It’s not every day that you get to invest a new member to your Scout Group, but it’s even rarer to invest someone into the 1^st Gilwell Park Scout Group, with membership reserved to adult members who have completed their Wood Badge.

Today we met under The Gilwell Oak for a very special investiture: David Baden-Powell, 5^th Baron Baden-Powell (great-grandson of Sir Robert Baden-Powell) who was invested to the group by members of his family: Gill and Robin Clay and Annarella Prime, who started the proceedings with:

“Normally I would say a spiel of ‘are you ready to join’ and all that, but I think we all know he is!”

Historically, the wood beads that are awarded were made from the branches of The Gilwell Oak – a practice that the tree clearly wanted us to resume, given it dropped two branches on us throughout the presentation! In David’s case however, he was presented with his dad’s wood beads in his honour.

“If Dad was here… He’d be absolutely stoked. I love it here – it truly feels at home. Thank you all for coming and I look forward to having a beer with you all tonight!”

It was at this point that the group burst out into song, for it is traditional (apparently) to sing Back to Gilwell – also known as The Wood Badge Song – when investing someone into the 1^st Gilwell Park Scout Group. (Although they could have just wanted to get some practice in before campfire…)

As for what Dave’s doing next? More of the same – volunteering with his Venturers (Explorers) back in Melbourne. He doesn’t see earning his Wood Badge as the end of anything, he’s a firm believer in continuing to put in the work to become a better and better Scout leader. “I see it more as a recognition of ‘you’re doing a good job as a leader, keep on doing it!’”

A lot of things are happening in 2027 – it’s the 120^th Anniversary of Scouts, 20 years since the 2007 World Scout Jamboree in Essex and of course the 26^th World Scout Jamboree in Poland will take place over the summer.

But something that might have flown under your radar is that the UK won the bid to host the 44^th World Scout Conference, the first to be held in the UK since 1979 and the first in London since the first ever World Scout conference back in 1920.

Held every three years, the conference is an opportunity for the 176 National Scout Organizations (NSOs) to come together. Many resolutions will be proposed before the conference, covering important policies and standards to shape the future of the Scout Movement. But the conference also decides the host nations of future World Scout Events, including Jamborees and Moots.

Unfortunately, the World Scout Conference is a very exclusive party – with each of the 176 NSOs only allocated a handful of Delegates to vote on behalf of their nation. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t ways you can get involved!

The conference will, of course, need plenty of helping hands to make sure everything runs smoothly, so the team are looking to recruit volunteers for the delivery team over the next few months. If you’re interested and would like to find out more, you can express your interest here: https://app.smartsheet.com/b/form/ff02eb2a6997448e836ec6835905b039

The team also hope to make the 44^th World Scout Conference the most inclusive and accessible yet, and so they’ve set up a solidarity fund to help support participants from other countries who may find attending the conference financially challenging. If you would like to donate to this fund, click here to find out more: https://www.scouts.org.uk/volunteers/running-your-section/programme-guidance/international-scouts-and-events/44th-world-scout-conference/

If you donate more than £100 you can become a Friend of the Conference, with benefits including updates from the Delivery Team and an exclusive Friends of the Conference Pin Badge.

You can also donate cash – the team are collecting cash of any currency, old or new, which will be converted to GBP and used to support the fund. If you have any coins you would like to donate, speak to the team in the international tent, or send them an email at support@scouts.org.uk for more information.

If you’d like to find out more about the conference, Michelle invites you to have a go at their human fruit machine down in the international tent!

Carl quickly handed over to Aiden Jones – who was elected as our Chief Executive back in October – made a point to remind us that Reunion is not, in fact, a sentient beast and does require a huge amount of people behind the scenes who make it possible, who we are of course immensely grateful to.

Nathan Heath from the UK Youth Team also made an appearance, being welcomed to the stage with great cheers from the “under 25s” in the audience. Reunion is always a great opportunity for the “adults” to learn how and where they can get involved, and to show just how powerful they can be as a group.

But the overall message was simple: enjoy your weekend, recharge your batteries, make new friends and in the words of Aiden, “make contact” with one another. (And don’t forget, it’s Carl’s fault if it rains!)

Between the light rain showers and bright sunshine the 99^th Gilwell Reunion has been slowly taking shape.

Throughout Friday teams worked to put their stands and stalls together, rady to showcase everything from our latest partners to programme support resources. KSWP were found hard at work putting the final touches to the King’s Squiffy Woggle Pub on the Training Ground and Scout Adventures putting the last sparkle to the site and ensurubf there are enough bins and bog roll.

As the afternoon drew on the car park has steadily filled and every corner has been occupied by canvas and camper vans. The traffic management team were kept busy with their aircraft style parking manoeuvres and around site in every corner friends could be found greeting each other, makng plans and sharing stories.

As the sky turned pink with the evening sunset the music started on the main stage with the UK Classic Rock Experience entertining the crowd ahead of the opening ceremony. With the pub open the training ground filled with the sounds of friends reconnecting and dancing the night away.