Today I spent the day at Gilwell Park, better known to many as the headquarters of UK Scouting, for my Trustee induction day. I decided to apply to become a Trustee because I wanted to instigate change and was keen to represent the 400,000 young people that The Scout Association work with.
One of the conversations I seem to be having a lot with people is about the relevance of Scouting, and what impact we actually have on young people today. From my short time so far on the Board, I have seen that work has been done to measure the impact of Scouting - PACEC Report
In the report it is highlighted how 88% of youth members feel Scouting has helped them develop key skills, and 92% feel Scouting has helped with relationship building. Understandably these results are not reflective of all young people, as only scouts were surveyed. However, to me this figure is phenomenal - of 400,000 young people we are essentially saying that 368,000 young people have been able to develop better relationships as a result of Scouting (excuse my crude maths here, but for arguments sake!)
As a professional who works with young people, I may come into contact regularly with anything between 10 and 200 young people a week - and some I may see once and never again, whilst others I may see every week for 3 or more years. I know that whilst I am working with these young people, I can see the positive impacts that are taking place. Now imagine the good that the 100,000 adult volunteers in Scouting can do - each of them having regular contact with young people, raising their confidence and self esteem as well as improving their employability and relationship building.
As a young person, I never "had it easy". Life in Gosport is hard, and for a number of reasons I found myself in some challenging situations as a youngster. Aged 11 my life was turned on it's head, as my father died very unexpectantly and I was forced to grow up very quickly; at this point it would have been very easy to go "off the rails" and make some poor life choices. However, I was lucky enough to be a part of a scout group, with a scout leader who was a positive role model and good influence in my life. He recognised strengths and challenged weaknesses.
Scouting is part of the reason that I have managed to survive the last 12 years. I have unfortunately not had a father figure in my life since 1999, and for over a decade this gap in my life has been filled (inadvertently) by various scouting role models - my first scout leader, my cub leader when I was an ACSL, and more recently my county scout network commissioner. All these people have been there supporting me all the way through my teenage years and into adulthood, helping me by going above and beyond - to the point where when I unfortunately crashed my car last year the first person I contacted was my network commissioner to ask what I should do!
Friends of mine often hear me joke about "Uncle Nigel" or hear me speak fondly about "Uncle John" or "Uncle Russ". Well, whilst I may be jesting that I have a group of friends who are old enough to be my parent, the truth is that I count myself incredibly lucky to know that there is a large support net of male adult role models within scouting who I can turn to over anything. Off the top of my head I can think of nearly a dozen people whom I regularly turn to for support over a number of things, sometimes as obscure as careers guidance or advice on studying; sometimes as trivial as "Can I have a hug?". Without scouting - I would not have these people in my life, and my life story may have turned out very differently. Whilst I may not have a Dad that I can turn to, I am incredibly fortunate to have a whole series of "dad-like" figures who are there at every step of my journey through life. I only hope that if a young person needed me in the same way, I could do half the job that my "adopted father-figures" do for me.
