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Scout’s Own. A moment of calm, a time to reflect on everything we’ve done together over the last weekend. Why we belong to this great movement, what binds us all together, what we have in common.

These were Ayesha’s themes for Scouts Own this year, inspired by the late MP Jo Cox in her maiden speech to parliament: “we have more in common than that which divides us.”

There are three things we all have in common as Scouts: our values, our promise and our scarf.

Scarf. Necker. Neckie. So many different patterns and designs, it shows we belong to one family. Every scarf has a story, a reason for its being, and we heard five such stories today. From the tartans of Scotland to the wildlife of Brazil, every necker has a story to tell, a reason for being unique.

Scouts are also connected by our values – the very fundamentals of Scouting. Each speaker this afternoon explored a different value, allowing us to reflect upon its importance.

Our first speaker Andrew Sharkey, Chief Commissioner of Scotland, spoke on Integrity. “When we act with integrity, we inspire other people to the same. We are all role models for our young people and for each other.”

Gee, an Scout Adventures volunteer at Gilwell Park, reflected on Respect. “Listening to each other is the best way to show respect. Just by listening to each other, you care about what they’re saying and you show them that they are welcome wherever they are. “

Next, we heard from CJ, about caring. “When we each all show care and kindness, something truly remarkable happens: everyone around us feels better. We feel like we’re welcome, that we’re safe and we belong.”

Craig Turpie, our Deputy UK Chief Commissioner (Transformation) was greeted to the stage to talk about belief. “Understanding our beliefs is one part of discovering our own identities […] Scouts is a safe place to be while we make these discoveries. It’s a place to belong; no judgement, no pressure and all the help we need to find our place in the world.”

Last but not least we Marina Kruger, another Scout Adventures volunteer, spoke about cooperation. “When we cooperate, we make a really positive difference. We make friends, and that’s all Scouts is about, right? Teamwork.”

Finally, of course, Scouts are connected by our promise, a celebration of the values we follow. As is traditional, attendees were given the chance to renew their promise, before bidding farewell to their friends and embarking on their journeys home.

Many of you partied the night away on Saturday and still you found Sunday was a day full of activities. We hope you had fun! Here’s some moments to remind you of the fun we had today!

The UK Contingent were delighted at the turnout of their reception yesterday afternoon, with over 200 unit leaders, IST and even alumni from the 1991 Korean World Scout Jamboree attending. It was a great opportunity for attendees to meet up, helping to form a strong team to attend the jamboree a mere 333 days later. As UK contingent leader Liz Walker said, “whether you’re alumni, IST, unit leaders… whatever your part in all this, we are a team. And I think at each step of this journey we can work hand in hand to deliver our dream, but more importantly their dreams. As after all, dreams only come true when we come together.”

One of the big themes for the meeting was facilitating the “unique opportunities that the jamboree has for young people” especially for those who aren’t able to attend the event in person. “We want to make sure that this isn’t just about people going to the jamboree, it’s about adding a global flavour to their Scouting.”

As a part of this initiative, the team is creating pre-planned sessions, which are posted online every few weeks. The team are also planning an event called Dream:LIVE on the 6^th August 2023 – an online event being run straight from Korea. It can be done individually or with groups. So be sure to follow the UK Contingent on social media for more information!

We had a chance to catch up with Ayesha Karim, the new UK Youth Commissioner, and Ollie Wood, her predecessor, after the handover yesterday afternoon.

So Ollie, now that you’ve finished your time as UK Youth Commissioner, what would you say you are most proud of achieving in your role?

“Probably three things. What we’ve done to support Youth Commissioners – I know that that’s made a difference to them. That we’ve created an indication and support system that’s worked really well. It’s been challenging but now it’s a great time for Ayesha to come in as everyone’s still resurging out.

Second is the YouShape award as that was one of my early ideas. Previously we had YouShape month but we didn’t want people to think that Youth Shaped Scouting was just for February, but that it was something you do every month of every year. And so, to have an award that basically for all YouShape things for all sections in one place with a different section-specific award… it felt like a really good idea. We did some consultations and everyone supported it and eventually it launched last October and more than 100,000 people have taken part already!

Finally, we created this national role pool as, when I first started, people kept coming up to me saying “Congratulations! By the way I need someone for this committee.” and I thought “I don’t know enough people, I only know a few people from my county!”

We have this thing called the UK Rep Pool for international trips, for young people to represent UK Scouts, so I thought “Let’s create one of those for national roles” and so now we’ve had about 40 young people in national roles. Three of four of the last elected youth member trustees have come through the role pool, it’s pretty great!

It certainly sounds like you’ve achieved a lot! So, now that the handover is complete, any final words of wisdom to pass along?

Never underestimate the impact you can have just through one conversation with somebody, because whether that’s a young person who didn’t realise how big the world was beyond what they were used to in Scouts, or someone who might have been feeling a bit down – you can say just one thing that gives them some encouragement and you never quite know where that will lead to. But the more you meet people and the more you can expose yourself to difference places, the more impact you can have.

And also, just enjoy it – it’s just a bit surreal sometimes when you stand in places like this and you meet all sorts of people and you’ve got to enjoy it along the way. It’s hard sometimes to just step back and take everything in.

So, Ayesha, first of all congratulations on your new role. But tell us, what inspired you to apply for this role, especially given you weren’t a Youth Commissioner before?

Yeah, so, I come from an area where we don’t have a district or county Youth Commissioner and like I’ve said before I came from a Muslim Scout group and Muslim Scouting is massive – there’s 8000 Muslim Scouts in the country in Muslim Scout groups – and none of those young people are Youth Commissioners! So even though in the communities where there are Youth Commissioners its had a massive impact, it hasn’t really translated over [to Muslim Scouting] and so until I was sent the information for this role by my Explorer Scout leader, I hadn’t even heard of a Youth Commissioner. My leader said “you’ve got to decide whether you want to apply for this by midnight” and I was like “ok, you know what, lets just go for it” and I sent it through within a couple of days and next thing I know I’ve got an email from Carl [Hankinson] saying to come to an interview and next thing I know I’m standing here! So it was a really whirlwind journey, but its been so much fun because even though Scouting has been such a big part of my life, I never realised just how much of it I wasn’t aware of and I think in a way being so fresh faced with this I will have a very different perspective which I think will be very impactful.

So now that you’re here, what are your plans? What do you hope to achieve as the new UK Youth Commissioner?

I mean, first of all I want to build upon the foundations that Ollie has already put in place. The YouShape award and its roll-out has been incredible. I don’t want to make any massive changes to the award yet as it’s still very much still rolling out nationally. Later down the line there will be chances for development but at the moment making sure that Youth Commissioners are rolling out the YouShape award because I think that the aim should be that every single member of Scouting should have it.

I think that sometimes people think that Youth Shaped Scouting comes at the expense of something else like a certain badge. No, it’s the undercurrent through which all of Scouting should be run. Every single young person should be in charge of the programme in some way.

Youth Commissioners – the work they do is incredible. And they do have a lot of support available to them but not all of them know how to access that support. And also the distribution of Youth Commissioners is not evenly spread across the country – I think those are the immediate goals at the moment.

Is there anything you’re most looking forward to in this role?

I think meeting a lot of new people. I’ve only just started branching out into national/international Scouting since the latter half of Explorers and, I’m only 19 so I’ve only done a few years of that, and so I’m still constantly meeting new people in scouting and this is the kind of role where I’m ging to be doing that constantly.

And so finally, do either of you have any advice for young people wanting to get involved?

Ollie: I would say for anyone who is thinking about taking on a local commissioner role – or even joining Ayesha’s team – you should do it. You only regret the things you didn’t do, not the things that you tried and sometimes it can feel a little bit daunting at first, that it’s a different environment to anything you’re used to but actually I think that the different challenges you’re exposed to, the different environments you encounter, they really go on to help you develop skills. So I think it’s an awesome role and it helps give us future leaders in Scouts.

Ayesha: I would just say Scouting has had an impact in so many people and I would say to every young person: remember the impact its had on you and think okay, this has been my relationship with Scouts my whole life. I am in a new chapter of my life now, my needs are going to be changing, my capacities are going to be changing, so what can I do to stay involved in Scouts? You might have moved out for uni or got a new job, but there is always something you can take on. Just always keep an eye out for those opportunities and don’t be afraid to take them on.

After a busy Saturday you would be forgiven for thinking Sunday would be a day of rest. However, there is still plenty on offer.

If you’re game you can kick of Sunday with some Zumba in the AGM marquee on the Branchet Field (this is a change of venue) training ground at 0900. Not your style, how about joining the Inclusion Team for Brunch with flags (BYOD) at 10.30 on Buffalo Lawn. Warhammer and Raspberry Pi will be back in the White House Barn, while Bushscout Skills Village will be open again if you are still working towards their special badge.

The wide range of workshops continue to be on offer across site until 13.00 including the Gilwell Park Heritage Tour, leaving the White House Lawn at 10am and a session on the Money Skills Activity Badge in Jack Petchey Lodge at 11.45.

If you don’t have to dash away do stay for Scouts Own on the Training Ground at 13.00 and take time to reflect on the Scouting year ahead surrounded by other volunteers.

It’s been an action packed day at Gilwell Reunion 2022

Gilwell Reunion has a long history, for over 100 years leaders have been gathering and learning at Gilwell Park. Initially as part of structured Wood Badge training courses, now our much loved Reunion is an opportunity to catch up with friends as much as it is an chance to learn.

During last nights opening address this history of the Camp Chiefs wood badge was mentioned and we thought we’d add to it.

The role or title of Camp Chief has always been held by a paid member of staff. Initially the Camp Chief was in charge of all Leader training, in 1923 this extended to being in charge of all Gilwell based activity.

Officially the job of Camp Chief ended with John Thurman in the late 1960’s when it became an honoury title linked to the senior member of staff in charge of leader training.

In the 1920’s Baden Powell awarded his Deputy Chief Scout, Sir Percy Everett with this own set of 6 wood beads to match the Chief Scouts own.  The beads were from the original necklace of Chief Dinizulu.

In 1949 Everett gave his set of 6 wood beads to the then Camp Chief John Thurman to be passed to his successor in time.

The original woodbeads were retired to the Scout Heritage Collection in 2015 and now a replica set of 6 beads is worn by the Camp Chief of the day.

Whilst in the UK we are used to being awarded two beads when we complete our training, the Camp Chief’s set of six hold particular importance to our international brothers and sisters, who often still use 2, 3 and event 4 beads to identify their roles.

Camp Chiefs 

You can find out more about the History of the Woodbadge on the Scouts Heritage Website.

With thanks to the Scouts Heritage Service

Feeling peckish? Need a break from boil-in-the-bag rice and squashed sandwiches? Well luckily for you, the Food Village has you covered with a wide variety of choices. From Greek Souvlaki to freshly-cooked Italian, there’s bound to be something to tickle your fancy.

Speaking to the Angus burger van team, our Scouting reputation rang true with the news that bacon sandwiches had been the most popular item on the menu this morning, while the bacon cheeseburger was the big seller last night. Why not branch out tonight and try the spicy chicken burger?

There’s a wide variety of snacks on offer as well, from sweets to doughnuts. And of course there’s range of teas and coffees available from the coffee van. The slush stall is run by two families of Scouts and Guides, who have been coming to Reunion since 2016! Apparently the piña colada slush has proven rather popular so far, although this reporter can confirm that the freshly-cooked doughnuts were rather tasty as well, especially when served warm!