The number of children and young people aged from 4 to 17 involved in Scouting is increasing. Numbers recently released from The Scouts show increases in all the different sections.

Across Buckinghamshire there has been an increase of over 11%. The number of children in Beavers (boys and girls aged 6 to 8) has increased by over 22%, with the numbers in Scouts (boys and girls aged 10 to 14) increasing by nearly 12%. However, the number of children on the waiting list is nearly 3800.

James Palin, Lead volunteer for Buckinghamshire Scouts said, “Since the restrictions were lifted, we have been inundated with requests for children to join. During lockdown many children were unable to participate in activities. We were able to meet during the pandemic although many of these meetings were virtual. However, our brilliant volunteers were able to come up with some innovative ways of keeping the children entertained. These included virtual camps, reptiles via zoom, lego building, again via zoom along with lots of games and scavenger hunts in people’s own houses. We have also been able to do walks in the woods, bike riding, athlete badge, local knowledge, pioneering, water rockets and lots of other activities.”

James added, “We provide a wide range of activities for children and young people and from these activities they will learn lots of skills that will help them throughout their lives. These will range from helping others and teambuilding skills, cooking, budgeting, leading a team and planning activities. We know that many of our younger volunteers have used their experience of being in Scouts to help them get into university, get apprenticeships, and job interviews.”

James went on to say, “We are looking for volunteers so more children and young people can get involved in numerous activities. Not only are we looking for people to work with children and young people, we are also looking for people to work in the background. These roles can include being Treasurer of a Group, looking after the HQ or helping with fund raising.” He finished by saying, “Whatever time you can give us, we will find a role for you.”

For further information about getting involved with The Scouts, go to www.scouts.org.uk