alone there are 500,000 members (I removed the rest of this sentence). This is not a bad achievement when you consider it started less than 100 years ago when Robert Baden-Powell held the first camp at Brownsea Island in Dorset. The Centenary year for Scouting is 2007 and there are huge plans under way to ensure that the year goes with a BANG. The main event is the World Jamboree, which is being hosted by the UK. This will consist of around 40,000 World Scouts participating in ten days of activities, friendships and celebrations. A very important part of the Jamboree is that UK families will provide hospitality for overseas guests prior to, and after the event. (Please remove the next sentences in red) - It will only be possible for a minority of UK Scouts to attend due tso it was decided to have a practice in 2005 called EuroJam, which would be open to all UK Scouts. Although it is expected that this will be about half the size of the World Jamboree (20,000 participants), it will still have more participants and countries than the Olympic Games. The organisers hope to have at least one representative, from each of the 216 countries invited, coming together on the original site where it all began 100 years ago. The current record for number of countries represented at one event is around 150. This gives you some idea of the size and strength of the International Scout Movement in 2003. See www.scouting2007.org.uk for more information.

In recent years Scouting in the UK has seen many changes. The age groups have changed. Scouting has also become co-educational (boys and girls) so it is available to all young people aged 6 – 25. The most recent introduction is the Beaver Scout section (1986), which consists of the youngest group, aged 6 – 8 years old. Cub Scouts are 8 – 10.5 and then Scouts are 10.5 – 14. After Scouts young people move onto become Explorer Scouts 14 – 18 then Network Scouts aged 18 – 25. Each section has a programme relevant to the participants needs with increasing responsibilities to the extent that the Network Scouts plan their own programme.

There is also a new balanced programme to ensure all young people from all walks of life can gain something positive from their Scouting experiences. So why not give it a try? Whether you are a young person and want to become involved in Scouting, or you are an adult and would like to offer voluntary support.

For more information or to locate your nearest Group please contact the Development Office at Brougham Hall near Penrith on:

01768 862 040
 

or email scouts@nscldo.fsnet.co.uk.

You could also visit the County’s Scout website which is: www.cumbriascouts.org.uk or try to find an old scout friend at www .scoutsreunited.co.uk I look forward to my challenge very much and hope that some of you will get involved. By Adam Dickinson, Cumbria Scout Development Officer.