On the 28th of April Chief Scout Bear Grylls and Prince Edward, Duke of Kent honoured over 300 scouts from all around the country, including four from Cumbria, with their Queen’s Scout awards.
James Johnston (1st Duddon Scout Group), Steven Woods (South West Lakes District Scouts), Liz Morley (1st Shap Scout Group) and Dan Pockock (1st Hensingham Scout Group) were presented with the highest award in Scouting at Windsor Castle joined by Scout Ambassadors Warwick Davis, Dwayne Fields and Megan Hine, in front of family and friends in a fantastic celebration of achievement.
The Queen’s Scout Award is the highest honour in Scouting and is awarded for outstanding personal achievement.
This honour is achieved by young people aged between 16 and 25 who have completed a range of challenges, which includes service to their community, completing an expedition in wild country, undertaking a five-day residential project in a new environment, developing an existing talent or learning some new skills to build on what they have already learnt in the Scouts.
These young people will have shown that they are dedicated and willing to learn all they can, which will provide them with opportunities to gain skills for life.
Chief Scout Bear Grylls said: “Queen’s Scout award recipients are the absolute pinnacle of determination, grit and perseverance. They’ve contributed to their communities and developed skills along the way, and earning their Queen’s Scout awards is just another step in their journey to personal growth. These Scouts are an inspiration to all others around the world thanks to their hard work and I find myself full of admiration for every single one of them.”
Liz Morley was one of over 300 new Queen’s Scouts receiving his award on Sunday. She said: “It was a long road to getting my Queen’s Scout, but I’ve had so many exciting adventures because of it that I’d do it all over again if I could! As part of the award, I went on a yachting expedition around the Isles of Arran and Bute, made a podcast about Scout Values, spent a week on the film team at a massive international Scout camp, and much more. Completing the award gave a real sense of achievement, as it’s something I’d wanted to do ever since joining Beavers when I was 6!”
James Johnston commented: The QSA has taken years of dedication to achieve. Including Camps in Japan, the Netherlands, Wales and of course the Lakes! To celebrate it in Windsor is an event that I will never forget.
Steven Woods said “It was a fantastic day, very enjoyable to spend it with family and friends. It’s events like this that help show you the bigger picture to scouting outside Cumbria. I would recommend to anyone aged between 14 and 25, whether currently a member of the Scouting Movement or not, to join in, take part and work to achieve this incredibly worthwhile award.”
Dan Pocock also said: The memories I have gained whilst working towards my Queen’s Scout Award will last a lifetime – from practising rescuing my friends from a crevasse in the French Alps on my residential, to helping plant 100 trees in Wasdale for the community challenge, to helping run a joint summer camp with some Danish Scouts for my international challenge!
The parade at Windsor Castle was also a fantastic day; there was a great atmosphere with over 400 scouts marching around the Windsor quadrangle, supported by our really enthusiastic section leaders. I’m really proud to have achieved the award and would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for an adventurous challenge!
The annual Windsor Castle event has been held since 1934 on the Sunday nearest to St. George’s Day (23rd April). St. George is the Patron Saint of Scouting. Since the Queen’s Scout Award began, over 100,000 of these awards have been presented to young men and women for outstanding personal achievements and service to their local communities. They have learnt new life skills and developed them into what will one day be useful for their careers. Scouting offers over 200 different activities varying from archery to kayaking with all of them being tailored to help young people develop skills for life in the most effective way possible.
