Members of our County and District leadership teams spent an inspiring day at our North East England Regional Scout Conference on Saturday.
The event, held at the Glow Centre in Newton Aycliffe brought together over 200 lead volunteers for a day of networking and learning.
Over the course of the day we took part in a number of thought-provoking workshops and activities to reflect on how and why we volunteer, share ideas and practical tips, and explore how we can support more young people to gain #SkillsForLife through Scouts.
Topics included:
- How we can be powered by our purpose of delivering #SkillsForLife
- Recruitment, why we volunteer, and why ‘how’ we ask someone to volunteer is the key to success!
- Ways to celebrate and shape our culture
- How we can help shape the perception of Scouting
- Delivering safe scouting
- And practical tips for programme development
Highlights from the day included:
An inspiring and motivating keynote speech from UK Chief Volunteer, Carl Hankinson, reminding us that Scouting helps to shape the lives of every young person that joins us and that our time truly makes a difference.
An engaging Q&A with Chief Volunteer for England, Liz Henderson and Deputy Chief Volunteer for England, Andrew Lloyd that provided insights into the national strategic direction of Scouting and prompted lots of discussion – not least whether it’s a scarf or a necker (sorry Liz, we all vote neckers!)
Hearing from Regional Lead Volunteer, Ian Hammond on his top ten things to celebrate about Scouting in the North East of England. Did you know, over the past year, we’ve opened 104 new sections in our region! That’s more young people getting the chance to enjoy the fun and adventure of Scouting. We’re developing exciting partnerships with organisation across the region to help us support our young people to step up, speak up and dream big. And we now have over 5,700 volunteers specially trained with permits to deliver outdoor and adventurous activities to young people in our region!
Listening to an engaging youth panel discussion hosted by West Yorkshire Youth Lead, Toby, and North Yorkshire Youth Lead, James as they spoke with Rachael Oloyede, Co-Chair and Youth Advisor at NCS and Rylie Sweeney, a Youth Advisor to the Children’s Commissioner for England about the importance of Scouting continuing to support young people to advocate for themselves and others. Rachael and Rylie discussed the important distinction between involving young people in shaping something from the very beginning, compared to asking them to ‘youth approve’ and they reminded us of the importance of meeting young people where they’re at. The panel also reminded us of our long heritage of listening to young people in Scouting and supporting them to speak up – it’s who we are – we’re just building on that tradition.
Thank you to Ian Hammond and all of the North East England Regional team for organising a great day, and to all our Team Northumberland representatives!
