We are really excited to invite all Explorers and Scouts to the next Hampshire Scout Youth Council from Friday 10th October to Sunday 12th October.
We'd like to fill as many of these spaces as possible with people from different parts of the County.
Youth Council is a brilliant opportunity for Young People to develop leadership skills and engage with mature themes to make a difference to scouting within Hampshire. At each Youth Council, we focus on an important issue within Hampshire. Furthermore, Youth Council provides a platform for Young People to voice their opinions, wants and concerns to senior Hampshire Volunteers.
Previously, Young People have had the opportunity to create badge designs for district and new awards. They were also able to envision what it is like to be a trustee and create a budget for their own event, with the support of our County Chair. They have also learnt about the various Top Award opportunities available to them.
To sign up, fill in this form.
We’re organising a National Water Safety Management Programme course, delivered by the Royal Life Saving Society, and there are still spaces available for others to join.
This is the essential qualification required to take Scouts swimming when no lifeguard is present.
Dates: Monday 14th & Tuesday 15th July 2025
Location: Swanage (Sea-based training)
Provider: Land & Wave
Cost: £290 (Funding may be available from your District or County – please enquire)
This is a rare opportunity, as these courses are not frequently available and this one has been arranged specifically for our group. We currently have two participants confirmed, and we’re looking for more to make the course viable.
If you're interested but the cost is a barrier, please still get in touch – we want to make this accessible for everyone.
Contact: Jackie Heath, Malawi Expedition Leader
The Hampshire Scouts Memorial Service is open to all members of Scouts, as well as relatives and friends, to remember those who have 'Gone Home' in the past 18 months.
The 2025 event is being held on Sunday 6th April 2025, starting at 2.30pm and finishing around 4.30pm. It is taking place this year at Pinsent Campsite, Clarendon Way, Winchester, SO22 5QL.
Relatives and friends are welcome to come along and chat over light refreshments following the service. Guests are asked to bring a folding chair.
Please confirm your attendance and the number of people coming to County Office by email or telephone on 023 8084 7847
The event is jointly organised by Su Brakewell, County Chaplain, and Martin Rudd, County Team Lead for Community Support. The contact number on the day is 07736 789439.
District Lead Volunteers are politely asked to confirm to County Office, the name of any Hampshire Scout members who have ‘Gone Home’ since September 2023, together with contact details for their family.
Hampshire Scouts are pleased to offer Mental Health Awareness Training to all leaders through a 2.5-hour Zoom session.
This training will introduce the topic of mental health and explore Scouting’s role in promoting wellbeing. It will also provide guidance on the basic steps you can take to support a young person or volunteer in distress, and help you consider the appropriate next steps.
You can book online here.
Following on from previous successful sessions, we are offering further free Neurodiversity training courses.
The new dates are:
The course is provided by Ellie Hunt. Ellie is a neurodivergent neurodiversity advocate, with lived experience of autism and ADHD, and a teacher with 20 years experience working to support access and equity for young people with a wide range of differences that create barriers to education.
The day will look at what neurodivergence is, covering autism, ADHD and specific learning differences like dyslexia, how these might present themselves when at Scouts and how we can make reasonable adjustments to avoid what others may potentially see as challenging behaviours.
All courses to run from 10:30am until 3:30pm & a light lunch will be provided, however our ability to cater to dietary requirements is limited to vegetarian only, so unfortunately if anyone has any further food intolerances, they will need to cater for themselves.
Booking is first-come-first-served by emailing Kelly Taylor and you can also notify her of any additional needs the organisers need to be aware of.
Following on from previous successful sessions, we are offering further free Neurodiversity training courses.
The new dates are:
The course is provided by Ellie Hunt. Ellie is a neurodivergent neurodiversity advocate, with lived experience of autism and ADHD, and a teacher with 20 years experience working to support access and equity for young people with a wide range of differences that create barriers to education.
The day will look at what neurodivergence is, covering autism, ADHD and specific learning differences like dyslexia, how these might present themselves when at Scouts and how we can make reasonable adjustments to avoid what others may potentially see as challenging behaviours.
All courses to run from 10:30am until 3:30pm & a light lunch will be provided, however our ability to cater to dietary requirements is limited to vegetarian only, so unfortunately if anyone has any further food intolerances, they will need to cater for themselves.
Booking is first-come-first-served by emailing Kelly Taylor and you can also notify her of any additional needs the organisers need to be aware of.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) are offering Scout groups the opportunity to join them for a talk about their organisation and tours of various sites in Hampshire. They can cater for all age ranges and also tailor talks to your preferred duration (i.e. from 30 minutes up to 1 hour and 30 minutes). In terms of the content of the talks, please see below a detailed talk description, but bear in mind this will be watered down somewhat to suit the age of the audience its being delivered to:
The CWGC – This presentation provides an overview of our organisation from past to present with reference to the sites and casualties we care for. It will begin by discussing the conception of the CWGC by our founder and the principles put into place at that time that continues to define what we do and how we do it. To illustrates this, we will then show you the sites we care for in the UK and around the world and what to look for when visiting them. A discussion of the challenges we face and the work we do today will then follow, before the presentation is rounded off with a personal story tailored to your group.
They can also offer remembrance themed talks given that is only a few months away.
In terms of tours, the site would be decided on a case by case basis. They would try to find a suitable site/cemetery close to the Scout group so that they can introduce or build on any local history knowledge. The duration would be a bit longer (so from 1 hour to 1 hour 30 minutes) with lots of exciting activities. As with the talks, this would be negotiated with the group based on logistics and the site chosen. Some of the CWGC's larger sites in Hampshire that would be ideal for tours include: Portsmouth Naval Memorial | Explore Great Britain (cwgc.org)or Hollybrook Memorial | Explore Great Britain (cwgc.org) or Brockenhurst (St. Nicholas) Churchyard | Cemetery Details | CWGC
Finally, their volunteer speakers and guides are based across Hampshire so there would be no area too difficult to cover. Talks/tours can be booked thought the booking page on their website Book a Talk: Commonwealth War Stories | CWGC
Our President, HM Lord HM Lord-Lieutenant of Hampshire Nigel Atkinson Esq, recently shared a message of congratulations and celebration for our volunteers and staff's hard work in our mission to bounce back.
I wanted to write to Hampshire Scouts having seen the splendid results reported following the completion of the most recent Census published last month.
Clearly the work undertaken by all volunteers and staff, including leaders across the county, the Commissioners, and those in the county office under operation ‘Bounce Back’ following the ‘Covid era’ proved successful. It gives me enormous pleasure to see how in most areas our numbers have risen and long may that continue across our County.
So, many congratulations and thank you for all you do for Hampshire Scouts to ensure we give better Scouting and opportunities to the young people of Hampshire.
With best wishes.
Nigel Atkinson
HM Lord-Lieutenant of Hampshire
President Hampshire Scouts.
With such a successful Youth Council in September 2022, we’ve planned our latest and hope you can join us for the weekend.
Youth Council provides an amazing opportunity to empower young people to take control of their scouting experience. This weekend will enable young people to build their confidence and be able to work in a team, using a variety of activities, both indoors and outdoors.
We will provide young people with the tools to become future leaders through the Youth Shape award. Furthermore, we would like to hear what our young people would like from us as their Youth Commissioners. We will:
We would like to invite Explorers to join us for the weekend to hear their views on scouting across Hampshire.
Key Details:
At our last Youth Council, we had 30 young people attending from across the county. It would be great to have even more young people involved this time around.
If your explorer would like to attend, please complete the attached form by 1st March 2023:
This team attended Basecamp22 in Manchester in May to understand more about the Transformation taking place and, ultimately, the change that's to come...
Today, we kick off a series of updates about all things Transformation. As a member of Hampshire Scouts, we will publish monthly updates right here throughout 2023 around some of the key areas of change listed below.
We won't go into too much detail about who the above people are, other than that they are Hampshire's Transformation Team. But what is important to know is they are volunteers from across Hampshire, from District Commissioners to training team members, this smiley bunch represent a whole wide of volunteers who will be impacted by the change that's to come.
Together, they have been working to understand some of the key changes that are on their way but, again, not anytime soon so please continue as you are.
Before we talk about the change that's happening across Scouts in the UK that will affect Hampshire Scouts, it's important to understand what's changing, why it's needed and how attractive the change will be to those who will receive it. Below are the key things to change over mid-to-late 2023 and into 2024:
There will be a warmer welcome for everyone: The Scouts is planning to create a warmer welcome for everyone. This will touch on how new volunteers are appointed, 'welcome conversations', introduction to learning and more. Information about this is to come in early 2023.
There will be a focus on positive volunteering every day: The Scouts are going to simplify how we volunteer together for positive volunteering every day. There will be a new team-based approach to learning, eliminating singular roles with a long and defined list of responsibilities.
There will be more engaging learning: Changing the culture of 'training' to a world that has exciting 'learning' opportunities. You will soon receive a Hampshire-Scouts-specific update about how training will change, but please continue as you are at the moment.
There will be changes to our digital systems with a focus to help volunteers get things done: The Scouts are currently testing and trialling a new membership system to eventually give Hampshire more digital support to help get things done. We will update you on that as we get it.
As Scouts, we love to talk. And we know in Hampshire that word-of-mouth goes far and quickly. Why? Because we're passionate about what we do and wish to share that with our teams.
While some volunteers may be more informed about the change that's happening, these key transformation pillars are very new to many others. That's why we're starting to send emails like this to ensure everyone is on the same page and moving towards our planning and implementing stages together.
Our Transformation Team are now steadily understanding the change that's to come... so they can now help you understand and provide you with an educated insight into the things you need to know. More will be published onto our all-members site in good time.
February 2023:
- An update on what's changing to the Scouts volunteer framework
- An update on the role name changes and why
- An update on the Scouts new membership system and how this will benefit you
March 2023:
- An update on the change from 'training' to 'learning' that's to come
- An update on what's happening with the existing wood badge scheme
- An update on new systems which will be implemented in late 2023 - early 2024
- An introduction to the 'Is My Patch Ready for Change?' tool available from Scouts HQ
April 2023:
- We're hoping to have an update on information about HantsCAMP 2023, our county's own event to introduce District Commissioners, County Chairs, Group Scout Leaders, and various representatives to change that's to come.
The Scouts will be experiencing a season of transformation over the coming years to encourage more people to volunteer. The change is also focused on retaining existing volunteers too. With more volunteers, we can positively impact the lives of more young people and help them gain skills for life - Our North Star.
From this article, we know you will have questions. But please be patient while we present you with the information you need in good time. Many of your questions may be answered within our planned communications. May you also continue volunteering and training as you are. There will be a transition period and no time spent on what you are currently achieving will be wasted.
Thank you.
