This summer BSO will once again be attending Haarlem Jamborette en-masse. The camp takes place 5-16 August and will be attended by four BSO contingents – The Area camp lead by myself, consisting almost 80 members from across the Area along with contingents from 1st Brussels, 1st Hague/1st Prague combined and 1st Bougival. I’d like to say a massive thank you to 1st Hauge/1st Prague for taking many extra young people from other Districts, which removed our reserve list and ensures that no young people are disappointed. All our camps are totally full but we are operating a reserve sign up list
International Summer Events 2023
World Scout Jamboree
This Summer, the Unit 1 - joint BGO/BSO unit will join more than 40,000 Scouts from all over the world and will gather in Korea for the 25th World Scout Jamboree. Under the able leadership of Shelly Burrows, Brooke Lowe, Zoe Baxter and Lynn Millard, the unit’s preparations continue and excitement is building amongst all the participants with online meetings, fundraising and team building activities. Last weekend the leadership team had an opportunity to meet up in person in Colchester where they discussed many aspects of making sure our young people get the very most out of this once-in-a-lifetime event. They also met up with Mark Lloyd, the Contingent Support Team member who is looking after the Unit and were able to ask many questions. The Unit’s name is the “Wild Ones” but I understand Mark has christened ‘his’ unit the “Exotic Ones”! I am told there were many good laughs over the weekend and it was a great team building opportunity for the adult team. Please consider supporting Unit 1 and get a bit fit along the way, by signing up for their virtual mission where you can travel from London to Seoul by any non-powered means. I am very grateful that the Executive has approved travel costs for our three BSO leaders to attend the all-leader’s meeting at Gilwell in May.
Kander100
The final big international camp we have this summer is Kander100 at Kanderstag International Scout Centre (KISC) where 16 Explorers from Northern Europe will be representing BSO and taking part in celebrating KISC’s Centenary. The event will host many thousands of Scouts and Girlguides who will be converging on the small swiss village for 12-day’s of adventure from 27th July to 8th August. Many thanks to Lucy Hammond and Jon Copner from 1st Brussels and to Matt Lightfoot from 1st Prague/Area, who are leading our Explorers in in an exciting Swiss Alps adventurous programme.
BSO Development Weekend
The Scouts #SkillsForLife National Strategy was launched in 2018. To align with the national strategy, we created our Area Strategy 2019-23 and had plans to publicise and push this across the whole Area. We then hit the Covid-19 pandemic which scuppered our plans to promote the strategy. Since then, The Scouts have updated the National Strategy and extended the strategy another two years to 2025. This meant our strategy was no longer in alignment and we need to create a refreshed strategy. To ensure maximum buy-in across the Area, we have engaged with front-line volunteers to understand the effectiveness of our Area and District support teams. This was done via an all-member questionnaire aimed at front-line volunteers who were given a chance to win a £30 (congrats to Olivia Prince of 1st Jeradong on winning!). The questionnaire has help us understand your view/understanding of strategies, satisfaction, support, recognition, programme, adventure/permits, inclusivity, youth shaped, community impact and growth. I want to reassure everyone that took the time to complete the questionnaire, that we have read and studied every comment and submission and this will be used to help form our 2-year strategy to 2025.
Two weekends ago, nearly all of the Area team along with District Commissioners came together at Paccar Scout Camp (between Heathrow and London) to discuss and shape our future strategy. The weekend allowed us to create a huge prioritised list of 170 weaknesses, opportunities and threats to the delivery of Scouting across BSO. These are being divided up amongst the Area teams and Districts so that team and District strategies can be created so that the highest priority items can be tackled over the next two years. Here are the top 10 issues for the Area team to concentrate on:
- DBS checks local/national along with compliance/non-compliance
- Access to adventurous activity permits and gaining night’s away permits
- Getting started in BSO (induction and training support)
- Safe Scouting and processes not always being followed
- Training is seen by some as optional
- Help with recruiting new volunteers and retaining existing volunteers
- How to ensure we are delivering Youth Shaped Scouting
- Tackling resistance to change by some leaders
- Accessing adult training
- Issues with distances in BSO: Problems with communication, safety, sense of belonging
There are many more issues that might be quick wins, but the above are seen as the most pressing issues to be tackled. Area and District teams will be working on these. Districts will also soon be running similar strategy workshops where Group/section members will be invited to discuss and contribute to District 2-year strategies. My thanks go to the Area team and DCs for attending what was a great team-building event, full of energy and a lot of humour. We achieved a great deal which will now allow us to create an achievable and understandable Area Strategy and will give a framework for our Districts to create their own strategy.
These will ensure we are able to deliver on the national Youth Shaped strategy and ensure that we achieve BSO’s strategy that:
by 2025 BSO will have prepared more young people with skills for life, supported by amazing leaders delivering an inspiring programme. We'll be growing, more inclusive, shaped by young people and making a bigger impact in our international communities.
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Attending an international Scout Jamboree is a transformative experience that combines adventure, learning, and cultural exchange, helping Scouts develop into well-rounded individuals with a strong sense of belonging and the ability to work in teams. Since 2017, we have attended many international summer jamborees which have all been chosen by our members
Great representation from BSO at the British Embassy in Madrid as the Royal British Legion launched their Poppy Day appeal 2024.
Well done to Catherine Fenton and the 1st Madrid Scout Group for achieving recognition for the amount of their donation from last year.
Amazing community engagement with John Pearce and the team from 1st Majadahonda Scout Group along with Southern Europe DLV Kenny Lee.
Great for Kenny Lee to present several awards at the 1st Bougival Scout Group during the British School of Paris 70th birthday celebrations with an 1950s style open day.
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