Back to Scouting

This is my first blog as District Commissioner (DC) of a fantastic District with amazing leaders, volunteers and young people.  I was appointed DC at the beginning of February when we were all still in lockdown and everyone, after 12 months of pandemic, was becoming tired of Zoom meetings. 

However, so many of you kept the faith, and the fantastic news is that we have more young people engaged in Scouting in our District than before the pandemic.  In the census in January 2020, prior to the pandemic, we had 497 young people in the District.  In the recent October 2021 census, we have over 520 young people engaged in Scouting.  Almost every group has grown or at least remained at more than 80% and, of course, we have opened 1^st Naples.

Well done to all of you involved in bringing Scouting to our young people.  I am so proud of you all.

Equally importantly, we have now been able to get back to face-to-face scouting across the District.  All groups have been able to meet outdoors and some indoors although we are still having difficulty in getting indoor space for one or two groups.  This is being addressed and I hope by the time you are reading this, we will have all groups having an indoor meeting space.

Visiting the Groups

I was lucky enough to be able to make my first visit to one of our groups, 1^st Tenerife, and it was fantastic to at last be able to meet some of our wonderful leaders and young people.  Steve and Leisel along with their team have been doing a incredible job of developing this small group. My next visit will, I hope, be to 1^st Naples in December and Ruth, our Deputy District Commissioner, will be visiting 1^st Toulouse in January,  We are planning more visits by either me or the District Team to all the groups over the next few months.

Website

I am also delighted that this is the first blog by me in our newly launched website.  This website will be the anchor for our social media campaign to bring Scouting to more young people across our vast District area.  Thank you to Thomas Thorne, our ADC (Media & Comms), who also managed, at short notice whilst I was in Tenerife, to organise an interview for me on Oasis FM, one of the key English-language local radio stations.

District Team

The District Team exists for one reason and that is to support the Groups and Sections in providing amazing experiences, fun and skills for life to our young people across our geography.  We are therefore currently going through a consultation process as everyone in the District Team is determined that we add value to Scouting rather than just being a layer chasing compliance.  As a team, we want Scouting to be relevant to all our young people, making them proud to be part of not just their Section/Group, but also Southern Europe and BSO.

The District Team is:
Ruth Marienfeld, Deputy District Commissioner
Alice Mintoff, Youth Commissioner
Jordan McCullough, Assistant District Commissioner (Growth & Development)
Yves Gagnon, District Explorer Scout Commissioner
Thomas Thorne, Assistant District Commissioner (Media & Communications)

District Badge

With the opening of 1^st Naples and our aspirations to open new Groups in more countries, we decided to rename the District from France & Iberia to Southern Europe.  As a result, we held a competition in June to design a new badge.  Some great ideas emerged and we are now consulting to adopt one of four designs.  The new badge will be announced shortly and we will then issue the new badge to each member.

Commissioner’s Commendations

I have been privileged to award several Commissioner’s Commendations since I took over as DC.  Some were recommended by my predecessor but others were on the advice of our leaders. Those who received a Commissioner’s Commendation in 2021 include:

• John Broxis, for standing-in as District Secretary as well as holding down his role as GSL, 1^st Chantilly.
• Gillian Barratt, GSL 1^st Maison-Laffitte, for her work on developing the relationship with SGdF.
• Catherine Fenton, GSL 1^st Madrid, for her development of the group since taking over as GSL.
• John Pearce, GSL 1^st Majadahonda, for his commitment and hard work in opening this new group.
• Melissa Pearce, leader in 1^st Majadahonda, for keeping scouting alive during the pandemic with imaginative virtual programmes
• Rachel Haynes, Group Secretary in 1^st Fuengirola, for designing, developing and publishing our regular District Newsletter
• Kathryn Taylor, volunteer with 1^st Chantilly, who has variously been the Secretary, Treasurer, Cub Leader, Executive Committee Member and general volunteer for many years. Without her willingness to get ‘stuck in’ it is unlikely that 1st Chantilly would be the thriving group it is today.
• James Scott, leader with 1^st Madrid, who also kept scouting alive during the pandemic with imaginative virtual programmes
• Cristina Fernandez Marcos, Cub Pack Leader in 1^st Majadahonda, who stepped up to the role at the start of the pandemic and inspired, encouraged and taught the cubs skills for life.  Without Cristina, the cub pack would have faltered.
• Kirsty Doyle, Leader at 1^st Majadahonda, who stepped outside her role as an ASL, to help benefit the whole Group and has been instrumental in providing outdoor programmes in safe conditions plus gaining the wider involvement of the community in 1st Majadhonda.
• Linda Wickenden, ABSL at 1^st Majadahonda, who worked tirelessly during the various lockdowns, supporting the Beaver colony.   Her ‘bedtime story’ during the first long lockdown became a must-watch for all the Beavers in the Group.
• Lynn Millard, Cub Scout Leader at 1^st Maison-Laffitte, for being an exceptional leader over many years and developing the ‘Climb Everest’ initiative during the pandemic, which started as a District event but became widely adopted across BSO
• Robert Troost, GSL 1^st Fuengirola, for being an amazing GSL and ensuring the Group is thriving.
• Steve and Leisel Hardy, GSL and Cub Scout Leader in 1^st Tenerife, for starting a small group in Tenerife in 2014 and, despite the difficulty of recruiting leaders and volunteers in the small English speaking community, have managed to keep the momentum going with the active scout programmes and volunteer/leader social camps.
• Margaret Bird, who although not a volunteer with 1^st Tenerife, has supported the Group through fund-raising.  Margaret is a wonderful person who gives her support to numerous organisations in Tenerife and is a real community-spirited person.

Thanks

Finally, I want to thank everyone in the District for their dedication and hard work in delivering such wonderful experiences to our young people.  Everyone is a volunteer freely giving their time and skills to enrich the lives of our Beavers, Cubs, Scouts and Explorers; you are all amazing and I cannot thank you enough.