Playing our part

This year has been a time of renewal for our movement and our nation.

Over the past 12 months, we’ve had a unique opportunity to show the vital role we play in national life. We’re there in times of great change, as well as week-to-week, helping young people gain skills for life.

Helping other people

The passing of our Patron, Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, was a moment of thanksgiving for her lifetime of service, but also one that showed how our Scouts use their skills in the service of others.

This theme of service continues into 2023, with our volunteers supporting the public at the Coronation of HM King Charles III. It was another opportunity to show how committed we are to stepping up to help when it counts.

We also used this as a springboard for volunteering. We played a key role in leading and delivering The Big Help Out, one of the biggest ever national days of volunteering, inspiring new volunteers to join.
This outstanding public service built on the care and commitment of the 180 Scouts who supported the queue at the Lying in State of our Patron, Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, last year. It was Scouts at their very best.

Only a few months earlier, we helped lead the Platinum Jubilee celebrations. We lit over 100 beacons, planted trees for Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s Green Canopy project and thanked volunteers as part of a national Thank You Day.

Growing strongly

Our second year of positive youth membership growth (5.6% increase in 4–18 year olds) and in numbers of volunteers (rising by 2.1%) shows renewed appetite for Scouts. It’s just as heartening to see a 15% increase in the numbers of Young Leaders (14–18 year olds supporting younger Scouts). They’re the adult volunteers of the future making a difference right now.

Celebrating achievement

In April, we proudly honoured hundreds of our bravest and best at our annual Day of Celebration and Achievement at Windsor.

They included Queen’s Scouts like Mikayala from Esher who, to gain her award, volunteered at a school in Tanzania teaching children and building classrooms. She took part in a campaign assessing the environmental impact of one of her own summer camps, and spent four nights sailing and rowing around Loch Lomond.

While these young adults were completing their journey through the Scout programme, it was just as inspiring to see 4 and 5 year-olds at the start of theirs. After celebrating the first year of Squirrels in September 2022, it’s phenomenal to think there’re now nearly 11,000 Squirrels across 1,000 Dreys (at year end). Truly a cause for optimism.

Marshall, a Squirrel from Leeds, used the skills he’d learned in his Drey to help his mum after she had a serious fall at home. Not only did he stay calm and call for assistance, he posted the keys through the letterbox when help arrived. That shows the simple power of what we do at this young age. Deservedly, it earned him one of our Chief Scout’s Unsung Heroes Awards.

Transforming futures

All these amazing things say so much of the power of Scouts to change lives, communities, and society in general. Nationally, we’ve been recognised with some prestigious awards for excellence in our partnerships, creative work, for our volunteers and indeed for our charity as a whole.

However, our true reward is seeing the impact of our work: the young people from every background who go out into the world with the skills they need to succeed.

Our focus remains on delivering our strategy and driving inclusive growth by attracting new adults from our nation’s communities into our movement.

My heartfelt thanks goes out to each and every volunteer, staff member and supporter who makes this work possible.